Two Bucks’ Worth of Fun
Happy September!
Please forgive me. No posts in over a week.
On with the show!
On Thursday, Dad had to get busy with pencil pushing and paper filing, so I took the kids on a field trip to the library. Dad gave me two dollars (which was the only money that we had in the house, and we had to keep the money in the bank IN THE BANK!) to do some shopping, dining, and overall fun stuff. I got to keep the change.
We went upstairs to the grown-up section of the library, where I never take the kids, but I really wanted to see a book on gnomes. The three of them loved,
looking through the glass wall of the second floor onto the street and the mall opposite the library. We spent 20 minutes quietly commenting on how tiny the cars are and whispering to each other, “Hey! We have that car!”
Downstairs, in the children’s section, Taylor, Ty, and I looked through the gnome book and a book on Arthurian romance while Kyle sucked his thumb and stared at the ceiling over by the picture books. A pair of tween boys came in and walked straight to the 500 section. They were really quiet, speaking in whispers, and finally made their selections when their, I suppose, mother told them it was time to go. They are really late for school. It’s almost 11 o’clock, I thought. But I am often asked by strangers, when we are out and about, if preschool had been cancelled.
With two whole dollars, I had a lot of options on how to feed the children their lunch. Of course, we went to McDonald’s because they have dollar cheeseburgers and a free “big slide”. It was very quiet being the only people at the Play Land™. We didn’t go in until we finished sharing two burgers, which curbed the hunger for the next couple of hours. I discovered that it is impossible to get hungry children to eat if there is a slide right next to them. When I started feeling hunger pangs again (I wasn’t running around), I thought it would be time to go. Kyle announced that he had to use the bathroom just as he was (accidentally) relieving himself. *sigh* It was time to go home anyway, so, hey, no big whoop.
When I was young, my mom used to take us outings very similar to this one. My brothers and I would have such a great and marvelous time with only my mom (family outings that included my dad were a bit different, more formal). We still had to maintain our composure and politesse, but we were allowed to get our feet dirty and our faces wet. I hope that these outings will put a happy imprint on the children’s memories.
On Friday, Ty kept asking me to ask Dad to give me money so that we can go on a field trip again. Today, Dad obliged, and we did the same thing: up the stairs to look out the glass wall, down to the children’s section to read “Highlights for Children” magazine, and to McDonald’s for burgers and slide. There were more people around and traffic was heavier because it’s the weekend, but it makes the kids so happy to play with other children. I don’t like too much socializing in the library: I’m from the Old School of Thought whose library motto is “Shhhh.” But at the park or the McDonald’s slide, it’s a different atmosphere with different rules.
Today, some bigger kids went to the slide after we had been there for over an hour. Yep, that means that it’s time to go.
Left to right: Ty, Kyle, Ronald McDonald.
We are advocates of barefootedness but not in restaurants. The children are without shoes because it’s in the rules of the Play Land™.
