Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Small Town Benefits

... or reason number 173 why living in a small town works for us.

When we woke up Monday morning it was raining, and it had rained all night long. So any hopes of going to the park after story hour were dashed. Ella was pouty and didn't want to go to story hour anyway, and I didn't feel like driving 30 minutes in the rain and then dragging her in to story hour if she wasn't up for it... not to mention Maggie, Kate, and Sarah are still just getting used to the idea of going and getting in with them without being soaked in the process would be very tricky.

So Mimi, the girls, and I headed down to the local Bowling Alley & Skating Rink instead. I had made up my mind after reading my friend Kim's post about the Tot Roll at their skating rink to just go in and ask about having something like that at our local place. The very nice people at our skating rink explained that they don't do Tot Rolls (where you apparently go and take riding toys and play for a few hours with tons of other people in a big playdate fashion) because of the gravel in the wheels of the toys. However, they kindly said that they are closed throughout the week days on the skating side and wouldn't mind to let us go in and let the girls run whenever we want. Can you believe our luck? At least in my mind, things like this only happen in small town America. You city folks may have Tot Rolls, but we've got an entire open, flat, loud area all to ourselves! Ha, ha... really I'm just kidding, we would totally love to have others join us when we take our occasional roller rink break, maybe I'll have to ask Ms. Rae about that the next time we're there.

Anyway, so today when we woke up to rain yet again, we packed up and headed back to the skating rink with a garbage bag full of balls to chase and throw. Once we were all in and playing nicely, Ms. Rae came in and offered to put on some music for us. Imagine our surprise when she put on The Laurie Berkner Band, one of our favorites!! The girls ran, danced, snapped their fingers (especially Maggie), crashed into each other, and generally had a wonderful time. I've got lots of great video and virtually no regular photos, so hopefully I'll be able to make the short videos into a little montage to share with you all!!

In other news... Ella dressed herself today in a very cute, pink, sized 9 month dress (she used it as a shirt) that I had packed up in the girls' closet because it is too little for them, plus lilac tights, and a blue jean skirt. This kid has a keen fashion sense for sure!

Please forgive the horrible videography... I'm pretty terrible, but somebody's got to do it!



I guess the video will be better to view once it gets down below all the other junk on my side bar... unless I can figure out how to fix it before then.

8 comments:

Kelli said...

WOW! That looks like so much fun! Your girls are so adorable and so sweet, and I just love their dancing skills!

I think you are right....small town people are so very nice!!

Brandi said...

The finger snapping was too cute!! Ah yes, Laurie Berkner, Raegan was sitting in my lap while I was watching the video and she was tapping her foot to the music.

Tanya Siekman said...

Mary Beth,

That is a great idea, and a great place to let the kids play.

I'm going to suggest that to our Mom's group here for playgroups.

Tanya

Denise said...

It looks like they had a blast. How fun is that? How cool that you let you do that too. I can't wait until we move to small town U.S.A. soon, very very soon.

Brandi said...

sounds good to us, just let me know

Lindsey Oliver said...

Hey MB, the girls look like they had a ball and what a great idea. Kuddos to you for asking!

I'm with you that small towns rock. Granted, we've only been living an hour away in Cumming, but there is a difference.

Just the other day I was in Dahlonega, getting the water cut on at our new house. The man who unlocked the meter made sure we didn't have any leaks, showed me how to work the gadget, then volunteered to come back on his way home if I had any problems. (Not a huge deal, I know, but elsewhere they would have turned the water on and left, not made sure all was well.) I love small towns!

Whitney said...

How wonderful! It is amazing how quickly the kids can get bored and this is such a great idea. I am so glad you found a cure to the winter blues!

Whitney

Kim said...

Mary Beth, it looks like you and the girls had a ball. I can't wait until Emma Grace gets a little older so she can join in with the girls.

Dusty