It was beautiful.
And entirely just what my heart needed.
Don't get me wrong, we did have a beautiful magical day of family time and love but it still wasn't all puppies and ice cream cones. Harlyn still threw her typical massive turd sized tantrum because she hates being cooped up in the stroller, Khage was annoyingly torturous to her because after all she was within arms reach to him and his sister-pestering-hands, the hat that I was wearing tried on numerous occasions to leap from my head to which I can only imagine was due to my poor decision to skip a shower that morning... or maybe it was because of the wind, and Brad's back still hurt because frankly his back hurts most of the time... so it definitely had its glaring areas of gray but all that aside it was still incredibly perfect.
Let me describe this day in detail. For the incessantly bored at heart feel free to skip it.
We left around noon and went out for lunch. Brad even made it a point to bring along some ColorWonder for their strollering pleasure... excuse me while I fan myself, nothings hotter than an overly prepared Daddy.
Ahem.
Anyway, we ate Mexican food on the patio and because apparently people don't like the outdoors we were blessed with an entirely empty restaurant patio all to ourselves. The kids played, hardly ate a lick of their food but hey totally alright because ya know more for me, and we enjoyed the breeze and sunshine.
From there we agreed to walk. Just walk. Anywhere. Around town, under overpasses, through brush, under train tracks, past fields, to Grandma and Pompa's house, and all the way back home. We walked for miles, over seven, equally more then 5 hours... which yes that works out to like an abominable 42 minute miles but speed wasn't our primary goal. We just wanted to walk, explore, see new sites and soak in some family time.
Sometimes whenever we are together, just the 4.5 of us I get overwhelmed by how much I love these people. Most of the time I thank God, but other times I thank myself for having the clarity over eight years ago to recognize Brad as my better half and the link to this wonderful life we have made together. Soul mates are for saps, and I am surely no sap, but I am so glad that I met him precisely on that day, in that distinct parking lot at that specific grocery store and that he is this particular kind of man. The kind of man who says yes to my random request for family time disguised as an aimless stroll around town.
These blissful days of nothing but family love are few and far between. Life happens; laundry needs folding, dinners needs made, and butts need wiped. But when family day does happen, I think the love between Brad and I and these wonderful little crying and fighting people we have made is heightened to a place of blissfulness and purity.
...okay, maybe I'm a little sappy.
And a total sucker for a sleeping baby.
And although Roo isn't here taking up space in the stroller or sending sleepy drool down my left arm, this bundle of love deserves attention too.
Oh how this bump makes me smile.
And small shoutout to Farmer John, whom I hope wasn't too perturbed by me stomping all over his livelihood. My bad, FJ. My bad.
