Play Day

It's been a while since I've taken the time to play with my

friend, Kelly.  I'm always amazed at how good I feel when I've 

spent the afternoon seeing life through the eyes of child.  Our plan

was to go to Carl Sandburg house, have a picnic and see the new baby

goats.  The weather didn't cooperate with us, so we decided to go to the

movies instead.  Before we went to the movie, we had lunch at Kelly's

favorite restaurant.  We had to go here because they had the toy we needed 

to get, to go with the movie we were going to see.  Makes sense, right?

McDonald's  is no dummy.  They know if they can get the kids in

to buy the toys, the parents come along too.  Masterful marketing plan.

Well, it sure worked for me. This is the first time I've been to a 

McDonalds in, well.....I don't know .  But it's been a long time!

I decided to have a Happy Meal with Kelly.  She had chicken nuggets

and apple dippers. ( a new menu item since my last visit)  I had a 

cheeseburger and fries.  What the heck.  If I was going to eat fast food

I might as well do it up right.  And I will be the first to admit that a

hot fry dipped in those little tubs of ketchup tastes mighty good.  And yes,

I know what they do to make them taste good - I read Fast Food Nation

too.

They were out of the bird toys.  We were given Star Wars bobble

heads from Clone Wars.  This was just wrong. We were here to get

the bird.  Kelly quickly assessed the situation and said, "It's okay, I

like Star Wars too."  What  a great attitude, even though I kind of

doubt if she's ever seen Star Wars.

We had lots of dippers and sauce with this meal.  Caramel for the

apples, ranch dressing for the chicken and ketchup for the fries.

I watched with interest as Kelly dipped apples in ketchup and 

ranch dressing.  And fries ( mine) into caramel sauce.  I asked 

her if she thought that was good and she said,  "delicious."

And after all the dipping objects were gone, she had a little

taste of the ketchup straight.

Now, I know if I was the mother, I wouldn't let her do this.  But

I'm not and that's what makes it so fun. :)  I know she can go home

and her mother will feed her healthy food.

After our delicious, if not so nutritious, meal....we were off to the 

movies to see RIO.

This was truly the largest beach ball I have ever seen.

We had to have movie snacks, because we might be a little hungry.

 Okay so we weren't hungry at all, but you gotta have some

popcorn at the movies, right?  And maybe a little pack of Skittles.

These seats are definitely not designed with a five year old in mind.

She doesn't weigh enough to keep the seat down!   

This was Kelly's first 3D experience.  She rocks in these glasses.

I loved the way she kept putting her hands out to try and touch

the animals.   She said, " The birds are so close I can almost touch

them."   It was a cute movie.  Not once did I nod off.( I've been known

to do that at some children's movies.)  And the music was fun and

made you want to just get up and dance.  We didn't.  But we did

do a little bird dance in the parking lot afterwards.  No pictures,

you'll just have to imagine it.  All in all, it was a great day.  My

"smiler" was all tired when I dropped her off and I realized this is 

why I enjoy being with children.  It's a great stress reliever from 

all the grown up stuff I usually do. Sitting in McDonalds and 

experimenting with dippers and sauces, wearing 3D glasses and 

laughing uncontrollably at silly animated creatures on a big screen,

eating popcorn and french fries and dancing in the parking lot.

I think I need more play days in my life!

* Goal #3 - Do something fun with a friend each month.

* Goal #6 - Laugh more.