Friday Morning Outing

Last Friday I had an unexpected free morning as Story Hour was canceled. Well, why not pick Ilse up as usual and have some fun?

We headed to the mall - to Barnes and Noble.

My daughter, Ilse's mother, does not spend a lot of time at the mall and very seldom takes the kids along if and when she does go. So the mall is fresh territory for Ilse. Rather than overwhelm her and spark all kinds of the "I wants", we just spent time looking at books and toys at B&N. In the children's section she spied many books they already have, but quite a few they don't. When I wanted to browse through the craft section, no complaints from Ilse. Of course, she likes to look at those books too. :) Finally, I asked her if there was one thing she would like to choose to take home with her. She thought and looked, and considered, then pondered. After all that, she went back to the first pink book that caught her attention when we first got to the kids' section - a book of paper dolls! The exact thing I would have chosen at her age.

Then we went down the street to McDonald's for lunch.

She had a great time playing in the tunnels and going down the slide, but finally the noise got the better of me.

I think this is something I'll have to do more often, not just with Ilse, but treat a different grandchild to an outing with Nana now and then. Now that I'm not homeschooling, I can take some time out to spend with my grandchildren more often. :)