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Summer Vacation: Day 2

OK...I'm sure I'm setting myself up for failure with that title, so I should just stop it! Ha! Ha!!....

* * *

"Mom. Maaaaa-om. Mom?"

Wait. I've heard this before. It was 2-something or 3-something this morning, but it was much more panicked. Why is it that the only word RJ2 can say between bedtime and wake-up time is--

"Hi, Mom."

She walked into the bedroom at 6 on the dot this morning. Saturday. No school. (Sigh.) This, after that earlier wake-up--due to rowdiness before bedtime and staying up too late [Called it!]--which put her right back to sleep again and me up for an hour or so. Needless to say, as she went to play "Curious George" on the computer, I went back to sleep on the sofa.

Turns out, I would not be the only one going back to bed today.





The door to CJ's bedroom remained closed between 9:45 and 1:30. Apparently at last night's lock-in at church, she "forgot" to sleep! Managed an hour of sleep "in a chair," I was told at her 9 a.m. pick-up time. Much fun was had, however, playing hide-and-seek in the dark and having a peanut butter--clarification: chunky peanut butter--facial that turned into a game of throw the Goldfish on my PB'd face! Wow... Makes me want to stay up just thinking about it! It was a blast, I guess, and she can now claim that she did her first night without [much] sleep much earlier in her life than her mom [AdLab, senior year of college].

Meantime, RJ2 and I checked out the pool for awhile. After lunch, I started a marinade for dinner. Fresh lime juice with sour cream. I'm sure they were having an interesting time mixing it up together....





The girls spent some time playing together in the afternoon, and I embarked on a project I've been talking about doing for weeks. It's a reinvention of the sandbox. R built the open-frame box while the JGirls were away on a trip somewhere. It's been so long ago, I'm not sure how many JGirls there were at the time. But, it has been a traditional sandbox, a productive bakery and a popular Hot Wheels raceway complex.

Today, it was just a big mess!





I spent some time cleaning out the old, broken plastic; the leaves, dead bugs and not-so-dead bugs; and the pine cones, and raked the surface even. Then, it was time to put in the four brand-new bags of sand, which was RJ2's favorite part, as she had to have her toes right underneath the spewing sand!





I was excited to show her my creation... Barbie Beach!





Sunken pool with sitting rocks. Oversized Adirondack chair. Drying-off area (no tanning allowed!) adjacent to a stone patio. Even some greenery!





Her response was to bury the greenery under a few inches of new sand! Clearly, when she heard me talking about creating Barbie Beach, she heard 'beach' and not 'Barbie'. I honestly think she wants the beach to herself! HA!! Oh, silly mom.... I suppose if I had actually had the Barbies, then maybe it might have gone differently. It was too late by that point to get them, much less fill up the pool, which would also have won her over completely. So, we'll unveil the whole thing again tomorrow, weather-permitting. I have already resigned myself to the fact that the pool will be full of sand and we'll have to rename it Lake Barbie. No prob!





It was another good day, though, albeit 6-o'clock AM girl definitely lost some steam early. Closing out with a new eat for us--flank steak. Hear about it on Food Network all the time but haven't tried it. [I couldn't even find it in the store!] It's all about the marinade (now featured as a sauce at serving time). Really delicious soft steak taco, and loving the fresh tomatoes and avocado!

Not ready for a Throwdown with Bobby Flay, but...Who makes a better Barbie Beach?!

Comments

Kelly said…
Love this! Love love love. And I must say, I make a mean flank steak. Just ask Stacy M and Kelly S! They love it!

Day 2 looks fabulous! Keep it up.

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