Mommy Date

This morning, while Nicolas was busy elsewhere, Kalen and I had some together time.

We need to do this more often.

Having just one of the kids around gives me such insight to who they are as people.

We drove by some botanical gardens.  It was early in the day; they were practically deserted.

Later on, when we passed this fellow on our way out to the car, Kalen cried, “Oh look! It’s my old friend, Mr. Frog!”

The requisite “hold my arm out for a self portrait” portrait.  I saw recently that a professional photographer had this listed as her photographical pet peeve.  Methinks she needs to get over herself.  There’s room for fun snapshots in photography, folks.  They don’t all have to be perfect.

Plus, the outtakes from these are almost always fun.  (If not good blackmail fodder.)

As the household camera-keeper, I’m happy to report that all double-chinned arm-extended self portraits were quickly deleted.  I claim right of artistic license.

There is no shortage of comfy benches with great views on which to park oneself and knit.

And read.

And listen to the bees hum.  I was very proud of Kalen.  After a few minutes, he stopped backing away from the bees like a person faced with a knife-armed mugger.  The child has a slight (ha) fear of bugs.

Especially the kind with stingers.

On the other hand, he adores honey, so there’s a certain amount of respect and gratitude there.

Kalen took on the role of “tourist guide,” showing me an endless variety of plants.  He insisted this one was a perfect photographic subject.

My knees hurt just looking at that photo.

Is it wrong to be jealous of your 7-year-old’s knees?

We plan to head back tomorrow morning and search out any letterboxes that might be hidden amongst the plants and bees.  We’ll take along our books and knitting, too.