Play Dates and Mall Walks

We visited with little Annie at her oh-so-fun house one day. 

Annie can drive.  Annie's four. She took Gianna for a spin in her Jeep.

Annie's so cool!

Even though we love summer, it stinks that we are sequestered indoors for much of it because of that doggone heat.  Unless playdates were in the pool or splash pad, or other rare exceptions -  then we were indoors escaping the heat.

Having some new little friends to play with helped make that indoor time a little more bearable.
My friend Jackie, and her two kids (Julia and Grant) and my friend Jennifer and her two boys (Silas and Judah -- cool names!) came to play one morning.  They kids were precious together. Five kids and very little drama. That's always a treat for everyone.

Gianna and Judah

Judah checking out life under the table.

Every now and then, I still bring out my trusty ball pit.

Gianna inspecting Grant's ear.

Sweet cheese from Grant. :

Jackie & Julia

Jennifer and Judah.

Sweet Silas.

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We ran into Silas and Judah (and their parents) at the mall Saturday night (yeah, that's what our social life has come down to these days!)  So funny how they recognize each other.

While we were at the mall, Gianna had a happy epiphany and squealed, "JUMP!!!!" --- obviously remembering that sometimes we sit in the food court and watch the kids jump on that big ol' bungee/trampoline thing.  I asked her if she wanted to actually try it and she was completely game.

The guy working was really nice and refused to take my money until we knew she'd like it.  I've seen some of those workers scare the bejeebees out of small kids by bouncing them into kingdom come before they were ready for it.  This guy actually let me be the one to hold the tag rope - which made it really a great experience for us.

Gianna was funny.  She bounced more than she jumped - which is funny because she is always jumping on everything.  At one point when she was pretty high in mid-air she said, "Everybody!!!"  (As in -- I see EVERYBODY!" )