Neighborhood Favorites

I took The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot with me this morning for "the usual" at Curio Cafe. It was packed. We managed to snag a table (it helps that we can cram into a 2-top), but a party of 5 that came in just after us had to wait a bit. The Tot got into a bit of a scuffle with the little boy sitting next to us; they both wanted the same activity cube. It had been the other boy's toy in a previous life and he did not want The Tot (or anyone else) to play with it. I've had more enjoyable meals at Curio, but that was more a function of taking 3 kids and the ad section of the paper to breakfast on a Sunday morning.

When I got home, Uncle Brian and the cousins came over for Football Sunday. The Tot was in heaven. He loves football. I ran a few shopping errands (Gap Outlet, Kohl's, The Home Depot) for The Dad. Then we took a family walk to the newly unveiled playground equipment at Athletic Field Park, at The Boy's request. It's quite a bit further than the playground at Independence Park, but it's quite nice. They've installed a new water feature between the original covered playground building and the basketball courts. It was obviously not working in 55-degree October weather, but I'm delighted at the prospect of sitting in the shade while The Boy, The Girl, and The Tot frolic in the spray park in front of me.

Plus, Meg and Tracy in park management are lovely people. Meg retrieved my keys from the ceramics studio for me on Friday, after I discovered I'd left them there after pottery class.

Football Sundays

The Dad and his brother are continuing their tradition of Football Sundays. The Dad takes The Boy, The Girl and, for the first time, The Tot, with him to visit their cousins and watch football. One week, my brood goes over to their uncle's house and one week, the uncle and cousins come here. I get the afternoon off. The kids get to hang out with their cousins (two girls: aged 5.5 and 9) and The Dad gets to watch football with his brother. Everyone is happy.

I spent the afternoon at home, puttering around the house. I finished hacking out the useless range hood over our stove, hung a lamp in The Girl's room, and took a walk in the rain to K-Mart and back. I also discovered leaks in our roof, hauling up to the attic to inspect the source and find something to catch the drips. While I was up there, I also found an old kitchen drawer that matches what we have already. Maybe I can use it in my new over-the-range hood/microwave project.