Since making my home (and making up my mind that this IS my home) in Watertown, NY, I have more or less gotten over the whole idea that there is “nothing to do here.”
Agreed that (since it is March 21 and it is snowing today) winter can get really long and tedious, but I am of the opinion that you make it what you want it to be.
I’ll keep this short and hopefully sweet, since I’m not the ranting type.
Do more. If you’re “stuck” here, cope by getting out there. Live.
No, it’s not New York City. It’s not even Syracuse. But it’s not the middle of Alaska or Siberia or the Gobi desert either.
There IS stuff to do:
I plan to take Hunk to a MOMS Club outing this week where he will cook his own lunch. Let him do the work for once. Maybe that will improve his appreciation for all the meals I cook for him, right?
We just lined up a play date with new friends we met at McDonald’s Play Place on Diva’s last snow day.
We’re planning a visit to the Strong Museum of Play in Rochester in April.
Next weekend is the Great Outdoor Family Expo at the Fairgrounds YMCA in Watertown.
I’m planning ahead for this summer by keeping an eye out for a kayak and/or a windsurfing board on Craigslist for my Mother’s Day gift.
I just volunteered to help out with marketing for the North Country Arts Council and possibly the Greater Watertown Jaycees’ Emerge NNY event.
Snoozeville? Nothing to do?!
Sometimes, between meetings and events, you do have to just go with the flow. You know what the kids and I did today? On the way to the car (for an outing to Blockbuster and Petco), Hunk decided he wanted to take a detour to play outside in his beloved plastic playhouse in our smushed and mottled backyard. I wasn’t in any hurry and it’s not THAT cold (30s and windy), so I turned ‘em loose.
While I loaded the car with snacks, drinks and an umbrella stroller, he and Diva watched geese fly overhead to make their way back home to Lake Ontario, just a few miles west of here.
The kiddos made each other “strawberry pies” (served to one another with wind-reddened hands the color of strawberries) with the little stove in their playhouse. They ran as far as they could, turned around and ran back. It was brief, but it was all they wanted for the moment. Now Hunk is sleeping like a rock and Diva is enjoying some QT with her Polly Pockets during her “independent quiet time” in her room.
Okay, maybe it would be nice to have more than one event lined up in NNY for kids every handful of weeks (at most) in winter. But who is going to do that if YOU don’t do it?
Get involved. Make it better. That’s all I have to say.
All right. Climbing down from my soapbox to go make Diva some hot chocolate.
