Monday, July 14, 2008

What a Difference A Week Makes

Last week at this time I was sitting on the patio with Dakota and our good friends, Lynn and Diana, watching the kids play while we talked about anything and everything. The weather was perfect - not a cloud in the sky.

It's still perfect, weather-wise, but our friends are back in their home thousands of miles from here. It was so much fun to have them visit - I wish it could have lasted more than a few days.

They arrived last Saturday (well, to be fair, they arrived Friday evening but after not reaching us by phone (it was the 4th and we were out in the yard and never heard the phone) they decided to just wait, get some sleep and call us in the morning. They had driven their RV all the way from the Midwest and were, understandably, tired.

When they finally arrived on our door step it was as if no time had passed since we last saw them three years ago. Hello hugs all around and then tons of easy conversations. Nice!!

The kids did what kids do and tried to impress them and capture every bit of attention they could. Finally they settled in and were happy enough to let us talk. Both kid took to a different person; Kaylen fell for "the driver" (Diana) and Kelton took a shine for "the teacher" (Lynn). It was all rather cute. :)

We did the things that friends do - talked, talked, talked, went out to eat, talked, talked, talked. It was great. Better than great!

Lynn worked with Kelton on school things for a couple hours and observed Kaylen just being Kaylen. She then turned to me and said "What's the gifted program like in your school district? You need to have them tested and put into it." Yikes. It's official. We have a couple of smarty pants for kids. Now we always knew they were "above average" but to have someone, a teacher of many, many years, confirm it was something else. We're in trouble. :) Lynn agrees with us that Kaylen is what we call "scary smart". So, so, so much trouble. (And umm...if you're keeping score then you might want to remember that the kids have different donors so I'm thinking the scary smart part comes from my side. Hee hee!!! And no fair saying "Yeah - but things like that skip people in a family. *sticking out my tongue and raspberrying you*)





On Monday, Diana and Lynn met the kids and I at the mall. We hit the arcade (Diana is a big, big kid when it comes to arcades. We learned that at the beach three years ago.) where all three kids (!) did well. Then we moved on to the carousel and little train. On the way from one end of the mall to the other we discovered that the much anticipated Build-A-Bear Workshop was open!! After explaining to the kids that it was a special event to go and we would not be going every time we went to the mall, we went in and the kids made new friends.











We ended the morning in the play area where Kaylen decided she would thrill us all with her stop breathing trick. After that, we hit the food court (Dakota met us there after working the morning)and then came back home to spend the final hours with our friends.

Around 9:00PM we finally had to say our goodbyes and watch them drive away. None of us were ready to say goodbye. The next day the kids kept wandering around saying they missed their friends and I just kept agreeing with them. I did too.

I really hope they come back soon.






7 comments:

Catherine said...

That is so nice. It looks likey you all had a lot of fun. I have close friends who are far away too, so I appreciate what a special time you had!

Mimi said...

Looks like you guys had fun...its sooo nice to see old friends...hope they can stop by again....

Froggymama said...

Sooo fun. And might I add, whenever I see pictures of your backyard, it makes me want to move out of LA...just for a back yard like yours!

Monogram Queen said...

Looks like a really good visit with some wonderful friends.

I still haven't been to a Build-A-Bear! :(

Lynilu said...

I love that kind of visit from friends or family. I enjoy showing people local sights or being shown when I'm the guest, but the important thing is the talk, talk, talk stuff! Catching up, bridging from the last visit is t.h.e b.e.s.t!!! Sounds like you had a super visit!

Unknown said...

That's very cool about the gifted children comments. It's a good feeling to know your child won't struggle through their education. (Unless they choose to by becoming mischeivants :))

Melanie said...

What a great adventure and time with your friends - it's always sad when they leave! :(
I must also say that our two boys chose the EXACT same bear from Build-A-Bear! Evan decided his was a girl, and even picked out a mini-skirt and glittery top for her!