Change of Plan Fun

Wednesday was a long day.  Instead of nap, Eileen, Robin, and I took my mom to the doctor.  It was 2 hours in a waiting room.  Oye.  We made it home in time to take Linus to karate.  Exhausted, Robin was not happy.  Just as karate class let out, Robin puked all over the YMCA hallway.  Got home, Robin had a temp of 101.8.  Of course Dave was working late.  Mama had a big glass of wine that night.

Thursday Robin seemed to be doing better although he had a strange green ooze coming out of his eye.  I prayed it wasn't a big deal since we were supposed to spend the weekend in Portland.  Friday Robin woke up with a fever and more gunk in his eyes.  By afternoon, he was really sick with a fever of over 103.  The upside is that sick babies are exceptionally snuggly.  Alarmed at his worsening condition, I called the doctor.  The doctor was worried it might be the flu and let me make an appointment for Saturday morning.  The trip to Portland was officially cancelled.

Saturday morning led to a diagnosis of pink eye and a viral infection that was not flu.  With a sigh of relief, I brought Robin home to nurse him back to health.  Dave found himself as Linus' playmate.  Sunday was more time with a sick baby.  In addition to nurse, I played the role of loving wife and entertained children so Dave could watch the game with few distractions.  Of course, he is still available when a sick baby needs their daddy.

The baby fever free and pink eye under control, I woke up this morning determined to have a better day.  We all needed a change of pace.  Coming off of winter break and lots of sickness, the television has been on too much.  Today I kept the tv off and instead taught Linus how to do crosswords.  Eileen is very adept at playing by herself.  After a peaceful early morning, I loaded up the kids and headed to Kirkland to the Rainbow Swing Set Superstore for their open play.  It may be the best $12 I ever spent.

The kids played for 1.5 hours.  They played hard.  They played with each other.  They made new friends.  Oh it was lovely.  We just don't seem to go on as many adventures these days.  Whenever we do, it seems to re-energize and reset all of us.

The kids especially loved the trampoline.  It almost made me wish we had kept the one that came with our house.  Linus begged to take Robin down the slide.  Robin is not a fan of slides and was on the verge of tears by the second time.

I give this place two thumbs up.  It is one of the few places where bigger kids and younger kids can both play safely amongst one another with little adult help.  In the words of Linus, "This place is pretty good."  That is high praise coming from him.