A Brilliant Idea

On days like today, I just want to give a standing ovation to the individual(s) who conceived and gave birth to the idea we now know as The McDonald Playland. We had the most gorgeous start to spring break last Friday. The walk home from school which normally lasts about 5 minutes lengthened by a few moments at the corner as we stopped and visited with some neighbors, then grew even longer as my Rachel and a girl she walks home with raced scooters on the sidewalk. More neighbors arrived home from school, and before I knew it, there were nearly a dozen kids running back and forth between yards throwing Frisbees, riding scooters, and enjoying life like there was no tomorrow.

And indeed, there has been no day like it since. Saturday brought cooler temperatures, and Sunday brought cold, miserable rain. Monday, the official beginning of spring, saw more cold nasty drizzle, and by today ... well, we all had a good case of cabin fever.

We spent an hour or so running errands this morning. Fortunately, they were "The Good Kind" as the kids call them, errands in which I can keep my eye continuously on the vehicle and thus do not make them leave the warmth and comfort of their seats (or, more importantly in their minds, the movie they talked me into popping in the DVD player for them today, a special treat normally reserved for road trips).

After the necessary items were checked off my to-do list and I had managed to get them through it all with a minimal amount of bickering and complaining, I turned toward my three angels in the back seat and announced, "Okay! The rest of the morning is yours! What should we do??" The question was met with quiet, as they contemplated their options, which I might add were pitifully few given the lack of cooperation from the weather.

Several ideas were tossed about including going to Fun City (an indoor playground that serves cardboard pizza), playing at the mall playland, or going to Mickey D's. The latter finally won out, and we were on our way to visit The Golden Arches. Along with almost every other NW Arkansas family with young children as we were to discover. The place was WILD with cooped-up kids set free for the morning with caffeine coursing through their veins and a warm, dry place to burn off the pent-up energy from the weekend.

My angels finished their McNuggets and apple slices and tore off toward the slides together. I settled into our booth with my needlework for some solitude (if you can call it that) and "Mommy Time". I let the troops romp wildly for close to an hour before sending up the call to head home for naps. It was an hour of divine peace as the madness went on all around me. I was even hit in the head once by an angry toddler's tiny purse, but for that hour no one wanted anything from me. No one called my name. No one called me on the phone. It was heavenly.

All of this for the price of three Happy Meals and a cheeseburger with extra pickles and mustard. Ahhhhh.....