Visiting Grandparents at Work

Before Christmas my parents invited Matthew and I to come to their work to have pictures taken with Santa Clause.  Southwest Airlines was going to have Santa at some of their airports for families to take pictures with while they waited on their flights during the holiday season.  They wanted to work out all the kinks and the employees families were invited to help out.

Now, if you knew me when I was little you know that I HATE caricatures.  I was terrified of them when I was little and they still kind of freak me out, I'm not gonna lie!  I NEVER had a birthday party at Chucky Cheese and I did not like going to them.  One summer my grandfathers work had a family day at Six Flags.  During lunch they had all the characters walk around and see the little kids.  I saw Bugs Bunny coming near and I crawled under the table and cried.  My grandfather had to go ask him not to come over to our table....that's how bad I was.  So, to avoid this I tried to talk with Matthew about Santa before we arrived.  I showed him pictures in books and told him he delivers gifts to good little boys and girls at Christmas.  I explained we were going to see him and he was going to sit in his lap while his picture was taken.  I know he's a few months shy of being 2 so he's probably not understanding everything that was coming out of my mouth but I wanted to try anything I could.  It made sense in my mind.  Any guesses on what happened once he saw Santa?!?!?!

As soon as Santa walked out (we were first in line), Matthew started looking at him nervously.  Then Santa walked over to us while the employees were still trying to get everything ready.  Matthew started to do a whining cry and proceeded to try and crawl over my shoulder and down my back.  I'm not really sure where he was thought he was going but he DID NOT want Santa touching or even looking at him.  Santa quickly turned around and walked back to his chair.  Matthew just looked at him curiously until it was our turn to sit in his lap.  I tried to see if he would sit there by himself but he wasn't having it.  Then I tried standing next to Santa and his chair with Matthew in my arms and Matthew was still upset.  Finally they had me sit in the chair while Santa was behind the drop cloth behind us.  At the last second Santa came out from behind the curtain and stood next to us without Matthew knowing it.  It was quite the ordeal!!  Once I figure out how to scan pictures, I'll add it to this post.

After we had our picture taken we went downstairs to see my mom.  She's in the People Department and that day she was answering phones at the front desk (my dad is a computer programmer for Southwest).

Matthew enjoyed sitting in my moms lap while she worked.

Then he discovered the elevators behind her....

My dad decided to take him for a ride.  He and Matthew did this MANY times.  Matthew loved pushing the button to open the door and then selecting which floor he wanted to go to!

Quick, name that song..........

"The itsy bitsy spider walked up the water spout..."

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out..." 

(imagine it in your head, my camera wasn't quick enough)

"Out came the sun and dried up all the rain..."

"And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again!"

After eating lunch with my mom we headed home.  Matthew was so exhausted he had fallen asleep before we even pulled out of the parking lot!  It was a great morning!!