It's Days Like This...

that make me feel so guilty about my job as full-time Mommy. In the summer, without the schedule of school and the freezing cold temperatures, full-time Mommy also means full-time vacation. So, while Daddy works tirelessly almost every day to keep us financially secure, we are out playing... being kids... including Mommy. I feel so fortunate to be able to spend days like this with them while they are little, but at the same time I wish we could be sharing more of these days with Daddy. The few weeks of vacation he receives as part of his benefits package at work just don't cut it.

What exciting thing did we do today, you ask? Well we spent the day in Santa's Workshop at the North Pole. It's a great little amusement park not too far from us that is geared toward the little kids. Its luring array of little-people Christmas-themed rides, a North Pole that is always frozen no matter what time of year, a candy cane slide, a visit with Santa Claus himself and a ride on Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer make this park irresistible to young children. There is something wrong however with hearing "Little Drummer Boy" and sitting on Santa's lap when it's almost 80 degrees outside.

We planned to spend the morning at the park, a quick stop for our picnic lunches and maybe another half hour or so after that before we skedaddled out of there... but we were having so much fun that we nearly closed the place down at 5pm. No one wanted to stop; every single one of us, including the adults, wanted to ride "just one more ride". What's more, the park wasn't crowded at all so we stayed on for 2 or 3 rounds at many attractions. You can see all of our pictures from today... if you have some time on your hands.

The kids will remember this day for many things:

• Priya lost a tooth in the spinning ornament on the white Christmas tree attraction
• Sanjay was terrified in the Haunted House that he thought had "good people in it"
• Priya rode the Tilt-A-Whirl without giving the thumbs down (indicating to the ride operator that she wants it to stop so she can get out)
• Sanjay insisted on riding something that I warned him against and unfortunately had to bear the entire thing with his eyes closed since it was on a timer and the ride operator couldn't stop it for kids in fear... I felt so bad for him
• Waiting for Santa to come back from lunch so they could put in their requests for Christmas
• Falling asleep in the car on the way home from sheer exhaustion

I will remember this day for one thing:

• Spending precious time with both of them and playing like a kid again myself