Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Castle

Sebastian has been begging to go to "the castle" for months now. We discovered it a couple months back when we had some unforeseen problems at the trampoline place in Portland. That day we made the drive to the trampoline place & they proceeded to kick out all of the customers for a private party two minutes after we arrived. We had called with some questions at least twice before we came but none of the employees we talked to informed us of a 3 hour closure for a party that would be happening that afternoon. It was very disappointing. Obviously we couldn't drive back to Salem with a car full of kids expecting to have a super, awesome fun day in Portland. So we did some googling (thank goodness we finally got smart phones!) & found PDX Playdate. PDX Playdate is a huge indoor play area that was built to satisfy the energy & creativity of children as well as serve as basically an open restaurant & relaxation area for the parents/caregivers. The kids can run rampant being as loud & fast as they want to be while the parents kick back and relax. They even serve beer! I guess that isn't shocking, it's Portland after all. So this place houses an enormous play structure built to look like a castle. There are multiple slides, a dance floor, guns that shoot soft balls, brightly colored tunnels, structures to climb & swing from, etc. It's too much to list. Even adults can play in it, there is ample room. Scott & I played in it for hours with the kids today. I missed my gym workout but I'm guessing our indoor play structure adventure might have made up for that.

Judah played on his own & with Daddy quite a bit today while we were at PDX Playdate. Typically if I'm present he is often clinging to me or panicking when he can't see me. He did exceptionally well being independent today. Willow dove right into the fun. She didn't last long in the "toddler" area. She was more than ready to get into the big play structure & have some big kid fun! I made a video of her dancing on the lit up dance floor. She boogied down with Judah & a bunch of other kids. It was great.

Scott took Pixie to the "dog hotel" for a meet & greet today. She spent an hour there with the other dogs. Apparently she did really well & was very friendly and calm around the other animals. In the past she has always gotten antsy around other animals, so it was surprising & relieving to know she has changed. We will have her stay there one night & see how she does before we leave her there the week we go to Oklahoma. This kennel has an outdoor area the dogs can play & relax in as much as they want. They are only put in the kennel for an hour a day & of course through the night. That's why we chose it, so she won't be locked up all day long. It's in Dallas which is a drive, but worth it if she has some freedom there. She is a dog that we rescued. She had some very obvious signs of past abuse the first week we had her. We definitely don't want her somewhere where she is going to be really scared. This is the best place we have found for her. Lucky for us Scott's co-worker mentioned it to him!

Today I was getting ready to change Judah's diaper. He followed me back to the baby's room & took off his diaper! That was a first! Other times today I prompted & gave him minimal assist & he again took off his diaper & also pulled up & down his pants. I've tried to get him to do this before but he usually doesn't seem to understand which way to go with his pants or does nothing at all. He helped me get his shirt off tonight & is trying to learn to get them on by himself as well. This was huge progress today, very exciting. Scott hasn't seen this yet & seems to be in disbelief. That's just how it is.. it's so hard to believe he is changing & so quickly! Like I've said before, it just seems like he suddenly decided to try a little harder & has realized some new qualities he has & seems to be very proud of them!

Tomorrow we will likely spend a lot of the day at home. Scott got the weekly grocery shopping trip out of the way tonight, so that won't eat up a chunk of our day tomorrow. There's always so much to do though. The weekend is the most time we have to get things done & the most time we have as parents to enjoy our children at the same time. It's definitely a balancing act. The kids usually seem to win out. The grass dies, the bookshelves get dusty & things get thrown in a closet more often than they should. But it's worth it. You only have this time with your children once. We try to make the most of it.

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