Adventures in Imagination.

Tim's company isn't open on Presidents Day, which meant he got an extra day with us, the lucky duck! It's funny - on Friday night we had nothing going on for the weekend, and yet the past three days have been totally action packed. Lots of family fun (she woke up on Saturday and asked who was coming to our house and I said no one... and then we saw all four grandparents over the next few hours) and lots of fun just the three of us.

Today we decided to meet up with our friends Sara, Todd and Whitney for a trip to Pretend City in Irvine. None of us had been before, and we figured it'd be a good way to kill a few hours. Yeah. We were not the only people who had that idea - the place was JAMMED. Hard to find a parking space, and then we had to stand in line before going in. The entire place is one big dress up space with all sorts of things for kids to play in: a bank, an art studio, a farm, a grocery store, etc. There's lots of props and costumes and activities. And today, there were a ton of small children and parents. Ellie was a little overwhelmed at the beginning but quickly warmed up. I was a little overwhelmed by the end. The place was crowded (and people were trying to push giant strollers around!) and I was thankful Tim was there to chase Ellie, so I could focus on just lugging my belly around and finding a place to park my butt. Lambeau liked it. At one point when I was sitting he was jumping around so much that my whole stomach was visibly moving.

Ellie's favorite part of Pretend City was the Marina.

As you can tell. She is mad in this picture because I told her she couldn't try to climb in.

Tim enjoyed the dental office.

Perhaps a little too much...

We had a good time, though I suspect Ellie might be a smidge too young. And that she would have been equally as happy if we'd brought her wading pool out into the backyard today (because Pretend City charges a bunch of real money for admission.)

Also, this is from a week or so ago. We were over at Gigi's and Ellie had been out playing ball in the back yard. Then all of a sudden she climbs into the lounge chair and sighs and says "I need to rest now, mama." The difficult life of a California cutie.