The Carnival

Rob didn't have to umpire today, and we didn't have any plans! He knew there was a little carnival in the parking lot at Arizona Mills mall, so we decided to check it out. Plus, Erin hadn't been to a mall in a while and has been wanting to go.

Erin was big enough to ride just about everything! And she was brave enough to ride a few by herself. (We told her that Dad or I could ride with her, but if she went by herself, she could go twice or ride another ride... she liked that)

Robbie was pretty patient while we waited for Erin to ride things. He got to go on several things, though. There were a couple of rides that he could go on with Erin and didn't need a parent. It was cute to watch both of them! I rode a couple of rides with both kids, and I learned that rides that spin in tight little circles (ala Disneyland teacups) have much more effect on me than they used to! No, I didn't get sick, but wow.




After all the rides, we went inside the mall for lunch. Pizza for the kids, Steak Escape for us. Then we walked all around... Rob was a good sport because he HATES walking around malls, especially on Saturdays when they're busy! Erin brought some money from her piggy bank and shopped tirelessly at Claire's. Robbie brought some quarters from his piggy bank and shopped at the gumball machines.

Outside The Rainforest Cafe are some animal sculptures - giraffes, elephants, monkeys. And the creepy alligator that periodically growls and lunges forward with his mouth agape. We all waited paitently for this to happen, and when it did, Robbie screamed in sheer terror and held on to Rob's neck for dear life! Sobbing. We had no idea it would scare him that much! Poor little thing, he was really terrified. It took a while for him to recover from that one.

Later in our shopping - much later - we walked by it again (not so close) and Rob sort of talked him through it. Robbie got to see that it wasn't going to get anyone and it wasn't going anywhere. He was OK, but a little indignant, and as we left he proclaimed, "Naughty alligator!"

We were tired when we got home. But we still didn't want to sit around the house. The kids got their scooters, and we walked down by the new high school, hoping to check out the football field. It was all fenced off, but we had a nice walk around the park and back.

After that, we went to Cold Stone for some ice cream! I was happy that they added mini marshmallows to their collection of stuff they'll mash into your ice cream. Or maybe I never noticed them before.

We had a good day! It was nice for us to spend a whole Saturday together.