We are a unit, these two girls and me. Way back in August we lost Naomi to 8th grade at real school. Corra felt it hard…she wasn’t sure what to do without her playmate and friend and Mom#2. There were kinks to work out before playing with Layna was a happy thing and new dynamics to explore. To say nothing of all. that. time. What do you even do with time that no one else is filling for you? I told Corra I didn’t think it was an accident that she discovered reading right around her birthday. Heavenly Father gave her a little gift to make this school year be ok. She dried her sniffles and took a deep breath.
Look at us now, with only two months left in our school year. Corra and Layna are officially buddies and have a deep understanding of how they operate together. Corra went from no real independent reading to pounding out novels like her older siblings. And we have mastered the fine art of Field Tripping as a trio. Speaking of things that come in threes…tonight I want to catch you up on our last three adventures, two of which happened within a week of each other. Hey, I never say no to ridiculous new life experiences. Especially when they involve zip-lines.

First up was the rescheduled Tiger Rescue with just us.

Corra loved this one. So much. Layna loved that a golf cart followed the group so she could ride after the first 20 minutes of strolling the park. So much. Corra raptly listened to the tour guide tell the stories of all the cats (and one New Guinea Singing Dog) and their names and facts. She answered all the questions and asked a fair amount too. She begged to go back. Layna loved the golf cart and waving to the cats from her seat. Buckled in. Shoes off. I can’t wait to hear all about what going to a Disney park is like when you go at Layna speed.

Next was the North Carolina Zoo with our homeschool co-op friends plus a family from church. Corra is best friends with their second oldest, Zipporah and Layna wants to marry their oldest, Darius. Jessica (their mom) and I are good friends. So we can laugh about over-eager romantic advances and the sweet, sweet boys who are so kind and polite about all that awkwardness.

Sooo…remember Layna speed? Yeah. after about an hour we didn’t so much go from animal to animal as much as from bench to bench. Disney for her 13th birthday will be fine because Neil is really good at just chilling and people watching and has no issues hitting maybe 4-5 attractions in the whole day, if that’s what Layna wants. I was grateful that I thought to invite friends for Corra, though. She had a whole pack of kids to run around with and she could have stayed the whole day. Luckily she is gracious about her sister’s limits and shrugged it off. Also, a super tasty picnic lunch for the car ride home did not go amiss.

Last was Urban Air, an indoor gym? amusement park? trampoline extravaganza? It was awesome, that’s what it was. They donated a whole day of play for all the families who are connected with GiGi’s Playhouse, our Down Syndrome community center. It was really clever actually. Families came to play during their off hours and I know we for sure will be back with our whole family, paying for every single one of us.

There are different sections: a play-place like area, trampoline rooms, a crazy obstacle course over a huge ball pit, bumper car seats, a climbing wall area, a zip line and sky walk. They give you special socks and away you go. Both girls loved the zip line and I even tried it out. I was impressed that they weren’t scared at all, because that was no kid attraction. The rest of the areas were delightful and I’m really sad I didn’t pull my big kids out of school to come with us. Oh well. The plan is to go back for Garyn’s birthday. I have to say one of my most favorite moments was when Layna realized that on the sky walk she could sit down in her harness and just pull herself along the track rather than carefully walk. That’s efficient use of resources right there.