One of the benefits to Kayden being in preschool is that I get some one-on-one time with Kloey. We usually go to a park and/or do chores around the house- Lucky Kloey, I know!! Today I decided to brave LegoLand’s Aquarium. It was surprisingly busy since summer is over for the school-aged kiddos. We found a good parking spot, so I thought it was a good omen. I thought! I should mention, Kloey has a running history of melting down at both LegoLand and the Aquarium. I thought, ‘No, this time it will be different! It’s just us two. No pressure to move fast, go slow, or keep anyone else happy. It. Was. Just. Us.” So it had the recipe for success, right? We had all our ducks in a row. Snacks- check. Water- check. No stroller- check. All the time in the world- CHECK!! Well the damn slide at the beginning ALWAYS trips us up. Kloey would prefer to stay there all day. Unfortunately, a sea of big kids came in right behind us so she had to move on. I say unfortunately because as soon as they fled, she high tailed it back to the damn slide!! ‘All the time in the world’ I reminded myself. I let her slide. And slide. And slide some more. Here comes another sea of kids! So I convinced her to move on and we got far enough that she didn’t know how to get back to the slide. I then tell her that there is another slide at the end and let’s go find it! (**Remember that when I get to the tantrum that ended our trip) So we move through the aquarium and she is doing AWESOME! The shades stayed on the whole time- even though most of the aquarium is in the dark so you can see the illuminated fish. Didn’t faze Kloey! Okay, so we get all the way through the aquarium, through the food court with way too many tasty treats at eye level for children with quick hands, and down the ‘elegator’. Then the toy store. Why oh why do they force you to go through a toy store to exit the aquarium?! Oh I know, because they secretly hate parents. We get through the toy store and to the door and then Kloey pumped the brakes and stalled!! She kept saying, ‘Let’s go Mom.’ And that was music to my ears, until I heard, ‘No go, mommy! SLIDE!!’ Yeah, who saw this coming?? If you think you can tell Kloey something and she’ll forget you- YOU’RE DEAD WRONG!! Like her sister, you can make no empty promises. They never forget. NEVER!! So I carried my 32 pound kicking and flailing two year old back to the car- good thing I got a close spot- it’s hot here today!!

 

Here is the progression of our outing. Starts off cute, right?! 🙂