As our home is thriving in home projects, left and right, we miss our “normal,” everyday life. It really is the little things in life that make the biggest difference in…… well, pretty much everything. We are more than blessed in many areas of our lives. We have a pretty big family; both parents and five children under one roof, although things can get a bit hectic and overwhelming, there is never a dull moment here at the McNair’s. We have a pretty big house to accommodate all of our personal space and a very large backyard. Our backyard is quite nice as well, we have a decent size pool, a fire pit, a ton of space for the little ones to play and enough outdoor fun to get their creative little brains turning. We live in a home development that isn’t exactly fully developed. Our house shares the whole block with one street that has homes on it and one other house, so the kids have space galore to play outside. Another wonderful blessing through out all of this is the fact that my husband is an “essential worker.” We haven’t been hugely impacted by the loss of work, at least when it has come to the main source of our income. So now that I have pretty much laid out all great things that we have ever been so blessed with, what am I talking about when I say, “normal?”

We live near a very nice park that my little ones love to visit; on our daily/nightly walks, we walk pass the park and it has become more of a memory, opposed to the option of visiting. My three and seven year old look at it with a frown instead of a smile now. As little as this may seem, it’s a significant thing to our family. Things have been definitely getting better with time, with all of the curbside pick ups and some shops opening up with caution, so I can’t complain there. With that said, we miss walking down to the ice cream joints and sitting outside while enjoying our frozen goods, we miss taking the kids to the lake, on picnics, and getting together for play dates with other friends. I think that my the eldest have had the hardest time when it has come to the friend aspect of this all. Not allowing them their friend time has had a huge impact on their personality. Sure, they are allowed to interact with their friends via telephone, face time, and snail mail, but it just ins’t the same. That time that they shared with their friends at school was a huge part of their lives!!! They had someone to share their and experience their personality with, someone to develop with, someone to vent to, someone outside of the home that they trust and share their thoughts and secrets with; as I was growing up, this was the world to me. As surprisingly as it may be, 🙂 they’re are times when my kids just don’t want anything to do with me or their dad, this is when they need their friends the most. Kids will, at times, feel that their life is just the “worse,” and during these times, they need their friends to vent and talk to. When they have the opportunity to get their feelings off of their chest, it makes things easier at home for them. (These are my personal thoughts on the matter.)

Along with taking the kids to get an ice cream and visiting the local park, we miss family outings to the movie theaters, the bowling ally, local restaurants, Fun Works, Starbucks trips, pedicures with the girls, and pizza joints with arcades, among the many other things that we enjoy doing.

Our family has been brought up taking family trips. We have always planned nice family outings, some sporadic, some spontaneous, and most planned. We love traveling to the greatest destinations within California; we have beautiful forests, nice lakes and ocean views, and fun theme parks all within several hours of driving on the road. Not going on these trips has effected Ryan and I, just as much, if not more than it has the kids. We had to cancel a couple planned Disneyland getaways and avoid jumping on the road to drive down to the nearest beaches or shopping centers. When we normally go on our family trips, we enjoy the whole experience, the eating out, the little shops and the fun expeditions along the way. I know some might be thinking, “well, you can still go, you’ll just be limited to the things you can do.” True. But when you have a one year old who isn’t thrilled about sitting in a car seat for long hours and a three year old who is still testing out his bladder, this means many stops along the way. At least for us, this isn’t worth it. As things seem to be getting a little better with time, I think that we will soon be finding ourselves on the road, sooner than later.

We also have a boat that we miss taking out, we love the outdoors, as we love the more extravagant things that we do. We miss camping, fishing, and taking the boat out for the day. With the days being much hotter lately, missing out on the sun rays, other than in our backyard, have been weighing heavy on us. We can’t wait to get out and get our feet wet in the lakes and our hands dirty in the foresty areas. All things that we look forward to.

What are some of the many things that you miss doing? Some of the things that you may have taken for granted, now looking back? What memories do you sit and reminiscence about and truly wish you could do again? The little things, along with some of the bigger things that you wish you could do?