On Saturday, life started out disappointing for Breanna. George had to leave fairly early in the morning for work and wasn’t expecting to be back until late afternoon. On top of that, Hayley had gone over to her grandparents’ house. Thus it was just the two of us. However, we made the best of it!

We played some Wii bowling, tennis, and golf together (she totally kicked my ass at golf, by the way, and I wasn’t even *trying* to let her win. She came in at 3 over par. I came in at 10 over par. I am ashamed.), then we ate some lunch together. I made tuna salad, turned it into a sandwich for her, and I ate the rest with crackers. What made it special for her was that I threw a sheet down on the floor and we had a picnic in the living room while she chattered my ears off.

When lunch was done, we were both restless and the weather was too beautiful to ignore. Those of you who are further south or perhaps out west may have found it chilly at 5 or 6C but it was positively balmy here. We got our coats and grabbed Pearl and went for a long walk – we were gone for about an hour and a half! Pearl certainly enjoyed that (and slept well that evening).

We walked through a wooded area for awhile, found good “walking sticks” to help us on our way, and strolled along a few streets. We crossed through a church lot that she loves and she spent some time showing me that it’s a shame we’re Anglican/Protestant since she would make such an excellent Catholic girl, what with her massive love of the Virgin Mary.

Of course there was one thing at the church that was even more fun that the statue – a puddle!

It amazes me that we have toys, really, because she was just so overjoyed with nothing more than a puddle full of muddy water, a stick to stir it with, and a few pebbles to occasionally throw into the mix. She spent a good 15 minutes just playing there – and she didn’t even get wet other than her hands, which is amazing.

After I finally pried her away from the puddle, she then moved on to the one thing that’s even more fun than the Virgin Mary statue AND a muddy puddle combined – jumping off the big rock in the church yard.

(Even better viewed larger!)

It was no wonder she fell asleep so quickly and painlessly that night, what with all the walking and then the jumping.

She wasn’t very interested in going back home but I had to get supper started and we were both hungry. Once we got back in, she was pretty happy to be handed a big cup of juice and some cheese and crackers while I got the oven going. She kept telling me the rest of the afternoon and evening that she had had so much fun, and it got even better when she got to clean off after supper with a big bubble bath and bath paints all by herself.

Before Breanna was born, I spent a ton of time with just Hayley – going for walks, letting her take a bath until the water turned cold, and just hanging out. Breanna didn’t get that as often. Now that Hayley’s in school, we do have mornings and the first two hours of the afternoon, but I’m also working at that time, so it’s not quite the same. Dropping all ideas of working on Saturday and spending the entire day just playing with her and seeing her enjoying herself was such a great thing to do and I’m glad Hayley and George were busy with their own fun (George WAS having fun, it was work, but it was music work, so at least he enjoyed it!) so that I could get some of that quiet alone time with Breanna.

We’ll have to make a date to do it again soon!