Made it

Yesterday, the kids started back to school after two weeks off, and we were all ready for the return. The break actually went really well and we did not have too many conflicts and/or issues. On New Years Eve Day, I took the kids to Nick Universe as we had free wrist bands to use.

This was a new thing, usually when we have gone, the kids get to pick 2 or 3 rides to ride. So having free reign was really fun and Akila in particular did really well. We arrived at 10:30 and I thought we would leave by 4 or so, but all 4 kids were doing so well that we stayed. I weighed the pros and cons of just leaving, knowing that the later we stayed the more likely we would be to have a meltdown. But I faced up to the fact that we would have a meltdown either way, so we stayed longer.

Around 5, all 3 except for Zeke got in line for the Ghostly Gangplank, a 4 story or so ropes course they have now that is really cool. They were in line for 1 1/2 hours so Zeke and I would go and walk around every once in awhile. Michael got off work and came and met us and watched the kids on the ropes course, which took til about 7. We then went and ate at Ruby Tuesdays and returned for some more rides.

Nick Universe also had some New Year's Eve kid friendly fun stuff and on our way out, we passed a kids karaoke thing, and of course, Akila talked them into adding her to the list (they weren't taking any more singers), and we waited and she sang for the crowd. It was pretty funny. We ended up leaving the mall after 9:30, 11 hours total- a record.

And of course, in the parking lot, had a great meltdown. Akila thought she had brought her teddy bear with but it wasn't in the car. I told her she didn't bring it, she disagreed, STRONGLY disagreed. It took quite awhile to get her in the car, and she cried and whaled the first 10 minutes of the ride. The next 10 minutes of the ride, she fought and hit the other kids, and she was fine the last 5 minutes of the ride.

The week before New Year's, the kids asked if they could stay up til 10, and we agreed. I'm not even sure if they know the thing to do is to stay up til midnight, but I'm not going to tell them. They were thrilled and looking forward to the 10 pm bedtime all week. Well we got home at 10, and put them to bed at 10:30. Zeke was hilarious. As I was tucking him in, he asked if they could stay up til 10 the next night since they did not get to tonight. I explained that they did, but it did not seem like it to him since they were not home. Funny.

Happy New Year everyone!!