Clara went with Grandma and Grandpa went they left to go home on the 5th. She got to go to the rodeo on Thursday, a splash pad on Friday and she and Grandma had a girls night out to see Brave on Saturday. Clara helped Grandma make a pie for Grandpa's birthday too.
On Monday, Robert and I drove to pick Clara up and stayed overnight. We had a belated birthday dinner for Grandpa at Cotton Patch and then came home to eat pie and play in the backyard. On our drive home, my low tire pressure light came on and I quickly exited the highway to check it out. I was hoping there would be a gas station to pull into, but no luck. I couldn't even pull off the road because there was no shoulder and steep ditches on either side. I pulled onto a smaller road and I looked up and saw a yellow CHURCH sign, so I pulled into the small church parking lot.
I got out with my tire gauge and could hear air coming out of the tire as I approached it. I had run over a screw. Clara of course needed to use the restroom at that very moment and couldn't hold it even for a minute, so we went inside. There were several cars in the parking lot, but there was no one around the front. I could hear someone praying in a back room, but I didn't want to disturb them, so I herded Clara into the restroom, grabbed a pen with the church's address at the front desk and headed back outside.
I wasn't too far away from Chris' work so I thought I'd see if he could come rescue his damsel in distress. No luck. He didn't answer his phone. I ended up calling AAA. We've had it for 5 years and that was the first time we've used it. All in all, it could not have been a more pleasant experience. (Except for not having happened at all of course.) The rain had stopped, it was nice and overcast outside, the kids played on the church playground and after about 20 minutes, a nice man arrived, figured out how to unleash my spare from it's holding spot underneath the car, and had us back on the road in no time. AAA rocks! I'm so thankful that I was able to get to a safe place before having a blow out and that the entire ordeal ended up being nothing more than an inconvenience.
The next couple of days were filled with Clara grandparent detox, tire fixing, and preparing for babysitting over the weekend. Oh, and lots of rain.
We kept Levi and Ellie on Friday and Saturday night. We hit the park Saturday morning, played with legos, cleaned up toys, watched a movie, made cookies, played some more, cleaned some more, took sandwiches to a different park for dinner, played on the playground, home for baths, accidentally broke a lightbulb in the lamp horsing around, and then up early and to church on Sunday. We handed them off to their grandma at church. Whew. Four kids was a lot of work.
And then on Monday afternoon, Bia and Myrt Myrt came for a visit. It was storming out so the kids climbed up in Bia's lap for a movie.
The next day, Bia took us school clothes shopping and got the kids a few new outfits. I picked up Clara's new school shoes too. We went back home for naps and then that night us girls headed downtown and went to see The Lion King.
Clara did not want to stand by this sign at first. She eventually relented. This is Rafiki the crazy baboon. In the musical, Rafiki is a girl. Ironically, she ended up being Clara's favorite character. They didn't allow photography inside the theater, so these are all I've got.
The show was a-mazing! I loved every minute of it. If you get a chance, you should definitely go see it. There was a little more potty humor than I prefer, but it's that way in the movie too. I think there's a little more in the musical though. All of the animals and the singing is just so beautiful. One by one the animals come on stage and each is more fantastic than the last. It was overwhelming and it brought tears to my eyes. (This from someone who is not normally moved to tears by any art form.) Clara was in heaven. I can't even imagine how grand it must have been through the eyes of a six year old.
This was the first theatrical performance both my mom and Myrt had been to and they were blown away as well. I don't think they had any idea what to expect, but they're hooked now. We're already planning to see Wicked when they come next summer :)
Getting out of the parking garage was fun. We were on the roof, so we got to sit and wait for a very long time and then I took a wrong turn trying to get on the interstate. All told, it took an hour to get home from the time the show ended, so we got home around 11:30. And then the little one decided to wake at 4:00 for playtime. I went into his room about 4 times. Around 5:00, I saw a light come on downstairs. I went down and he was playing in the playroom. So to keep him from waking anyone else, I turned on cartoons and dozed on the couch.
Don't let that smile fool you.
This is more accurate.
The kids and I did absolutely nothing yesterday after they left. I finally pulled myself off the couch and took them to the splash pad this morning and then cleaned up the house this afternoon.
And now, I am caught up and can mark that off of my to-do list.
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