I Should Have Listened to My 3 Year Old...

Yesterday, I decided that I wanted to go out and do something. My husband was off work, so it somehow became a "Girl's Afternoon" when he suggested that he keep Baby Gideon while I took Kieradyn. Last summer, we discovered this delightful place called Stapp's Circle S Ranch in Greensburg, Indiana, which is about half an hour or so from where we live. This is a place where you can get up close and personal with everything from donkeys and sheep to bears and capuchin monkeys. The place had made a pretty big impression on all of us. (I even volunteered there some last summer and hope to continue that this year.)

Ever since, Kieradyn has been asking whether "Lyde the Amel"--which is how she refers to her favorite resident of the ranch, the show stealing Clyde the Camel--when she is particularly excited, is awake yet. Basically, when the weather started getting too cold to go, we told her that the animals all had to go sleep in the big barn until it got nice out again.

Without checking the weather, I called over to the ranch to see if they had opened back up yet. "Well, we are so far..." was the tentative (in retrospect) response that I received. It wasn't until I stepped outside that I saw that what had been partly cloudy earlier in the day had transformed into clouds so dark that it was amazing that I wasn't being pelted with rain.

I had made a promise, though, and By God, I wasn't going to break it if I could help it. So, Kieradyn and I got into our red chevy venture to try to beat the rain to the ranch.

About halfway there, there was a smattering of raindrops on the windshield but not quite enough yet that I had to turn on the windshield wipers. From the backseat, Kieradyn calls up to me, "Mommy, it's gonna rain too much. Take me to Chuck E. Cheese's house." I hadn't notice until that moment how often a trip to the home of that big rat had become 'Plan B'.

That realization must have had me a little crazed by this point because I pressed on. "Clyde's waiting on us, Kier-Kier. Its just a little rain." I muttered, trying to peer through the raindrops that were still slowly accumulating. "A little water's not gonna hurt us. Besides, we've got jackets with hoods and everything."

"Ohhh..." Came my three year old's voice from behind me.

I kept on driving until I reached the ranch, but when I tried to turn in, I found that the driveway was blocked off by the gate. They were closed.

Bummed, I tried to explain to my three year old why I'd gotten her hopes up.

"I'm so MAD!" I glanced in the rear view mirror long enough to see her furious pouting.

"There's always..." Here I grimaced, feeling quite sheepish over the whole ordeal. "Chuck E. Cheese."

And I kid you not, it was at that exact moment that the skies finally opened up and the rain started really pouring down. Needless to say, I drove my daughter all the way back to our hometown so that she could play at the kiddie franchise. I mean, what else could I do?

I'm just glad that she has yet to learn the phrase, "I told you so"!