Sundays. My lucky husband and I have arranged that he gets that day off. He works from home, so he's “on duty” with the kids 6 days a week. I am fortunate to get a lot of time to myself because the three boys log many hours during the week playing baseball and football and going on bike rides. Marriage is give and take, right?
Sunday is definitely my husband's “take.” He gets the whole day to just watch football (and, he will gladly tell you, do the laundry). I take the kids on day trips since Florida's lifestyle allows me plenty of places to choose from in our own “backyard.”
Grandma and Grandpa live in Belleair, Florida, a small town where I grew up, right next to Clearwater and about 10 minutes from Clearwater Beach.
I like to pack the kids up and head over Route 60 from Tampa to make the 45-minute scenic drive to my parents on Sunday afternoons. Clearwater is a great day trip. The kids entertain themselves in the car just by looking at the waves outside the window. Heading over the Courtney Campbell Causeway is a beautiful drive. The kids look for sharks and dolphins popping out of the waves. (We've seen a few wild dolphins, but thankfully, never any sharks!)
This Sunday, I asked my mom to take my youngest to the Clearwater Library. Divide and conquer was my motto. My 6-year-old has been begging all week to go check out some Ripley's Believe It or Not! books and my 9-year-old wanted to hit some batting cages and the driving range.
The $20-million Clearwater Public Library is a great way to spend the day; the children's area is packed with activities. The Kids World has toddler story times, drumming circles and features a huge interactive lighted sculpture, a beautiful Victorian doll house and other kid-friendly displays.
This week, Brandon and Grandma got to check out the cardboard robot (pictured to the right). Brandon was perplexed trying to figure out if the robot was “smoking a cigar, or if his nose fell off.” I informed my curious son that it was the latter: “I don't think the cardboard robot would be smoking!” I hope not, anyway!
The library overlooks Coachman Park, 301 Drew Street, which is a great place next to the water, where the kids can also burn off steam after a quiet day in the library. Throughout the year, the park hosts concerts and plenty of fun family activities.
Jack and I went to Missing Links, a miniature golf facility at 1201 E Bay Drive in Largo . We skipped the putt-putt and opted for the batting cages with fast, medium and softball pitching machines. Jack even coaxed me into the box. I chose to hit the softballs. We got 8 tokens for $5.00. The cages take 2 tokens for 12 pitches. Then, we grabbed some drivers and hit golf balls at the range for a little while.
It was a cool 65 degrees. Us thin-blooded Floridians look for any excuse for some hot chocolate! We skipped the ice cream (they have 22 flavors) and headed down the street to Starbucks, which is actually inside Albertson's grocery store down the street (a hidden secret) and grabbed some hot chocolate.
Our lazy Sundays, playing in the sun and sipping hot cocoa, made us pretty glad to be checking out the whitecaps and not the white snow like we were a few years ago when we lived in Chicago.
Just a simple, “Thanks for a great day mom!” was what I needed to end my week and start a new one.
Plus, it sure beats doing the laundry!
Jennifer Michaels |
