An afternoon with Allie + some other stuff

A few weeks ago, Allie informed me, with a sigh, that we just weren't spending enough time together.  Alone.  I told her we could resolve that with back to school shopping and maybe lunch together.  Alone.  Would that suffice?

Allie:  "Sure.  Can we stay in a hotel?"

No.

So late one Saturday morning, we ventured off to the outlets and hit the stores after lunch at Friendly's.  Allie is a fun shopping buddy.  Sometimes she even accompanies me on my Loft excursions to help out.  I always say this but the child/parent dynamic is so different when there's only kid.


I took this after we arrived home.  She wore that hat while we were out and about and received many compliments on her style.

So what about Emily and Anna?  I offered to do the same but Emily seemed indifferent and Anna kept coming up with these day-long itineraries which included several different eating establishments.  They ended up going with me back to the outlets the next morning as I had to exchange a pair of pants for a different size and they desperately needed new pants.  (Not that they've needed pants with this weather.)  We were a bit tight on time as they had a friend coming over so there was no time for lunch out.  We'll figure something out.  Alone time seems to  happen as needed around here and just because one kid needs it, doesn't mean the others do as well.  Or they want their alone time to be something different.  "You're copying me."


#fake #forfashion  

We have great summer weather forecasted for this long holiday weekend.  I'm not ready for summer to end but I can already see signs of fall.  Sigh.  The sun is setting much earlier and the green has begun to die off.  I'm dreading the thought of my new commute come winter.  Dreading.  My new office is a mile from the train station so I end up walking it every day.  I don't feel like I'm in better shape for it but it has to be doing some good. Right?

My kids who can swim have been asking about kid triathlons.  A girl they know from school does one with her dad each summer but it's while they're on vacation so it's not local.  Maybe we can find one next year.  I wanted to bring the kids down to the bike path along the Cape Cod Canal this year but we don't have a bike rack that will fit all of our bikes and in order to get what we need, we'd have to do something to the van and because the van is eight years old, it will be going bye-bye soon.  That's definitely on our summer to-do list next year.

Have a nice long weekend!