Playing hooky

Yesterday, one of my friends from high school posted to Facebook that she had an extra ticket for the ROM and was anyone available.

On the spur of the moment, I said ME PLEASE. I booked a day off and took the girls and join Janice and her son, Wilson, at the Museum.

We started the day off with pictures for Daddy (he's coming home from BC tonight!).

Starting the day right

We went downtown in the morning. I told Alexa about rush hour, and she did everything I asked the moment I asked it while we were on the subway. I was proud of her. The girls did their best to charm everyone we met on the TTC.

We stopped in quickly at my work, and both girls were actually a bit shy. The ROM isn't far from my work; you just have to cut up through the U of T campus. So I decided to walk instead of going back into the subway. Unfortunately, the U of T campus is majorly under construction and I lost my bearings. A ten-minute walk took us 40 minutes because I went too far, turned the wrong direction, and turned the wrong direction again. My dad tried so hard to instil in me a sense of direction. I can use a compass like a champ, but I really have zero innate sense of where I am in the world. Seeing as I don't generally carry a compass (maybe I should), I rely on landmarks. Landmarks failed me and we were late to meet Janice and Wilson. They forgave us, though.

We spent a really lovely two hours in the museum. First off: dinosaurs! Well, first off for Alexa and Wilson. First off for Mia: taking off her shoes and hiding in the dead-end corners.

Alexa called this a "flying turtle dinosaur" 

2 out of 3 paying attention

Alexa wanted the dino skeletons to talk

She thought this hiding spot was HILARIOUS

Trying to get UNDER the display

Alexa didn't think she should do that

They were really into the tactile displays

Mia was really into playing peek-a-boo with me

 After the dinosaurs, we went to the kids area. That was fun. I don't have a lot of pictures, because they didn't stop moving! Alexa's very favourite part was the bat cave (we went through it three times, and she would have gone more if there wasn't other stuff to do).

The kids all loved this little cave and went in and out. There was also a very popular colouring table, frog terrarium, and tactile displays of Canadian wildlife.

We could have spent hours more there, but everyone was getting worn down so we went out for lunch instead. After a very happy morning, we finally tottered home well after Mia's usual nap time, as all three kids were starting to melt down.

After nap, we planned to meet friends at the Thursday Farmer's Market for dinner. It sort of went as planned.

Alexa fell asleep in the stroller on the way there. My friends watched her while I took Mia up and down the market and decided to get strawberries. I also got Mia some fresh-squeezed juice. We watched them squeeze it, and it was very cool.

I woke Alexa up, and she was groggy, so I took the girls to the playground to get going. We started off with play time on the swings. Mia loved this big swing and practically lay down on it.

Then, we got food and settled in for a delicious picnic dinner. Unfortunately for our friends, their kids were absolutely melting down, so we ended up having a picnic on our own. We had a great time anyway!

Prime real estate

 We attempted a picnic last week and it was a debacle. This week, I brought Mia's chair and it was FANTASTIC. Alexa's old enough to sit still for a picnic, and buckling Mia in meant that she could focus on eating, too.

After the girls were done, we headed back to the playground for a bit, then up to the man on stilts making balloon toys. Both girls got flowers. Mia kept hitting hers on the ground and would laugh hysterically when the petals of the flower popped. Once we got off the grass, the balloon stopped popping, so she started biting it and shrieking with laughter. I took it away. I don't want her putting balloons in her mouth and popping them, no matter how hilarious she thinks it is.

Our last stop of the day was at an ice cream store. Mia got vanilla, Alexa got "the one with all the colours" (birthday cake), and I got mint chip. It was a gorgeous evening to be eating ice cream cones. Alexa made friends with a little girl sitting beside her (not pictured, because it's creepy to post pictures of a stranger's kid).

This is the life

We got home in time for baths and a nice on-time bed-time. Two sleepy girls actually seemed to welcome their little beds. As I was putting her to bed, I asked Alexa what her favourite part of the day was. She said: "the subway train". Her second choice was the bat cave.

It was a found day, stolen from the midst of the every day. And it was perfect.

All we need is for Jevon to come home. We miss him.