McDonald's Playland is Evil

Our second day in Texas began very early. Ashley, Andrew and Quinn all slept in, but Anastasia was up and about at 6:15. We went into the living room and enjoyed a few cartoons on demand and some fruit for breakfast. Soon enough, Andrew and Ashley were awake, too, though Andrew really wasn't feeling all that well, so he was in and out of bed most of the day.

Before their day got started, Ashley and Anastasia enjoyed a little jump on the sofa. Paw Paw kept saying that this was a big no-no, and they shouldn't be jumping on the sofa, but I thought it was very funny. See for yourself in another silent movie.



There was a lot to accomplish throughout the day, with the party scheduled to begin at 7:00, so Anastasia and Ashley's 3 hour nap was a godsend. Right after the girls went down, the tables arrived for the party, and almost immediately after that, the gang arrived to start setting up the party. Tables on the right side of the pool, patio furniture, food and the bar on the left. There were ribbons to be tied around chairs, center pieces to be made and patio furniture to be moved. Pictures of the yard after it was set up will come as soon as I have them.

Once the girls woke up, it was important to get them out of the house so that the rest of the setup could continue without the 2 year olds getting in the way. So, Mom and I took them to McDonald's for lunch and a little play.

Now, I remember the excitment of going to McDonald's to play on the playground and how much fun it was to ride the various play equipment they used to have. But when I was a kid, the play equipment seemed designed as much with parents in mind as kids. There were the Fry Guys mounted on springs that you rode like a horse, there was the Mayor McCheesy merry-go-round and the giant hamburger tower. All of these made it very easy for parents to come and collect their children from the playground when it was time to leave.



Today, they may have come a long way in terms of safety, but they have made one difficult task for parents. Our two little girls were not interested in coming down from the top of the tunnels structure, and Mom and I couldn't realy get into the aparatus to capture them. These things might as well be Fort Knox, they're that hard to get into.

Fortunately, there were two older boys who were willing to help us get the two climbers out of the play equipment. By the time we finally got both of them on the ground and holding Mom's hand, I realized we hadn't taken any pictures of them at the playland. So, we got this one:



You can tell that Mom was ready to get them strapped back into their carseats and as far away from McDonald's as we could get.