Rumble at the Mall

A few weeks ago we had a rainy weekend and we all were looking to get out of the house for a while.  Jill remembered that there was a big kiddle play area over at Woodbridge mall, so we took a ride to investigate.  I used to go to Woodbridge mall all the time as a teenager.  It was THE place to go and shop and just hang out.  I hadn't been to that mall in years, so I was curious to check it out too.

We walked through the department store and when we got to the mall we jumped on the first ride we saw.

I think this was like an elephant or something... I'm not really sure.  I've heard of pink elephants, but not blue ones.   Ben steered (unless we were about to hit something) and we got to ride this thing wherever we wanted and it sang songs and made funny noises the whole time.  Ben seemed more interesed in people watching and pushing the little red button on the back of the elephant's head.  I don't think the button actually did anything, but he sure had fun pushing it. 

Next up was the big play area where all the slides and stuff were covered in cushioned foam.  There was another slide that Ben was very interested in, and this time he actually wanted to climb up the stair stide first!  But this is where we ran into some trouble...    There were lots of kids running around all over this place - many of whom seemed to be completely unsupervised and unware of the concept of 'sharing.' 

Here's little Ben (at about 10 1/2 months old here) climbing up the slide, with another unruly child climbing up to block his way - with me and my balding head standing right there next to him!

I said to the boy, "Can you please move out of the way, my son would like to slide down the slide."  He replied, "NO!"   Excuse me?  "No, you will move and you will move now."  And with that, he finally ran off.  Ben seemed to be unfettered by the whole situation and just continued to climb and slide down.  Two minutes later, another boy came back and this time sat on the top of the slide with his legs across the top again blocking Ben!  What is it with these kids?  Well, this time Ben responded first.  This time he appeared to be a little frustrated as well and he stood straight up and with his eye brows curled he exclaimed, "BAH!" at the top of his lungs!  And with a few more choice words from Daddy, this little boy also ran off.   We tried playing on a few more things, but then decided it was time to move on.  Ben taking the lead this time...

Next up was the merry-go-round.   I actually think Jill was more excited about this ride than Ben!  They picked out a horse and waited for the ride to start.

Now this is fun!

All in all, we had fun at the mall on this rainy day, but Woodbridge mall isn't anywhere as cool as it used to be.  We may go back just to beat up some of those other little kids when the urge hits us..