A Little Dream Come True

Ok, so as a very girly mom of a very girly little girl, I have long awaited this day.  With so much focus on the house, it's been months since mommy and Simone have hit the mall.   Well, today Simone not only asked to go shopping (be still my heart), but when we got there she shopped like a professional.  It was adorable, and a big dose of just how much she's maturing. She wanted to pay for her own things and carry her own bags -- once again, a reminder that our little girl has grown up.    We hit a couple stores and then met up with daddy for dinner, where she was a perfect little lady and made short work of a whole plate of asparagus.

After dinner Simone wanted daddy to come to a store with us, and he obliged.  But one kids store was his limit before he made a beeline for the Apple store to check out his next iPad.

Simone quickly followed, but had about 2 minutes of interest in the place, and quickly started asking, "Daddy, can we please leave here?"  ....ahhhh.... I just love her.

Can you believe this?  It's like she's 16.  It was so fun -- definitely won't mind many more years of afternoons like this. 

We had a great afternoon, and Simone managed to score some new clothes, which she definitely doesn't need.  But who can resist, right?

Herndon Festival

We had an extra special Thursday night this week.  Mommy and daddy left work a little early to take Simone to the Herndon Festival after school.  This year, Simone was big enough to go on all of the rides without an adult, and she made sure to try them all.  Our brave little girl darted to the very first car of the little roller coaster.  To be honest, I think she was pretty underwhelmed by it's tameness.

 Then a spin on the teacups...

She really liked the sky drop.  It wasn't terribly high, but it made her laugh.  She said it was like an elevator that goes up and down.

 The swings also rated high on her list of favorites.  As she watches me post these pictures, she wants me to note that also tried the fast race cars, the antique cars, the carousel, and the very big slide.

 And finally the helicopters.  By about 7:30 the lines had gotten long -- really long-- and Simone was starting to get a bit wired/tired.  So we grabbed some dinner (which Simone devoured), had an ice cream, and headed home.

All in all, an particularly perfect evening.  Just the right amount of fun family time for a very fine early summer weeknight.  Hopefully, the rest of our summer will include several more of these little adventures.