John Paul's unhappy trip down the slide

Yesterday morning the girls were out of school and I decided we should celebrate with a trip to the indoor play place at a local mall. 

There were only six children in the entire place (5 were mine, of course) and we had a blast.  Sometimes at these kinds of places they each run five different directions, and they did that for a while.... and then these three started playing on the slide -

It must have looked like fun because Lydia joined in almost immediately.

And sure enough, a few minutes later our littlest buddy showed up at the top.  It's no short hike/climb for Luke to make it up there, but he was determined!

 

Holding hands and going down the slide is definitely a blast for these kiddos, but check out these next few pictures and keep your eyes on John Paul as he gives a demo called "why holding hands on the slide is not always as fun as you wish it was". 

poor little guy.

Matt and I scroll through these three pictures and laugh out loud.  Not at the tears (little buddy was a bit rattled by his face-plant) but, well, they are just funny.  Julianna is definitely a favorite of his, and I'm not sure if she was pulling him down or he didn't think to let go even if he had the chance.... but regardless, he recovered quickly and they moved on to another activity. 

Here they are loading balls into a vacuum pipe that sucks them up to a high hanging basket. 

When the basket is full enough they lay down in the ball pit and wait for the balls to dump ...

Four of them are in this picture.  Do you see them? 

There they are :) 

We ended the morning with a picnic at the mall's outdoor eating area.  It was pretty chilly (alright, very chilly) but I was the only one who seemed bothered by the weather.  Maybe the kids were all still sweaty from their play place antics?

Today I pulled out suitcases and started loading.  Tomorrow a friend is coming to spend the night with our children while Matt and I get a little time away (and a nice long night of sleep for me before the jet lag battles begin).  Three days and counting.....