Flat Stanley Meets Michael & Katelyn

Flat Stanley just visited our house, and we had a great time showing him around our new city! We're still exploring our city and learning where everything is, and Flat Stanley was excited to explore with us. We decided to go for a walk around Old Town...that's what they call the area of the city where we live. We all loaded up in the stroller and started walking with no particular destination in mind.  On the way, we discovered a beautiful old tree that had dropped so many little flower blossoms all over the sidewalk. Michael and Stanley thought it would be fun to run and jump and slide in the blossoms and toss them up in the air.

Katelyn was strapped into her stroller, so she just watched. Michael and Stanley took a quick break from their shenanigans to pose for a picture with Katelyn.

Then, Michael and Stanley thought it would be fun to have a wee bit of a wrestling match, but that pushed the stroller around on the sidewalk and you have to be very careful in a city so that you stay safely on the sidewalk away from the cars on the road, so we stopped wrestling.

After we all climbed back into the stroller, we kept walking and walking, looking for interesting places to stop and explore. We found a book store and Michael and Stanley had fun looking at books, and then we got back to walking. We walked along and found a great big fountain in Market Square in front of a large brick building. Turns out the building is City Hall. It had a big American flag draped across the front that was quite beautiful. Michael and Stanley splashed in the fountain a bit. The water was not too hot, not too cold...it would have been perfect if it was a swimming pool! But it wasn't, it was just a fountain, and we're not allowed to swim in fountains. Bummer.

So, off we went, continuing our stroll through town, when we came to a little teeny tiny toy store.  Stanley and Michael could barely contain their excitement as they ran into the store and ran around checking out all the super cool toys.

After all the toys had been carefully examined and added to our never ending birthday gift lists, we jumped back into the stroller and walked over to the playground. Michael and Stanley played and played, and paused for a quick picture as they built a sandcastle in the sandbox.

Finally, we were all hot and hungry! Time to head home for lunch and naps. All in all, Stanley, Michael, and Katelyn had fun walking around and exploring our new city.  After nap, Stanley and Michael decided to play fire fighter a little, and they put out several fires that afternoon. Stanley asked if we could make a firefighter uniform for him next time he comes to play at our house because all of ours were too big for him. We told him we'd make him one.

Stanley was anxious to get off and meet all of his new friends, so he decided to only stay for one day at our house, but he promised he'd be back to play again another day. We can't wait! He did have a few fun questions for us before he left, though:

Stanley: "Hey Michael, if you were going camping on the beach for a whole week (that's seven days and 6 nights), and you could only bring one very special toy (in addition to Buh-Bear because he's your friend and he doesn't count as your one toy), which toy would you bring?

Michael: "I would bring my, uh, my, uh, army set. And it has lots and lots of toys in it!"

Stanley: "Katelyn, what would you bring?"

Katelyn: "Maa Maa Maa Baa Baa..."
Michael : "Katie said she wants to bring Mac to the island."
Mommy: "You mean Lightening McQueen's friend Mac? She's too little to play with Mac, Michael."
Michael: "That's what she said."

Stanley: "So, Michael, I know how much you like fire trucks and fire fighters. When the firefighters were just little boys and girls, why do you think they wanted to grow up to be firefighters?"  

Michael: "Because they if they wouldn't have firefighters the fire would be inside the house forever."

Stanley: "Is that why you want to be a firefighter, too?"

Michael: "Yeah, because the firefighters need lots and lots of help."

Stanley: "Katelyn is napping and we don't even know what she wants to be when she grows up, so I won't ask her that question."

Stanley: "Michael, do you think the mail man will be gentle with me when he carries me to Evan and Chloe's house?"

Michael: "OK...Mommy, remember this? Mailmans aren't bad guys so they won't squish people up and stick them in a box. They don't do that to envelopes. If a bad guy squishes you up then you tell a policeman and he will take that bad guy away and fix Stanley. The mailman is not a real bad guy. He's a real mail man."

Stanley: "Katelyn?"
Katelyn: "Bah bah bah bah...."