Holiday Weekend, Part 1: Girls' Morning Out

Colin and I both had Friday off for the holiday. Unfortunately, he still had to go in for the morning to take care of a few issues. I'd already decided the girls and I were going to go out and have some fun.

We started off at the Y, which is something we normally do on Saturday mornings. This was mostly so I could work out, but also partly so I could shower and change and know that they were playing somewhere supervised so I wouldn't have to worry about them. We'd packed snacks with us and went straight from the Y to Target to do our weekly shopping. Another thing on our list was to fill our box for Operation Christmas Child (**see below). I knew things could get contentious if we were buying toys for a child in a faraway land but not for ourselves, so I promised the girls if they were good cooperators, we could go to the mall to play in their awesome indoor play area.

And they were great cooperators, so off to the mall we went! First the girls played with the small toys in the family bathroom as I brushed my teeth. Then we were out in the big play area for quite some time. After that, Katie asked if we could ride the carousel, something we've never done at the mall. I told her we only could if: A. Natalie was big enough to go, and B. I had enough money. I did have enough change, and Natalie was big enough, PLUS, as a bonus, parents can ride free when accompanying a child less than 42" tall. Woohoo! I stood between them and we all had a blast. After a little more time in the play area, we ate at the Chick-Fil-A in the food court and then came home. It was delicious, but perhaps the highlight of lunch was the toy cows that come with the kids meal. :)

We got home and started getting ready for nap just as Colin arrived back at the house. He was amazed at the action-packed morning we'd had! We all had fun, and although sometimes tiring to take both girls all over town by myself, it was worth it and a fabulous way to spend my day off from work.

**Operation Christmas Child is a mission project through Samaritan's Purse that our church participates in every year. Although the boxes are collected nationwide in November and distributed around the world for Christmas, our church has chosen to fill the boxes over the summer to remind us that missions projects aren't just for Thanksgiving and Christmas; there are people needing our assistance every day. Katie and Natalie were wonderful helpers in picking out toys and goodies for a girl, aged 2-4, that may not get any other presents. I hope this experience, and other ways that they've helped me, such as sorting clothes for donations and bringing items to the food pantry, will help them to see that you can do little things to make a big difference in someone else's life.