Weekending it

On Friday afternoon, Mandy and I took the kids to Rock N Air. It was on our summer bucket list and we had a free afternoon. This was only the kids second time there and we arrived right when they opened so it wasn't very crowded (it's a big place so even when crowded it's spacious).

Kip had an absolute BLAST. Things like this are SO fun for him and really hit on his sensory and activity needs.

Ivy had a hard time. She is very much in a phase of wanting to do and be just like Kip but very limited by her age and size and maturity. She cried and whined on-and-off for nearly the entire two hours. She wanted Kip to stick with her and do things with only her and not with other kids but that is impossible in a place like this where all the kids sort of just play together. And Kip was feeling held back by her and didn't want to stick with her exclusively. He wanted to do big kid stuff and either she couldn't or was too afraid to try. Plus, she does not have the same physical endurance and was simply tired after only a small amount of jumping and climbing. Ivy had fun here the last time we came because other kids engaged with her and made her feel included and "big." That was not the case this time and so she pouted. A LOT. Mandy and I got her to do some things independently for bits but everything turned to tears so it wasn't the most fun for us to manage. 

She attempted this jump about 6 times but was never able to go for it. It was at least 5 foot drop so I don't blame her for bailing out, and I was impressed she even got up there.

Kip on the other hand jumped this about 24 times.

They have these cool projectors that project you into a game screen and you jump on the trampoline to play the game. It was really cool but Ivy got easily tired.

As we were leaving I said that next time maybe just Kip with go with Dad. Ivy LOST her mind insisting she had SO MUCH FUN and wanted to come back. Sigh. I'm not so sure.

On Saturday Mandy and I went on our annual birthday shopping day. For the last several years, instead of getting each other gifts, we spend a whole day together, just us, doing our favorite activity: shopping. We went to the outlet mall and to several other shopping centers and had a great time together while Dan kept the kids entertained at home. Thanks Dan!

We all went out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner that night since our birthday falls in the middle of the week when we all have to work/commute. We ended up having to hang out at the mall for several hours since it was raining really hard at the time. The kids loved being out late.

Sunday was a catch-up on all the house chores, watching Olympics, and finally finishing the last episode of Mandalorian. 

We have a week of miserable rainy weather as the remnants of a tropical storm blows through our area so we're glad we had some sunshine for weekend.