Impressive statistic

We visited 2/3 of the McDonalds restuarants in the western half of the state of Tasmania today.

Given that it was a chilly, wet day and each McDonalds provides free parking, a playland, and 50 cent ice cream cones, it seemed like a good way to pass the time.

I guess I should confess that there are only 3 in this half of the state.
(And 11 in the eastern half, 8 of which are in Hobart.)

We hit the first one about 11:00 this morning. I had drug the kids through some shops downtown in hopes of getting some souvenirs to take home, but wasn't as successful as I had hoped.

(Sidenote: If you want something that says, "Mummy's Little Devil" or "Someone who loves me went to Tasmania and bought me this shirt," put in your order now. Or you could get just about anything emblazoned with a cartoon-ish Tasmanian Devil - snow globes, water bottles, pens, etc. Tasteful gifts are a bit lacking.)

My plan was to go to the nature reserve to hunt (once again) for the elusive platypus, but the rain that had stopped earlier began again.

So, McDonalds it was. I fully intended on getting the 50 cent cones for the kids to justify using the parking space and playing in the playland until I saw the "American" brownie calling my name from the McCafe. (Definition of "American" brownie: brownie that actually has enough sugar in it to be edible - and no coconut.) So once I went over to the McCafe counter to buy myself the $3.85 cent brownie that was smaller than a deck of cards, Sam happened to fall in love the with $3 donut with chocolate sprinkles. Now my $1 cheap outing had turned into almost $7 for the 20 minutes my kids played, but oh well. At least we weren't at home watching the Wiggles.

We went home for lunch (since I wouldn't do something as unhealthy as buy them nuggets and fries 20 minutes after buying them a donut) and spent the next 2 hours playing superheroes (mainly with Sam) as Sadie threw multiple fits for various completely irrational reasons since she really still needs just a little nap but won't give in to her exhaustion.

I couldn't take it anymore and annouced to Sam we were doing to McDonalds.

"Again?!" with a look of sheer delight on his face.

"Yes - the other McDonalds." The one a half an hour away so my exhausted daughter could hopefully catch a few Zs on the way to make her a bit more bearable.

We loaded up and by some stroke of dumb luck, the plan actually worked. Sadie zonked out and even announced when she woke up in the McDs parking lot, "Mom, I better now."

They played for a good hour at this one (better playground) and this time I wasn't sucked in by the McCafe and the kids got their 50 cent cones. They got quite a kick out of laughing at the other one with ice cream all over his or her face, not realizing both of their faces looked pretty much the same.

I promise we did eat a few healthly things sandwiched in between our McDs sweets.