Mommy Mia Date

The most difficult part of tax season is that I miss time with my kids.  I can get by with 4 or 5 hours of sleep for awhile, but it hurts to be away from them so much.  I couldn't wait for today because I had closed the office, and I knew Mia and I would have a mommy daughter date in the morning, and Lily and I would have one in evening.  I had planned on taking Mia to the zoo and letting her lead the way wherever she wanted to go.  Unfortunately, the rain put a stop to that idea.  I mentioned the museum, and she got pretty excited so we headed downtown.  We stayed for over three hours because she was having so much fun; she really didn't want to leave but it was almost 1:30, and I think her growling stomach made her realize she needed to head on out.  It was so neat to me to watch her as we played.  You could see the wheels turning in her head as we went along.  You could see her learning as she touched and played with everything!

She couldn't wait to go fishing and painting.  That's what she talked about all the way down to the museum.  She immediately set about doing these two activities.  She loved catching the fish (especially when she didn't use her hand to catch it) and seeing how the paints mixed together.

 Pretending to eat a plum while driving the tractor. 

 Shopping in the farmer's market and milking the cow.

 Back to fishing for a second (outer space raincoat) and third (fire girl raincoat) go round. 

 The special exhibit right now is about the human body which Mia enjoyed exploring.  She used all her strength to move these hands and arms around. 

 Returning to painting.

 She loved playing in the moon sand.  We stayed there for close to an hour making multiple volcanoes and watching them erupt.  We played in the garden area and the mechanical area for awhile.  Last stop was the train track area.  Mia has always loved to play with trains.  We stayed here for awhile before she agreed it was time to head out.

  As we were on the way back to the car, Mia stopped and exclaimed "a mud puddle!"  Her little voice, full of hope, then asked "Mommy, can I please jump in it?"  How could I say no to that?  Precious little one proceeded to jump and laugh for several minutes having an absolute blast.  As much fun as we had at the museum, this is probably her favorite part of the day!

I love this girl!