Weekend Fun!

As I sit here and type I've got tea in one hand a cough drop in the other.

Yup, that's right.

A cold took over our house this weekend...

On a long weekend deboot :(

Well more like a cold for the kids but a horrible sinus infection for me.

You know the kind where you feel like your head is inside of a vice or someone just punched you in the face?

Yeah.  That kind.  Not fun!

Despite everything working against us we were still determined to make the best of it...

The long weekend I mean...because let's face it doesn't every parent slightly loathe a long weekend?!

I've yet to meet the overly ecstatic parent who just wishes her children had a long weekend every weekend.

This is the real stuff people.  The nitty-gritty of it all.

Including a movie for the older boys on Sunday.

Hotel Transylvania.

Which I have to admit was cute, and funny.

Who doesn't love Kevin James and Adam Sandler...this girl right here LOVES them both!

In fact it was pretty much the same cast from Grown Ups-which our family loves-but in an animated Halloweenish movie!

Great times had all around.

Monday we decided to take a trip to the city.

And by city I mean Philadelphia.

We went to the Franklin Institute.

Now I remember going on at least one, probably two field trips to this place when I was younger and I remember it being so much bigger.

Maybe because I was only in the 3rd grade, but whatever!

Anyway about 10 minutes into our adventure a thought crossed my mind as I was trying to wrangle our two oldest boys for a photo op, and becoming more and more angry that they were not complying.

"I wonder if kids worst memories of museums are of forced pictures."

I never thought about it before.

Can we all just agree that is a horrible memory?

Okay.  Glad we're all on the same page.

They didn't want to stop and take pictures at every exhibit.

They wanted to run, play, explore, and learn.

They took in so much information and learned so many new things.

I was impressed.

So needless to say the big momma camera was put away and I spent the rest of the day trying to just enjoy my kids.

For me, and my latest medical struggle it was a bit of sensory overload to say the least, but I prevailed nonetheless.

After we were finished we headed outside to walk around and let the kids burn off more energy.

So we enjoyed $4 Cotton Candy, $4 Gatorade's and $4 hot dogs from a street vendor right outside the museum.

To which I appropriately {or inappropriately- you be the judge} said out loud, "Oh my Gosh!"

Wow, did they see us coming or what?!

Anyhow we trekked on across the street, with our $24 goodies, to a beautiful fountain that is home to the famous Philadelphia LOVE landmark where we took our pictures and enjoyed ourselves.

We took our time on the car ride home stopping at a rest stop to let the kids stretch their legs and to get Mr. Three and I a Starbucks hot chocolate.

Is there anything better than SB's Hot chocolate?!

I think not!

Followed by a quick trip to the supermarket to pick up some fixin's for dinner and back home for a nice homemade dinner.

Overall it was great!

I really tried to fend off my uglies when I felt them coming up.

I made an effort to appreciate and take in all of the moments we have together as a family of five, even on the car ride because I know these are the memories of our children.

This is what they will remember.

Car rides with mom and dad...the songs we sing, and the silly games we play!

Traveling to far away places-or in their case places that are 45 minutes away!

I want them to know that their thoughts, feelings, and emotions are important.

That they are not being overlooked, or taken for granted.

With 3 kids I feel like it's easy to get lost in our family and I never want them to feel that way.

I never want them to feel unimportant or by the way side.

I want them to remember family as being the most important.

Spending time together as a family.

And really is there anything better or more important?

I think not!

Having said all of that, I want to say a special hello to all of my new followers thanks in large part to Brie over at Sophstifunk!  I hope you guys like what you see and will continue to stick around for the long haul :)