Out and About (and the places that make it easier)

I am a total homebody - I love being home, and we're home all day most days.  But it's also good for us to get out a bit now and then - it's nice to have a change of pace and the kids love the adventure of it.  It doesn't always happen, but it's my goal to get out of the house at least once a week.  It's kind of funny - while it certainly isn't easy to take four little kids somewhere, somehow it sometimes seems easier to get out than it did when I had just two.  Definitely a lot has to do with being able to load the kids in the car right outside the door rather than down a flight of stairs and around the building as I had to when we were in an apartment (and I can't even talk about the horror of leaving something essential in the apartment and only realizing it after I had both kids buckled in the car - that did happen a couple of times!).

In some ways it's easier because I have some older kids who are definitely more self-sufficient (of course, that adds in other challenges, too...).  And since the kids are older, they want to go places, which encourages me to get out, too.  Back then I'd often think we'd do more "when it's easier" (ha!), and of course now I know it's never going to get easier, so we either have to do things even though it can be hard, or we will never do anything.

One huge factor, though, in us being able to get out and about is having places we can go.  Having several little kids and a baby means I can really only go places where I can keep an eye on all of them and nurse the baby at the same time, if necessary.  That rules out a lot of places, but we've found several that fit that criteria.  Our library has an open playgroup every week where we can go and play with toys there.  We enjoy going to story time at the library, too, but that can be tricky if the baby is fussy, so this works better for us for now.  We just discovered the brand new play area at our local mall.  It's an enclosed area and is never very busy, so this is something I expect to do fairly regularly from now on.  And, over the summer we discovered an awesome park.  It's a small park, with a small (but big enough!) playground and a small grassy area, it is never busy, and it's fully fenced!  Obviously we won't be able to go there all the time in the winter, but it's perfect for when we can!

Having a few places that makes it easier for me to get out and about with the kids has been such a blessing!