Pearson and Alison: Nuptials and Much More: June 2012

We are FINALLY at the point with Mae that we can do drop off play dates. And can I just say it is pretty darn great. It is great to drop Mae off at someone's house (because who wouldn't think it was great to drop your kid off somewhere with people that you trust and not have to pay for it) and host folks at our house. Since school is out for the summer, a couple of moms from Mae's class and myself have decided to do scheduled weekly play dates every Wednesday. Yesterday, was our day to host Mae's two friends Ellie and Zoe (Mae was at Zoe's house last week). We did water balloons, played water squirters, enjoyed the water table, formed a musical band, ate popsicles, played with every toy in our house, and had a fantastic time. In the three hours that the girls were here, no one cried, everyone shared great, and all got along.

Looking forward to next time!

Ellie ready to throw her water balloons.

The girls: Zoe, Mae, and Ellie. All three girls asked specifically for these color popsicles.

Whit didn't get a popsicle so he is sucking on a bubble container.

Going for a ride. Born to be wild!

I haven't had a chance to upload these photos till now simply because I think I might still be wiped out from our unexpected trip to Vashon Island on two Mondays ago. What I thought was going to be an unexpected and hopefully low key day, turned out to be a whole lot of not. (I am fully aware that taking two kids to the beach is not particularly low key but their is a spectrum of oh "this was a pain" to "this is a really tough bone tiring, exhausting, let me fall asleep right now" day).

Anyways, my friend, Kellie, posted on Facebook that she was planning on taking her kids to Vashon Island to check out the public beach and lighthouse. Since I had only spent a few hours there with Julie [my sister] many years ago, I thought, "what the heck, I am up for an adventure." As Facebook normally does someone else chided in that she was interested as well and that her family had a house on the beach on the island, that we could hang out at. I, of course, conjured up this dreamy and lazy morning and afternoon on the beach at this lovely home on the water, sipping chilled lemonade and hearing my kids frolic on the beach. Was that what happened? What do you think?

The house was a cabin and very quaint BUT the woman failed to mention:

It could have been a house where folks were kidnapped and murdered. You had to drive down a long dirt road, go through a gate, then drive down the steepest decline. Once you parked, you had to slowly walk down another steep decline to get to the house. As we parked, I instantly cursed myself for not packing lunch for my kids and myself because once you got there, there was no way once you left you were coming back.
That the house had just been cleaned for the next renters and we really shouldn't be hanging out inside or as she mentioned "leave the house as it is." To which I replied (in my head), "have you met my kids? Or seen them in action?" Neither clean or tidy will ever be used to describe my kids. They are tornados, destructive, dirty little rug rats and I mean this in the most endearing way possible. But they destroy things and homes!
That to get to the beach you had to go down the steepest decline that was partly covered in moss and was pretty dangerous. Of course, my friend, Kellie slipped and fell.
That although the house did have a nice little patio and yard that right after the four feet of grass, there was rocks and a sharp drop off. Whitaker doesn't understand drop offs.
That the guest house, which had a porch also had an opening with a ladder on one side that just dropped off. Of course, this wasn't visible from any other location then being on the deck of the guest house.

The woman was nice enough but her kids literally sat there. To cut her some slack - one of her kids was only 6 months old but she didn't even make a peep the ENTIRE time. I guess she thought this was an ideal location for very precocious 2 year old and very active 1 year old. I just saw it as a death trap that required more energy than entertaining my kids at home.

So I spent the ENTIRE time, chasing my kids, yelling at them to stay outside, which made them ONLY want to go inside, and making sure they didn't kill themselves. Whitaker, of course, threw up all over the ottoman inside.

I did manage to get photos of the day despite all the chaos.