August 4th.....only 3 more days until VACATION!!!!!!

I think the chicken and dumplings and sweet tea last night might have just helped my tummy.  Go figure. Hope it stays okay. BigD let us sleep in because he knew we were going swimming this morning. Katarina, Roseanne and KennaKat brought me a sausage burrito from McD's - thank you Kat.  After Kat braided Page's hair, we all piled in the car and headed out to the pool.

This is the first time we have been to this pool in the morning and what a difference. For one thing, there was no one else in the pool. The other thing was the water was much cooler and so clear. We normally stay about an hour and a half but today we were there almost three hours. KennaKat got braver and braver and Kat, Roseanne and I all enjoyed the water. Brought back good memories of other pools from our youth.

On our way home from the pool, we stopped by Wendy's and picked up some lunch. It is amazing how hungry swimming can make you. After the girls left, Page and I got our showers and studied for the meeting tonight. If you look closely at the pictures, you will see how Page has inherited my genes when it comes to insect bites. Yep - her little arm has mosquito bites on it. I have used my new "green concoction" and it seems to be helping. I had been saving the new dress I bought Page for tonight's meeting - her little green sweater looked great with it. She wanted to wear the necklace I bought her awhile back - so sweet. She also wore the cuff I bought her from Sonia in France. I look at these pictures and see how much she is growing up. We were getting our things together to go to the meeting when Page told me she felt sick to her stomach. She ate a good dinner but said she couldn't tell if she was hungry, too full or just sick. Then she asked me to take her temperature - which was normal - but I didn't want to take any chances. She changed into her pajamas while I text messaged her Mom. Leah called and said she wasn't sure but the last few times she has thought it was nothing, it backfired and was something. She went to bed and watched TV. She also tried to use the bathroom several times and asked me again to check her temperature. She seemed to feel a little better around 8:30 and apologized for us missing the meeting.

For those of you who follow Speckled Kat, you will know that I recently won a drawing she had for a set of "paper dolls and clothes" she created. Kat is one of the most creative young women I know and is always coming up with wonderful things for her kids to do. When I saw she was having this drawing, I put my name in the pot - never for a second thinking I would win. I used to play with paper dolls all the time when I was a child. We would spend hours cutting them out, changing the outfits, and trying to keep them standing up on their little cardboard stands. Being a "tech-age" child, I didn't know if Page would be interested in these or not but I knew I was. Well - last Sunday, Kat put all the names in a hat and had KennaKat pick one. She picked my name! I was so excited and the next day, Leah read the entry too and called me all excited. When KennaKat came in this morning, she had my "gift" all wrapped up. I LOVE them! I didn't really show them to Page too much since she was so focused on swimming. When she started feeling a little better, she came into the living room and asked if she could play with them. It turns out - she loves them. She had me come look at how she had found the "family" and the outfits she was putting on them. It brought back a lot of good memories. I plan to keep them here since I plan to play with them too. I will take them to the beach next week so we can all "play dress up" together. My Mother would have loved this gift since she used to play with us when she could "steal" a few seconds. And life goes on......