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| Walking over to the warm-up courts |
Forest's tennis league qualified to play a tournament in Denver this past weekend. He had a match scheduled for Saturday morning, so we turned the event into a family outing. I don't mind an excuse to hang out in Denver and love that it is only 50 miles away.
Our plan was for me and the girls to sit and watch as much of the match as attention spans would allow, then to try to kill some time at a nearby park until the game was over. Although I watched a very minimal portion of tennis playing, we ended up staying for the entire thing, never requiring an escape to the playground as previously thought. Between a court side Mika nap, snack distribution, a trip to the potty, a request to have a book read, and some (unintentional) heckling by the fence, the hour-and-a-half long match was suddenly over. Time really flies sometimes around those two little hooligans.
After the match we met my dorm-era friend Jen at a deli downtown. I last saw her in November, when she obligingly wandered around the Cherry Creek Mall with me, Ramona, and two-month-old Mika as we tried to carry on tidbits of adult conversation in the midst of my children's tiny demands. As I observed us, at certain points, I seemed so tied down and Jen seemed so . . . free. Even now that we both lived in the same state again, it was as though we were both from two completely different worlds. In the five years since we were both in school in Urbana, Illinois, she had traveled far and wide, changed jobs multiple times, and just appeared to be her own uninhibited, expressive person. I felt like, compared to the last time we saw each other, I was suddenly defined by my motherhood, and that I had distracting, squirming appendages hanging off of me (small children) that made me anything but individual, mobile, and clear of mind. I was apologetic and a little embarrassed--but then realized that Jen was watching me with my new additions in a kind of awestruck wonder. She was far from scornful or arrogant toward the new "me," and graciously acknowledged what a difficult and important job I had each day as a mother. It was a sweet experience and filled me with gratitude to have friends who build me up, no matter what my station in life.
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| Ramona loved carrying on conversations with Jen |
Our next stop was the Denver Aquarium. It's no Shedd Aquarium of Chicago, but Ramona was still thoroughly impressed and we had fun exploring everything the place had to offer.
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| Ramona pretending to be in the Octopod control room from "Octonauts" |
It was so helpful to have an extra set of adult hands. Thank you, Jen!
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| By the hands-on stingray pool |
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| Taking a spin on the carousel on our way out |
Both girls fell asleep almost simultaneously on the ride home--Ramona mid-sandwich and Mika clinging onto PEZ dispensers shaped like Santa Claus and Count Dracula.
Dixon family outing to Denver: Success.
