I hope all of you had a glorious weekend.  My family and I had a great 4 day weekend.  My husband and I were off Thursday and Friday.  We decided to make it an action-packed, fun weekend for the kids by taking them to an amusement park, a water park and the zoo.  We had a great time, but I did learn a few lessons.

The most important lesson I learned is how you can’t take your eyes off your kids… not even for a second.  When we only had two kids, it was so much easier.  My husband was usually “assigned” to our oldest son and I usually took care of the youngest.  Now that we have three children, it’s a bit more difficult.  Let’s face it.  Whenever the children out-number the parents, it can be intimidating at times.  At one point, we were making our way through a small crowd at the park.  My husband was holding hands with our oldest and I was holding the baby.  My middle child, asserting his independence, decided he didn’t want to hold anyone’s hand.  He was walking beside me, when suddenly, I didn’t see him anymore.  Panic-striken, I quickly turned around and discovered that he had stopped to stare at a ride that appeared quite intriguing to a three-year-old.  I felt both relieved and guilty.  I’ve told him numerous times to stay close to Mommy and Daddy, but he’s only three-years-old.  I’m the parent and it’s my job to protect him.  I’ve reported so many stories about children who are abducted.  As I hugged my son, all of those terrible stories about abducted children flashed in my mind.  From that moment on, I held my son’s hand so tightly, I nearly cut off his circulation.  During dinner, my husband and I discussed a “battle” plan for our next excursion.  Even though our son was never lost and we only lost sight of him for a moment, we both know it only takes a moment for something tragic to happen.  To all of those parents who have had a child abducted, my heart goes out to you.  For those of you who have small children, never forget about their curious little minds and their quick little feet.  Our kids are our gifts from God and sadly, we have to remember that there are people out there who could easily steal our gifts away from us.  During our next vacation, my husband and I have a plan to keep the kids in sight.

I also learned another lesson during my time off.  Kids do eventually run out of steam… thank goodness!  During our drive home, all of our little ones nodded off.  It would have been a great time for my husband and I to catch up on some adult conversation.  There was just one problem.  I fell asleep, too.  Sorry, dear.