Labor Day

Lately, it's been interesting keeping track of the days. We've seemed to have settled into a routine with the home schooling thing and then up comes a holiday. I didn't even remember that it was Labor Day. But then, Daniel didn't go to work.

Sarah started the day like most out of school days. She invited Celia over to the house. After a while I got tired of sitting around the house and asked the girls and Daniel if they were interested in going for a bike ride. We live across the street from the elementary school/stadium parking lot. It just happens to be the perfect place to take the girls riding. This time we had two new additions. Ashton and Sirius (the dog). Daniel picked up a bike seat for Ashton and Sirius is being trained to run beside the bike. Everyone came home tired!

Later in the day, Daniel got inspired to move the TV out of the living room. He broke down all the electronics. Then with a little help, he moved the piano into the living room. After that, the desk was moved to the corner of the dining room. As for the TV being gone, we really enjoy it. Not having the TV opens up the living room. Plus, we haven't had cable for a long time. The basic few channels are extremely repetitive. We've decided to get a small flat screen for the kitchen at some point. Our goal is to eventually put in a small seating area.

Then my awesome hubby suggested that we go to Cleveland Park. This park is right beside the zoo. We packed a picnic dinner, gathered up the kids and the dog and set up. Sirius has been a aggressive with some dogs that he met and we wanted to get him around more dogs. Cleveland Park put in a dog park last year. After our picnic we walked through the park in search of it.

On the way, we stopped and tried out some of the exercise equipment. That was a hoot! Sarah saw some monkey bars and goaded Daniel into trying them out. He was tall enough to walk underneath with his hands on the rungs. Sarah tried but could not get her hands moving enough to go across. Me, I tried as well. It's just too bad that a camera crew was not around. I confidently climbed the rungs, placed my hands on the bars and let loose. Then as gracefully as you might imagine, I fell flat to the ground. My hands were so slick that as I swung to the next bar, they lost all grip. I started laughing. It was too much! I got back up, put some dirt on my hands and made it half way across! My poor arms couldn't handle any more!

We then headed on to the dog park. That was a lot of fun. There were about 15 dogs in the yard. Sarah got to chat with folks and pet many of the dogs. We didn't let Sirius off the leash for the first 15 minutes or so. Eventually, most of the dogs came over and sniffed him. I was so pleased with his response, that I talked Daniel into letting him run free. To our delight, he did just fine. Daniel and I sat in a swing while Sarah socialized and Sirius explored. Ashton was in hog heaven. He loves dogs!

As we sat there, we found out that Sirius is a bit skittish of going too far away from us. He's protective of us as well. A small white dog came over to sniff Ashton and beg for some lovin' and Sirius pushed him away and wouldn't let up until the dog moved on. We'll have to work on that as well.

Afterwards, we were going to play on the playground but saw a sign stating that dogs were not allowed within 100 feet of the playground. We told Sarah that we would come back without Sirius at a later date.

By the time we go home the kids were ready for bed. After we got them down, we ripped out a cabinet in the kitchen (which will soon be turned into a bookshelf for Sarah) and replaced it with the TV cabinet. Daniel got it all plugged in. That blasted thing gets better reception in the kitchen! Then it was off to bed for Daniel and I...

I guess Labor day really is about work!