Random adventure needed!

                Yesterday I was bored, bored right out of my mind. The fact my son is hard to take places and can be so unpredictable leaves us at home way to often and yesterday around noon I got a sudden burst of not today! We have a free Naval Undersea Museum nearby and a museum is not the best idea but my desire to get out of the house was more powerful than any challenges we would face.

                Of course when I started to get things ready to go Phillip decided to have a defiant three year old moment. Not a good start to my random idea and I could see the older kids were not thrilled this was how things were beginning. After a half hour of trying to get clothes on the little man and wrestling him into the van we were off. I had one child who wanted to stay home and her protest was coming out on her face in the form of extreme misery. I had another child who was sure a museum was a very bad idea and seemed a bit confused by our all of a sudden adventure. The third child was snug in his car seat with crocodile tears resting on his face and I had no idea where I was going but I didn’t care as long as we were driving away from the house together.

                Once we arrived at the museum I was relieved to see the parking lot was a wasteland because that meant Phillip would not be facing a crowd. I had no intention of enjoying the museum myself and my goal was to give the older kids some time to do what they want. I would worry about Phillip they can worry about taking in some history and doing something new. The museum was great and full of very cool things for all the kids to enjoy. Yes, Phillip wandered and never slowed down but the museum was small so the older kids were able to wander off themselves and check things out. With his wandering he was still able to follow and did respond when I said it was time to move on. There was a lot of reading to do and I can tell you I did not have time to read one word in the entire building. I have no idea what most of the exhibits were about but they were cool to see as I blasted by them out of the corner of my eye. Phillip only broke the exhibit barriers twice which I thought was pretty dang good considering access was very easy to all of it.

                After about an hour Phillips wandering became aimless and I could see his focus was changing. We begin with high energy and interest that will still follow and then it turns into complete lack of being able to listen at all. He can’t stop anymore and move on when I speak to him. He just keeps going without acknowledging my voice at all. This transition is why so many people have asked me if he can hear by the way and this is when site and sound are no longer working together. It is also a precursor to being overwhelmed.

                Time to go and the mood of the day changed. We had smiles and talking in the van that wasn’t there on the way over and my daughter’s misery seemed to fade along with my older sons worry.  It turned out to be a successful escape from the house and we all knew all too well how it could have turned out. The moments I enjoy the most with my kids are not grand adventures that cost a huge amount of money. It’s the moments we laugh together that mean the most to me and the moments we are all connecting. I can say my favorite part of the entire day was taking a wrong turn because we ended up on an isolated road and finding humor in it.

                After all was said and done the random adventure was a much needed change from life on repeat. It’s not something I can do anytime I feel like it but feeling like it and needing it are two different things. We needed it.