Friday, we woke up and had a very loud and difficult breakfast. The terrible two's have NOT been fun. Like.........really, really unkind. After throwing most of her breakfast on the ground (and stomping it into the dining hall carpet), I carried her (because she REFUSES to walk anywhere when we are leaving somewhere) and my 10lb purse out to our car parked forever away because the rodeo was in it town...and we were staying at the hotel that houses the rodeo. Yep :) We dropped Jay off at his class at 7:20am and then came back to the hotel to pass the next three hours.
But, I turned my frown upside down because the day was going to be spent with my BFF and our kiddoes!
She's a Ringer!
I don't have very many photos of Braden that day because he's old enough to run around the place on his own, while I chase down Hurricane Landri.
Typical Landri, Refusing Photos
The jockey & horse ride was the only thing she would actually sit on for its entire duration. Her MO was to put in a coin, watch it light up, then flee. FUN! But, true story: she hit the jackpot on two different machines LOL. The kid won over 200 tickets!
Eating Pizza (Toppings First...Lovely)
Mason & Landri :)
Her "SSSSSSNAKE!" Prize
And, THIS was the best one I could get of them.
Gotta love it!
And, though poor Mason was horrified by Chuck E, Landri however loved him! So yay for that! LOL!
Then, we were off to Pump It Up!
There, Ashley and I met up with a friend of ours, Becky and her kids who are the same ages as ours. It felt so good to catch up with them again, but it was too short :(
Crazy Girl
About an hour into it, Landri ran out to the lobby and wanted a drink from the fountain. But one was not enough. Now, she is not a heavy girl, but 20+ lbs stooping over the fountain awkwardly is not easy. Two drinks was not enough. Three was not. Enough. You get the picture. So I tell her "no more" and say we need to go back inside and play. So she throws herself down in the hall and screams bloody murder. But I'm like, nope, not giving in, even if I have to watch her do this for 10 minutes. After one minute, she gives up and goes and stands defiantly in front of the fountain while I stand at the entrance to the play area. I then turn my back so she knows I'm serious. I wait about a minute because I don't hear anything, and turn expecting to see her coming towards me.
And find another mom helping her get a drink.
It took every bit of my Christian self not to go the you-know-what off on this woman. Especially when she said "The poor baby was so thirsty!" But I just gritted my teeth, flashed her a smile, and said thank you because I know she thought I was some horrible mother who had abandoned her dehydrated little girl. Um. NOPE. Just trying to teach her something. But at least she complemented her hair ;) lol
So, now I'm stuck with the screaming (pathetically "dehydrated" looking) child who still wants more to drink. And did I bring a drink? Nope. Because I'm a freaking idiot. But wait! I remembered there was a sippy cup in the back of my car.......but didn't it have leftover water in it???? WHO CARES??!?!?! I dragged her out of there in the fireman's carry, while she screamed more, and retrieved the questionably clean cup and we filled that sucker up!
Do you see the pathetic-ness??????
Oh, but the story does not end there...No, no. So, then she wants to carry her sippy cup with her as she plays. I say "No." She looks at me like I'm the dumbest person she's ever seen, and continues on her way. I again say "no" and drag her screaming/limp/tantrum-throwing self back to our table. But in my mind, I'm counting down the minutes because when the place closes I will not see Ashley for another 5 months or so and that's the reason we came. So I say forget it, let her take her totally-against-the-rules cup of water with her wherever the heck she wants to go and cross my fingers none of the Pump It Up enforcers catch us.
The "Forbidden" Cup
Then, I look up and notice (with absolute horror) the cup is no longer in her hand. I scan the huge pit and see it: lying on the floor of the inflatable, sans lid, a giant pool of water right behind it that my son is now heading towards without seeing.......and now his socks are soaking wet. And he's crying. Awesome. Just when it could get no worse, one of the workers comes in and sees the puddle the exact same second my son hands me the cup and pushes his sister out of the inflatable with tears in his eyes screaming about Landri losing her cup and how she does not follow the rules. Thanks, Braden! I take the cup and my daughter but leave my son to fend for himself as she and I flee the room before they can formally escort us out. At the tables' area, I start putting her boots back on knowing she will not be allowed back in when suddenly the worker approaches us...with the lid. I hang my head, accepting the evidence of our crime, and apologize profusely and ask if he needs help cleaning it up. And that sweet boy actually laughed, tickled Landri's belly, and told me not to worry about it and that she could keep playing.
And I started breathing again :)
How CUTE are they????
The best shot I got of our little crew (minus Mason) LOL
I drove back to Mesquite and picked up Jay from our hotel (who got there from his class by taxi hehe) and we went to one of our favorite restaurants, El Fenix. It was really yummy, and more so because Landri allowed herself to remain calm while watching Peppa Pig.
From there, we headed to north Dallas to do some furniture/new house stuff window shopping of things we might order online since those stores aren't in Midland. We started (and ended) with The Container Store. Oh my gosh, one of my most favorite places ever, in my favorite neighborhood (Northpark/White Rock area) of Dallas. We pat ourselves on the back when we see the stroller in the trunk and give each other a "gosh, we are super awesome parents" wink as she happily gets in it. Braden even understands when we tell him patiently that he may not push his sister around until we get inside because of the crazy parking lot. Then, we begin to relax and enjoy looking at things we want in our new, spacious kitchen.
And then the fun begins. We take a turn down the second aisle, and Jay corrects Braden's pushing technique because he almost hits me. We get about five feet further and Braden pushes the stroller into the upper part of my heel. It did not feel good. I gasp in pain, Jay yells at Braden, Braden starts crying about how it was Landri's fault (because she was trying to escape, since she was through with her happy-to-be-seated-in-my-stroller-like-a-sweet-child deception game), and Landri begins screaming and thrashing, and every eye in the store is on us (and my daughter who is now standing on the ground with her stroller wrapped around her waist....give it a second and you will get it). A store clerk comes up to us asking if we need assistance and I want to crawl into a hole and die, so I just try to laugh and act like nothing is wrong and rub Braden's hair like he said something cute. The amazing thing is, our sensitivity to this kind of total embarrassing, humiliating scene is totally gone. We actually kept shopping.
The only reason we left earlier than anticipated was because she dropped a monster #2 in her diaper. Of course, I was out of extra diapers because she went to the bathroom more times than I anticipated when we left that morning, we found one under the seat, and left the worst smelling diaper EVER in the parking lot. So, you're welcome to whoever drove upon its lovely aroma....in one of the most expensive shopping centers in Dallas :)
We are those people now.
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