IHOP
Two Saturdays ago Kyle had a plan and to no surprise for those who know and love him it included a hot breakfast. So, to IHOP we went. I had no idea how long Kyle had been dreaming about this outing - it was his Disney. :)
Rebecca shared a giant breakfast platter with Kyle.
Owen wanted his own.
I can't remember what we did about feeding Maggie but I'm sure we did and apparently she liked it.
Then we headed to a park near our house and played - only interrupted by 4 trips home (different sub-groups of us) to use the restroom or grab an extra coat, etc.
Owen liked to push the girls but the biggest hit was the new permanent ping pong table. Fun. But lets also say that there are no Olympians in our family.
Rebecca loved made up a "puppet show" with Rose Princess (her tie-die ballerina/princess bear with hair-clips). She tried to hide on the slide and talk for RP but kept sliding down and knowing she had been seen would get frustrated. Perhaps there is a reason puppet shows don't usually take place on slides.
Working it out at the bottom of the slide w/ Kyle and Owen as her audience.
"SNOW"
Last Friday we had a snow day. Or in Austin, Snowpocolypse or Snowmageddon. You can see the massive "wintery mix" on our trampoline. Make fun (and we all do) but the roads were pretty frozen. Not snowy slush, but slidey ice. I was glad we didn't go anywhere. Owen had the best day of his life (or so it seemed) - he ran around on that trampoline and made snow angels and threw "balls." Rebecca lasted about 4 minutes, then felt cold and wet and came in for cocoa and a snuggle. Melt.my.heart. All in all it was a fun day - our neighbor friend's deck was sort of like our trampoline but slushier and the kids had a great time over there as well. When you don't know real snow wintery mix is amazing. (We're taking O & R skiing in February so I'm worried that this might be the last time they're this thrilled with Austin snow.) *Incidentally, we're having another snow day today (same issue - icey roads) but there isn't anything fun to play with outside. Boo.
BALLERS
My brother was (is) a huge basketball fan. I remember at least twice going to see the Harlem Globetrotters as a family when he was a kid - probably for his birthday. So, when I saw tickets on groupon I thought it would make a fun outing to do as a family with Uncle Alex! I was mostly right.
Even though we let Maggie take a moster nap (to prepare her for the 7pm start time) she wanted nothing to do with it. The music was too loud, she kept laying on me holding her ears. She pretty much wiggled, snuggled and winced her way through 1.5 hours of it when Kyle finally packed up the girls and took them home.
This was Rebecca's face even after we let her eat funnel cake (hoping the sugar would pep her up) - nope, she was slumped in her chair in a bored/tired sugar coma. Complete with powdered sugar on her nose. She kept asking when we could leave. She didn't care that there was a girl globetrotter. She did, however, want to spend some of her money on a toy (she hadn't even seem them and we were able to leave without passing a stall and she forgot).
Despite Owen's stoic face, every time I asked him if he liked it he turned bright-eyed and practically yelled - Yes, I love it! Really? Well, at least somebody does! Granted its more a boy thing. And most of the kids were older elementary school. But Alex and I were a little shocked at how much product placement and go-buy-this-ball/jersey/toy talk there was. We didn't remember it that way. Hopefully Owen wont' either, though I'm not sure we'll be going back.
All in all, some fun things in January!
