Wednesday was forecast to be in the seventies. So our plans were the grocery store, park, nap and then park or indoor pool.

Why does it take toddlers sooo long to eat!! I know all the news is buzzing about taking your time eating right now but it was just a bowl of cereal, a kiddie bowl. There is no reason for me to be hurrying the kids but you want to get certain things done each day and Argh!! Finally William finished and I could get the kids ready to go for groceries. MaryVic refused to eat the cereal she wanted last time from the grocery store. She waits for William to sign and say ‘all done’ and for me to say we’re moving, ‘I haven’t eaten my cereal!

So we do the grocery store with a side venture to Home Depot where William threw a tantrum. MaryVic had to go to potty. You know your a parent when you don’t have to ask where the restrooms are in Home Depot. Everybody go ‘eeewww…’ as William crawls around on the floor of the ladies restroom. MaryVic held the door so he could crawl out. This is progressing a bit slowly as we are at the very back of Home Depot and there are groceries in the car, albeit in the keep cool bag. I grab William and he protests in loud, kicking, angry toddler independence spirit which echoes stridently in the warehouse of Home Depot. MaryVic winds up carrying our purchases to the register and almost unable to keep with Momma as she tries to get William out of there. He stops instantly at the cash register when I put him down on the floor again.

We pay, leave and go home so I can do a quick unload of the groceries. I know better than to doubt MaryVic’s power of observation but we still disagree about the crackers bought at the store. I grab two packs of the cheese with cracker sticks. No, I want the ones you got at Publix! These are the same. No! I go and look. Sure enough she’s right. I bought the flat crackers with the red stick and cheese. I grab one and tell her that she was right. Usually this results in chortled delight but I guess she’s more focused on getting to the park to eat them today.

At the park we have snack on the train and played in the sandbox. I set the timer on the phone for one hour and told them when it went off, we had to go home for lunch and naps.

The rest of the time was spent in the Tinkerbell’s Castle area of the park.

Last summer we were holding her hands as she crossed the tires.

I didn’t remember to twitter until we were at the park. Daddy knew where we were and stopped by on his lunch break to the kids delight.

Showing off for Daddy on the balance beam.

and she makes it!

William realized Mom wasn’t going to pick him up so he took off.

Crossing the suspension bridge which is now listing to one side.

Daddy went on to get some lunch. MaryVic gave him a huge hug and came back to check on Momma and William. He crawled up Tinkerbell’s Castle and was looking at the slide.

After thinking about it, they opted to keep crawling around on the castle. MaryVic was very sweet and cute as she got down on her hands and knees to crawl after William. She informed me that we were going from smallest to tallest, William to me.

They crawled the castle 3 or 4 times before the timer went off. MaryVic played the chimes while I grabbed William as he tried to make a last minute scramble back to the castle. I had set him down to take these pictures, turned around and he was booking it back into the playground.

We went home, lunch and naps. I tried to talk MaryVic into going back to the park but she wanted to go to the indoor pool. We went there for an hour. Everyone else was outside so we did have it to ourselves. William is enjoying getting into the pool more and more. He did away with the noodle support and water winged it some for the first time. We played throw a floating ball and the kids would race to get it. William was trying to paddle, kick, and wiggle to it. The only problem is he doesn’t like to throw the ball after getting it. It is mine now! Thankfully the game was fun enough that he didn’t fuss when I wrestled it away from him and threw it again.

After pool, the required strawberry bar snack on the way back home.

Hmmm…. this is NOT the right kind of strawberry bar. Look it has frosting! NO! You cannot fuss until you have at least tasted it. She gave it a tentative lick and then ate the whole thing.

The only other really memorable moment was last night after dinner when I went to get the ice cream. I cleaned off the table first, taking everyone’s plates. William had been playing with his so he wailed when I took it away. I came back in with the mini-ice cream bowls and he had his head on the table sobbing. ‘William, look what Momma has!’ He lifts the tearful face and it goes long with wide eyes and an ‘ooooo!’ The fit stops instantly. It was such a quick change that both Greg and I laughed out loud. No camera though!