Wednesday

It's been raining and cold for a week now and poor Emily is getting cabbin fever.  The sandbox we built her has become a permanent swimming pool and even when it's not raining, the swings and slides at the park are too wet to play on.  We are totally unprepared for this weather and so my little girl doesn't even own a pair of rain boots or a rain jacket...  This late in the season, I think it's not worth buying her any, but they're definitely on the shopping list for her second birthday, because there is nothing she loves more that jumping in puddles!  We have to be fast to grab her whenever a door is accidentally left open as she makes a mad dash to get outside and get wet.  Yesterday the rain caught us outside with Bela on a quasi walk (I had a hunch it would rain and so I wasn't planning to go far...still I had left my umbrella at home!).  Emily started cracking up when I began running home, screaming at Bela to come and dodging puddles along the dirt road (she was on my back). 

This Wednesday, however, we managed to have another wonderful day out with the family despite the dreary weather.  When my sisters were here we went out to eat at an Italian place in Antequera we'd never been too and noticed that right next door is an indoor park/play area for kids.  I was able to find their facebook page to check they were open and after siesta and a morning of household errands, we took off to go explore and play.

It was a great place.  They had a big climbing structure with slides, a trampoline and a ball pit for older kids, a dress-up room with costumes and mirrors, an area to play a little soccer, a "race track" for little tricycles, and even a little baby corner with a small ball pit and mini slide.  And of course, since this is Spain, there was a full bar inside, too. :)  We got a coffee and scoped out the scene before jumping right in. 

When we first arrived there were tons of kids!  Apparently there were two birthday parties and I am sure that the weather was also a factor in the number of children running around in there.  It was a zoo and I was a little worried that maybe we wouldn't even be able to let little Emily play.  The woman taking children's shoes told us one of us could go in with Em since she was so small, and she kicked the bigger kids out of the baby area for us. 

As expected Emily was pretty shocked at first by all the noise, all the kids and all the movement.  She is an observer in these situations.  She is not one to just go out there and get into stuff.  She definitely prefers to wait and watch and figure out just what's going on before she has a go at it, so we took it slow in the baby ball pit first.  When I set her in the balls she stood stalk still.  I think she wasn't sure she could move (and maybe she legitimately couldn't on her own!) with all those balls.  Gradually, though, she got more comfortable and as you can see in the pictures was climbing up and going down the slide all by herself after not too much time.  About 15 minutes after we went in to play, the birthday crowds left and we had the whole place pretty much to ourselves so Emily and I went off exploring the bigger kid toys.

She fell in love with the trampoline!  When we go to the park she always sees older kids jumping around and often tries to immitate them, but she just can't seem to figure out how to get both her feet off the ground at once!  It's pretty cute because she stands there stomping with one foot and flailing her arms up and down like a bird. :)  When she saw some older kids jumping on the trampoline, that was it.  We waited until they got off, and then she climbed up the steps and onto the springy black square.  When I told her to jump, she began her typical flailing and stomping routine, but this time she actually bouced!  She was totally thrilled.  It was adorable to watch her discover how to move and bounce and jump.  She was throwing herself down onto her bottom and then flopping over onto her back, then scrambling up and bouncing around.  It was great!

When we were able to pry her away from the trampoline we headed next door, ordered a pizza to go and had a quick beer while we waited for it.  Emily made it home without too much fuss and we quickly gave her some dinner and put her to bed, then Angelines and I sat down to watch Once Upon a Time on my computer and eat (cold) pizza. 

It was a lovely afternoon.  I was once again thankful for the flexibility of my work schedule which allows me a free day in the middle of the week to enjoy my girls. :)
  

Her first time on a rocking horse--the kid's a natural.  Must get it from Grandma!