Mommy/Daddy/Rhyan Day!

Jeff and I have been wanting to take Rhyan and spend a couple of days with just her before the summer is over. She's been such a great sport this summer, not being able to go and do very much. Its not a lot of fun to be stuck around the house with a Mom and Dad who are sleep deprived and dont want to play all the time... or to have to be quiet (which, if you know Rhyan, she is LOUD... so i dont mean that we try to keep it silent in the house when Mack naps... just down a decibel or so!) because her baby brother is asleep. But Rhyan has been a little champ this summer. She's loved her brother and not seemed to mind that its a little boring around here!

So last Wednesday we asked the fabulous Tracy to keep Mack for us so that we could take Rhyan out with the two of us after swim lessons. We debated on what to do and settled on something simple. And cheap.

We headed up to the mall of GA! We started out by exchanging some clothes at Macy's. Rhyan just loved running around the store!

Then we walked down to the little play area and let her roam. This was an interesting part of the morning b/c it was the 1st time Jeff and I got to observe Rhyan playing around strangers. She is pretty passive and it aggravated me a little that she wouldnt stand up for herself. Other kids were constantly breaking in front of her in line and getting on the toy she was getting on while she just backed off. We agreed that we may not make it through sending her to school w/o having to beat up on some kids for her :-)

Then we ate an early lunch at the food court.

Followed by a carousel ride. Which she loved. She petted her "horsey" while she rode and told him to go "higher" :-)

And lastly, the FOUNTAIN! This was the only part I had my camera for. It was in the van and Jeff was kind enough to fetch it for me. Such a sweetie.

She wasnt so sure about it at first, as you can tell from this pic!

But she quickly warmed up to the idea!

And decided that she was big stuff!

But not too big to ask Daddy to "mere" and play with her!

She put on her best "pease"....

... and tugged and pulled on Daddy... but was not successful in luring him in!

So she decided she would have fun by herself a little while longer :-)

When we told her it was time to go home she protested with a "noooo" and lay herself on the concrete. If she wasnt so tired, she might have earned herself a spanking. But lucky for Rhyan, her Mama and Daddy were pretty tired, too :-). So instead, I took the time to promise her that we'd come back some other day and that we needed to go home, to which she replied "i ty-yerd! onna go nite nite!".

And indeed she was "ty-yerd". 5 minutes into the ride home and she was out like a light.

It was a great time with our sweet firstborn and I'm grateful for the time we shared! Looking forward to another couple of outings this week before Daddy goes back to work!