We have the girls for the weekend, so Michael and Michele can have some alone time. They arrived after noon today. It is almost bedtime. Mira and Zoe tell us that Mom and Dad let them stay up till nine thirty on weekends. I am not sure that is true, but we will probably let them stay up to close to that time anyway. It is already 8:15. We got home a little bit ago from a full day.
First we went to see Shrek 2 at a local theater. M & M had actually taken them to see this movie last Saturday at a the beautiful Arclight Theater in Hollywood. But since we hadn't yet seen it, we told the girls that we would like to go. We were pretty sure that the girls would be up to seeing it again. They were. It is GOOD. Nana Judi gives Shrek 2 two big thumbs up. In fact, I loved it and would definitely pay to see it again.
Conceding to the pleas of our little princesses, we then drove down to the ocean. We were just going to stay at the strand and look down at it, since we said we would take them to the beach tomorrow. Once there, the girls soon had their shoes off and were quickly moving down the ramp. Like good grandparents, we followed. Of course, by then we had committed to go down near the water. The girls convinced us that they only wanted to get their feet wet. Sure.
Since we drove down to the beach directly after the movie, and we hadn’t stopped home to get bathing suits or towels, the girls were warned not to get anything but their feet wet. They agreed. Pete made sure that pant legs were rolled up. We had forgotten how easy it was for two little girls to conveniently forget what they chose. When our boys were little we called this tendency 'Laggard's Ear'.
It wasn’t long before they were soaked, but since we had already decided to be indulgent this weekend, we just sighed. The weather was mild, and it wasn’t too late, so we weren’t terribly concerned. We rationalized that don’t live too far from the ocean. It is a quick drive home.
After a while, we gave the girls the two minute sign. Ten minutes later, the four of us started back up to the car. Pete went ahead to prepare the car for wet girls. Thank goodness, I always carry an old cotton bedspread for impromptu picnics, a small lap blanket and an assortment of shopping bags in the back of the car. Always be prepared, I say.
At the shower provided by the City of Torrance, the girls washed the extra sand off near the ramp and the three of us made our way up to the car. By the time we got there, Pete had covered the seats with bags, the bedspread was ready, and the lap blanket ready to use as a tent. One by one the girls stripped off their sopping clothes, were covered in blankets and were buckled into the car which had been warmed by the sun while we were down by the water.
A few minutes later we were home. The car was driven into the garage, and the garage door was quickly closed, the girls rapidly scooted upstairs to the shower.
As soon as the sand and salt had been washed off, the girls dried and dressed, tangles bushed from hair with the ‘good brush’ we took off again. Our next stop was The Soup Plantation for dinner. Zoe had been telling us she wanted to eat there all day.
After dinner, we stopped for bread on the way home. When I didn’t give the girls 25 cents to get something out of a machine, Mira dissolved into tears. All the way home, this sad child kept telling me that I had said “yes” when we walked into the store. I was sure I hadn’t, but didn’t want to argue. With tears running down from her big sad eyes, Mira informed me that Zoe didn’t like to see her crying. She then informed me that the toy only cost 25 cents, she had 25 cents at home, and that it didn’t have to be scanned or anything.
We were sympathetic, but unwilling to go back to the store. Soon Mira made a new plan. Her big serious eyes seemed even bigger when she said that “tomorrow we should go back to that store to get the ‘sticky hand’” that she wanted to buy. I said that I didn’t realize that it was a ‘sticky hand’ in the machine.
At 9:36 the girls were in bed and are now asleep. Before succumbing to slumber, the sticky hand was brought up again. I told Mira that I was not promising that we would go back to the store to get it because we had a busy day planned for tomorrow. She said that she understood, but somehow I doubt that there will be any convenient forgetting about this.