That's right! The Rousehouse took a school day
and turned it into the first annual Rousehouse Family Fun Day!
And, we had a blast.
It all started with Dave suggesting that we let the girls stay home
from school and take them to the Zoo and Science Center for a
day of fun and learning. It seems like the weekends are constantly
full of activities, projects and catching up and we can never find time
to do fun thing together, just our family.
Now, for those of you who know me, you can imagine how difficult
this was for me. For several reasons:
1. I'm a doer. I can't "skip" out on a day just for fun. I have
things I have to do!
2. I had some serious concerns about introducing "skipping"
to my children. I know this will come as a shock to some of you,
but I had a bit of an issue with skipping school when I was younger,
like HS through undergraduate school!
3. Again, I'm busy. I have lots to do. I can't take an entire day off to go play!
Well, thankfully my husband convinced me and we had the BEST day ever!
It started with breakfast at our neighborhood Cozy Cafe then off to the zoo.
The weather couldn't have been more beautiful. The animals were awake and
we even caught a sea lion show! The girls played at the playarea at the zoo for
a long time and didn't fight once!
Then we went to Spaghetti Works for lunch, one of our favorites, then over to
the Science Center for the afternoon. We all agreed, this was our best trip to the
Sci Center ever! There were about 10 people there, so we had the place to ourselves.
Literally, we were the only people playing in 2 of the areas we went to. The best
part was the Deep Freeze Experiment we attended. It was our family, one
other family and a great young lady scientist. We got to experiment with dry ice
and liquid nitrogen (we'll she handled that, a little dangerous for us!). It was so
cool! I loved watching both of my girls get really into it, answering questions
and making predictions! It is definitely in my top 10 best family experiences ever!
From there, we headed to the ball park for Claire's softball team, Parents vs. Kids
game and then to Pizza Ranch for dinner and, finally, home.
We had so much fun! I can't believe how special a normal old Tuesday became
when we chose to put family first and spend some quality, educational time together.
We didn't argue, fight or even bicker. We laughed and discovered and enjoyed
our time together.
Now, I don't suggest that we all pull our kids out of school and "play" all the time,
but I do have a new appreciation for the "staycation"!
On our drive home, we all agreed that this is a new family tradition (see previous
Tradition post if you don't know my love for them!). Once a year, in the spring,
we are all "skipping" out of life to enjoy a fun day together!
Here are some of the 117 pictures I took that day~
My beautiful girls!
Zoo fun!
Look at all those fish!
More fun at the Zoo playarea
My little monkey! She hung on these bars forever!
Science Center exploration
The girls' hand "prints" above them
An exhausting, but fun day!
