Chloe Visits

My niece, Chloe, turned 4 this summer. As was a tradition with her older sister, I invited her to stay with us overnight. It is a big deal - a night away from home is always a little traumatic for little ones. I picked her up on Wednesday around 4pm. She came running down the stairs with her backpack on, ready to go. We loaded her car seat into the back of my car, and she jumped in. We were on the road with one question coming shortly after we left, "Is it a long ways to your house?" Of course. I said it was a little farther than Grandma's house. We made it. We ate chili with fritos for supper. She liked it, even though it was "spicy." She did pick out the dark kidney beans, but ate the other beans. We went to rent a movie, Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus. She figured Jeremy wouldn't like it because it was a girl movie; she guessed correctly. We watched it in the basement on our small TV because that was where she chose. She went to bed about 9:20, just to walk out of the room and say she didn't want to sleep all by herself. (She sleeps in the same room as her sister usually.) So, she called home, talked to her mom, and moved her floor bed to our room. While I got ready for bed (because she didn't want to fall asleep by herself), she laid there. By the time I was done, she was o-u-t.

Thursday, we slept til 8am! We had rice krispies for breakfast, watched the end of the movie we didn't finish last night, and then I showered for the day. We packed some PB&J sandwiches, and went to the zoo. It was a good time - baby elephant, crocodile, snakes (a really big one and one we touched), the aquarium (touching sea animals here too), gorillas, bonobos, and Animal Safari. I think I could watch Animal Safari everyday and not get tired of it. I talked about it in a previous blog if you are curious. We met her dad halfway between here and there. It was a great time.