One of the advantages (there aren't many so I am grateful for the few that exist) of Tony working long hours (or playing baseball on a Monday evening during the summer months) is that the kids and I have less time pressure. It's not that during the regular hours part of the year I rush home every afternoon to be here when he gets home from work, more that if Tony is at home we'd like to be there with him, and we usually eat dinner together so it makes sense to actually be at home and get it ready and eat and so on. But when he's not going to be at home throughout the evening at all, we can stay out if we are enjoying something, we can pick up dinner wherever we are, or come home late and eat then if we're not too hungry.
On Monday we didn't get home until 8.30 after a very long day out - it was nice not to feel like I wanted to rush the kids in the evening to leave Croydon library where we were hanging out, we stayed until it closed then it was a fairly easy transition, to the car then home and had leftovers for tea. We all love going to the library and spending hours there, usually though I feel like we've got somewhere to be afterwards and I spend a chunk of the time there trying to get everyone ready to leave. On Monday the kids watched YouTube videos, browsed the books and DVDs and CDs and borrowed what they liked the look of, and played games on the computers set up in the kids' section of the library. They hadn't been to Croydon before - I've been a few times while Caitlin is at acting - it might even be my favourite of the Eastern Regional Libraries. Before and after we were in the building the kids watched the ducks in the pond, and Caitlin rode her Ripstik.
The reason we were out on Monday is that LiAM had his 6 month check up with the Paediatrician in Ringwood. I hadn't organised anyone to look after the girls, so seeing as we were all going anyway we decided to go to the movies first. We saw Paper Planes - and we were the only people in the theatre, which meant that Millie and LiAM could wander around when they had sat for long enough, and could try different seats, and we could chat about what was happening if we wanted to. I enjoyed the movie, although it wasn't as great as I'd thought it might be. I liked the themes of love, family, perseverance, making sacrifices and facing fears to reach a goal that's truly important to you. The kids all loved it.
After the movie we went down to the food court and shared a honey chicken and rice for a late lunch, the headed over to the hospital. We found a parking space fairly close to the hospital - a pleasant change to not have to walk for 10 minutes from our car. The appointment was for 3.15 and we arrived around 3.10. The kids watched Frozen, drew pictures, read books, played on the iPad, played with my Rubiks Cube and were becoming more and more bored by the time we finally went in around 4.25. The appointment was our basic check up, all going well, get a new script, see you in 6 months. Although it can feel like a waste of time sometimes, I am actually grateful that he does have a doctor who knows his history and is regularly checking on his health (and seeming to care about his health) - if things do get worse again I know I will appreciate having that connection, rather than when he was younger and we felt like no one was bothered with helping us help him be healthier.
From the hospital we went to McDonalds for soft serve cones and then on to the library for about 3 hours. I finished my book while I was there - 'Goodbye for Now' by Laurie Frankel, a very thought provoking book about death and love - which was a very pleasing way to spend an evening. After we'd had dinner at home the kids were winding down to go to bed when LiAM said he'd been watching Mineplex Minecraft videos, and Caitlin said she knew how to get to that server, so the 3 of them jumped on the computer and played Mineplex for an hour or so - I was reading in bed when Tony came home from baseball and he stayed up with them for a bit longer and they all went to bed very happy.
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