We get there and are just nicely waiting. They are doing a photo and video shoot with some younger children. The teachers let us go in and play for a bit. We hit the beam, monkey bars, climbing wall....you name it and we are on it. Where are the cameras now....
One of the teachers asks John to join them in the art room to do a super hero art project. Score! He goes, spends one minute inside the art room, realizes we are not with him, and I hear a WAILING from afar. It could not be my child. No. We never cry here. Why would he be crying. And so it is. He comes running out to find us full of tears, screaming "I don't want to be super! I just want to go home!" Uh oh. We have been here for 22 out of our 90 minute plan. P.S. It is not like he has never had his picture taken before.
I encourage him to go play. He is like a statue. Acting like he has never been here before and does not want to ever come back. But Virginia pulls through. They ask her to be a princess, give her an outfit, and we get ready. She did a FANTASTIC job. She gets a wand, listens to everything they say, follows all directions, and smiles! I am feeling redeemed. I make sure the photographer knows she belongs to me so they don't regret asking us to come. Shameful.
We move to the Princess Tea Party. Oh what fun...a table, balloons, wands, cookies, and tea. The photo shoot is going great...they are videoing too! The four princess girls are asked to drink some tea. Virginia just sits there. Maybe we should have played tea party at home with actual drink a time or two. She is refusing to drink the tea/juice because she thinks she should not and wants to follow the rules. I am forcing her to drink the juice. It fails. She then cries and has to leave the area. Meanwhile, John noticed uneaten cookies and juice. He takes himself right over there and joins in the tea party. So I am trying to console her from my forceful juice issues and trying to get John out of the shot. I can finally hear someone say, "Uh...I think we are done with the princess tea party." You and me both my friend. But on the bright side, John was fully reloaded with some tea and cookies in his belly. Even if they were stolen and he preferred to be a princess instead of a super hero.
So we go play. John FINALLY gets his picture taken playing on the bouncer. Whew. Both kids at least got one picture taken.
Things are finally going well. All are smiling, playing with instruments, being their normal selves. Until....the rare moment when you look down and see something on the Romp N Roll play mat. What is that? Did someone throw up? Who has water? Which one of my children let a water spill? Oh no. That's not it. It occurs to me that we have actually peed the floor and the pretty (and borrowed) princess dress. And now it is time to go home. We are 62 minutes into the projected 90 minutes.
I held my head high, took Virginia to the bathroom to get out what was left....but what could possibly be left. That pee spill on the floor seemed endless. I folded up the wet princess dress and put on a smile. I reminded the teachers to tell the owners that we did mean well and that I hoped they would tell them how good we are in class...and then I handed over the dress after they refused to let me dry clean it. And we left. Both kids got in the car happy and talked the whole way home about how much fun that was. I guess it is all about perspective.
But I am typing this as I made Joe take the kids to Romp N Roll this morning. I just did not have it in me.
