Family Fun

Dowlan's in town for the weekend. I'm normally guilty of using his weekends home as a chance to nap and do things without the kids in tow, but we're in serious need of some familial bonding.

This morning we endured church together, then ate at Wendy's. We attempted to have actual conversations at a table with some success. After nixing the dessert idea, we stopped at the house just long enough for a few clothing changes before the girls had a Girl Scout thing, Dowlan and Charlie went to the park and I had a nap. (I couldn't pass up the opportunity for solitude entirely.)

After returning home, the kids decided it was time to count up the money in their piggybanks. The girls were up to nearly $40 and Charlie was over $12. He and daddy took off in pursuit of a Lego set. There wasn't quite enough change left for Hot Wheels, but his set was SuperAwesomeCool, so that was forgivable.

Then it was time. Time for Star Wars in 3-D.

The total ticket cost of $48.50 nearly knocked me over, but all five of us love Star Wars, Jar Jar and all. As we were settling into our seats with our snuck-in water bottles and $7 worth of popcorn I realized that we've never gone to a movie all together before.

I was a little worried about how Charlie would do, but he was far more quiet than the grown man behind us. Halfway through, Dixie got tired of the seat collapsing in on her and spent the rest of the movie on my lap. Melody sat riveted throughout.

As we were headed to the car, I saw an ice cream shop and thought, 'Why not?' Three kids cups later, we had a really nice time talking about the film.

We needed that.