Party Dresses and Cowboy Boots

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.