Rainy Days

I used to love rainy days, especially when the kids were at school.  It was an excuse to be casual all day - not wash my hair because it was just going to get messed up anyway, don't wear nice clothes because they were just going to get wet - and put off errands to another day when you weren't going to get soaked as you went from place to place.  I could just sit at home by the computer or with a magazine or every once in awhile even a book, and relax while the rain fell outside.

Not so much anymore.  In the past the most trying part about a rainy day was getting the kids in and out of the car due to the fact that we never parked in the garage because there was too much junk and kid's toys taking up the parking area.  I always got really wet strapping Amanda into her car seat while the rest of them complained about something or other.  Yes, there was always complaining, whether it was about not getting to use the umbrella, not getting to use the right umbrella or that their hair got slightly damp while I am getting dumped on outside the car.  But that was it, a few struggles in and out of the car and then done.

Now that we live across the street from the school, we have to walk in the rain.  I could drive them, but that would make me look bad, plus with around 850 kids at the school the drop-off line on rainy days is ridiculous and I would go even more insane if I was in that line with the kids in the car.  Everybody needed their own umbrella, fortunately for some reason we have an overabundance of them(probably because the first one I tried wouldn't open and the second one had holes, yes holes, in it and we never throw anything away), and a rain jacket.  Sarah walks slow on a dry day, but on a rainy day it's worse because she can't see where she's going with the umbrella.  So she slowly trudged up the hill to the school and I had to keep with her or else she would cry that she was always last and left behind, all the while the back of my sweatshirt was getting soaked.

Amanda stepped in a huge puddle next to the curb, partly because it was unavoidable and partly because she doesn't really know how to jump over it.  I don't know when the motor skills for jumping kick in, but she hasn't figured that one out yet.  I know three year olds can do it because Max is three weeks older than her and he was jumping back and forth over his dinosaur puzzle this weekend.  Oh well, I still say she's ahead of the game.

By the time Amanda and I got back from dropping the older two at school, my jeans were wet about six inches up from the hem and Amanda needed to change her socks and shoes.  Then we had to get her off to school so I had to fight rainy day traffic and get a little more wet getting her out of her car seat.

So, yeah, I'm not a fan of rainy days anymore.  I'll take them on the weekend any day, then you never even have to get out of your pajamas, but during the week I'll pass.