The girls flew in Thursday night into the new terminal at Sacramento airport at 10:30 and it was so good to see them. Sam was awake and chattering away to us about everything on the drive home. We all hit the sack as soon as we got home and were up a bit late Friday morning as we awoke about 9;00 AM. Sam came to our bedroom door and came in and climbed up on the bed to say good morning. Darla fixed a nice quiche and we opened gifts around the tree that is still up and was awaiting their visit. Samantha liked her new clothes and her Tangled doll and she got dressed right in her little purple outfit that her Grandma picked out.
We went out and exchanged a golf shirt that Jennifer bought me. No one believes that I wear an XL shirt, but I have a massive upper body and need the extra room to swing when I'm golfing. A Large shirt feels tight and binding across my chest and shoulders. We also stopped off at a Payless Shoe Source for Kids and bought Samantha some new dress shoes "with a heel" to wear out to dinner Friday night. From there we headed over to the Chuck E. Cheese for some marginal pizza and some fun for Miss Samantha. The manager of the store is one of Darla's Silpada girls' boyfriend and he gave Sam about 150 tickets to spend in the store. She rode rides and played games for about an hour and a half after lunch (she had 50 tokens) and finally decided to get some Nerds candy, a ring and a blue lizard with all of her tickets.
We headed home to rest up before dinner. I stopped and bought Samantha a balsa wood airplane with the rubber band that you wind up to make it fly. We took that over to the park and the tail section was broken on about the third run. We taped it up and she chased the plane as i sent it flying. I tried to get her to throw it, but she'd let go of the propeller too soon and it would have no power when she finally threw it. We tired of that after twenty minutes or so and dropped the plane off at the seat by our front door and ran back to the park for her to ride the swings and play on the jungle gym. She made a couple of friends along the way and they ended up building a big castle in the sand pit that doubles as a volleyball court when the kids and cats aren't using it.
We took Jennifer and Samantha to Benihana's for shrimp and chicken and Samantha had the fried rice and wide noodles with chicken. We told the staff it was her birthday and they came out and sang to her afterward and took pictures and gave her some chocolate ice cream and whipped cream with cherries on top. There was an older couple at the table and the lady was enthralled with Jennifer. She approached us before they left and asked Darla if Sam was her daughter. I guess they thought Jennifer was the older sister or something. We had put Samantha between Darla and I at the table and I guess that is where she got the idea, although she said that Samantha looks so much like Darla. Darla of course was thrilled and I told her the lady was suffering from dementia. She didn't care for that line. We got home early and watched movies with Samantha and Jennifer and she went to bed about 10:00 PM and Darla and I watched a movie.
Saturday we slept in again. I got up about 9:00 AM and Jennifer asked if she could borrow the car. She wanted to look for a gift for a friend. She was gone for about an hour and a half and Samantha had just got up when she got back home. Darla fixed pancakes and we relaxed and enjoyed the morning. It was really windy, so we just stayed at home. Jennifer's friend, Jason, came by and visited after his wrestling match in Sacramento. Jason coaches his old high school team and this is prime wrestling season. He stayed for a couple of hours. Alicia and Lucas came over and the kids played together for awhile. Jennifer's best friend, Sara and her daughter, Arianna, came for dinner, although they are vegetarians and we had prime rib. I opened a bottle of nice Italian red wine that my assistant, Cora, had bought me for Christmas and we enjoyed a nice dinner and visit. The girls got along pretty well, which was good as Jennifer and Sara were heading out on the town after dinner and we babysat.
The girls had a couple of issues and are both pretty strong headed. They are both 4, but Arianna is 7 months older than Sam and a head taller. They played hide and seek and dolls and set up dominoes only to knock them all down. It was a first sleepover for both of them and they were wound up. We finally got them into bed about ten, but they were watching a movie on Sara's ipad. Darla and I stayed up and watched Saturday Night Live and the girls kept getting up and coming out to ask for water or something to eat. I finally shut the movie off at midnight and texted Jennifer to let her know that they were still awake and asking for their Moms. As soon as I did that, about twenty minutes later they were out ..fast asleep. Jennifer and Sara ended up coming home early (for them) and they all had a big slumber party in the guest room.
This morning Sara and Arianna were off to do some errands and we had breakfast, watched Happy Feet and then went over to the park to let Sam ride the swings and play on the slides. We then went out to lunch at the local taquerria that Dad and Shirley liked so much and dropped them at the airport at 4:30 for their flight home.
It was a fun and enjoyable visit. Darla and I are both tired and wonder how Jennifer does it every day. Sam has a lot of energy and wants things done mostly her way. Her Mom is constantly fighting with her and slowly winning the battle. I love them both and will miss them this week, but hold them memories in my heart until we see each other again, which likely will be April. I hope you all had a good first week of 2012. Do something nice for each other this week and let them know how much you appreciate them. Be well. Ciao.
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