Rainy, Sunday Afternoon

I love rainy (or snowy) Sunday afternoons. Why? Because it forces me to slow down and relax. If you don't want to brave the elements, the errands can wait, the outdoor activities can wait, everything can wait. Well, except for one thing today - birthday parties! Both of the boys are at birthday parties at opposite ends of the southern-side of the Cities. Ethan is in Eden Prairie at the bowling lanes for Austin's party and Alexander is in Eagan at Gleason's Gymnastics for Keegan's party. Where am I? I am sitting in a Caribou in Eagan, enjoying part of a blackberry, white chocolate scone, a cup of dark roast (hmmm...will I sleep tonight?), and enjoying some free wireless. I had grand intentions of getting some reading done for work, but the Subledger Accounting Setup document was putting me to sleep - even with the French Roast coffee pumping through my veins. Accounting is not my strongest point and when the manual is walking through setups and I can't actually log into the application to see what they are talking about equals Yawn City in Low Retention Land. Ugh. So, I gave up and decided to play on line.

What to do this afternoon? Hmm...rent a different movie? play a board game? go to the club and swim? It is difficult to decide because I think that I am going to have two very tired boys on my hands this evening. Ethan had another birthday party last night and it was an overnight which means he will be Mr. Grumpy Pants later today. As for Alexander's level of grumpiness, I have only myself to blame. After we dropped off Ethan at his party, I took Alexander to Old Navy to get some more school clothes. He was quite a trooper even though I had him try on about 10 pairs of jeans (I must admit that he looks darling in his painter pant style of jeans!). We then headed to Southdale to catch the movie Under Dog. I told him that after we found out what time it started and bought our tickets that he could choose where we ate. I said that if he wanted to, we could run over to McDonald's. He said, "NO! I want to go to that place with the yummy crab cakes." Ahhh...my six year old already has good taste - he wanted to go to PF Chang's! I was really excited because that meant that I could get my favorite Kung Pao Chicken. We purchased our tickets for the 7:05 show and headed upstairs to PF Chang's only to find out that seating was being accepted for 7:15!!! Bummer....Oh well, so we ended up eating in the food court (not EXACTLY the same ambiance as PF Chang's) at Subway. Speaking of ambiance, as we were leaving PF Chang's, we noticed that they hadn't opened the inside "terrace" seating. He asked me why that part wasn't open and I said that I didn't know, but that it could be for dinner that they prefer a certain type of ambiance rather than having people eat on the interior patio. His excellent reply was, "I don't care about ambiance; I just want my crab cakes!" :)

Well, after our yummy meal of Subway subs (yes, Alexander had a ham with Ranch dressing), we headed to the moviesw and decided to splurge on candy: Reese's Pieces and Sours. Under Dog was very cute and fun. There were several lines and scenes that made Alexander laugh and laugh. He also didn't ask even once how much longer the movie had to go. Both of these are signs of an excellent movie for Alexander. Oh, another cute note - he said that if we couldn't see Under Dog, then he wanted to go and see Nancy Drew again. I MUST remember to get Nancy Drew for him for his birthday (or Christmas) if it isn't out yet.

Okay, my battery is running low, I should get some more reading done, and I have rambled long enough. If you are having a rainy Sunday afternoon then I hope that you are able to relax and enjoy it to the fullest!