This week I am documenting a week in our lives along with the Ali Edwards community. Here are some photos and words about yesterday, if you’d like to see…

Saturday I really did not want to get out of bed. Both kids had slept with me all night so I woke up to them crawling on me. At a certain point I couldn’t ignore it anymore. I think we got up around 6:30 a.m.

Our plans for the day included going to the bay to fish and play on the beach. We were just going to head out as soon as we had breakfast and packed up, no real rush. While I was making breakfast, Liam found my hand weights and seemed very proud of himself for carrying them around.

Meredith looks for the cats first thing almost every morning. She said, “Does Ziggy need some love?” and held him while watching TV.

Even on Saturday I usually try to get up before the kids to do a Bible study, but things have been crazy lately, especially with the sleep situation, so I didn’t today. But I was missing that encouraging word in the morning, so I read the day’s entry in My Utmost For His Highest while I waited for my coffee to brew.

After breakfast I started making and packing lunches.

Finally we were all ready to go and we packed up the car. The kids played in the puddles a bit before we left. Liam’s one pair of sandals that I can stuff on his fat feet were dirty, so I pulled out a pair of Meredith’s old purple Crocs for him to wear.

We made a stop by a gas station to get some drinks.

On the way to the bay, it suddenly began storming. We weren’t too concerned because according the weather report it wasn’t supposed to last long. But Meredith got very upset, and after talking over our options with her she got fixated on the prospect of an indoor playplace or playground.

 

When we got close, however, none of the fast food places had playlands. But thankfully we found an awesome playground close to the dike and it had stopped raining enough that we could get out. Things were a bit slippery but the kids had a decent time. I forced a family photo so hard, but I’m glad I did it!

We stopped to get bait and then found a place to set up. Please don’t judge our brown sand and water! This was a dike on the bay so not representative of Texas beaches in general. Our primary aim was to fish, but we just needed a place that would be safe for the kids. They were nervous about everything at first, but Liam quickly realized he loved it and Meredith got braver over time.

David caught a few little fish! He was kind of embarrassed by them, but he was fishing in the shallow part to be close to us. Meredith even held one of the fish and threw it back into the water.

For awhile David crossed the road and went to fish in the deeper water. I played in the sand and water with the kids. Meredith began struggling. I could tell she wanted to play and have fun, but she was really bothered by the sand getting on her. Eventually we had to pack up and leave early because she couldn’t calm down. Both kids slept the whole ride back.

At home we woke them up because it was 5 p.m. and there was crying. I tried to get as much stuff unloaded and cleaned up as possible, then I begged David to take over while I showered. Yep, this was only my second shower of the week which is pretty normal for me.

We rarely eat out, but after a long day I asked David to just pick me up some chicken fried rice for dinner. He and the kids played lava while I finished cleaning up.

Obviously they needed baths too.

David took Liam for his nighttime ride and Meredith had quite a few tantrums for me.

She wanted to clip her own nails. She is getting better at it.

After that we read books and went to sleep. Again, I meant to get up but fell asleep in her bed. I moved to my own at midnight and at some point later she joined me. I think I need a different strategy here.

Thoughts on today: I’m so glad we made our family adventure happen even if it wasn’t perfect. Meredith is not going to remember the sand in her swimsuit but she will remember how she floated in the water and touched a fish. There were moments of pure bliss while we were together and I can get caught up on the chores later.