David’s mom has been permanently moved to skilled nursing, so he flew down to San Diego over the weekend to visit with her and help clear out her apartment. He was gone from Thursday to Monday (flying back on Sunday was too expensive).
My mom unexpectedly invited me to come down for a visit to Grants Pass while he was gone. Normally I wouldn’t attempt the 4 ½ hour drive with the girls by myself, but with Amanda being such a challenge lately, I thought a change might do us all some good. I didn’t decide until the morning Dave flew out, and then I had only an hour to pack after dropping him off at the airport. It was so last-minute, I even forgot to ask our neighbor to feed our fish until Saturday (I left a week’s worth of food for the cat). I stopped at the mall in Eugene to let the girls play on the indoor play park and burn off some steam. Amanda automatically wants to do whatever she sees the big kids doing, so when they all started clamoring to go on the slide, she was jockeying for a position right in the middle of them. She loved going down the slide while holding my hand, and couldn’t get enough. At one point she got knocked down the few foam stairs, which scared her. She was too afraid to climb it by herself, but she protested whenever I tried to help, too. I could tell she was getting cranky, so it was time to get back on the road. The girls slept for most of the rest of the trip.
Eva really enjoyed visiting with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Caleb and Aunt Barocha. They have two international students living with them again this year, a brother and sister (ages 10 and 12) from Korea. Dad and Barocha were gone on a retreat until Friday night, so they were surprised to see me and the girls when they got home. One afternoon, we took a short drive to the river. Eva chased a lizard with the big kids, proudly holding it in her hand. Then she threw rocks into the water, trying to make big splashes like they did. Finally she got brave enough to take off her shoes and try some wading. There were tiny fish dashing around, but none came close enough for her to “catch”. Of course, Amanda wanted to do what she saw big sister doing, so I took off her shoes and held her feet in the water. She loves water, so I had to hold her under the armpits to keep her from sitting down in it. She kicked and splashed and giggled, and had a great time.
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