Just before I left the office at 5:40 (daycare closes at 6:00), I heated up another serving of my lunch, and fixed a hot dog for the Pumpkin. A quick scan of the office fridge revealed baby carrots (expired, but barely) and water bottles. A picnic was born. In the morning I had stashed the Pumpkin's new kite and a picnic mat I purchased from QVC in the back of the car.
So, I picked him up at school (he was the last kid as usual) and drove the 100 yards to the park next door with the "tall mountain." The tall mountain is a very small hill but it is the only hill in town. We spread out our mat, ate a little, then set up the kite. Kite flying has come a long way since I was a child. It isn't hard. Yay. I've never had a successful kite flying experience before so I was a little worried. (I did have a backup plan in the event there was a kit disaster - there is a very large playground on the other side of the hill, the Pumpkin would have been content to leave the kite in its package and play there all evening.)
However, no backup plan was required. The kite flying was successful.
The next day I was pretty much back to myself. And I had to water all the plants PC put in before he left. At one point in the evening the Pumpkin, in a fit of rage, stomped out the front door and yelled, from the porch, "Mom, I just hate you". Oh well. I was in the running for a while.
