kayaking and kiddos

what a beautiful weekend huh? and then we get a cold front and suddenly it feels like winter. what a great fall season...all two days of it. i made the most of it, as i usually do when any hint of good weather comes through. sunday i went kayaking! me and some friends decided to check it out on town lake and it was great - a good workout too! plus i think it was the windiest day of 2005 making it a bit challenging. my kayak insisted on always being 90 degrees off so while the others were going straight...i headed left or right. eventually i just let it go - if you cant beat 'em, join 'em right? the current eventually led me into some low trees that i had to manuever around as to not gouge my eyes out by the low branches. at one point when my kayak and i were fighting, it turned completely around heading the opposite direction. at first i wanted to protest and get back going the right way but i looked up to see some swans playing follow the leader. there were actually two more right behind these in the picture but in the few seconds i had to turn my camera on and take the picture, i was only able to get two. even so, just a small example of how beautiful it was out on the lake.
the day before, on saturday, i took on the role of aunt kate the great. i took my neice and nephew to mcd's and then to the park for a good 2 1/2 hours! in that 3 hours or so i decided im not ready to be a mother of two kids both under the age of 5 and a half. but at the end of the day - no matter how exhausted you are - you forget about how ellie refused to eat any of her happy meal and almost broke into a tantrum or how long you spent running all around the park to see all five million of berkeley's 'favorite places.' somehow that kinda fades and you remember how cute they looked when they were feeding the ducks and how such simple things such as swinging on the swings are as thrilling as going to disneyworld. they teach you to find joy in the little things and make you realize that time spent with them is the most valuable thing you can give them in the world.