Simple Happiness

Yesterday was one of those unexpected days that did not turn out as planned.  My little firefighters and I were planning on spending the day with our Firefighter since he was going to be done with his shift that morning.  Well, he ended up having OT during the day so he would not be coming home at all until after our little firefighters were in bed

While we were disappointed we still made the best of it.  G and M were playing very nicely together in the morning so I was able to get a few chores done around the house.  Since it was such a beautiful day I told my little firefighters that we should go to the local farm market known in the area for its homegrown corn.  They also have a big tractor and wagon that the kids can climb on as well as glider swings.  I also enjoy the ride there as it goes through the parks and it is so beautiful.

When we got there my little firefighters were so excited to see the huge wagon full of corn.

They immediately wanted to help me start selecting corn.  We ended up buying a dozen ears of corn because they were having so much fun selecting good ears.

Once we were done selecting our corn we took a look around inside.  They had a slushy machine so we each had a slushy, bought some fruit and a couple of cookies.  Once we paid our bill we went back outside to enjoy the sunshine and eat our snack.

The boys really enjoyed the glider swing and I found it very relaxing too.  The weather was just perfect to sit outside and enjoy ourselves.  Of course, an outing would not be complete without a potty break.  Unfortunately, the farm market did not have public restrooms but the park's Visitor's Center across the parking lot had some so we walked over there.

Once G and M were done we decided to check out the park's Visitor's Center and the area around it.  We found a cute little bridge on the bike path so we walked over there to see the view.

While we were standing on the bridge there were a lot of bicycles riding by and G and M really enjoyed that.  Then we walked over to the Visitor's Center where we found a nice surprise.  There was a children's play area there so G and M were very excited.  They were able to each draw a picture and hang it up on the display clips and draw on the chalkboard.

G enjoyed making the puzzles.

M enjoyed the growth chart of frogs that had plastic tadpoles and frogs on it.

We ended up staying there over one-and-a-half hours.  I was playing with the boys but I also had some time to just sit there and watch them play.  They were having so much fun and they were playing so well together.  I felt such an incredible amount of happiness sitting there and watching them.  Everything about the day was just simple yet completely wonderful.  It is these days that I treasure so much as a mother. While we missed our Firefighter very much we ended up having a nice day anyhow.

With the fire schedule you have to take each day as it comes.  Some days are just typical days and other days are anything but typical.  There are schedule changes, OT, FIU, last minute squad or fire calls and continuing education.  We have learned to just go with the flow and make the best of it.  Sometimes things go the other way too where our Firefighter forgets to mark one of his days off on our home calendar so we then are able to have him home with us an extra day.  The crazy fire schedule is our life and we would not have it any other way.  We are a fire family and loving it!