Pretend City

I got to spend the whole day with two of my favorite people. 

This morning I rolled out of bed and went downstairs to have a cup of coffee. My friend Nate spent the night on the couch (he recently moved home to Rancho Cucamonga but his whole life is still here) and so we sat for a little bit and talked.

Breakfast at the Robecks with cartoons (cookie jar tv!!) to go along with. John Mark and Cristina took a day for themselves and the left soon after breakfast. The kids and I stayed in our pajamas until about 12.30. After we ate lunch we hurry scurried out the door on our way to Pretend City. 

If you've never heard of Pretend City, look it up and go. Basically, it is a city built inside of a warehouse and everything is miniature and kid-size. There is a post office, a farm, a construction site, a house, a doctors office, a stage, a grocery store, a lake, a beach/sandbox– they really have it all. Everything is set up for kids to touch, play with, build, move, drop, throw and carry off if needed. 

At first we were a little overwhelmed with so much to do. But between the art studio for Rebekah and the construction site for Caleb, we were totally set all day. I asked the kids what they're favorite parts were. Caleb really liked digging and planting at the farm. They have areas full of plastic bits ground up that look like dirt, and then vegetables you can "plant" in the "ground". Of course Caleb would chose to dig. 

It was also at this point that RRR decided she didn't want to do what we were doing anymore and so I told her she could go all by herself and do something else. Her eyes got big, I gave her her ticket and some "money" (The kids get stamps at each station and then the stamps at an "ATM" will give them money) and off she went. Every once and a while she'd come back and tell me about something new she found. It was great. 

At one point we were at the doctors office and the kids both dressed up, put me on the table and started hitting my knees and listening to my heart and lungs. In the end I was put in a foot brace and given crutches and told to rest up. Rebekah was using an accent as her doctor voice which I think is funny, because their real doctor has one. 

The  construction site was a lot of fun as well. RRR and CMR built a 4x4 "house" for us and in the end we put a roof on it– while all of us were still inside. 

I could go on and on. The best was to hang out with them, smile with them and discover new stuff with them. Sometimes I felt like I was the only grown up actually sitting on stuff, playing with toys and putting on costumes but how could I not?? I would have betrayed our friendship. I was an awesome day, and it ended with books on the top bunk and kisses before bed. After I turned the light off it was relatively quiet–which is saying something for those two.