......Stefan has been talking about this since Elsie was a baby.....when would she be old enough to enjoy a matinee with the movie buff himself?.....with the heat index in the 100s and the afternoon a sweltering 96 degrees, we decided that today would be the perfect day to give it a try.....
.....Elsie was proud and excited just about a solo date with her Daddy.....I'm not quite sure she understood what the movies were as we talked up the event......but Daddy......whoa Daddy......he couldn't get the smile off his face the entire time.....he wasn't even bothered that I was chasing them around the theater like the paparazzi......he was ecstatic......
......and with tickets in hand, Daddy explained to Elsie that this movie was not only one big cartoon, but that you get to wear special glasses in the 3D theater......
......and she loves the idea of having to wear an accessory.....
......and with that.....they were off.....
......and even though I was excited for them to have this experience together and I was really looking forward to hanging out alone with Callie, I was wishing there was a way that I could be a fly on the wall.....wishing I could just take one picture of them in the oversized chairs with their bag of popcorn.....wishing I could just hear her little giggle when she can't contain excitement of a new experience.......
.....when I snapped out of wishing mode and went to stroll back into the blazing heat, I noticed they left behind Elsie's just in case it gets too cold sweater.....and what ticket collector is not going to let a Momma through because her 2.5 year old might get cold at the movies?......
......and so my wish was granted.....
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.......meanwhile, Callie and I posed in front of our day date location so we could also document the specialness of doing something just she and I.....
....and she helped me snap our photos along the way......
.....say cheese, baby......
......until I finally retired the camera so we could read the piles of books she had stacked in my lap.....
......Dora was the only thing that interrupted her mission of pulling every book off the Barnes and Noble toddler shelves.....
......and with a kiss goodbye to Dora, we finished our story time, restocked the book shelves and made our way up two levels to meet Daddy and Elsie.....
.....they only made it through 45 minutes of Toy Story 3, but neither of them seemed to care....Daddy and Elsie got their movie time and Callie and I had our reading time.....
......so we headed to the grocery store to stock our shelves with healthy foods to start a new week......
......and we still have a few hours left of our holiday weekend....enough time for some lounging, some playing, some cool indoor activities or some chalk on a shady sidewalk spot with Daddy.....
.....savoring all of it....
