Wearing My Parents Out

My parents took on childcare duty for most of spring break. My parent's basic strategy is to try and find an outing each day, let the kids run around and have fun, and then hang on until Ed or I returns home.

They started the week with a quick win - heading out to Chuck-E-Cheese. They arrived just about when the place opened, and luckily it was never too crowded. Connor continued fine-tuning his ski ball skills while Helen ran around trying to score as many tickets as possible.

Helen did take a brief ride on the Chuck-E-Cheese car which snaps a photo - and when she saw her photo, she announced "Grandpa photo bombed me!", which made both Ed and me laugh. For no reason, we are always surprised when she says anything about pop culture, though we really shouldn't be surprised at this point.

Upon exiting Chuck-E-Cheese, my parents saw friends of their from Kansas who were also out in Virginia performing spring break childcare. They made plans to meet up the next day at the Air and Space Museum at Dulles. Connor was excited to see the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb.

And because they had friends around, there is proof that both of my parents were present!

My dad's camera battery did not make the trip, so most of the photos were snapped by my mom on her phone. This meant that my mom was able to capture my dad in several phases of exhaustion, as he tried to keep up with Connor and Helen.

The dyed eggs were awesome - except they weren't rinsed and the first time I ate one at the office, I learned that a LOT of pink dye was still on the egg, which quickly transferred to my hand for the rest of the day.

They wrapped up their days with a trip to the paint-your-own pottery store. We haven't done this in a while, and both kids seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. I'm looking forward to the finished project. Connor's plate replaces another one he made that got broken a couple of years ago. Hopefully this one fares a bit better!

There were egg hunts, rides on the neighbor's zipline (which is pretty safe at this point), playdates with friends, a trip to the craft store to make an Easter chick and a zombie chick, a scavenger hunt through the toy store, and even a little reading. Helen was certain Grandpa would enjoy hearing about Babar. He needs to teach Helen how to play "let's take a nap", which is a game he used to play with his other grandchildren where he would pretend to sleep. Fun times. Fun times.

All I can say is, maybe if you get a lot of sleep between now and August, you'll be ready for their energy descending on Kansas this summer!

Thank you!
Elaine