Fun Times

So it was a busy, but fun day. Started out with a little bit of maintenance - oil change for the car, nails done, random errand running. All this before the Berlin Serviceman's Ward reunion, if you can call it that. When only three families come, I kind of think it's time to rethink whether or not this should be a yearly event. I am pretty sure it's not worth the cost of the rental of the pavilion, but that's just me and I am not the one to make the call. It was still an alright start to the day. At that point, we (Mom, Dad, Brian and Hollie and kids, and I) all converged at the mall so Mom and Dad could treat Brian and Hollie to The Cheesecake Factory and I could play with the kids (for "payment" - even though I totally would have done it for nothing, they did bring me a piece of cheesecake). As we were getting ready to go our separate ways, Briley got my attention (I was in the middle of getting Ryder and his diaper bag) and told me, "Wendy, I sticking with you." It really was pretty sweet. And she did; she immediately took my hand and made sure to stay right with me no matter where we were. Since I know this hasn't exactly been her forte, I am pretty sure she got a talking to about it before we met up.

To start off, since we were basically already there, I took Briley and Ryder in to Build A Bear to make a bear for their new baby brother, who is due to make his appearance in November. (I actually have an animal to sort of represent each of the nieces and nephews at my place, but this is the first time I've had the older siblings choose them out.) I kind of figured Ryder wouldn't be a big fan of the machines, but turns out it was actually Briley it freaked out. So instead, I ended up stuffing it, but Briley was willing to do everything else. Doing the heart ceremony. I think she liked that part, but she was still a little bit nervous about being so close to the machine.

Putting the heart in the puppy.

Bath time.

Getting him dressed - this was a very important decision.

Ryder taking everything in. He was just happy to be set down for a little bit.

Doing a quick pose together. It's helpful to know everyone who works there since it means there is someone to take the picture for you.

After I let them choose a little animal for them to take home, we had to return to give them a bath - as usual, this was the favorite part of the experience.

Ryder wasn't as sure about it, especially since I had to set him in the tub for him to get the chance to play in it.

While parents did their fancy dining, we had to do ours' as well. So, we went to Artic Circle. This was mainly because it was the closest place I knew of that had a play place for the munchkins. I became the horrible aunt when I told Briley she couldn't go play until she had eaten, but that's tough love I suppose. Then when we had to wait for Ryder to be done, which we were pretty sure happened when he started giving me his food back. So, some pictures of their play time:

She did get stuck on this the first time and had to be rescued, but after that she figured it out.

He was just loving being able to be off and running. I did have to catch him a few times from running out the door.

Tricky, tricky.

He didn't ever actually go down a whole slide, but he did enjoying climbing up about two steps and sliding that distance down.

Not sure where she got this idea from, but it was pretty cute - yes, I am biased.

He realized this tunnel was just his height and was very happy with that.

Not one to be outdone, Briley had to join him there. It was next to impossible to get the picture with both of them looking at the camera, but they all turned out so cute I don't want to edit any of them.

(And, yes, I did actually edit and not include pictures of the whole time together.) They were picked up right after the quick five minute storm that kept us there instead of heading to an outdoor playground, which was probably the better idea since Ryder didn't have any shoes on. And I got home in time to watch the Real game on TV. All in all, it really was a fun day.