A Date with Little Diva (Spring Break Edition)

Little Diva had Spring Break last week and I took off the two days that I had the kids.  Little Diva and I enjoyed some alone time, while Little Dude was at daycare.  He always has the chance to spend alone time with me once a week.  Our time together was long overdue.  I took the opportunity to plan one active day and one day of girl time and pampering. 

On our active day, we started the morning out by driving to a local playground.  The morning was really cool and breezy, but we survived.  We parked at the playground and I headed out on foot and she headed out on her bike.  There is a really nice neighborhood path that connect several parks.  It's a nice, scenic way to get my runs in and is a safe way for Little Diva to join me.

Ready for a Day of fun with Mom

Little Diva had recently purchased this adorable tee from Justice.  It was a perfect to do list for our day of fun together.

Little Diva's Tee in it's awesomeness
(purchased at Justice)

4 miles together on a local trail

We ended up doing an out-and-back four mile loop.  We chatted ... and smiled ... the entire 40-or-so minutes.  I really find that when we are alone together, especially on our runs like this, that she opens up and talks to me about everything.  We've eliminated other distractions, such as Little Dude trying to over talk her, eliminated my to-do list at home, eliminated the tv and video games.  It's just us.  And our conversation.  She talked to me a lot about our life changes over the past year-and-a-half and how everyone is so much happier, including herself.  She talked to me about the differences at her dad's house and at mine.  Not that either situation or routine are wrong, just that they are different.  And she has come to terms with that.  Little Dude and Little Diva are two happy kids with so many people that love them.  And, even more now.  They know that.

I really enjoyed my time with her and she kept thanking me for letting her join me on my run.  I reminded her that sometimes it's good to "unplug" and step away from what you are doing to do something active and outside and to spend some quality time with someone you care about.  I am sure she will forget that the next time I ask her to step away from Disney Channel to go for a run or a bike ride.  :)

She's speedy; I'm not

At the end of our run, she thanked for the great time and the great conversation.  The girl is so mature beyond her years.

One of many cute bridges on this neighborhood path

After I cleaned up, we headed up to the Wisconsin Dells to the Kalahari Resort.  The resort is well-known for their waterparks.  But, they also added a decent sized indoor theme park a few years back.  You can purchase all day wristbands or individual tickets to the attractions.  When we stayed there a couple of months ago, we were intrigued by their high ropes course.  I decided that it would be worth the trip back up there.  For $7 we got about 20 minutes of fun and exercise together. 

Ready for the Ropes Course

There were dozens of others doing the course while we were participating. The course was a mix of two stories of ropes, beams, stairs and other contraptions. Some were a little more intimidating than others. Little Diva had absolutely no fear. I was a little more hesitant on some of the less stable spots. We had a blast and I would definitely love to do something like this again. 

Ropes Course at Kalahari Resort
in the Wisconsin Dells

We finished our day with lunch, 18 holes at Pirate's Cove and some Cold Stone Creamery Ice Cream.  Day Date #2 followed with less activity:  Three hours of pampering at the local beauty school and me falling asleep at the movie theater, watching Mirror Mirror.