Play Date

Em's best friend at her old school was Declan--they acted like brother and sister, because they would hug one minute and push each other the next.

 

We never had a chance to say goodbye to them when we moved Em to Rainbow Station, but we ran into them unexpectedly and exchanged contact information a while back, so we got in touch around Christmas and decided to get together for a play date.

 

They were so excited to see each other--we went to the Sports Connection, which is a bowling alley, bounce house, arcade and cafe.  They jumped right in and started playing together.

The arcade seemed to be their favorite,

but it was pretty easy to spend money in there!

It's funny to see them use these "Connection Cards" they give you--it's a reloadable card that you swipe for each game.  They clearly don't comprehend that the cards don't have unlimited money on them.  We've talked before about how much more difficult it will be to teach Em about money when we so rarely handle it (we hardly ever carry cash).

But obviously, we weren't here to teach her financial responsibility.  There's a kids' bowling alley that was fun for them,

and this game that was like a tornado--she had to hold on tight and the seat moved and these fans blew pretty hard.  Em loved it!

They tried dancing, but it was a little more advanced than they were.

This one was fun for Em's and Declan's Daddy to play too.

Mini basketball,

and there was only one mallet to smash the sharks here, so Em used her fist.  Nice team effort!

They refused to pose for a picture together when we finished, but they were both exhausted.  Em made it home before she fell asleep, but they played pretty hard for about 3 1/2 hours!