Ultimate Road Trip Day 10: Grandmother's House

When I was a child, going to Grandma's house was magical.  I was lucky enough to have two Grandmas; one lived close, the other far away.  Grandma Cummings' house was like a maze, with endless nooks to discover and hide in, stone fireplaces, a huge floral print wallpaper in the kitchen, a treasure trunk of fancy dress-ups, and the yellow red-hot pot in her pantry, always within child's reach.  Grandma Younce's house smelled like her hand lotion; she had baskets of embroidery mid-project, stained glass and wood-worked things Grandpa had made, fascinating old pictures, cream soda in the fridge, and she made the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had.

My girls also have a close Grandma and a far Grandma.  Ed's mom comes to see us about once a year, but we go to her house less often than that, so a half day at her house is exciting indeed.  She made the girls French toast for breakfast, then quick went mass shopping for all the food she has to prep for Natalee's Colorado reception this Friday.  The wedding is over, but her work has just begun!

Despite all that, Grandma still made time to fill 33 plastic Easter eggs with notes and candy, hide them all around the yard, make a basket for each girl filled with purple Easter grass, and send them on a hunt, beaming at and laughing with them as they sought high and low.  Some of the notes said to see Grandma for a prize, and she had a prize bag they could choose from, some fun things that wouldn't fit in eggs.

Next she laid a kid-size table with a tablecloth, her plastic tea set, juice, and cookies, and sat with the girls for a tea party.  Tea parties are Grandma Marsha's specialty; I am not invited, though I did get a few quick pics.  I got to overhear just a snippet of conversation - what they wanted to be when they grew up and who all their dolls are.

While they partied downstairs, Ed and I washed and chopped some vegetables for the reception, then folded and packed up our clean laundry and other things back into the car.  After lunch we had to hug and kiss everyone good-bye.  After a quick stop for gas and more bottled water, we were on our way again.

We usually open the surprise bag in the morning, but since we didn't leave until about 2 p.m., we opened it in the car.  Their activity was an easy oragami instruction book and a pack of oragami paper, so that kept them busy most of the afternoon.  We had dinner at Sonic in Colby, Kansas (hello, orange creamslush) and ate outside in the balmy sunshine - Ginger was thrilled to have tater tots, and I couldn't believe I'd been freezing just a week ago without my coat.  We changed the girls into their pajamas before loading back up, and drove on until about 10 p.m., in order to get some miles behind us before stopping in Salina for the night.

Daily Report
Miles: 406
DVD:  An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars
Activity: Easy Origami and origami paper
Poppy:  musical kaleidoscope
Snack:  Lucky Charms
High Point:  Grandma time
Low Point:  Most definitely the uber creepy night clerk at our hotel - my very own Norman Bates.