Our Day in Clinton/Laurens

Hello out there. Finally an update from me. The boys and I got together with our very good friends (and technically cousins, but very very far removed!) Paula and her kids yesterday. We chose to meet at the halfway point between our two homes, which happens to be Clinton, SC. Just in case you weren't aware, there isn't much at all to do in Clinton on a hot day! We ate at a McDonald's with an outdoor play place. Attempted to hang out at the local "library," but it closed at 1:00. On a Saturday? I am used to things closing early or opening late in SC because of the blue laws, but on a Saturday? How can a working family (which I'm not, but still!) ever enjoy the library if it closes that early on a Saturday?? Anyways, I'm probably only that upset about it because gee whiz, that was a hot day to be outside!! In the end though, it was a great day! While looking for a park the librarians had told us about, (heading into Laurens now), we found an indoor roller skating rink. We immediately were complaining (and i promise i am not usually a complaining patron!) about the mess this place was in! The actual skating rink was sticky with spilled soda or something, it had recently chewed gum stuck on it, (this is the actual floor that you skate on) and candy wrappers all over it. The benches that Evan was holding onto, surrounding the rink and easier for him to be on since the floor there is carpeted, ended up covering my child's hand in sticky pink stuff, which then attracted everything else on the floor to him each time he fell. Can you say GROSS!! And to top all that nastiness off, there wasn't ANY SOAP in the washing area (outside the bathroom, no sinks were in the bathrooms.) If it were only up to Paula and I, we would have left immediately. We stayed for two reasons 1) We couldn't get our money back 'till the manager came in, and 2) the kids were having an absolute blast! We had been there for 2 hours by the time the manager came, returned our money, and we packed up and left. We immediately wiped down our kids hands, legs and anything else they'd let us wipe down with soapy toddler wipes. Yelch! Off to look for the park again. With the directions of some very friendly, totally tattooed and nose ringed gentlemen attending a family member's birthday gathering at the skating rink, we finally found the park. It was awesome, even on this hot hot day! We sweltered in the shade, with hardly a breeze, while the kids played shuffleboard in the shaded area, with free equipment from the concession stand. This is apparently standard for this park. It has a small mini golf area, a shuffleboard area, a playground and a concession counter. The only thing that wasn't free was the food and drinks, including the very tempting ice creams, but for $3.50 each and 5 kids, we said no thanks! We kept a constant eye on the kids, making sure they were staying in the shade, and having them splash water on their faces every few minutes or so. We had a little picnic lunch under the shelter before they played, then when it was just too overwhelmingly hot and the water ran out, we went to Wendy's for chocolate Frosty's and more water. Yum! Finally, we were just about ready to leave, when both Paula and I realized two things: 1) We didn't want kids falling asleep at only 6:pm and 2) What are we thinking, they're not going to fall asleep, they're going to go nutty from the Frosty's! So, we headed to Wal-Mart to let the kids hang out in the toy section! As terrible as Wal-Mart is, at least we can say it's kid and date friendly! Ed and I went on a couple dates there while dating, and since we've been married! It's fun to "play" with the stuff! So we toured the entire toy section, then the yarn (have to check it out, even if it's crappy wal-mart brand!) and at last, said good-bye to our dear friends in the Wal-Mart parking lot. And somewhere in there we made plans to meet again at that nice little park in the fall, when it can't possibly be (can it??) that hot! It was really nice! Thanks for meeting up with us Paula!