Happy Girl Day!

Happy Girl Day! After over a year of living grill-less, Rophone purchased himself a new grill yesterday and ended our suffering. Bud accidentally referred to the new grill as a girl (much to his embarrassment) so we have deemed today, the first day we use the new grill, as "Girl Day". Rophone has been beaming the whole day long, checking out his grill often--completely infatuated with the thing.

Bud walked up to me yesterday after we bought the grill and said, "The old girl died." At first I was concerned, not knowing which of our elderly neighbors might have passed away-- but I soon realized he was giving me the explanation his father had given him (basically) as to why we had purchased a new grill. We are so happy to have a new grill (and, of course, we're happy that none of our "old girl" neighbors kicked the bucket).

Girl Day was a very productive one. Rophone spent the morning mowing the lawn and trying to repair our broken sprinkler line. While the kids enjoyed digging in the dirt with him, I went to the nursery and picked up a few plants for a small garden. Pen is interested in gardening, so I got a banana pepper and two tomato plants for her to learn on.

After lunch, we went to the grocery store and then Pen and I planted her plants. Then, it was time for the fun to begin! I now present to you the story of the rest of our day, in photos (the girls-- yes, I meant girls, not grills-- were there, but rode their bikes the entire afternoon):

We measured...

we jumped...

and levitated (?)....

...checked out our new "girl" and smiled (Happy Girl Day!)...

.. tried our hand at graffiti...

... and sat and watched the (human) girls ride their bikes.

We had worked up such an appetite by this point that we decided an early dinner was in order. The new grill worked great! Our meal of steak, steamed veggies (carrots, broccoli and white and purple cauliflower), garlic orange mashed potatoes, blueberries and fresh squeezed lime-aid was fantastic and really hit the spot.

After dinner, while the girls were showering and Rophone napped on the couch, the boys and I went back outside. They both cried-- Bud due to a scare from a dog, and Big because "Girl Day" was a napless one.

Not only did tears flow...

... but boogers did, too.

The result of such a long and productive day was a couple of tired boys who preferred to stand and watch the neighbors play rather than doing it themselves.

The mommy, still sporting a doozy of a cold, was pretty tired too. Definitely time for baths followed by ice cream and then bed. Today was the kind of day that feels really good-- you know, the kind where you get some things done and spend some time playing as a family... exhaustingly fantastic! Happy Girl Day, everyone!

**Note: There are a lot of other things we did that I didn't mention in the post-- lots of dishes, food preparation and, of course, bubble mowing. Don't want you to think we didn't use the bubble mower...