Take Our Kids to Work Day

Last year my office had this and it was limited to 6 years old and up. This year they dropped it to 3 so Kaylee was the youngest one there. She was pretty darn excited about it. She had been to my office a couple times before and both times got to use my highlighters to color on some post its. What fun!

They had a good agenda for the kids. We started off the day in a conference room. They took the group photo you see below. Kaylee shouted Daddy! and I said What and she said I Love You! That broke a few hearts. Pretty cute. Kaylee made fast friends with Charlotte who is the daughter of my coworker Jasmine. Charlotte is 5. She's the little girl in the red shirt on the right. Kaylee got her own badge and business cards just like daddy.

Most of the morning allowed the kids to do their own thing. They set up a big area for coloring. Kaylee is so independent. She would wander from cubicle to cubicle without me if I let her. She did get away from me a couple times which freaked me out but she came right back. They fed us Pizza Hut for lunch. After lunch they played picture bingo and all the kids won a pack to take home. The packs were filled with little toys, pencils and stickers.

At the end of the day, all of the kids were presented with a certificate of completion. Our company director Lance presented Kaylee with hers. We headed home about 2:30 and I thought Kaylee would pass out in the car because she played hard all day but she didn't.

Sunday

Sunday we took Kaylee with us to lunch at our local pub. We met up with Kristina’s friend David. Kaylee ate about three noodles from her mac & cheese. I took Kaylee to the park that was right around the corner. She was sad that there weren’t any kids there her age for her to play with.

After the park we took Kaylee to “Disneyland.” Somehow she got it in her head that the Family Fun Center near our house was Disneyland. They had a kids’ corner which had four rides - a train, a carousel, a plane ride and a swing ride. Kaylee all but the swings. I got motion sickness after the plane ride. Going round and round in a circle doesn’t work for me any more apparently.

Monday night, Kaylee was helping me put away my laundry the other night. I would open a drawer and she’d stand on the bed and she’d throw the laundry in. She had thrown a couple of socks into the drawer when she announced, “That’s What I’m Talkin About!” I could have peed my pants from laughing so hard.

Day 6 – BBQ

We had to get going a little early today. Uncle Paul, Nicole’s boyfriend Jeremy and I went down to Ann Arbor to watch University of Michigan’s spring practice. It’s a cool stadium but I’ll take Husky Stadium anyday. The folks who stayed back at the house went shopping to get a bunch of stuff for our BBQ. The Johnsons’ neighbors came over with their two daughters. As well as a couple of friends that we saw at Ocean Shores a couple years ago. The adults played some cards. Euchre was the game of choice. The neighbors have a 5 year old girl that Kaylee a good time playing with. They wrote with sidewalk chalk outside. They got to take a bath together and play with some tub toys. The big event of the night was the dying of the Easter eggs. Kaylee ended up with hands dyed all different colors. She got really upset when we ran out of eggs. Tomorrow will be the big hunt.

Day 5 – Travel back to Michigan

We got rolling around noon. We went back to the Falls and Kaylee was in a bad mood. I took her to a candy shop and she chose a bag of cotton candy. That cheered her up. The rest of the family went to a show called the Fury of the Falls. They got wet. We piled back into the van and drove to a couple of different lookouts. We then headed back downtown and stopped at a the Hard Rock Café because folks wanted to pick up some souvenirs. We weren’t impressed with the gift shop. We then headed out of town and back towards Michigan. Kaylee needed me to sit next to her. This was non negotiable. We made it back thru the border and stopped at Taco Bell and KFC for dinner. Kaylee enjoyed a bowl of rice from Taco Bell. We got back to the house and Kaylee was excited to see cousin Nicole. She hadn’t seen her since she was 3 months old so I’m not sure about the excitement. Kaylee immediately took Nicole to play Candy Land and Monkeys on the Bed.

Day 4 – Travel to the Falls

We got on the road midday. It was a 5.5 hour journey over to Niagra Falls. Kaylee did well in the van. She slept some of the way. She watched her DVD player some of the way. We needed two vehicles to transport everyone. We got to the Falls around 6 and drove thru the town. We walked around by the Falls and Kaylee ran around again like prisoner released after captivity. I remembered the scene from Superman where the kid falls over the railing at the Falls. We had dinner at the Keg and Kaylee ate a little steak. Mostly she liked having rolls and jam. We checked in to the hotel and got 4 rooms kind of close together. Kaylee had a good time running from room to room and jumping on every bed.

Day 3 – Lazy Day

Kaylee is sitting on the foot rest of Aunt Jo’s recliner. Aunt Jo is in the recliner and they’re having a picnic of oranges. Kaylee is in her Pj’s and her Easter hat and her Easter purse. When Kaylee woke up this morning, the first thing she asked was if she could open another Egg. This time there was a cute shirt in the egg. Kaylee had Jo take the ribbons from the egg from yesterday and today sew them on her hat. Very cute. Kristina made some breakfast for Kaylee, Sandy and herself. They were sitting at the table when Kaylee said something. Kristina said, “I don’t know you at all” and Kaylee said, “Ya you do, My name is Kaylee.” Pretty funny. Kristina’s Aunt Lorie and Uncle Paul came up from Kentucky. We ended up in the living room sitting around singing songs while Paul played the piano and Jo played her guitar. Kaylee danced around and sang. Again, pretty cute.

Day 2 – German Town

We got going around noon. Uncle Dick made us breakfast. We got dressed and headed out. We went up north and went by their old house. We were on our way to Frankenmuth. It’s a German town similar to Leavenworth. On the way Kaylee fell asleep. Dick and Jo drove us through the town. Pretty cool. Kaylee woke up with an attitude. I had to buy her some candy to get her to cheer up. We went to Bronner’s which is a gigantic Christmas store. Thousands of Christmas ornaments. We met up with Dick and Jo’s daughter Stacy. Stacy bought Kaylee a little fuzzy lamb. Kaylee had a good time looking at every ornament. We headed back to the homestead and watched American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. Kaylee got to open some Easter gifts. She got an Easter hat that’s white and got to open a paper egg that Jo made. It’s about the size of football. A little white purse was inside.