A true girls weekend.

The girls and I have made it back home - for one night. We're off tomorrow afternoon for a weekend of flyball in Blythe. I'm noticing that the girls do best on a routine - such as school, or when we are away from home. I didn't have anyone melt down most of our travel time over the past week, but once we returned home this evening after Bible Study - whoa! Everyone was missing Daddy. It is tough on me to be so busy, but it is helping the girls adjust, so off we head once again.

Our first stop on our last trip, was to visit with my sister, Melissa, and my niece, Hannah. They opened their home to the chaos that I bring (minus the dogs - they got to sleep at Nana & Papa's). I am not sure Melissa knew exactly what she was saying when she said that the girls and I could spend the weekend with her. :)


We began our visit with a trip to the nail salon. We took over the small establishment and enjoyed the pampering - a treat from Mel. Even Beth was able to get her tiny nails done. Think she enjoyed it?





Next stop was Toppers Pizza where we met up with my parents, Brian (Mel's boyfriend), Joanie (Brian's sister), and two of Hannah's friends - Kayla & Vanessa. Melissa had arranged to have a surprise birthday party for Katelynn, balloons and cake (bake by Grandma) included. It was great to see Katelynn light up when she realized the celebration was for her!

Then came the slumber party... Wow, you've never heard such silliness. As it turns out, Beth was the source of most of the antics after 11pm, so I pulled her into bed with me so the other girls could get to sleep. It took her all of 2 minutes to fall asleep once she was done being the ring-leader.

The girls woke up bright and early, eager for Hannah's party at Pump It Up. Eventually, after much primping and preening - I braided the girls hair for the event - we were ready to go. What fun!!! Everyone got onto the huge inflatables - even Hailey was able to have fun. She and I went down the slide, and bounced around in two of the bounce houses. She actually smiled for most of the 2 hours we were there! Beth couldn't contain herself - she was actually allowed to bounce, as much as she wanted, for as long as she wanted. It was a dream come true! I think the highlight for me was watching my parents enjoy themselves with their grandgirls. Mom and Dad even raced through the gigantic obstacle course. I think Mom won, right Dad?

Eventually, the girls wound down, and as the party ended Scott called from Guam. His cell phone worked! We haven't seen the bill yet - that may be scary. I do love modern technology though. Hearing his voice makes this temporary separation a bit more bearable.

We wrapped up the weekend by watching the Super Bowl at my parents house. It was great to relax and visit after the energy of the party. My batteries were recharged, and we continued on to Atascadero for a visit with Scott's sister, Amanda, and her kiddos. More on them later, for now it is WAY TOO LATE, and I have to get stuff ready for our Homeschool Park Day tomorrow. The curse of a night owl, I'm not even tired, and I know I need to head to bed. Hopefully the dogs have it warmed up for me, I HATE crawling into a cold bed.

'Night all!