August 11, 2006
Allie and Daddy Day
What a day!!!
Dad needed a break from work.
Mom needed a break from Allie.
Things always work out in the end...truly.
So, I had a few rough weeks in a row, just busy, nothing too daunting, but I also got a note from our PTO (Paid Time Off) system telling me that I had hit my max accrual, and that if I didn't want to lose any time, I should schedule some vacation.
Delphine needed to head up to Cheyenne to see her Mom and Dad, and needed a break from Allie. For those of you that know her, Allie is a very, VERY busy kiddo. This Summer, we have tried a lot of things to keep her busy, and for the most part it has worked out, but she's also stopped taking naps, which means she can get a little manic near the end of the day. I think she'll be great once she's back in school, but for now, she's a bit wild.
So, we came up with the idea that I would take a day off work, Delphine would take Nate up to Cheyenne and spend the night, and Allie and I could have a whole day to ourselves.
We had some breakfast at home, nothing big, and I got a few work things out of the way (loose ends from the day before), and our first stop was SportClips, where I get my haircut. After a quick buzz, we were off to Boondocks.
For those of you that don't know Boondocks, it's basically a fun place for kids to hang out. They've got 2 18-hole mini golf courses, bumper boats (with squirters), a Junior Go-Cart track for little kids, and two regular go-cart tracks for big kids. They also have a 8-station batting cage. Pretty cool. Inside, they have Laser Tag, an arcade, a kids play structure (think McDonalds on steroids), a boatload of ticket games, and a restaurant. Not too shabby of a complex.
We had some coupons for things, so we got an unlimited pass to all attractions, just in case. Mine was free, so that wasn't too bad. Then we hit lunch first. Allie got a hot dog and I got a hamburger. Decent food, but it took forever to get it...ugh.
Next was bumper boats. Allie LOVES the bumper boats, because you get "soak-ed". To dry off, Allie took some laps on the small go cart. There were no other kids, so she raced against herself. Next were the big go-carts that she could ride with me on. She wasn't too sure, but about halfway around the first lap, she was urging me to go faster and we both were having a lot of fun. We headed inside and got some game tokens and proceeded to play a lot of the ticket games. I did well with one machine in particular, and we ended up with a little over 1200 tickets. Woo-hoo! Allie went the "quantity not quality" route, and got a lot of fun little things. We finished up with another round of bumper boats and she took another spin on the kiddie carts, and then it was off to home. All in all, we spent 5 and a half hours there, and it was a blast!
Right before we left, though, we found the picture machine, and had a lot of fun getting our picture taken, as you can see to the right.
The next morning, we went to LePeep's together and had a really nice breakfast, then hit PetSmart for some cat food (and, of course, the walk down fish lane, and to see all the puppies and kitties up for adoption).
Thanks for a really fun day (and a half), Allie!!!
-Dad-