Recently our playgroup went to Marbles Museum in Raleigh. It's a really amazing museum for kids, but it's also a really hectic place for adults. Trying to keep track of your children among so many others is seriously challenging.
We must've hit it just right, however, because the museum was filled with fewer people than I had ever seen. It was much easier than usual to keep track of our kids, and when they were involved with their play and each other, some of us moms even had a chance to talk while we watched them.
But the very best part of the day came in the afternoon - after the IMAX documentary and lunch in the courtyard.
After zipping around from exhibit to exhibit all day, my two found the perfect areas for them: the Super Large Legos and the Make-and-Race-Your-Own-Car.
We spent at least two, perhaps closer to three, hours in these two exhibits. Because they were right next to each other with a low dividing wall, I could stand there in the middle and watch them both. Friends were also enthralled with these two areas, and the kids played happily together.
For HOURS.
Sometimes life seems so broken up. Everything feels compartmentalized, and we rush from one thing to another. It feels hard to find those big blocks of time that I love, when you can really dig down into a project and accomplish something.
We found it that day, and it was great.
My Big Helper built a kid-sized castle out of blocks - with multiple rooms - and then proceeded to play house in it with one of the other kids.
My Little Man raced cars over and over, eventually learning how to fix them when they crashed and beginning to piece parts together for his own. After arriving at home, he rediscovered his own K'Nex and Legos and worked hard on his own car.
Our summer is filling up with activities fast, but I think we'll be saying 'no' to some more of them now. Not because the playdates and field trips aren't fun - they are - but I don't want all of our days to be broken up.
We need some time at home, time to be bored, time to create, time to dig in our heels and explore something fully.
How about you? Anything you need a chunk of time for?
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