It's almost been a week since our "Best Day EVER" and a few "Best Meal EVERs" have since been served. It's been 15 minutes since Girl4 used delay tactic #2 and moved her nap mat to the couch looked up and said, "But Mommy, I'm not sleepy", and she's out. The floor is drying - thanks QBoy for showing me that being sick for a couple of days does not excuse me from mopping! So while it drys, it's time to blog...
Last Friday (06/06/08) was one of the days I will always remember as one of my best days ever. First off, in case you didn't know this, Fridays here are "Cheesy Eggs Day" which I really can't think of a better way (except for maybe ice cream) to start your day. Secondly, Friday is usually a "No Baby Day" which translates around here as "Road Trip Time". We headed off to our favorite local park, arriving just about 9:30am - before the morning crowd. We had the prime playground almost entirely to ourselves. Not that we don't mind sharing and meeting new friends, but at least for me - it's much easier to keep my eyes on 4 when I don't have to screen through 40 others. The crowd descended, so we made a break up the hill to the swings - SCORE! - nobody is around. Then it was off to play with the masses.
We meet up with a wonderful young lady, Samantha, who was "play-daying" with her nieces and nephews. I actually saw her much earlier that morning at the McD's when I made a breakfast pit-stop with Girl3 before preschool (no Cheesy Eggs Fridays for her, just McD's). We shared "kid-sponsibilites" like helping each others charges across the monkey bars, making sure traffic flowed in one direction, stopped the bigger ones from trying to carry the smaller ones - stuff like that. We visited (kind of strange visiting with someone who is the same age as your oldest - but nice - and yes, I do talk to my oldest occasionally). We nature walked around the pond, spotting all kinds of beautiful sights (see slide show). We stopped off for a drink from the water fountain, of course they had a sterile cup - do you really think I'd let them sip directly from a park fountain of germs? And of course, that lead to a fun splashing game and some singing of water tunes.
When we got home from the park we had a Build Your Own Taco Lunch - carefully prepared/assembled/and refrigerated while they ate their Cheesy Eggs that morning. Did you know that 4 Hungry Little Girls and 1 Day Care Provider can eat about 4 tacos each? Of course, some of those tacos consist of only shell, shredded cheese, and bit of LaTiara Taco Sauce. But they did eat their beans, and their Moroccan Oranges. You'll need to wait for my Cook Book to be published if you want those secret recipes (just joking). Complete, fabulous, perfect lunch (except maybe ice cream). Then it was nap time for everyone - 2.5 glorious hours of snoring.
After nap - we hit the road. Now we don't usually venture out twice in a day, but this was our first stab at Summer. We headed off to Baskin Robbins for Pink Bubble Gum Ice Cream. Grandpa Mississippi has taught me some very valuable lessons, like a person on vacation can have ice cream BEFORE their meal - it's the law in most states. So from there, I took the maternal/paternal logic I'm blessed with and figured out that if you deny yourself the pleasure of ice cream for breakfast and then again for lunch - you should at least have it for snack! Nobody can say we will be denied around here.
Home again to play in the sprinkler until those "real parents" arrive and take away my Big Girls for a couple of days. And how do I know this is "The Best Day EVER"? Because my heart, and two little girls strapped into their car seats way way back in the back of the car on the way home from ice cream told me so. And they wouldn't fib about something like that.
