The one where Reed goes to the mall playground

My mother-in-law came into town on Sunday afternoon and is staying for two weeks to help us out with Reed.  We are both blessed and thankful for her!  She arrived on Sunday to a family in shambles.  That is a bit dramatic, but her son was in bad shape and had been sick all weekend with a fever off and on.  Reed wasn't doing too well either.  He must have been bothered by something because he was a whiny monster all weekend- not allowing me to get anything done without him in my arms.
Much to my relief she was interested in joining me to the ice-cream social our neighborhood was throwing at the clubhouse.  Mike and Reed, of course, stayed home and rested.  We noticed that all my friendly neighbors were wearing name tags as they were enjoying their frozen treats but we decided to forego the ritual to avoid all of the, "you're both named Connie Franklin?" comments.  It was a much needed break for me, to get out of the house without those tiny hands pulling on my clothes or climbing my leg. Add the bowl of cookies-n-creme topped with almonds, strawberries, candy bar pieces, chocolate covered espresso beans and whipped cream? Well I was in heaven with a cherry on top!
Today we took Reed to the mall where they have a great play area surrounded by padded benches for parents.  Reed has never been allowed in the play area before.  Usually, if we go to the mall, it's a mission to get in and out with what we came for.  We are not mall rats in the least.  Today was different- we went to the mall specifically to fulfill Reed's needs and not our own.  Connie and I didn't even set foot in a single store except the one we walked through from the parking lot.
I have never seen Reed so happy, and that's saying a lot.  He could barely contain himself as he covered ever square inch of the spacious area with his ear to ear smiles.  He made sure to give all the other moms his most extreme smile so he could get their approval and compliments in return.  He plays so well with other children it makes me proud.
They have big shiny animals all around for the kids to jump, stand, crawl, and sit on.  The whole time we were there the group didn't get any smaller than about 10 kids.  They were all very well behaved, although highly energetic. Reed played for almost an hour and there was never any crying. Not only did he love climbing all over the animal shapes, he also loved all the other strollers in the area.  He has a thing for wheels- so we had to apologize to the other moms when Reed attacked their stroller.
By the time we were ready to go, he was so exhausted.  He could barely keep upright on his own two feet!

I'm on a boat! .... or Arc, I guess!