Mid-week fun

Ahhhh...Spring Break! Gabby and I are having a grand time with each other and our friends. Every time we get in the car to go someplace, Gabby announces..."two girls, goin' on a trip!" or, "two girls, goin' to the store!" or, "two girls, goin' to a playdate!". This originated last summer when Gabby and I took our trip (sans Daddy) to San Diego to visit my parents. Gabby was having some trouble understanding the format of this trip, since we had never traveled together without David. She seemed hesitant to travel without her beloved Daddy, so I presented it to her as a "Girls' Trip", and I think I said something like, "Just us girls, going on a trip together!" Ever since then, Gabby is constantly labeling our Daddy-less outings in a similar fashion.

Today we had a free morning so we slept in, hung out in our jammies, painted pictures (Gabby is very into painting this week...painting is even preferred over Play-Doh), ate a late breakfast, and took a trip to the grocery store. After our shopping trip we came home and made lunch (egg salad...David hates it but Gabby and I LOVE it). Gabby was "in charge of the eggs"...at least, the peeling of them. Gabby likes to be "in charge" of things, like holding the mail key when we go and get the mail, being the stirrer when we bake, pushing the wet clothes into the dryer, etc. Anytime I deem her as being "in charge" of something, she likes to state it over and over again during the activity..."I'm IN CHARGE of da eggs. I peeling da eggs. I'm IN CHARGE of dem." Cute.

This afternoon we had a Happy Hour/Playdate with a bunch of our friends...what a combo, huh?!? Did anyone know that Joe's Crab Shack has playgrounds??? Up until recently, I didn't know this extremely useful tidbit until my friend Laura proposed that we meet up there one evening with the kids so they could run around outside. For the life of me, I could not figure out why it needed to be Joe's as opposed to any other patio restaurant. She has talked several times about bringing her little boy up there...I just assumed they really liked casual seafood. Finally she explained that it is because they have an ENTIRE PLAYGROUND attached to their patio...kids can play, eat, run, repeat, while mom enjoys a margarita with friends. NICE!! So today we met up with Laura and Jack, Christina and Finley, Corrinne and Claire, and a friend of Corrinne's. The kids had the time of their lives and played until they were exhausted and totally coated with playground dust.

I love watching Gabby play. Sometimes she gets shy, aloof, or hesitant to participate, but other times she surprises me with her extroversion. Sometimes she just likes to play in her own little world. One minute I look over and she is playing solo in a pile of pebbles, completely oblivious to the world around her. The next minute, I see that she is the life of the party...having somehow inserted herself into a crowd of big kids playing hide and seek, and I laugh as I hear other kids calling her by name, holding her hand, and treating her like their cute little pet. And Gabby just happily goes along with it all, loving the attention.

When we first arrived at the playground, the only kids there were a few older boys...maybe 14 or 15. Two of them were burying the third underneath a pile of the pebbles that covered the playground surface. When they saw our little girls approach, they jokingly said to us, "Hey, they can help if they want..." and what do you know, my little princess just runs over to these VERY LARGE BOYS and just starts dumping handfuls of pebbles on the kid being buried. She just looked so teeny and adorable and it just cracked me up.

Later on there was an older girl who slid on some pebbles and skinned her knee. She was upset and crying, and I noticed that Gabby was hovering around her and the small group of people who were surrounding her. She is pretty nosy (I have NO idea where she gets that from) so it didn't surprise me. Christina and I took a moment to dig around in our purses for neosporin, band-aids, and other first aid things to help out, and by the time we found everything, the group had ushered the girl back inside the restaurant where her parents were eating. So we made a quick dash into the restaurant to see if they needed any supplies, and what do you know...THERE'S GABBY...milling around the table of the girl's family. She just joined in their group and followed them inside, and was making small talk with the girl's mom (who I am sure was wondering where this additional kid came from).

It was a great evening; Gabby and Finley were the last to leave and even then they didn't want to go home. While saying our goodbyes, Gabby actually planted a big huge on-the-lips kiss onto Finley, which was pretty funny given that she usually has a tendency to shrug off all the hugs that the affectionate Finley is always trying to give her.

A great day...I wish Spring Break would never end.