A Cat Party: Part 2

M actually turned four on Monday and as fate would have it, Monday was an in-service day and C didn't have school! So Husband took the day off of work and we had a bonus weekend day to celebrate our girl. To make this story interesting you should know that I had specifically been praying for M to have a great birthday and really feel loved. 

M really wanted to go to Monkey Joe's the inflatable place, but it closed. She sobbed and sobbed and was devastated. It took us about 20 minutes to calm her down and she somehow decided the backup plan should be Burger King. It should be noted that my kids are no strangers to fast food but we really have never done Burger King for a lunch. But they have a play area that C went with his friends a bunch when they were 4. 

We got to Burger King and not only were they cleaning the play area but they changed it! Gone were the tunnels of yesteryear, and in it's place was a play area that didn't really look fun anyway. So we got back into the car, luckily I had warned the kids that sometimes they clean it. (Happened once before to us years ago!) We did bop through the drive-through and everyone got a burger to tide us over. I am glad I insisted on that because it was the only thing we would ever get around to eating for lunch. 

We went to the local garden center. They do a fall festival on the weekends and we thought maybe some of the stuff would still be available. Plus in Saturday's windstorm, M's pumpkin blew and the stem fell off, which, obviously invalidated the pumpkin, so we were going to get a new one. There was no one there! And so the kids played in the corn bin. 

And they had so much fun. So we walked around and looked at the Christmas trees, and the plants, and mums and then, there was a man and he blew up the inflatable! I mean, probably it wasn't just for us but we were the only ones there with people under 20 so... it kinda felt like it was just for us. M jumped her little heart out for a half hour solid. With no interruptions. (Besides her brother.) And she was SO happy. 

After we picked out two pumpkins for $6 (Which is all we spent for over an hour of fun in the corn bin and jumpy!) We headed to the botanical center so M could feed the fish because she likes to do that. We pulled up and there were SO MANY cars. Husband didn't think it seemed like a lot, and in reality, it wasn't but normally there's like five cars. We went in and people started streaming out and they looked so happy to see us. All those cars were the board of directors having a lunch meeting. We had this place to ourselves too. We played in the sun garden, reading books and feeing the fish. 

Then went to the children's garden. We played in the hobbit house for a long while so Husband could fix C's pants. He is a skinny little dude and needs the adjustable waist, and one of the elastic pieces had come unbuttoned and into the waistband! So his pants were literally falling off of him.

After his pants fit again, we went outside and played games and looked at all the scarecrows they had.

It was a PERFECT day at like 65 degrees and sunny, so fall and wonderful! And we had so much fun all by ourselves. We didn't see anyone at all who didn't work there until we were on our way out. 

We went to the grocery store so M could pick out her school treat. (She picked brownie M&M cookies.) And then we went for frozen yogurt. 

We went home where she opened her presents from us and we played. Then had Papa Johns because her birthday is Saint Pope John Paul II's feast day and I consider him her patron saint. And we watched Frozen, had a piece of her cake and tucked our tired four-year-old into bed. 

We had such a special day out and about enjoying our girl. It was such a fun fall family day and my heart was filled to the brim with goodness.