We have a tradition of a "Little Girls' Weekend" at the end of the summer or beginning of fall with my college roomie, Jen VanderMeulen, and her cuties, Ella and Delia. This year they graciously made the drive to the Gilmore Bed & Breakfast for a few days of fun in the sun while they're hubby/daddy Dave was on a trip to Chicago. We took them to one of our fave Fresno spots: Storyland. Of course, we chose a steamy hot Fresno day for such festivities.
The girls loved hearing all the fairy tale stories and nursery rhymes as we walked through Storyland. They used their magic key to turn on the narrator boxes and listen. Here they took a brief rest on Mother Goose's lap.
We took a train ride to the adjacent Playland and hung out at the park's new feature, a kid's sprinkler splash park. What a relief in the 100-degree temperature. The three girls donned their bathing suits and had great fun run through the sprinkler and splashing with the other kiddos.
Saturday evening we had a Chinese feast in honor of the final Olympics showing. Jen is a big fan of the Olympics too. We had fun sharing this time together. We rolled homemade wontons for wonton soup. All of us cheered on the track and field relay runners. We were so grateful for the men's and women's 4x400-meter-relays. At least the U.S. picked up gold in something track & field!
Sunday we all dressed up and headed to our church, The Bridge. This was a fun adventure for the VanderMeulen girls since they're daddy is a pastor and they don't often visit other churches. Ella and Meilani checked out the Busy Bugs class and Delia was a great sport in our church nursery while the parents enjoyed worship.
Sunday afternoon we declared a pool party. Ella and Meilani were pool partners. They had so much fun singing and swimming together. Meilani showed off her summer swimming moves and inspired Ella to do some new tricks. Ella bravely jumped into the water and ventured beyond the edge of the pool. We were all so proud of her!
The girls joined Delia in the kid "hot tub" complete with a water slide.
Meilani did a few Olympic dives for good measure. She entered the water with a big splash but the judges gave her great marks. Nana and Papa Lazo joined us for a Grilled Fajita Fiesta for dinner.
Sunday moved into Monday and we still found ourselves in the pool. (We just couldn't get our little fishies out of the water!) Auntie Jen taught us the "Motor Boat Motor Boat" song and a few other memorable pool songs that Meilani's been singing ever since. The best part of the weekend was just hanging out with our friends. Jen and I reflected on how fun it is to "do life together" with kids. If we only knew in college what our California life would be like now!
1 comment:
We were sure missing you guys (and your pool!) this weekend. Thanks again for showing us such a great time! As always, it's fun to read your write-up.
Though the tradition is fun, we won't wait until end of next summer/beginning of next fall to rendevous in Fresno again! (We will have a new little Gilmore to meet after all...)
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