Round and Round...

Aaron had been asking for a few weeks to go to his favorite mall...Northgate in Durham, N.C. Just a word of warning for all you shoppers out there...this is not a shopper's mall! I think they have a Children's Place and a Macy's? But other than that....nothing. However, this mall is a great place for kids.

We finally went a few weeks back, and Aaron had a blast! His Nanay and Papa surprised him by joining us that day. And his Aunt Kekey met us at the Chick-fila for lunch. Here's a brief recap in pictures:

One of Aaron's favorite things to do there? Ride the "hobby hos-es". This time, he picked the reindeer to ride on...very appropriate for December. Look at that grin. He was excited.

And they're OFF! Papa agreed to ride with him, and I'm wonderin' if he regretted that decision. These hos-es can fly! It's a lot different to "ride" versus "stand". I think Papa may have gotten a bit woozy by the end of the ride. Aaron, of course, wanted to go again. We distracted him by mentioning his other favorite ride...

The choo-choo train! I thought I had gotten out of riding the train this time...come'on Nanay...don't you want to go with him?
No such luck! This train is fun for kids, but a little "tight" for us adults. At least Aaron was all smiles and enjoyed the new Christmas scenery they had out for us "passengers" to admire.

A stop at Hungate's...the train table is smack-dab front & center, you can't miss it (and of course, they know that kids WON'T). So, Aaron enjoyed the trains while Nanay & Papa did a good job of entertaining (okay, maybe scaring) him with puppets.

Nanay and Papa also treated Aaron to a couple of rides in those 'quarter' machines. He's sayin', "check me out ladies...look at my new convertible". Oh goodness, I'm not ready for that yet.

Here's one for Pop...a ride on the three-wheeler. Maybe one day he will get to ride the four-wheeler at the deer camp. Ahem...I'm not quite ready for that one either.

I think the verdict is still out on the cow. Aaron loves the chicken nuggets, but I had to do a lot of talkin' to get him to pose with the cow.

And if you think it was hard getting him to pose with the cow...hmmm...that was a piece of cake compared to Santa. He really didn't want to see him AT ALL. But he did sit there for about a second...which is why this photo is blurry. You get the picture, right?

All in all, a fun day for Aaron and for Mommy. We promised that next time, his big sister would get to go. She hated missing out on all the fun (but someone has to get an education in this house). Thanks Nanay & Papa (and Kekey) for making the trip a treat for us.