Outlets for Kids??

Randy wanted to go somewhere fun since he was home today, and no one had any commitments. I was looking through a book that has all kinds of good ideas for our area and one of them sounded fun. It was an outlet mall. Now remember it was in a children's activity book. It said that there was a lot to do with over sized butterflies, and Children's Place had a big play area and there was an arcade and best of all a Crayola shop. And mommy and daddy get to shop too. What could be better than that? (Randy does like to shop, so he was up for the idea also.) The place was about an our away. We got there about 10:30. The first place we went to was The Bass Pro Shop. They had a fish tank and all kinds of stuffed animals. The kids really seemed to enjoy that. Of course the "man magnet" as I like to call it was in full force. Randy was sucked right over to the boat section. They have some sort of beacon in there that just pulls Randy in that direction. After dragging him away almost kicking and screaming (okay, so maybe I am over exaggerating a little, but seriously, I think he was drooling just a little) and after he had explained what each boat did (I just nodded my head and said oh I see, but really was thinking Old Navy is just two doors down, I am almost there, I am almost there), we finally made it out of there in one piece..

THEN TO OLD NAVY!! There were so many sales there. I don't think I paid more than 4.99 for a shirt. Of course they were all the cotton shirts, but until I get a little more stylish (you know when I am not getting snotted on or food smeared on me) those are pretty stylish! After making it out of there with a little money, we kept walking and found the food court. Still nothing fun for the girls. We ate at Chili's and headed off to find the fun stuff. The info guy said the Crayola store had closed.. That sucks. Then we went to Children's place. not only did they have nothing good on sale, they didn't have the Easter dresses I wanted to get the girls AND there was NO play area. We were 0 for ALOT. We did find the arcade, but it looked way too old for the girls and we couldn't stand to take them in, tease them and not have anything for them to do. Then we saw it. There was a train. We couldn't very well pass that up. So Randy loaded the girls in there and they were off. It was $3 per kid AND Randy had to pay. $9 for a 2 minute train ride seems a little overpriced, but I think they enjoyed it. You know I was ready for some good play time because I lugged my big camera around ALL day. ALL DAY.. Do you know how heavy that was? I also didn't feel comfortable putting it over the stroller. Too expensive. When the book described vibrant colors and over sized butterflies, I was all ready for great pictures..NOT. . So here are the few shots I did take.

The train ride. I don't know what I was thinking not getting the entire train. Oh well.

The ride home. Madison held on the entire way, but she was tired tonight.

And this is how Cait was about 3 minutes after we got in the car. She woke up about 2 blocks from the house.

It was a good day because we were all together. We were there from 10:30 until 4 and an hour drive on both sides. The girls never once fought or had fits or were anything but perfect.. That makes for a great day in itself.