summer days, slippin' away....

At the park today....

Evelyn Joy 13, Sonja Kathleen 11, Jonathan Robert 9, Charlotte Claire 7, and Camille Anaya 5, went out and about with me today. We stopped at a park near the river with a nice playground. The sun was shining and the fair-weather clouds floated through the sky. They went on the swings and down the curly slides until Miss Char had to go to the bathroom. She said she "forgot to go before we left". I wondered...how many times have I said through the years to Go Pee And Brush Your Teeth Before We Leave.....

Anyway. We went to Target and got a few things, like jeans for the two older girls for school, for 70% off. They each got a few shirts, Jonathan got some shorts and a shirt, and the princesses each got a dress for $3.88.

We stopped at a grocery store on the way home to get pizzas that were on special, $3.50 each. I got them four for dinner, as I wouldn't be home....

We were home for maybe 20 minutes when I had to leave for my date with my oldest daughter Emily. We were going to the suburbs, to a few big stores, to buy stuff for our church conference snack bar. Enough cheese for a hundred pizzas, pizza sauce and boxes and soda and water and Snapple and Gatorade and a bit more candy and soap and cloths and and and. The minivan was almost dragging.

Mali went along with us too, and we had way too much fun. We were getting so hungry that when we spied the best bakery ever, in the town where I grew up, the bakery I used to stop into to get donuts and pies for my dad when he was so sick with leukemia and could barely eat....he COULD eat donuts, and he was so thin and weak, so I bought him donuts. Anyway. We decided not to go in the bakery, but to go into the adjoining place....the gelato/ice-cream parlor. I tasted some mint Oreo gelato, and wasn't as impressed as Emily and Mali were...I don't know what flavors they ended up with, but I had a soft-serve vanilla ice cream in a homemade waffle cone. Made right there, that waffle cone alone was wonderful.

Ice cream was my dinner. I was hungry later, had a little bit of popcorn, but have resisted anything else.

It was a wonderful dinner, thoroughly enjoyed.

The younger girls are all tucked in and sleeping, a few kids are watching, "Harry Potter". I am relaxed in my chair, finally. It was a long busy day. I did a few loads of laundry in between being gone, and my packing for the church conference is coming along. My dining room table is brimming with several hundred dollars worth of candy, which hasn't been gotten into so far. (If a package gets open, all bets are off, "But Mom, it was OPEN!")

I am looking very forward to Friday, as Paul will be coming home from Louisiana. It is amazing how much we still like each other.

Tomorrow will be a stay-at-home day, I truly hope. I need to get into the garden and pick some squashes and tomatoes, and do some other things around here. I want to go in the pool and just enjoy summer.....