My husband had to go deliver a grant application for work yesterday. The building where it had to be delivered just happened to be around the corner from the State Capitol, so we decided to make a family field trip out of it. Note to self for next field trip ... BRING CAMERA!
We had to park downtown, which led to a new exciting experience for half of the children. What could this new exciting experience possibly be? Parking meters. Yep, you read correctly, parking meters. Each of the kids took turns putting quarters in the parking meter and giggled the entire time. At one point a lady walked past with the most peculiar look on her face. Apparently she must have been wondering about these parking meters too. I'm sure it wasn't because we looked like country homeschooling folk whose kids have never been to the City. No, that couldn't be it.
Our first stop was to drop off my husband's grant application. We reminded the children before we went in the building that this was a place of work and they had to use quiet voices and quiet feet. When we entered the building, my husband and I had to be checked in by a security officer. While my husband was having his drivers license scanned, I was standing back a bit with our children. We watched employees come and go while we were waiting. One lady noticed us standing there and decided to stop and talk. She asked me if they were all mine (we only have 4 kids), asked me their ages and then asked me if I drank or took medication. Yep, you read that correctly. Apparently my well behaved children should lead me to drinking or taking medication. I politely smiled and told her how much I enjoy being home with them all day and how much I enjoy homeschooling them. At that point, I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head. She then said that I deserved a medal or a vacation and quickly walked away.
As that woman left, my heart was sad. How could you look at children (not just mine who are...ahem...perfect) and think of them as a burden? I longed for her to know the joy that I have in my heart because I get to be at home with my children. Now, that is not to say there aren't days where I want to bang my head into a wall, but there is more joy than head banging.
Next was my turn to get checked in. In order to enter the building, you have to have your picture taken so you can get a temporary visitor badge to wear. I had to laugh when I received my badge because right behind me in the picture were two of my children's little faces smiling from ear to ear. We rode the super fast elevator up to the correct floor, delivered the grant and were ready to move on to the next part of our adventure.
We then walked up to the Capitol building. There were no sessions going on, so we pretty much had the entire building to ourselves. We, again, had to get checked in by a security officer. The security officer was so helpful and gave us all the information we needed to get started. We arrived up on the first floor only to find out we missed the guided tour. That didn't stop us. We decided to go on our own. The kids had so much fun looking at all the pictures of the previous governors, peeking into the House and Senate Chambers and then climbing the steep stairs up to the gallery. All in all, they had a great time.
On our way home we decided to stop at a Bass Pro Shop. Since we live in a small town, we rarely get to big name stores. The kids were excited because they got to see all the Duck Dynasty items. I was happy because we made it out of the store with only buying a pound of fudge. Of course, if you have read the post I wrote a few days ago about my weight loss journey, then you know that was probably not the smartest purchase. I, however, don't really care for fudge so it most likely wont be that big of a temptation. If it had been cupcakes, that would be a completely different story, one that involves me not sharing...at all!
I had several favorite moments from the day, but some of my most favorite were on the ride home when everyone shared their favorite moments. We all agreed, our most favorite was the fact that all of us were able to spend the entire day together. Love!
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