So far we have been to town every Wednesday since we moved in.
And a Saturday.
And a Monday.
And 3 Tuesdays.
And a Thursday.
And 2 Fridays.
And every Sunday... but that we also knew about. So I suppose the plan is to go to town every Wednesday and Sunday and as few of the other days as possible.
The Saturday was to attend the library's renaissance faire.
The Tuesday's were to register for school.. then attend orientation.. pick up books and then learn that the school option wouldn't work after all and so we returned to unregister the following Tuesday.. we also registered and licensed the new car.
The Thursday was for cub scout pack meeting.
Now Monday and Tuesday evenings are jazz choir practices.
Friday was to attend the town homecoming parade and to go to the church social.
NEW GOAL!
Make every trip worthwhile.
Since the rec. center is free for all children in the county, we make a point of taking advantage of it if we are in town. So if there is a reason to go to town we add a rec center stop. The boys have become adept rock wall climbers, ping pong players, fish swimmers, and we've learned that the family that plays tennis together.... sweats together.
I often walk laps on the indoor track while the boys play. Patrick is hoping to try out the racquetball courts next time.
I struggled with needing to buy a four wheel drive vehicle for necessity of getting in and out of our neighbourhood in the impending winter and loving the gas mileage economy of our hybrid car. Unfortunately an affordable 8 passenger hybrid four wheel drive option didn't materialize. We did the best, we hope, but now we have 4 cars. We almost have 4 drivers in the house also. Ironic that our goals are to stay home as much as possible to be productive and economically efficient.
So now the week typically (have yet to have two similar weeks... can we have a typical yet) looks like this.
MONDAY. At home all day. Take off in the evening with Duncan for choir. Walk laps while others swim or play. or Patrick and boys stay home to work on projects.
TUESDAY. Repeat Monday.
WEDNESDAY. Rush through morning. Need to leave by 3. Only day we pick up the mail. Cub scouts. Youth church night. Any accumulated errands. Library returns and pick ups. Big boys stay and play chess while little boys go to scouts. Banking. Groceries. Gas. We take the weeks accumulated recycling to the depot. Stop at the ranch for packages that have been delivered and to say hi. (Can't get packages delivered to our address) picnic dinners in town parks. Some weeks we've gone fishing. The goal is to leave by 3. But... errand lists get long and sometimes we've left as early as 11. It's a long day but lots of waiting happens. There's 2 hours between scouts and church. Eating only takes so long. Last few weeks we've been picking up our food storage from the ranch basement where it's been stored a few boxes and buckets at a time. Or we've stopped by the old property to pick up items we had moved there (Outdoor benches. Trampoline frames, picnic table.etc..) No wasted trips.
THURSDAY. Enjoy no leaving. Except once a month for pack meeting.
FRIDAY. Enjoy no leaving. Unless there's a fun activity. Oh and once a month when the orthodontist comes to town.
SATURDAY. So many projects to work on it would be nice to not leave but instead stay and work on the many projects... but... we've not been home for a Saturday since we've moved. We've been helping the ranch barn rebuilding project. And there was a renaissance faire. And this week the big boys were invited to a board game night at a new friends house. And a cousin's birthday party cook out. Plus multiple weekend trips to Utah, but those are further apart now; only every 6 weeks.
SUNDAY. Church.
Ideal and reality are struggling to coexist.
