I thought the conversation was over but the Elise kept on going.

Elise: “It’s better to be cooler because then you can go on the slide and your legs aren’t hot. Nana took me to the broken seesaw park [which was the park we passed] one time and it was cooler. I went on the slide. Nana took me there and we had ice cream and I had nuts on my ice cream. I liked that ice cream with nuts on it! That was fun when Nana took me to the broken seesaw park.”

Later when we got to Honey’s house she proudly showed me that she could mark her place in her book by putting it upside down. She said “Mommy showed me how to do that!”

We quickly agreed that I’d meet them there after the tour if I didn’t make it back in time and I started to take off down the street. After about half a step I realized something and called back to Petie, “uh, I’m going to look like a purse snatcher!” Going along with the role play, I tucked the purse under my arm and ran from the law.

I’m sure I looked pretty odd running with a purse through the streets of Downtown Denver as most people were making their way to work on a Monday morning. I guess it was pretty unlikely that I would be purse snatching in broad daylight so any strange looks were probably more like “why is he in a hurry and why does he carry a purse?”

I made the roundtrip in about 20 minutes and arrived, winded, in time. One of the Mint workers obviously had a heads-up that I was coming and said “ah, you made it.” Several of the people on the tour greeted me when I went through security as well. Apparently the girls were distraught and were worried I wouldn’t make it.

We enjoyed the tour and I recommend visiting if you are in Denver – just make reservations….and don’t bring a purse.

Who knew how popular these tours were? A month in advance most of the tours were full. Luckily, I was able to score 4 spots in the 8 a.m. tour on the Monday we were scheduled to leave.

I pulled out the tickets the night before and noted that we were not allowed to bring purses or backpacks. Usually we have both with us, so that was important to remember.

We leave the hotel at 7:00 a.m. which is early, but when the kids are ready, they’re ready to GO. As luck would have it between catching all the lights and not having to wait for a bus we find ourselves across the street from the Mint at 7:15. It’s locked down and there is nothing around really (except for a long line of those hoping to get on the waitlist…ha ha) so we walk around the block.

Elise is asking to be carried by Petie so she asks if I can hold her purse. Uh oh. We both realize the problem – purses not allowed. Being the optimist I said “C’mon, they HAVE to have a locker or something we can rent.”

At 7:30, the open up the building so people with the 8:00 tour can start going through security procedures. Petie was right. “Sorry, you’ll have to take the purse back to your car, ” the security guard said. Petie and I gave each other a helpless look. “How far away are you parked?”, he wondered. Uh, we are staying at the Hotel Monaco across town. The security guard wasn’t budging. We wouldn’t be able to make the tour after all.

Part 2 to follow….

There is a solution – Petie was over at a friend’s house last week when their daughter came out and said “the tooth fairy didn’t come AGAIN!” Apparently this was two nights in a row. Petie quickly responded, “Oh you didn’t see the e-mail? The tooth fairy is on vacation.” Props to her for that quick thinking.

I wasn’t there but she volunteered me to create the e-mail that the person “must have missed”. So if anyone runs into the problem, I have toothfairyhouston@gmail.com

See below for your template if you create your own – you can always backdate and change the from e-mail address if you forward it.
==================================

May 21, 2010

Dear Parents,

As a reminder I will be on vacation from Monday, May 24th through Saturday, June 5th. If there are any teeth lost during that time period please let your children know that I will be back on Sunday night, June 6th.

Thank you for your understanding.

Sincerely,

Tooth Fairy

The caption should definitely just be “WUT?”

And yes, there actually is a project to make this – called “Wig and Tutu in One”.

For now, though, it’s more humorous as she calls us out.  On Easter Sunday we heard two such instances.  During the day Elise and Joelle were having a fight about dyeing Easter Eggs.  At one point Joelle stormed into the house saying, “Elise, you RUINED MY DAY!!”  That night when Petie asked Joelle if she had a good day, she said “Yes.”  Elise immediately piped in and said, confused, “but I ruined your day.”

Later as we were finishing up Easter dinner my mom said, “I’m full.”  A few minutes later Elise asked her if she wanted to go and play.  My mom said “I can in a few minutes, I’m going to have dessert.”  Elise retorted, “but you said you were full!”

Joelle: “I can keep a secret, you trust me don’t you? I Think it’s THIS one (pointing at Elise) you have to worry about, mom.”

A couple of weekends ago she came out of her room at 7 and quietly padded down the hall.  I played possum.  I heard her pad down the hallway with the light jingle of her bear accompanying her.  She came to the place in the hall where she was standing between the door of the playroom and the door of our bedroom.

She studied her options and opened up the playroom door.  I heard Joelle say something and Elise replied “Yeah.”  I was given a reprieve to snooze by the girls for the first time I could remember.  Sure Elise proceeded to open the playroom, do a lap around the house and slam the door shut every five minutes after that, but it’s progress…

Little Elise is almost completely done with the baby phase.  She has diapers to conquer…and that’s about it.  Recently, she pulled out an old forgotten binky from a backpack.  Needless to say, we didn’t know it was there.  Chris held his breath to see if she would remember her addiction and pop it back in her mouth.  Instead, she said, “it’s a bink and put it down.”  She used to also insist that all pictures of Elise or Joelle as a baby were her.  However, we were in the playroom recently and she started naming off who was in each picture.  “That’s a picture of Joelle with a face.  That’s a picture of Joelle with a dance band…he he.  That’s a picture of Nana and Papa.”  She mysteriously stopped before acknowledging the last picture (which was of Joelle as a baby and a picture of Chris that actually doesn’t really look like him.)  I said, “Lisie, who is in the last picture?”  She said, “Two people.”  I pressed further and she clearly didn’t really know.  Finally, she said, “I know… it’s Unkey Joey and a baby!”  She would have insisted it was a picture of her not so long ago…

I was putting Joelle to bed tonight and she said “too bad you couldn’t come to lunch, maybe you could come sometime soon like in September or October”.  I said, “maybe next week even?”  Joelle quickly shot that down, “mmm, maybe in a couple or three weeks? Because mommy just came this week and there are some kids whose parents come like all the time.” (inferring that that is seen as undesirable)

“So you like it more spread out, huh?”, I inquired.  Joelle explained:  “Yeah, I mean these kids should have plenty of mommy time when they get home and on the weekends so they don’t need to come to lunch like EVERY week, right??”

Next thing I know when I come to her school I’ll get the “wassup?” upward head tilt instead of a hug