Play Wise Kids

Warning: Picture overload!

On Saturday, we took the kids to a place called Play Wise Kids in Columbia. Basically, it was a giant warehouse-type building, with a lot of different play areas. Each "room" was divided from the others with a little wall. There was a different activity in each room and there were tons of rooms. I took over one hundred pictures there that day! A lot of them were blurry because the kids didn't want to stand still long enough for me to snap the picture.

When we first arrived, the kids headed to this playhouse. Lindsey and Peyton went inside and Sara stayed outside to smell the flowers.

Next, the kids found a room with these huge building blocks. Ryan made a small building for them to knock over and Peyton tried to carry around those huge puzzle pieces.

Peyton wandered away from that room only to find a huge castle climbing structure with a ball pit inside. I bet you can guess where he stayed for the next 20 minutes...

Meanwhile, Lindsey headed over to the grocery store to do some shopping. She picked out lots of fruits and vegetables.

We finally were able to pry Peyton out of the ball pit to visit another room. He and Lindsey found this room that was basically a giant sandbox. There were tons of sand toys and a big boat in there. We took Peyton's shoes and socks off and put him in the sand. He stood there for a second with a look on his face that said, "What the heck is this stuff?" But he didn't seem to mind it and had a blast playing in the sand. We had to eventually drag him out of this room too.

Another room that the kids visited had these giant Tinker toys. Kyle tried to build something, but was unsuccessful at being creative. Ha. Peyton just made a tower with the large blocks so that he could "Achoo!" and knock them over.

Peyton and Lindsey serenaded us with some music.

Peyton discovered a room with a few different jungle gyms. He couldn't resist the slides.

He had to take a break to check out himself in the mirror. That boy loves himself, I tell ya.

But then it was time for more sliding.

Peyton and Daddy built a wall out of these foam blocks. Peyton had a good time busting through the wall.

Uncle Ryan built a mountain for Lindsey and Peyton to climb on.

There was also a room with some arcade sports games. There was a basketball hoop, football throwing game, air hockey table, and Foosball tables. Peyton saw some balls and he was hooked!

There was even a real firetruck that the kids could climb on. Peyton was scared to get in it when we first arrived, but by the end of the afternoon he got brave enough to try it out. There were even real fireman's hats and boots to wear. Both were too big and heavy for Peyton.

After the firetruck, Peyton checked out this huge Jeep with a slide on the back. He enjoyed that as well.

Peyton also went grocery shopping and rang up his purchases at the cash register.

Kyle entertained us with his mad fruit juggling skills.

Finally, a picture with me in it! I look like I never play with Peyton, but it's just because I'm the one always snapping the pictures. The room we were in here was designed like a school (Fitting that I'd get my picture taken there, huh?). We were playing with magnetic letters and numbers. (By the way, for those that don't know, Peyton can say his ABC's and count to 10.)

There were several other rooms that we didn't visit or that we did visit, but that I just didn't include pictures from. It was huge in there.

It was past noon, which is normally lunch and nap time, but Peyton didn't care. He did not want to leave Play Wise Kids. We couldn't even lure him away with a promise of food! He threw a mighty temper-tantrum when we left. We stopped at McDonald's for lunch. Then Peyton passed out on the way back home.

Poor Sara was still sick, but Peyton and Lindsey had a blast. I think we'll be returning here in the future.

Kyle's dad and grandparents left Michigan early Saturday morning to come into town for the baptism. They were supposed to be stopping by our house for dinner on the way to Virginia. They called around 4:30 and said they'd be at our house in 30 minutes, according to their GPS. Well, turns out there was something wrong with the GPS and really they were still in Pennsylvania and had over 2 more hours to drive. Kyle suggested that they just skip our house and head to Kate and Dave's instead, because it was going to be late by the time they arrived. Then they'd still have another hour drive to Virginia after that.

We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill for dinner. It was good, except that all three of the kids enjoyed their potato chips more than their hot dogs! While we were cooking, everyone was playing ring-around-the-rosie. It was hilarious. Peyton was just cheesing the whole time. The funniest thing is that he would watch everyone else fall down, but he would stay standing. He would crack up every time though.

Saturday was a pretty perfect day.