Paige was up first. She requested an evening of shopping and dinner. Ugg..she is 8 and she LOVES to shop. When I called her up to tell her of my plans I asked her where she would like to eat and she replied "Old Country Buffet". Gag...disgusting. I decided she had ZERO taste buds. However, after further conversation she changed her mind to The Journey. Still a buffet but it is a step up from OCB.
I arrived at her house on Friday night about 5:30 and she was all dressed up and waiting for me. She wore a cute little dress and heels. OMG...she was so adorable and she made me feel so boring in my jeans and sneakers. As soon as we got into the car she began to talk and talk and talk. Apparently, she has lots of things to say and not enough people to listen. FYI...the first 30 minutes of conversation was about fashion. Shoes, dresses and styles. Where did she learn this stuff? At one point in the evening she asked me if she was talking to much. I laughed and said that she is a girl and she talked a normal amount for a girl. I think she was too young to understand the implied yes to her question. But as I also like to talk it really didn't bother me. Silence is much much worse.
We enjoyed our dinner together and she had terrific table manners. She was polite and she even tried some new foods. The buffet had a variety of sushi and I encouraged her to try several bites of mine and she liked them all. It is nice to be around a kid who likes more than chicken fingers and fries. After dinner we headed to the mall. She was so excited. She took me by the hand and lead me around to her favorite stores. The first stop was the music store where she looked at DVD's and games for her DS. Then it was Gamestop where she tried to get me to buy her a game. I said no as the purpose of the trip was to look at clothes. Then she took me to a (horrible) pre-teen store called Justice. Yuck! I just didn't like the vibe of the store. I let her walk around and look at stuff but I knew we were not going to be buying anything in that store. After about 30 minutes I encouraged her to check out Macy's. She has never been in that store so she was a bit reluctant to try it out.
When we found the little girls section her eyes got large and a giant smile was plastered on her face. She was VERY pleased with their selection of items and she was in dress heaven. We walked around and she found several items to her liking and her little arms got very full with dresses. By the time we were done combing the girls section I think she had picked out at least 20 dresses and two bathing suits to try on. I went in the dressing room with her and helped keep her organized.
She found one dress she loved! She was so happy but there was a second pants outfit that also was a great hit. And...I ended up buying her both. I tried to get her to pick a different dress because it was so long but her mind couldn't be swayed. She wanted it and I thought what the heck...it was her birthday present and it didn't have to be practical.
The next stop was Claire's. She wanted something pretty to matcher her new dress. She found the friendship necklace section and she was hooked. She found one that had 3 pieces because she has two best friends. LOL. We spent most of the ride home discussing who was going to get which section on the necklace.
I got her home close to 10pm and she was exhausted. It was a great evening and I know she enjoyed the entire experience much more than getting a dress to open on her actual birthday.
Sarah was up the next day and she had a much different request. Currently, her favorite TV show is Man Vs. Food. They did a segment in Carmel at Bub's and ever since she saw that show she has wanted to go and try it out. I decided I would take her for a bike ride on the Monon and then we would stop by Bub's at the end. She was so excited when I came to pick her up on Saturday that she ran out to the car to greet me.
Her bike was ready and waiting for me to load up in the driveway. She even asked if she could ride her step-mothers bike so she could "keep up" with me. LOL. I parked at the trailhead on Rohar road near 146th Street and we headed North. She was excited because she had never rode on the new section of the monon. We made it to the end in Westfield and we turned around and headed back south. We rode about nine miles by the time we got to Bub's and she was famished and excited to check out the restaurant. PS...when we arrived at Bub's she told me she thought I was trying to kill her...perhaps nine miles was a bit much for her.
While we were there I bought her an offical Bub's t-shirt and I know that made her day. We topped off our burger lunch with some scrumptious ice cream and we were FULL. The bike ride back to the car was painful and I couldn't wait for a nap.
Just like Paige...I think Sarah really enjoyed her birthday outing and hopefully they both thought it was worth the wait.
