A fascination with umbrellas

It was 5 o'clock and well beyond the realm of appropriate afternoon naptime. I was on my own for dinner and bedtime duty (Matt went straight from work to a Marquette game tonight). None of us were feeling hunger pangs quite yet (filled up on Oakland Gyros, french fries, chocolate milk and decadent brownies at lunchtime - THANK YOU GG!). And I had an itch to get out of the house.

Its been "Spring-like" (meaning sunny and upper 30s) this week and I had been meaning to get the ol' bike stroller back into our regular routine. I dressed the girls in layers, plopped them in the bike stroller, piled fleece blankets on their laps and snapped the semi-water resistant cover in place.

We set off for the post office so I could mail a little birthday package to a friend in Portland. About a block from our house, I start feeling sporadic rain droplets. I push it out of my mind and imagine I'm walking thru Ireland on a misty Spring afternoon. (of course I didn't check the weather before leaving the house.)

We get to the post office in about 10 minutes. I drop my package in the blue drive-thru mailbox and suggest we circle back down Main St. and stop at the library. The girls are ELATED. Library = new movies to bring home.

As I park the bike stroller outside the library, I kinda realize the rain is picking up, but still it doesn't really register. Which means, I left the bike stroller open to the elements with the cover flipped over the back, leaving the interior (blankets included) fully exposed.

The girls literally dash into the children's section full of joy. Immediately I realize this was a very good idea. We've been to this library maybe twice since we moved, making everything seem very new and exciting to them. There is a little play nook with puppets and a puppet stage and pink legos. The walls are painted with landscape scenes with rolling green hills and a fairy tale-esque castle. Tonight they decide to forgoe the play nook and head straight to the wall of DVDs. After 10 minutes of browsing, Jo decides on My Little Pony and CoCo grabs Tinkerbell.

Now its time to look for books. (Secretly, this is MY favorite part of going to the library.) If I hadn't set a time limit, I'm fairly certain the three of us could have camped out at the library for the night, paging thru book after book after book.

But, I remember that none of us has eaten dinner and we should probably head back home before one us of becomes irritable from lack of nourishment. We exit the library as three happy ladies, with a big stack of new books to read, plus two dvds.

And then there was RAIN. As in full-on rainy rain storm. Jo (always the dramatic one) almost loses it when she sees I neglected the bike stroller and now everything is SOAKING wet - the blankets, the hats and mittens we left, the seat, the plastic "windows". And since CoCo is a little copy-cat, she is repeating the exact same things Jo is saying and is mock-upset about all the wet EVERYWHERE. And the rain shows no sign of letting up.

I am able to calm them down by reminding them that rainy days means hot cocoa drinking and movie watching. I make a deal: if they are quiet and sit still during the ride home, we can watch one of the new dvds and drink hot cocoa after dinner. Jo is almost angelic - not a peep or a wiggle the whole way home. CoCo forgets every few mintues and tries to break into song, until I remind her about our deal. I walk as briskly as I can while blinking back the icy rain drops that pelt my face. We make it home in record time. As we pull into the driveway, Jo comes to life and exclaims, "We need an umbrella! I'll get it!" Jo races inside and comes out with a giant blue umbrella.

The funny thing is, we have an odd collection (meaning more than a few) of umbrellas - a couple compact ones stashed in the cars, some tallish ones in the back of closets, and MORE hanging on hooks next to the door. And yet, I am one of the last people to actually use an umbrella. I always tell myself, its hardly drizzling, no need for an umbrella, or its a short walk to wherever i'm going inside, i'll jog to dodge the raindrops. Like its a real bother to use an umbrella.

But my kids, they are completely fascinated by umbrellas. If there is a gray cloud in the sky, Jo's already dressed in her raincoat, rainboots, and oh so eager to USE AN UMBRELLA! When we are driving, Jo instantly notices when I turn the windshield wipers on, and she calls out, "Mom, we need our umbrella!" And CoCo, she'll play with an umbrella, opening it and closing it and twirling it, inside the house - no cloud cover required.

Well, needless to say, I burst Jo's bubble tonight. When she came out with the big blue umbrella, I explained that we were already home and didn't need one anymore. In my defense, it was 7pm (dark out), I was soaked to the bone, and in need of that cup of cocoa ASAP.

We went in, peeled off our wet clothes, made three cups of cocoa and toasted fresh baked italian bread for PB&J sandwiches. After dinner, the girls dutifully washed up, brushed their teeth, changed into their pjs and watched one episode of My Little Pony. I tucked them into their beds, wished them 'sweet dreams' and haven't heard a sound since.

Now that I've filled you in on our day, I'm going to snuggle into my bed with a book I'm dying to finish: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.