Taking Emma to the IC Children's Museum was a definite highlight of our week with Ottumwa friends. Kristen and I packed up the kids and drove through the cold rain to the Coralville Mall. Emma was about 18 months old the last time we were there. It was so fun for me to see her enjoy all the place had to offer. The first room we went to had hundreds of golf balls and different types of ball games. With her love of balls, Emma could have stayed in that one room all day! She was reluctant to leave, but quickly forgot about the balls when she saw the big blue slide. I half-expected her to be intimidated by the size because she's never seen anything that big, but she walked right up the stairs, waved to me with a big smile on her face and then found her way to the beginning of the slide. Countless times she climbed those stairs and every time she came out of the slide, she was smiling!
Maybe she learned how to shop from me?? She just kept stuffing groceries in her cart! I was actually impressed with some of the things she chose (mostly fruits and veggies and Kashi granola bars). Then I realized that she probably didn't know what half the items were!! Everything was written in English and most of the items looked foreign to me, also! Funny how two years out of the country changes perspective!
While she may be learning how to buy groceries from me, she is definitely learning how to negotiate from her dad! The checkout girls were not impressed with her large order (I always feel judged by how much I'm buying, too), nor were they willing to change prices! Being at this little grocery store reminded me of how much I love shopping here. (OK, love might be an overstatement.) What I do love, though, is how the young employees still bag my groceries and take them to my car for me!! I'm used to doing it on my own and it's not really that big of a deal to me to push my own groceries out to the car, but it's just so sweet and it feels like such a privilege.
I love Chick-fil-A!! Emma loves their mascot! She asked me if she could go dance with the cow and she was so happy when I told her she could!
The kids played really well together. Lilly is two and a half years older than Emma and Quenton is less than 5 months older than her. We had a great lunch (kids ate Chick-fil-A, adults had Panera), and then played for a while before heading back to the Museum.
The girls made pizza and then played at the doctor's office. Lilly was a great receptionist and Emma was her little helper. I was the patient and had 37 x-rays and three casts while I was in their care!
Emma still talks about her day in Iowa City. She had so much fun! About ten minutes outside Ottumwa, she fell asleep. . . sitting up! Her little head was bobbing back and forth and she was done for! She had played hard!!
For me, I just really enjoyed watching her have fun. She definitely has fun here, but it was different. There were so many new things to see and do while we were in the States and we all loved it! I also enjoyed spending the day with my friend! I look forward to the day when I live closer to the people in my life who are important to me!!
