A Busy Saturday

Saturday was a great day. The weather was perfect, I spent a goodly portion of it with my children, and we got some stuff done on top of that!

The early morning was spent ignoring the kids as they played in the hallway (loudly) while we pretended it was still time to sleep. Then we got up and had a leisurely morning having breakfast and goofing off.

I went bicycling with my oldest son, going up to the top of the hill above our house where there's some dirt jumps to ride on. Then with a sly grin, I suggested we take a ride around the block. He thought that was a great idea and we started off. The way I took him, though, wasn't exactly "around the block" -- it was more like "around the range of hills separating my neighborhood from the one just to the west of us". I think it was something like a 3 mile ride up some really steep hills. We had a great time, though, going super fast down the hills, but we were tired and slightly sunburned by the time we got back!

By then, my wife was panicky since she needed to go out to do something and couldn't until I got home. When she came back, we went out shopping to go buy some flowers and other plants to put in our back flower bed. On the way home, we picked up some lunch from Burger King (the kids had earned certificates for free kids meals) and we ate lunch on the back porch.

Putting our youngest to bed, we then proceeded to garden. We worked really hard, getting most of the flowers in, clearing debris from our strawberry patch, cutting down some annuals that needed trimming, and generally cleaning up the back yard. The kids even spent some time weeding in the garden, doing a wonderful job.

About 1:30, we realized what time it was and we had to scramble to get my oldest ready for his basketball game at 2. We made it on time, though, and I enjoyed watching him play. He had a great game and really enjoyed himself.

Afterwards we came home and worked in the yard some more while the kids were playing in the water. My youngest was wandering around in a bottom-heavy diaper while my two older ones were wearing swimsuits. We worked hard until it was finally dinner time when we went inside and got the kids in the shower at various times. My oldest was quite motivated to get through his shower fast since we wouldn't let him play on the computer until he was done showering. My younger kids had a more leisurely bath.

For dinner we had leftovers from the night before (rice topped with a cream sauce with chicken, pineapple, chow mein noodles, and a few other tidbits). It was nice, and we had a pleasant evening together.

Before bedtime, we got out some glow sticks. We turned out all the lights and the kids ran around in the dark. We played a game where my wife and I would hide the glow sticks then they'd have to go look for them in the dark. One of them was such a bright green that it basically glowed so bright as to leave no doubt where it was -- my youngest was assigned to find that one. It was a great time.

Then my wife and I put the kids to bed, reading scriptures and saying prayers with them, and then had some quiet time together. We watched "Lost", which we had recorded Thursday night, and then just went to bed since we were so tired from the day.

It was a great day spent together as a family, with a good combination of work and fun.