Amy's Spoonful of Sugar

Julia at the top of Little Si

I was supposed to chaperone Julia on the Band field trip to the EMP in Seattle.

Well, due to some miscommunication, I thought it was yesterday, when in fact it is today.

I could not go today. I will have chaperoned everyone else at one point or another in the school year, so Julia was pretty sad.

But I came up with a compromise. I already had babysitters for everyone, so why not just have her skip school for the day and hang out with me?

She thought that was a brilliant idea. Which, of course, it was.

At first we thought of some indoor activities that we could maybe do, but it was too nice to stay inside.

So after some deliberation, we decided to go on a hike

.

We hiked Little Si. It's about 5 miles round trip, and we were both tired by the time we reached the top, but we did it.

And let me just tell you, Julia didn't complain once. Not once. We had a really good chat the whole way up and back down, and it was just a joy to be with her.

Afterward we had lunch at Jay Berry's, which was sooo good, especially since we were starving!

Then of course we had to get an ice cream cone before we headed home.

I wish I could explain how fantastic it is to have one on one time like this with my children. It's the only way to get to know them, what they like, what they struggle with, what brings them happiness and what they hope for.

I've never been so glad to have something miscommunicated. It really ended up being the perfect day.