Nana's Fun Friday

Since my mom had to work several days and had prior commitments, we were unable to catch up with her until Friday. The weatherman predicted warmer weather than we had seen so far in the week, so we all geared up for a day at the pool enjoying the sunny skies and warm weather. Well . . .

The weatherman must have been smoking crack.

It was cloudy and cold the whole morning with only brief moments of sun to help highlight the kids' blue lips and chattering teeth. They didn't seem to mind, however, so we spent the morning watching them swim, ate some lunch and then headed back to mom's house for naps.

We also traveled all over southern Ohio to pick up Kayli so that she could enjoy some more time with her cousins. Seriously, the last time I was in Red Lion, Ohio, I was in high school and the father of one of my friends was chasing us off his front yard with a shotgun as we had attempted to TP him in the middle of the night (remember that, Rachel?) Oh, we were such rebels. So, while it was quite a car ride that morning, it was fun to re-live my days as a rebellious teen.

So, anyway, Kayli was with us too, and after a napping attempt for her and Claire, the kids headed outside for one of the kiddie attractions at Nana's house. Thinking back to my own experiences at my grandmother's houses, I fondly remember sliding across the wood floor in my tights and eating shelled sunflower seeds at one grandma's house, and drinking Hi-C fruit punch out of glasses that smelled like cigarette smoke and eating whole black olives off my fingers at the other grandma's house. Fun times.

But, no doubt, my kids' memories of their grandmother's house will be sure to include this:


And really, who can blame them? I used to LOVE those things when I was a kid, not that we ever had one. The kids have yet to visit at Nana's house without asking to ride "the car."

"The car" has always freaked Claire out a bit in years past, and she would usually refuse to drive it herself, opting instead to ride while Kayli drove. This year, however, she actually drove the car herself (though, alas, I have no pictures to prove it), and so did . . .

Look at Kayli's face. Scared? Excited? Nervous? I'm betting it's a combination of all three. She is always up for a little adventure. Actually, Ben couldn't decide which was more fun - driving the car or pretending to fill it with gas.

I've mentioned before about how well Claire and my niece, Kayli get along with each other. They spent each day they were together playing like they were sisters and using their imaginations to come up with some of the silliest games. One of these games, given the ever-so-creative name of "Doggy" involved one of them pretending to be the other's doggie. Yep, that's it. Sounds fun, huh? They thought so, and they played it for hours.

I asked them to show me a funny face, and this is what I got:

Pretty funny all right. Do you see the "dog tags" around Kayli's neck? Her uncle, David, has recently joined the army, and her dog tags were in honor of him. She never took them off, even at the pool.

Sweeties.

And, just in case you aren't sure where Claire gets her looks . . .

Nana and Claire

Nana and Claire again. I had to retake this picture because Claire insisted that the dog in her lap had to be visible.

After dinner, we loaded up the cars for a visit to Dairy Queen. This was a new experience for my kids, as we have no DQ near us. They were thrilled with the prospect of ice-cream cones with candy eyes and nose, and eating it out on the sidewalk even held its own attractions.

Never mind the cars driving past only a few feet away; this is cool, man.


And, just to make sure we knew that the weatherman wasn't totally wrong, the sun did decide to make its appearance.

Just in time to make us all look ridiculous in this picture.