There are very few distinct memories that stand out from when I was a kid – not in a bad way – memories come back to me all the time – but there are a few things that I think about quite often when I reflect on my childhood. One of those things was a day when my parents woke us up and said – today is “kid’s day” – it was holiday similar to Mother’s day or Father’s day that my parents dedicated to us. I don’t remember how old I was or what we did – but just the fact that they woke us up with such a fun surprise clearly stands out to me (as does going to get soft serve ice cream in our pjs) as a highlight.

The takeaway is that while I haven’t planned a “kid’s day” – I do love surprising my kids. Today, we decided to go to the kids museum. It was a cloudy/rainy afternoon, one that seemed perfect to spend dedicated time together, just focused on playing and I knew the kids would love it (we were especially excited to see how Connor reacted – he’s finally at that stage that he is really getting into outings such as these). We didn’t stay long, but long enough to get in lots of fun, and yet still have time for late afternoon hot dogs and naps – can’t beat that.

Connor is pretty funny these days – he runs from one thing to another (he does the same thing at Gymboree, except in smaller quarters he is running down completely unassuming kids as he comes barreling in) – hardly pausing to enjoy the activity he is doing before spotting something else. And he really does RUN from one thing to another. Yes, we were those parents embarrassingly RUNNING after him everywhere. In fact, JJ and I had to send text messages back and forth to each other indicating what areas of the museum we were in – because it wasn’t until we ended up in the museum gift shop (toys – of course) that the kids agreed on what activity they wanted to do at what time (we did many of the same things, at entirely different times). Connor’s favorite activity was, hands down, driving the ambulance, wearing the fireman’s hat. Cailee enjoyed the arts and crafts more this time than any other visit to date.

I just love watching the kids grow up and watching their interests grow and evolve.