As part of my son's birthday weekend festivities, we met friends at a nearby pumpkin patch in the evening. We'd been to the patch last year, but Monkey was too young to really enjoy or know what was going on. This year he was truly living it up, and though he was tall enough to go on most of the rides himself, I was loving the chance to join him, especially for this:
Today's New Activity: Biggest Slide EVER!!!
I have to admit there were moments when I was headed up the stairs of this slide that I got a little nervous. Mostly I was trying to figure out how I was going to get myself and Monkey onto a potato sack together at the top of a slippery slide!
I think all of us Mamas there were too nervous to go down by ourselves (with our monkeys), so we went down in twos (pictures hard to snap...it happened so fast!):
First my cousin "Bug" and me with our boys:
Then Kelsi and Nicole and their munchkins :)
Wow! What a rush! I don't ski or really go downhill fast ever, for any reason, but this made me kind of understand the appeal :) That was after the initial terror passed. Monkey LOVED it. We went down again before heading home for cake and presents, all of which were wonderful.
The kids all played well together, and the sweet birthday boy went around giving kisses and hugs and thank yous after each present. I was so proud of my little 2-year-old big boy!
Today is Monkey's 2nd birthday. Since he'd be going to his Dad's house later this afternoon, I decided to have a little mini-celebration by taking him to a just-for-kids fun place for a few hours.
Today's New Activity: Finding Toddler Paradise at Super Frank's
Super Frank's, in Pleasanton, is a Chuck E. Cheese type place without most of the arcade madness and with what is purported to be much better food, with the added plus of serving coffee. Real coffee. I'd heard about it over a year ago from a fellow Hayward Mom, but I'd yet to make the scant 12-minute drive there to check it out.
What a great idea! All you pay is $7 per child (which gains entrance for 2 adults as well) and then you just let the kid go nuts for as long as he can manage it. There are 4 rooms the kids can play in (one of which is an arcade, but with all the wide open space and good-for-toddler toys in the other rooms, they don't seem to be all that drawn to that room), and they feature different activities all afternoon (toddler tumbling, music time, craft time, etc.)
The staff was super friendly and all the rooms just filled with toys that we both (mostly) safe and fun for the kids (only kids under 8 allowed to play, which kept things from getting too roughly. Mostly the kids were right around his age or a couple of years older).
There were also tons of tables and booths surrounding the rooms, where parents sat and watched and waiting for the food they'd ordered to be brought out. It was incredibly relaxing and stress-free, even with like 150 kids running around.
Monkey was a little shy and hesitant at first (typical for him), but he warmed up after a bit and was soon running around and trying to kiss and hug babies. Sweetie. I can't wait to go back with my gal friends and their little munchkins!
