Wednesday, May 30, 2007

The Memorial Day Weekend


Two days off a week is definitely not enough! I want to have a 3-day weekend EVERY WEEK! Saturday would be an "ease into it" day; Monday - "get ready for work" day; and Sunday - a perfect "not a care in the world" day.


Since we don't have a grill and/or a bunch of friends and relatives that we could invite over for the official opening of a BBQ season and since Mark is too small for long car trips, we decided to spend the weekend exploring the neighborhood. On Saturday, armed with a camera and a guide-book, we drove to Chapel Hill for a walk around the UNC campus. The place is very beautiful and historic - the first public university in the country. And since the classes are over for the summer break, there's plenty of parking and traffic is very light. The down-town area looked very promising as well with its little cafes, boutiques, and independent bookstores. But it was getting very hot and Mark was getting very cranky. So we retreated to the arboretum that is almost right in the middle of the campus. We walked around a bit until we found a perfect little lawn. We rolled out a blanket for Mark in the shade of some very fragrant bush and spent half an hour simply laying on the grass , playing with Mark, watching the birds, and taking pictures. Then we walked some more around the historic neighborhood before heading back home.

On Sunday we stayed home and moved the furniture. We now have a furnished living room! Of course, our office became quite empty in complete accordance with the Principle of Furniture Conservation, itself an extension of the Principle of Mass Conservation. And we also got groceries. Completely exhausted, we spent the rest of the day watching movies.


On Monday I started my new work-put plan. It is based on the plan in the book "Bikini Bootcamp" except I alter some of their recepies (to save time and money) and spread all the work-outs throughout the day. The program calls for 15 minutes of yoga every morning followed by a 1-hour long walk and about half-hour long circuit training session. And then there's a core training session every other day that takes another 15 minutes or so. With a full-time job and a full-time baby, I can't do all this back-to-back. Anyway, for my walk on Monday we all went to Lake Shelley. It is a very nice lake with a paved road around it and connections to several of Raleigh's greenways. Just as other such parks in the area, this one has a boat house with rental boats, benches and grills for picnics, a nice big lawn, a playground and other cool things. And there are always plenty of kids of all ages there enjoying all these facilities.

Mark was very busy this weekend. He was very talkative, making all sorts of funny sounds. He also made some new discoveries on his playmat - he grabbed two of the toys (a giraffe and a monkey) at the same time and tried to introduce them to each other. He also spent a lot of time on his belly, holding his head up high and looking at his own reflection in the mirror. I don't think he realizes that it's just a reflection. But he smiles and cooes and tries his best to crawl towards it. Also, he spends a lot of time in his swing now. It is not a 0-3months swing, but the one for older kids. He doesn't fall asleep in it, but instead looks around and pays special attention to the plastic casing that hides the swing's motor.