Day Off

Ok. I have nothing really life-changing to say at the moment. I'm just sitting here, pretty much refusing to clean or do anything productive, and Kayla's watching some Dora. It's one of 'those days' to the max, and I'm enjoying it. I generally get a sense of total guilt when I purposely decide to NOT clean, or keep some form of order around here, but not right now. And after two years of training myself to need to be on the constant prowl for dirt, grime, dust, stains, smells, spills, or any of the other countless reasons that I never seem to stop moving while awake, I think I'm entitled to a day where I just don't care.

Last week I only babysat for Kylie Monday through Wednesday. I also don't get her back until Tuesday. They decided to go on a vacation before school starts, ironically, to NJ. They asked me some advice about heading to the Jersey Shore and I came up blank. I'm so not as New Jersey as I think they think I am. Just because I don't like pumping my own gas, that doesn't mean that I like to necessarily be associated with the state in other ways. I went to the boardwalks of NJ as an adult probably a total of 10 times, and all of them were uneventful except the two times I went to Wildwood when there was threat of tornado. I'm sure that visiting there is different than having lived there your whole life, but I just can't really imagine planning an entire vacation around it.

I spent the time off looking into places that I can bring the two babies during the week. I can't really bring both of them to the park by myself. I've taken them when I had Brian or my friend, Emily, with me to help, and realized that it would be impossible to chase Kayla while holing the baby. And she needs to be chased because she finds the tallest things to climb on every single time.

So far, I've found a place called Jumping Jungle, that Kayla loves. We went last Thursday and I know I'd be able to bring Kylie with us. It's an indoor place with giant inflatable things and padded floors. There's no need for me to hover over her, because there's virtually no chance she can get hurt. Even though she's the smallest child there, she keeps up well and the other kids were very aware of her, taking care to not play too rough. My only complaint was that there was no air conditioning, so even I left feeling pretty disgusting and I wasn't even jumping around.

There are also a couple of places in Binghamton that I think I could work. One is a small zoo, The Ross Park zoo. It's a very small zoo, but plenty of entertainment for a two year old. There is also a place near the zoo called "The Discovery Center". I need to go there before I have the two of them by myself to make sure if it would work, but it seems to be one of those hands-on museums where children can just get into whatever they want. So I have two good options and one potential. Kayla's getting a little stir-crazy in the house so I really have to keep looking.

I feel bad that we don't spend a lot of time outside, but it's just seems to not work out. I had an entire paragraph written here explaining the problems, but realized that it just sounds like I'm making excuses. I don't THINK I am, but I guess I could be. I won't lie- I despise the summer and hate being outside. I also hate bugs, and setting up the yard for Kayla is a pain. It's very frustrating to go through setting everything up, only to find it down-pouring anyway by the time I get it ready, which does happen more often than you'd think. To make a long story a little longer, this is why I needed to find places to bring her. I don't mind taking them out to stores or the mall, or anywhere that I can leave them in the stroller, but I also want some places where Kayla can really get involved and active.


Ahh, the search will have to continue.