The
first thing I noticed when I picked up Emily and Molly this year for their
annual week at Grandpa & Grandma’s was that neither girl travels light (which
they get naturally from me) except for shoes (which they do not get from me).
Molly
always wears a party dress to every event – preschool, birthday parties,
jumping on the trampoline at home and camping in a tent – so it shouldn’t have
surprised me to see her pull out an entire china tea set. You never know when you may need to set up a
tea party on short notice, right? Emily
always wears her cowboy boots; in Texas of course that is perfectly stylish and
appropriate for everything from shorts to swimsuits to your party dress. Her bag included a doll-sized wooden
chair. I suppose if you are going to
have a tea party you need the perfect chair for your doll.
Emily’s
vocabulary belies the fact that she is not yet in second grade. She and Great Gran had a brief conversation
about her horse riding lessons, whether she rides Western or English saddle,
and how she has learned to walk, trot and canter the horse. Molly does her best to keep up, mostly be
starting every sentence with “actually….”
The
second half of the girls’ drive that day was in the back seat of Grandma’s car
with no electronics and only conversation or music to pass the time. Which works just fine, for all of you parents
out there who think games on a phone or an ipad are required to make a car trip
with kids. Of course, by the end of the
week I had changed my tune on that, but that’s another blog.
At
home Grandpa weathered the flurry of hugs, kisses and “Where’s Duke?”, telling
us he had supper ready. Hot dogs and
macaroni & cheese, what more could little girls want? Except that you have to watch Grandpa, whose
definition of those basic foods is broader than most. Emily immediately rejected the hot dog, not
fooled by buffalo meat in the shape of a wiener. Molly was fine with the meat, but the mac
& cheese had different noodles than she was used to so it didn’t get much
attention.
After
supper they ran through the house checking to make sure all the things they
remembered were still there. Then it was
bath time. We love bubbles at bath time. The girls made the traditional bubble-beards
and bubble hair followed by diving for sea creatures, the unique assortment of …
well, plastic sea creatures I have for them.
Everything from a miniature scuba diver to various whales, dolphins,
turtles, squid, octopus, angel fish, and a tiny ship to sink.
Ah,
bed time. At least for me and Grandpa - for
some reason the girls couldn’t sleep.
Excited and in a bedroom not their own, they spent some sleepless hours
until eventually, the house was quiet.
As I drifted off to sleep I did what I always do when they visit, count
my blessings and make no attempt to wipe the happy smile off my face. Life is good.
