The day we saw the king


As part of my mini holiday I have been home for two days and much as I intended to get super fit in this time, I only managed to fit in two classes. Mind you, at tonight's class I did vomit a little in mouth ( from burpees) so I feel like I deserve a little extra credit for that.

I did however spend a lot of time on both days earning some extra auntie Laura credits by minding two of my favourite ladies. The nieces or half the reason i respond to the title auntie Laura ( that and the fact that it makes me sound cool)

One major bonus of this ( aside from giving my sister a bit of space to get some work done) is the hilarious conversations I get to be witness to. The girls are five and seven and very much prone to blurting out whatever's in their heads at a given moment. I think it's good to make note of these now because someday soon they will be a lot more grown up and I'm sure to have forgotten most if it. I do have a head like a sieve. We spent most of yesterday hanging out in my parents garden and the five year old informed me that Christmas trees are live forever trees because they live for a really long time. Seems logical to me. 
We had a picnic outside and read some stories and had a nice relaxed afternoon but when I went to meet their mum, I was early and the babysitter wasn't there yet so like a fool, I volunteered to take them
To the indoor play place around the corner. I have already been there and professed to hate the place but I had just been conned into pinky promising the 7 year old that I would play outside and I just didn't have the energy.

I think most of these indoor play places are more or less the same ln that they are my idea of hell. If you are fortunate enough to not have had the pleasure of visiting one , let me set the scene. As you
Walk in you are virtually assaulted by obnoxiously loud pop music that is mostly completely inappropriate given that the average child is under 10 and perhaps you might not want them learning the words to blow my whistle baby just yet. On one side you have the food counter where you can avail of every unhealthy snack food you could imagine and facing that there's a skating rink with disco lights and it's filled with these podiums that are vaguely strip club-esq. a thought that only struck me upon watching the seven year old innocently twirling around one. Of course you have the obligatory foam play area with a ball pit and slide plus areas for climbing and frankly it always looks in need of a good scrub. 
For the adults there are lots of uncomfortable chairs attached to Formica tables and both a lunch and breakfast menu as though anyone in their right mind would choose to eat out there. Plus there's usually a birthday party on whenever you go so even though my charges are not so full of sugar that they are bouncing off walls, you are guaranteed to have at least ten other kids 
That are. The girls enjoyed it though, which is the main thing, right ?

Today I was back for round two of minding ladies ( minus the trip to planet playground) and I decided they could come food shopping with me. As I am a very smart auntie, I opted for dunnes over tescos. I didn't want to spend a good 20 mins trying to lure them away from the toy aisle. It was surprisingly easy and I had two helpers to push my trolley and help me find things on my list. It made me wonder why I have been doing food shopping on my own all this time like a fool. we then had a little trip into town so I could go the health food store and we could visit Marcus the tailless monkey at a nearby pet shop. 

We detoured through a shopping centre on our way back to the car and I allowed them to pick out a toy each in a discount store. Obviously it's awful junk but I only paid €3 and they were delighted With the medals( the 5 year old ) and plastic pony (7 year old) , later when playing the 7 year old ( while wearing the medals ) told me she had won the medals in the following events ; running , egg and spoon race and weightlifting ( you'd never guess her parents do CrossFit ) 
But I must say my favourite quote of the day was when we passed the town mayor doing an official opening all rigged out in his red coat and medallion and the five year old looks at me and asks ( quite sincerely ) was that the king? 
yes, I have some pretty cool nieces. 

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