It took a full four weeks to get the itch to get out of the house after our loooong trip west. The kids and I went to Indianapolis this week to check out the new Mr. Potato Head exhibit at the Children's Museum. At $1 a ticket, we visit there often, and always love it. I wasn't sure what to expect being there alone with my three kids (two hands of mind holding three hands of theirs could have been a recipe for disaster), but the trip went just as well as it could have.
For some reason I feel more competent as a mother when we are out and about- as long as my kids are behaving well. "Look! We're out doing an enriching, fun-filled activity where you can learn and run and laugh and play" speaks to me a whole lot more than "It's another day at home. I have to do the laundry/cook the meals/clean the house/preserve naptime/fit in having lots of fun with my children while they are still home for the bulk of the day because kindergarten is looming just around the corner and sssshh! The baby is asleep!" Of course, I don't have the energy to take everyone out every day, but that makes it all the more special when we do go out.
And it helps that my kids are pretty reserved in public- I rarely have to deal with running off or screaming tantrums on the floor or trying to figure out how to carry more than one child out of a public place because they just won't obey. I probably just jinxed myself, but so far, so good. And that's saying a lot, since I have seen the wrath of a certain two-year old of mine, and it is not pretty.
It also helped that we were there on a Thursday afternoon in February. The museum was as quiet as I've ever seen it, and that made it much more enjoyable for us- and easier for me to keep my two eyes on my three kids... of course, Emma's immobility made it pretty easy, too. We decided ahead of time which exhibits we would visit in the allotted time we had (Jason was down there working so we only had a few hours to play), and had fun checking out Jacques Coustato and Mr. Potato Head, PhD at the new exhibit. We also said good-bye to the Barbie exhibit, Leah's favorite. We hid in a prehistoric cave while a flesh-eating T-rex searched for us, had boat races in the waterworks exhibit, and finished up at the carousel. Leah was thrilled to finally get to ride on the jeweled horse, while Adam, Emma and I chose the more tame giraffes.
It was a delightful trip, and with the reality of 5-day-a-week kindergarten ahead of us, even if it's only half-day, I am going to try to squeeze in as many of these "let's have fun just because we can" days as I can.
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