This past Saturday, J took a day off. For those non-parents out there, this means that I had the kids all day and through their bed time. She had the day to go out and just relax.

For me, a day alone with the kids means The Adventure Bag. A couple years ago (before N was born), I discovered that mom being busy was an excuse for us to go have an adventure. We’d pack a backpack and head to a theme park, or a zoo, or a hike, or some other such place of High Adventure. Being the big fan of tradition that I am, I set aside a backpack and named it The Adventure Bag. It’s tougher now, since there are two kids, but we still do it and have a great time. Whenever the kids see the adventure bag, they know we’re headed out for some serious fun. This eliminates any tears or upset they might have over Mom leaving.

As you can imagine, Adventure Bag days are tiring for all of us. Saturday was no exception. We returned around 3 and N went straight to a nap. C, however, was determined to stay awake. We went outside and played with some of the neighbor kids.

By the time dinner rolled around, we could barely keep our eyes open. We were sitting at the kitchen table just sort of staring at each other when I had an inspiration. It was movie time.

I looked over at C and said “Mary Poppins?”

He considered and then replied with “Popcorn?”

That was a good idea, but I thought I could do better. “Corn Dog?”

“Yeah!”

He hopped down and ran to the couch. We finished the day eating corn dogs and popcorn, and watching Mary Poppins. N slept through to the morning.