Girls Day Out

Well, yesterday morning, Mama, Susanna, and I loaded up in the van and headed to south of the Cities to get more orchard apples. Susi did warn her brother before we left (finger wagging at him), "Luke, you make sure you are a good boy for Daddy with good behavior, and you be a good helper boy!" "Okay, Susanna, I will. I am going to miss you." "I'll miss you, too, Luke." Big hugs and kisses, the almost-knock-you-over type. I'm so glad my kids love each other!

Susanna travels quite well by herself (well, without her brother along to pick on her, as brothers do!), and kept herself entertained by talking to herself, talking to the straw she was drinking from, talking to us, singing, and just enjoying the view from the window! Every once in awhile she'd break into giggles saying "it's just the girls!"

We were also on a mission to find more material for an animal costume Tony is trying to get finished before the first Pumpkin Party. Good grief, who KNEW there were so many different kinds of faux fur? We never did find an exact match, although I spent most of the time during our lunch calling all the JoAnn Fabric stores (where we originally got the fur) in the central/southern Minnesota area. My mother-in-law told me after all the trouble we went to, I could "bop" Tony in the face if he wasn't happy with it! I did warn him about what she said, so he didn't say anything (even though I could tell he really wished we COULD find an exact match!). Hey, he told me to get what I found even though I warned him ahead of time.....

Susanna made a bee-line to her favorite places at the orchards we revisted, only to find the "fun" things weren't opened on Tuesdays. She still enjoyed showing Grandma the animals! I also made more cold calls for Greenstar and stopped in at a current customer -- I do believe I've gotten another new customer for Greenstar (a wonderful meat market half way down to the Cities) and picked up a new order from the current customer, yippee!

We had a long day. We had a productive day (bringing back fur, 25 bushels of apples -- how long will they last this time?? -- two more cases of cider, and a case of fresh-ground peanut butter). We had a fun day. We had a wonderful day of just talking and visiting about all kinds of different things. I learned new things about my mother-in-law (like the fishing trip she took with Tony when he was a kid, just the two of them -- how cool is that?). We had safe travel, thank You, God! And it was "just the girls"!

Meanwhile, the "boys" worked at the market almost the entire day getting ready for Saturday. Luke informed me all he did was play and eat chips (thanks, Miss Diana!) -- and was once again worn out from everything during the day. How in the WORLD am I going to wear this boy out each day once our notorious winters come and I'm trapped inside with him all day in sub zero temperatures????

One of the highlights of the day was calling Daddy on the way home. I handed the phone to Susanna, and when she heard his voice, she started kissing the phone all over. As I reminded her to hold the phone to her ear and talk to him, she responded, "oh!" Then, Luke got on the phone and the jabbered at each other what each had done so far that day. He was fast asleep by the time we got home (and didn't even realize we were here and "stomped upstairs to bed" as he told me this morning!), but Susanna sure was happy to see her Daddy wake her up and carry her inside when we got home!

Today, I'm unloading apples at the market, canning tomatoes, bonding with my kids, reviewing Cubbie lessons, and taking the kids to AWANA then grocery shop for pumpkin party concessions while Tony continues working on the pumpkin parties. Hopefully, I'll also have time to make two batches of pumpkin cookies for the party on Saturday.