"Independent Women!"

At my Bible study that meets on Tuesday evenings, we got off topic a little and started discussing how to deal with the fact that our spouses are never home.  Not only that, they say they are going to be home at a certain time and 2-3 hours later they show up (last night 5 hours late!).  We know they don't do it on purpose but it sure would make life a lot easier if they could give us a realistic time.  For some reason, we always believe them... we go back and forth with dinner plans, keeping the little one up past bedtime, not meeting the girls for a drink, all with the hopes that our husband will actually be home when he said he would and then he's not, again. 
My friend Erica, whose husband just started his ortho residency in June said that she can deal with the fact that he's gone all the time, she just wishes she knew the actual time he would be arriving home.  This limbo thing is no fun for anyone and I can only imagine what this will be like when kids get older.  "Dad's going to try and make it to your game, honey but don't get your hopes up." Ugh. I do have to say that there are many, many things for us to be thankful for so I know we shouldn't complain... I think we are just looking for a little support from someone in our shoes and some good ways to cope. 
All that being said, back to the story (it's no wonder we got off topic, with me there, it's no surprise), Emily suggested we think of ourselves as strong, independent women with very exciting lives.  If the hubby shows up, great, but if not, we had our own thing going anyways. :)  Easier said than done, but I decided to take her advice and plan a few outings over the next couple of days.  Here is what the independent Stryker women have been up to:

We hit "Thursday's on First" with our wise friend Emily.  There are all kinds of local crafts, food, art, etc. It's a good time, especially on a beautiful day.

Every time we go, we find something sweet to taste. Last week it was cupcakes and this week it was gelato.  Yum!

On the way home, we stopped at the children's resale shop and picked up a new toy for 8 bucks. Wohoo!  She loves it! Check it out!

So she needs to work on the fall factor a little bit and I need to work on how often I say "whoops!" Sorry.

After we got bored with our new toy, Kinsley helped me with the laundry because that is much more exciting.

The thing on her head is usually for washing her socks but it fit perfectly on her head. She wore it for about 30 min and looked like she should be serving cafeteria food.

Later that evening, Kinsley and I went to the Rochester Water Ski Show.  Luckily the weather was beautiful because the show itself was a little bit of a dud. 

After lunch today, we headed to the Quarry Hill Nature Center. Kinsley was mesmerized by the huge fish.

After exploring indoors, we headed out with our friends Sari, Witten, Danielle and her puppy, Molly for a nature walk (which really meant we spent the whole time chatting while the kids looked around from the stroller - or in Kinsley's case, chewed on her sun block bottle).

Our "turn-around point" was at a neat park where Kinsley and Witt had fun on this bouncy thing.

Both looking in the general direction of the camera! Great job Danielle!! :)

So overall, our adventure as independent women has started out well. Although, we both miss Daddy tons.  He hasn't seen his little girl for 4 days now. :( I'm hopeful that she will get to see him a little bit tomorrow evening. 

In the mean time, we've got big plans baby! :)

Have a great weekend!

Love, C