Spoiled Brats

A normal week at our house:

Monday--clean house

Tuesday--Joy School/library

Wednesday--playgroup

Thursday--Joy School/park

Friday--crafts/another playgroup/park/mall

Basically, nothing too big or exciting but enough to get us out of the house.  But this week, my little hoodlums got spoiled.

Monday--Ray's Splash Planet.  

I looked into going once when we first moved here, but when I discovered I would have to pay for my 1 month old to get in, I decided I was not interested.  Grant it, the one month old was more likely to pee in the pool than me, but still, she wasn't going to enjoy it, so I wasn't going to pay for her.  But this week, a friend of mine told me that on Monday, parents get in free and kids were only $3 a piece so we went.  We stayed for 2 1/2 hours and the kids just loved it.  They stayed in the water the whole time.  And then they both fell asleep in the car on the way home, which would have been nice had I not also known that naps of any sort always mean a late night for the whole family.

Tuesday--usual.  Nothing really to comment on this.

Wednesday--Charleston.

I had planned to go to playgroup in the morning and then head down to Charleston, but playgroup was cancelled.  And not because of the snow.  The hostess got sick.  Take that 1/2 inch of lame North Carolina snow that shut the state down for 2 days.  We ended up staying home and playing games with Grandma Libby.  After lunch, despite fears of the absolutely no snow on the roads, the kids and I braved the perfectly safe driving conditions and went to Charleston.  You see, Greg had left in the morning for Utah to once again deal with our house there and my dad was on business in Charleston, so I figured, why not?  

We arrived around 5:30, got the kids out, jumped on the hotel beds for a bit then packed back up to drive by the Boeing plant to see the 787s parked outside.  (Rex is super into planes these days.  He wants to be an aeronautical engineer when he grows up).  Dad then treated us to a North Charleston specialty--IHOP.  Both kids actually ate their dinners and Rex later informed me that we can make the funny face pancakes at home--thanks IHOP just one more silly thing I have to do now to get my kids to eat breakfast.  We went back to the hotel, jumped around a bit more, wrestled Alice to bed and were asleep by 10.

Thursday--more Charleston

Dad had to work so it was just me and the kids.  But because of the melting snow conditions, Patriot's Point, the air craft carrier/museum I had planned to visit was closed.  Luckily, the children's museum across the street from the hotel was open--but late--noon instead of 9, because of the melting snow (are you catching my irritation at the reaction of the South to 1/2 inch of snow?).  So we hung out in the hotel room until noon before heading over to the museum.  The kids had a great time, but I was a little annoyed that I drove 3 1/2 hours to go to a children's museum no better than the one 30 minutes from my house.  But Greg was out of town and it was fun to see my dad so whatever.  And the kids had fun.

driving a pirate ship

 We met my dad at the Boeing plant when he got off work, then we were once again treated to a North Charleston favorite--Jim and Nicks.  But this time the kids didn't actually eat anything.  Good thing I was smart and only ordered one meal for them to split.  Then we drove home.  We got home around 9:30.  But for some reason, I was on crazy pills and didn't put the kids straight to bed.  It was around 10:30 before they went to bed.

At the Boeing plant with a real live Boeing engineer--this is pretty much the coolest thing to my super nerdy 4 year old

 Friday--Aviation Museum

Due to two late nights in a row, both kids slept in until 8 or 8:30--can't remember exactly but it was lovely.  When they finally got up, we went to the Charlotte Aviation Museum to make it up to Rex that he didn't get to see airplanes the previous day Patriot's Point.  It's a pretty small museum.  The main attraction was the Miracle on the Hudson River plane--you know the plane that Captain Sullivan landed safely on water.  The museum also has the 3 real cock pits to sit in that did it for my kids though.  They flew the Boeing 727 for a long time--like 30 minutes at least.  We stayed for a good 3 hours before I got bored and decided that we should leave.  On the way home, Rex convinced Grandpa Brian that he needed to try out the Bojangles Bobiscuits because Bobiscuits are better than the cheese biscuits we had the night before at Jim and Nicks.  Grandpa said the Bobiscuits were pretty good but wasn't sure if they really qualified as biscuits since they were covered in a sugary glaze.  We finished the night off with baths, games,  and another late bedtime.

Alice using the life boat as a bounce house.

Flying the 727

Flying with Grandpa

Flying an F-4 Phantom

Flying a Cessun (maybe--I forget what this one was called)

Rex's favorite plane--the DC 3.  He seriously recognized it as soon as we walked in.  Also notice the very non-Alice proof barriers they have around the planes.  She took those things apart in seconds and then set off the alarms.  Luckily we were the only people there so it wasn't a big deal.

Saturday--Park

By this time, I was starting to get a little spoiled too.  The kids didn't wake up until 9.  Seriously!  The weather forecast said 55 so we packed up some snacks and bikes and headed to the park.  Rex loved riding his bike around the track as fast as he could--until the pedal fell off, again and again and again.  He held it together pretty well, but he was getting frustrated that he couldn't just enjoy his bike.  Alice rode her bike a bit, played on the swings a bit, then mostly just ate snacks.  We came home for lunch and to fix Rex's bike.  Also Grandpa had to catch his flight.  Then Derick came over and played for the rest of the day.  After that, since Grandpa was gone and it was just me, you better believe I put those kids to bed on time.  I was tired.

Alice observing--she chilled there for like 10 minutes just watching the other kids

See how sad he is that he can only go like 100 feet before his pedal falls off

And there you have, my children's very spoiled week.