The Last Day of Summer

Emily's Kindergarten has a "staggered opening", which means that 1/3 of the kids in her class went to school on Monday, 1/3 on Tuesday, 1/3 on Wednesday, and then all of them start going together every day after that.  Therefore, I got my daughter back for one last day of summer yesterday before turning her over to the county!  Continuing in my pattern of shameless child-indulgence, I asked her what she wanted to do with her last day of summer, and she said "Go to Pump it Up AND Chuck E. Cheese!".  I told her I'm not THAT indulgent, so we just went to Pump it Up this morning.

Charlotte had a bit of trouble with the bouncy horse

The girls had a blast, and you know what?  I had a fantastic time too.  The girls actually played together practically the whole time, and that made things #1 adorable and #2 so much easier for me.  Sure, I crawled through the inflatables with them enough to get the obligatory friction burns on my elbows and knees, but I also got ample time to just sit outside of a particular bouncy thing and enjoy the giggles and calls of "Come on Emmy!" and "Here Charlotte, I'll help you climb up" floating out from its depths.  

Sisters conquering the world together

Time for a rest

There was calm playing...

...heart-melting snuggling...

...and voluntary sharing.

I was so high on motherly affection after playtime was over that I decided to tempt fate and take the girls to a SIT DOWN RESTAURANT.  I have been meaning to take them to Lunchbox, but last week when we were nearby Emily was NOT listening to me so I yanked having lunch out as a punishment.  The girls were disappointed, so I figured I could take them yesterday instead, as a reward for excellent behavior.  But then I decided that as long as I was considering one Voltaggio restaurant, why not go to the one that was directly on our way home and has free parking instead?  So with trepidation, we walked in.

The provided crayons and coloring sheets were appreciated.

And despite my girls tiredness and a fairly long wait for their food to come out, they were excellent at remembering to use their "lady manners".

I started with the Gazpacho.  

All Emily wanted were duck fat fries, because we had mentioned them to her before as a slightly (very slightly) healthier kind of fry.

I convinced her to get some macaroni and cheese too.

Charlotte ordered the kids cheeseburger and didn't touch it.  The fries and fruit were hit hard though.

I had the CLT sandwich (cucumber, lettuce and tomato plus avocado and goddess dressing), and I meant to order it on wheat bread but forgot.  I just made sure to leave most of my bread behind when I ate it.

Since the girls aren't watching their weight, and since this restaurant uses local/grass fed/organic ingredients whenever possible, I didn't feel TOO guilty about the fact that they both basically had fries for lunch.

They sure didn't feel guilty.

And hopefully they never will feel guilty about food.  One of my biggest wishes for my girls is that they don't inherit their mama's eating issues!