Sunday, February 28, 2010

Saturday Adventure!


Yesterday the women in my husband's family went on an adventure! One of our nephews married last fall and with the holidays and new year, the women had not had a real opportunity to spend quality "girl time" with the new bride and newest member of the family.

So the girl cousins decided to host a girls' day out. Anyone female was invited to attend. The ages ranged from 6 to 61 and there were 12 of us. We met at a mall about an hour away for shopping, lunch, pampering, and anything else that struck our fancy.

The planner in the group had done a great job from designing and mailing invitations (in black, white, and pink) to following up with emails, and she made restaurant reservations, decorated the bride's chair with pink and black balloons, placed mall maps and spa info around the tables, and had cellophane gift bags of chocolates tied with pink ribbons and labeled with the bride's name and monogram at each place setting. We have some talented young women in our group!

After a very indulgent lunch at The Cheesecake Factory, we split into 2 groups. The youngest 2 members of our party and the oldest participant took off for the kiddie rides and the others went to a spa to be buffed and fluffed.


Grammy had her change purse loaded with quarters for the rides--bull, horse, sports car, ice cream truck, space ship, etc. We tied a pink balloon to one young miss and a black balloon to the other to assist in keeping tabs on them throughout the mall (just in case the buddy system failed). The 3 of us window shopped as we trotted off to find our "transportation" venue. We saw several stores we wanted to explore on the way back from the rides.

Lots of giggles, smiles, squeals and chatter was had as the girls rode their picks of the rides. They enjoyed putting the quarters in the machines and pushing the start buttons as much as selecting the rides and riding them. I took lots of pictures for the scrap books and so we could savor the memories later.

We stopped in at the Disney Store and Build-a-Bear Store (for the younger 2) and Pottery Barn (for me) before we received a call to return to the spa so I could take my turn getting a manicure. The extreme cold we've had has dried my hands more than usual and it felt good to be pampered for a few minutes. The girls made mental lists of stuffed animals and toys they'd like to have before we left the toy stores. I purchased some decorative eggs to complete my spring decorating at home.


While I was soaking up the attention from the manicurist, the other grandmother took the girls to Disney and they selected "twin" stuffed animals to remember their day out with the big girls. Some of the others stopped in a mom-to-be store and assisted in selecting an outfit for our niece who is expecting her first child in a few months. After the manicure, this same niece and I explored a store for a skillet she has been looking for recently and caught up a little.

One brave soul even purchased a chair and ottoman she's had her eye on for awhile. She could get the ottoman in her car and her sister took the chair home in her minivan with plans for the other to come by Sunday after church with her hubby's truck and take the chair home.

Since I'm dealing with a torn meniscus and waiting (not too patiently) for surgery, I was ready to return home around 4pm. I said my good-byes and left for home with ideas of a couple errands I needed to run while en route home. Instead of the by-pass, I chose to drive through olde towne Raleigh. I find it not only enlightening, but relaxing to take a different way home through the historic district.

My husband arrived home about an hour after I did with tales of his day on the farm. Of course he wanted to hear all the news of our day apart. He was a little disappointed that his cows didn't have another calf today, but there's always tomorrow.

We both went to bed early as we were pooped from our "adventuresome" day.

1 comment:

  1. I had a good time too. I'm ready to do it again soon!!!

    ReplyDelete