March 30

I don't know exactly when it happened, but at some point, we stopped doing "fun" little day trips with the kiddos. I guess it's probably because school and baseball and dance and work and a host of other activities (and, honestly, advancing age and the resulting tiredness) crept in over time and ate up those hours and minutes. But today, we rolled back the clock a bit and took a field trip to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield.

It was fun to wear the little paper hats and take the tour. It was awesome to watch the kids visit the Easter Bunny because I hadn't had a chance to take them to the mall and felt badly about it. It was amusing to watch them fill bags with jelly beans of their choice in the on-site store. But beyond all of that, it was nice to be together doing something fun for an afternoon. Family time is a blessing that I probably don't appreciate nearly as much as I should.