Reese and Julie: The Best Day of Her Life

Can you feel her excitement?

We had a great trip to see our families last week. We had a lot of fun introducing Julie to her aunts, uncles, cousins, and great-grandmother, eating lots of grilled food, and having help caring for the girls. But our level of enjoyment truly pales in comparison to the bliss Reese experienced. She LOVED every minute of it. She got to water flowers, feed ducks, play with sidewalk chalk, and blow bubbles. These were all great fun, but they couldn't compare to Saturday. I truly believe that Saturday was the best day of Reese's life. Thus far. Therese had been telling us over and over again how much she wanted to go fishing with her cousins. I have no idea where the idea of fishing came from. I was trying to imagine our active little girl handling a fishing pole with a line ending in a hook swinging ominously back and forth. After a bit of discussion we figured out that when she said she wanted to go fishing, she meant she wanted to go swimming. Thank goodness - swimming doesn't involve any sharp objects! I'm glad we figured this out. Can you imagine if, after days of anticipation at the thought of playing in a nice cold swimming pool, we dragged her to a lake and handed her a stick to hold in place by the water? Anyhow, once we had accurately translated Reese's wishes, we told her that she could go swimming (yay!) with her cousins at Aunt Robin's (who she can't get enough of) on Saturday after her nap. She was soooo excited. I didn't know what she'd think once she actually got to my sister's house. She is scared of getting water in her eyes to the point that she won't let us turn up her "sprinkler toy" above a foot high. However, after just a few minutes and a few trials with different flotation devices, she was having the time of her life. Her cousins CJ and Abbey also set up a slip-n-slide right beside the pool. Reese had a blast running from the pool to the slip-n-slide and back to the pool again (after she chastised CJ for not putting the slip-n-slide on the hill so that she could slide better - she's so light that her cousins had to drag her down the slip-n-slide before they moved it). She loved floating in the deep end, being dragged in an inner tube around the pool, snacking on chips, and watching her cousins (and her daddy) jump off of the diving board. It was a great time for everyone. And EVERYONE on my mom's side was there - my brother and sister and their families along with my mom and stepdad. It was a big crowd. Once swimming was done, we ate burgers, brats, and cheesy mets and (adding to Reese's big day) cupcakes. Julie had a great time, too. She slept a lot and was held by all of her relatives including her Uncle Chip who snuck away with her to keep her calm during the final hour of the night. It was such a great day. We had such a great time seeing Reese have the time of her life.