TGIF....I guess

Well the weekend is approaching and I am usually screaming TGIF by this point in the week, but lately they don't differ that much from a weekday. With the deadline for submitting a thesis coming up before our visit home in a few weeks means Ella and I don't see much of Doug. He's home....but has become an extra piece of furniture in our spare room because he spends so much time in there. I am happy to finally see him finish. It's been a long time coming now and it's a big "phew", meaning we made it through this process, but we don't really like how busy it has been making him!


I love that Doug has given me the opportunity to be a stay at home mom, but that's exactly what I don't like about it in a way....I'm a STAY AT HOME mom. Ella and I have found only a few little things to occupy our long days home by ourselves. We now try and go swimming twice a week (since the pool finally re-opened) rather than just the one time. I have found the library downtown to be a rather nice sitting place for flipping through books, rather then our living room carpet. But, I get a bit bored with just those two places.

Yesterday Ella decided that she didn't feel like napping much (with only a one hour nap in the middle of the day, rather than her usual 2-3 hour one!!). So I decided we just HAD to get out of the house. The sun was shinning and the sky was blue.

Since we had already gone for our one (of two) walks with the dogs earlier in the morning, I didn't feel much like walking, so I decided a nice bike ride would have to do. I had remembered seeing a small a park on one of the bike paths so that's where we headed.

It was ok....but I really wish they had more for kids the age of Ella. She enjoyed sitting on my lap to swing, but I would have loved to put her in one of the baby swings (if they'd had one!).  Going down the slide did get a few smiles.

By the time we got there, played and got home, it had taken up about an hour and a half of our day. I think most of the time was spent packing, unpacking and actually getting there and back (even though it's really not that far from our house).

Another mom and her two little boys stopped for a quick swing too while we were there. Her youngest was about the size of Ella. Normally this would be a great opportunity to socialize.......but NO! She spoke only Dutch so like always it's was just Ella and I to carry on a conversation with each other.
We didn't spend that much time at the park because there just wasn't much to do. I had brought along some of Ella's toys and a blanket but she was more interested in crawling over to her buggy to play with the car seat that was inside then really being outside (go figure)! But she did try and pick a few flowers for mommy!

Grass was a BIT long...maybe that's why she didn't like it!