My mother, Kayla, Megan and I went to Kansas City for a weekend. Things had been pretty hectic for us all lately with work and health issues, so we decided an all-girls vacation would be fun. Mike made plans for a wife-free/kid-free weekend and Mom and I made plans.
Mike dropped the girls off at daycare on his way to work, and I packed for the girls and I. I picked up mom a little later, and we surprised the girls at Miss Kelli's house. They were so surprised! Now, we hadn't told them we were taking them to KC, but they've brought it up over and over, ever since last May, when Mike and I took them there. They even remember the Vogts Family Christmas that we took them to, asking to go to "Granny's Kansas City House". They didn't quite understand that it was Mike's Aunt's house, and that Granny was just visiting, too.
We asked them where they wanted to go that was special. Megan came up with "The Toy Store!" when we said we were going to Kansas City, she was upset! Kayla was excited, but Megan really wanted to go to a toy store. So I said we could go to one in Kansas City.
We visited one of my mother's friends from when she lived in Arkansas. She has a beautiful home! Of course it wasn't child-proof, and I had to keep a close eye on Megan and Kayla. They were very good, but very inquisitive. Megan really wanted to paint in her painting room, and didn't understand why we wouldn't let her. I'd brought a new puzzle with us to play with, so that helped distract them. The talking scale in the bathroom was great fun, too!
We took the girls out to dinner and the Cheesecake Factory, and then went to Toys R Us. The girls had a ball! I made them ride in the cart, though, to keep it somewhat contained.
The girls loved sleeping in the "big bed" at the hotel. We had a 2-story suite, and let the girls sleep in the king sized bed in the loft. They did very well! Mom and I stayed up later, and I sneaked into bed with the girls after they were asleep. The first night I slept next to Kayla. The next evening, though, Megan told me, "When you go to bed Mommy, I want you to sleep where you belong." I asked where that was, and she informed me, "next to me!" Kayla argued, so they decided that I needed to sleep in the middle, beside both of them. I slept next to Megan, and in the morning, she told me, "you didn't sleep where you were supposed to, Mommy!"
We took the girls to Build a Bear. They each picked out several different animals before they both ended up picking the exact same bear.
Kayla, stuffing her bear
Kayla, preparing her bear's heart
Megan, stuffing her bear
Megan, preparing her bear's heart
They really have the routine down -- letting the kids help stuff the bear, preparing the heart by doing things like "rub it on your head so it's really smart like you", etc.
Then the girls went picking out clothes. It's funny --- although we encouraged them to choose independently, they both picked the exact same dress, shoes, and panties. (Yes, bears wear those, didn't think they were bare bears, did you?)
They did pick different sound inserts, though. Megan picked one that sings Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Kayla picked one that sings a birthday song.
Megan, getting some help from Anna
Kayla, getting some help from Grandma
Kayla, "bathing" her bear
Megan and Kayla, registering their bears
They put an ID number inside the bear that's registered to them. That way, if it gets lost and someone turns it in, it can be returned to the owner.
Megan with her bear
Kayla with her bear
As we were leaving the store, I tried to go right, toward the mall exit, but Kayla pulled to the left. "Mommy," she said, "wait, I see something!" I looked to the left, but only saw a colorful display of ipod speakers on a kiosk. "What do you think you see, Kayla?" "I see a pony ride, Mommy!" she said. I took a couple steps to the left, and sure enough -- a double-decker carousel ride was in the mall. So of course, we had to ride it. Twice.
Megan
Kayla
Kayla
Megan
That evening at the hotel, the girls tucked their bears into bed while they played.
The next day we did a lot of shopping. In one of the malls, they had a miniature merry-go-round, so we had to ride that one, too. It just didn't compare.
Megan
Kayla
All in all it was a fun weekend. The girls didn't want to go home, but between all the luggage I'd packed and all the shopping we did, we had to or we wouldn't have had room for us in the car!
