Best Weekend Ever (Day Three)

Saturday was another day of rain and thunderstorms.  Which was nice because it wasn't so flipping hot, but a little tough because the kids didn't get near as much pool time as they wanted.  Last year we took Ruby to a fun park that she loved and when I asked her what she wanted to do while she was here she told me all she wanted to do was go to the "town park" (there is an area that looks like a little town).  My plan had been to go to the town park on Saturday, but the rain made it a no-go.

So I did what any good tour guide does with out-of-town guests.  I took them to the mall.  And you know what the mall in Texas has?  Inflatable Wonderland.  Oh yes.  The malls here have giant jumpy houses.  We left Louie with BVZ (again, me half not wanting to infect anyone with potential viruses, half just not wanting to deal with him) and let the big kids loose.

Lucas may be petite but he is mighty.  Kid is ripped.  He has these crazy strong legs and when he was at the top of the inflatable slide he would do this turbo boost move where he would hoist himself up and then torpedo himself down.  It was awesome.

It was fun, but crowded, and we coaxed them out with promises of ice cream (which I don't think we ever delivered, but I think they forgot).  We stopped at a Stride Rite shoe sale.

Ruby and her dad play this game on the ipad called Plants and Zombies and she got Norah into it as well.  While we waited for shoe shopping to finish they showed me how you would go about eating someone's brain.

The mall also had a carousel.

And a food court.  This is where Ruby and Norah ate pretzels like "Lady and the Tramp" (ie, one eats from one end and the other eats from the other end).  We also learned a great new word on this trip, "Hangry."  It's Megan's word for Ruby when she gets grumpy/mad because she's hungry.  It's a great word that is now a part of our daily vocabulary.  Just today Norah told me that Lou was throwing a fit because he was hangry.

In an effort not to have to return to the jumpy house area we agreed to go to the Disney Store.  We had good (or bad--depending on how you look at it) timing because we were there only a few minutes before story time started.  Check out the moves Lucas busted on Norah.  He is such a lover.  He was so sweet to the girls, always wanting to hug them and hold their hands.  When he would want me to do something for him he would walk over, put his hand on my arm and look at me lovingly with those big, brown eyes.  That dude is a heart breaker.  For sure.

They were so tired I thought they might just wrap around each other and fall fast asleep.

This was not a sturdy wall.  It was very flimsy and both Ruby and Lucas tried to lean back on it, almost knocking themselves and the backdrop over in the process.

On the way out of the mall there was a police car, motorcycle, and ambulance that you could climb on.  I tried to teach the children an important lesson--if the officer asks you to open your trunk you can just say no.

With some birthdays having recently passed and others on the horizon, there was an exchange of some really awesome gifts.  From us, each kid got a fancy, personalized beach towel.  Aileen has become quite a seamstress and made Louis a travel holder for his matchbox cars (I need to take a photo of it, it's so cool), and she made Norah a fabric notebook holder with a place for a set of markers.  Norah has decided the notebook is her "life history" book and writes/draws in it every day.  From Ruby's family, Lou got the super cool ball in the photo below, and Norah got a matching outfit to Ruby, down to the shoes and coordinating bracelets (plus some really cool goggles).  She was beside herself with the outfit and they looked adorable.  It now hangs in a special place in her closet and every time she wears it, it is as though "Ruby is here in my heart."

We all went out to dinner so the girls could wear their outfits (well, that wasn't the reason really, but that's what we told them).

I made both Megan and Aileen get a Mexican Martini.  I don't know what our problem is, but we failed to get even a single photo of the three of us the entire time they were here.  I blame BVZ, the only other capable adult.

By this point, Lou was feeling fine.  Fine enough to eat Mexican rice and 8,000 tortilla chips.

Due to poor planning on my part, I ended up at the end with the kids and the other grown ups ended up at the other end with each other.

I didn't mind my company one bit.

It was a rinse, repeat of the previous two nights.  Boys to bed, girls let loose in Norah's room with an ipad and the instruction to just "don't wake up the boys" and the moms had adult beverages, ate pita chips, talked, laughed, and had more adult beverages.  I hadn't been that tired in a long time.  Or that happy.