We had so much fun this weekend. It was one of those weekends where you just spend bunches of time together, everybody is mostly happy and you get to make lasting impressions in your children of what it means to be family.

Bradley had a birthday party to go to for a couple of hours on Friday night, so we let Bailey pick where we would eat dinner. She chose Shogun, a place that Bradley would never want to go because there is no cheese involved. She was in heaven! Mushrooms, broccoli, shrimp, noodles... all her favorites. At first she was very nervous about the fire, but our cook warmed her up with his personality pretty quick and then she had a ball, even commenting that she would like to come back in the morning for breakfast. Not a pretty thought, but I'm glad she was happy.

We had a little bit of time to kill after dinner, so we went to the mall for a quick ride on the carousel. Bryant decided to get it on the fun. He held on so tight! It was really sweet. We're not really sure what he thought, but he didn't cry or try to get away from it at all. He sort of hummed to himself as we went around. They were playing the Wiggles, so I think he was just trying to figure out where Greg, Anthony, Murray and Jeff were hiding.

Yesterday afternoon it pushed into the 50's, so we decided to head out to a nearby park. Unfortunately the sun disappeared by the time we got there, and with the wind blowing it was really cold! Jeff came back home to get some warmer coats, and when he returned, he brought some hot chocolate for the kids and coffee for us. The Abbotts (minus Darlene, who is teaching in Missouri this weekend) joined us for the fun.

I think that these are really the times that my kids will remember. Not because we were doing anything "special" like going to Disney or buying a new toy. But because we were just being, and we were doing it together. This time while they are young is so fleeting, I wouldn't trade these moments for an all-expense-paid trip around the world.

We'll save that for retirement!