Sixteen

It's been a long day folks. I got a belly ache 1/2 way through the Knit night, so I was up most of the night not feeling well. However, I was determined to take Hazel to a Mom and Tots group to get her out and running some of that toddler energy off. Little did Michelle and I know, it's 1/2 term break for the kids in school, so none of the M&T groups in town were meeting...sigh. So Michelle and I drove Hazel and Beth to Junction One to try out their soft play area. It was really fun as their S.P.A. for the under 4's is small enough that Hazel was able to do much of it on her own without Mommy helping, which I think she really enjoyed. We still like Cheeky Monkey's the best, but this one was good for a change every once in a while. Plus Cheeky Monkey's is good excersize for me, too! We probably would have stayed quite a while, however, when we got there, there were no seats left for eating and keeping your belongings, so we had to find a corner to drop our shoes and coats off, and then it was SOOOOO crowded that it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been. With all the kids on break, I think all kids in NI were at that SPA. I had to have a polite (though, through gritted teeth) discussion with a grandmother who insisted on standing at the safety gate with it wide open (even though her grandson was well inside the play area and she was unable to see him from there) letting all the little ones (mine included) out. I did it as polite as I could muster, after the fourth time I had to chase my little Hazel back in. Grumble. Then a little boy, who's mother (or whoever she was) was sitting right behind him, tried to two hand shove Hazel down a slide. I looked right at him and his mother (why do I have to babysit a grown woman?) and told him not to shove Hazel. She hadn't quite sat down on her toosh and would have fallen somersault style down the slide had he shoved her like that. Now granted, the slide was MAYBE 3 feet high, and she had gotten very good at sliding down it alone (with me at the bottom to encourage her), but she's still really little and that might have really hurt her. At that point, she was stressed out with all the running screaming older kids (who should not have been in the younger area--there was a huge area for 5 and older--throwing balls at the little one's heads in the ball pit, pushing the little ones over to get to the slides, etc.) and I was stressed out trying to keep rude adults from injuring my little girl. So we decided to head down to Subway for lunch. After lunch, we took the girls in to the changing room for a diaper change. Michelle was apologizing for not being as quick as we are, and I told her that it happens when you've traveled as much as we have. She's flown with Beth, but I pointed out that in a year, Hazel and I have been on somewhere in the vaccinity of 16 (it is actually 18) flights, all of them atleast an hour in length. She agreed that I've probably earned being quick at changings. Hazel thought the word 16 was hysterical and we stood there and said 16 (she'd repeat, saying, "Dit-ten") and giggling everytime we said it. It was so cute. She still smiles when you say "Sixteen." So then, we headed out into the outdoor mall and did a little exploring. Hazel and Beth (Michelle's little girl) got to walk about (kind of) freely and we got some fresh air. We made a few purchases, but by 2pm the girls were dead. What started out as absolute elation that we were allowing them to walk on their own turned into sitting on the ground b/c they couldn't walk anymore. So we carried them. And our bags. And by the time we made it to our car, I was pooped. So we ran one more errand and came home.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful. I made Oriental Chicken (Brett grilled it in the oven) with a side of Creamy Brussel Sprouts Gratin. Yummy. THEN, I decided to get adventurous and try a recipe for Raisin Bread. Now let me say that I've never made bread before. And I've never made ANYTHING that required kneading. But I followed the recipe and everything they said would happen, happened, so I thought we were golden! But then I cut into the bread to try a piece and a small part of the inside was still uncooked. Sigh. I think I should lower the temperature in the oven (it's fan assisted, so it usually requires a lower temp and I just should have done it to begin with) as the outside brown very quickly, but didn't quite cook all the way through in the inside. I'll try again, as what was outside and cooked tasted yummy. So maybe I'll take a stab at it this weekend.

Well, I'm off for the day!
Hugs to all!