Possibly the smartest thing

that anyone ever did, was to put a playground INSIDE a shopping centre.

I generally don't hang around shopping centres. I've never been one of those people who joins the "Mums and Bubs, coffee and cake" days. I pretty much feel soo awkward and out of place at these kinds of shindigs that i politely decline and run like hell.

But today i found out, that the best thing to do when its raining and your toddler is climbing the walls, and your patience levels, is to hit a shopping centre. But there are a couple of important points to remember.

1. Ensure that you never arrive before 2.30pm on a weekday. Better to never arrive at all on a weekend, (or a Thursday night!!) these places get a tad.. well.. dangerous lets say. Arriving before 2.30 on a weekday means that all the aforementioned "mums and bubs.. " clubs are still in residence, with their sometimes loud and raucous toddlers. It also means that people haven't left to go and collect their school children yet. (Read..dangerous) Come 2.30, the place clears RIGHT OUT, and along with it, the kids off the playground.

2. Bribe... ahem.. BARGAIN with your child. 2 more shops, and then we can play on the playground. Or in my case, OK, 10 minutes at the playground, and then we go to 3 shops, get maccas for dinner (shut up, i had a lot to buy....), and then, because the place is practically deserted you can run off all your crazy "raining all day want to go skydiving" type energy for the next hour ALONE on the playground.

That's right. We spent 1.15 minutes at the indoor playground, me sitting on my big backside doing much of nothing, Lucy running herself into the ground without having to worry about the "big" kids beating her up, knocking her over, or causing me to mutter under my breath about inconsiderate parents who don't discipline their bratty children.

....Oh sorry, tangent there..

In the end, she shared with about 3 children, all of whom stayed out of her way, were quite pleasant to be around, and who left not long after arriving much to my delight (hey i said they were pleasant, i didn't say i LIKED them...)

Lucy had the most wonderful play, ran off all her excess energy and crashed into bed right on time. And I, rested my aching feet and looked at all my beautiful pink purchases for Tilly, and yellow and white ones for Jen.

Perfectly lovely ending to what started as a very VERY miserable wet day at home.