Playdates Gone Awry

So, yesterday was a teacher workday at the Moo's school. One of the other mom's had approached me about watching her daughter while she had a doctor's appointment, and that ended up turning into plans for a mega-playdate between the Moo and Bean, the Moo's fiancee C, and her friend G (whose mom had the appointment). We were going to all meet at the Go Bananas toy store, G's mom would take off, C's mom and I would take the children for a pizza lunch, ice cream, and then off to the new movie theater to see Veggie Tales! Quite possibly the BEST PLAYDATE EVER, right?
The first indication that all would not go as planned happened when the rain started to pour down the minute we got to the shopping complex, which is an outdoor mall. Of course, the Moo was wearing her clogs which she can barely walk in (these are a recent obsession that got us a talking to from her school; apparently clogs are unacceptable footwear for PE :) New rule: no clogs at school!). At any rate, the handoff from G's mom went smoothly, lunch went great, and the ice cream was enjoyed by all. Once we got to the movie theater, however, we found out that the lineup rotates on Friday and Veggie Tales was no longer playing. Panic among mom's ensued while hopped-up-on-ice-cream children ran around the movie theater lobby like crazy things while we tried to figure out what to do now and see if the movie was playing elsewhere.
G's mom showed up about this time and suggested we head over to Loudoun Sport Bounce, one of those places filled with all things inflatable and bouncy, so I got the girls in the car and talked up how much fun it was going to be even if no popcorn was involved. Of course, once we got there we found out they were closing in 10 minutes. Since it was raining outside still the only place to discuss next moves was inside Sport Bounce, so the now twice disappointed kids were forced to sit there and look at all the cool things they were not able to play with.
This was too much for the Bean, who at this point was way overdue for a nap, so we begged out of any additional activities and headed home. As a compromise we stopped at the store on the way home and bought a new movie (101 Dalmations) and popcorn, and had our own movie date at home which ended up being a lot of fun, although the Bean ended up crashing out, waking up for dinner, and then not falling asleep until 11 pm last night. It also provided a valuable lesson to the girls about the best laid plans . . . and how sometimes if you roll with it and adjust, things can end up working out OK in the end.
The Moo and I also had a nice heart-to-heart about how even though it's hard sometimes, she needs to try a little bit more to make sure the Bean doesn't get left out when we are doing things with the Moo's friends. The Moo and her friends are actually pretty good at including the Bean, but as a mom it is kind of hard to watch her trailing behind while the other three are off and running. Next time I will try and include a Bean friend in the mix: maybe we can get C and Evan to come and the girls can go on their first double date. :)
Today the Moo and I are off to a birthday party at Pump It Up (yet another inflatable bouncy place) which means the Bean gets a playdate with daddy! Right now, she is busy playing music with her castanets or as she calls them her 'clackanets,' because "they go clack."