Temple Trip and Disgruntled Daddy

Temple Trip
Yesterday was our monthly family temple trip. It was wonderful! We went last month, but it was a Monday, so I didn't even get to go inside. Yesterday I actually got to do an endowment for the first time in AGES, so it was REALLY wonderful for me!

When we arrived at the temple I rushed in, hoping to make it for the first session. I didn't. So, I went out to ask if we could hang out for a little while, eat our picnic as breakfast, and stay for the two hours for me to do a session at 9am. Jess was cool with it, so that's what we did. The very first thing we almost always do when we go to the temple is to go in as a family to use the bathroom. Now that Kat is potty train(ing) (ed?) we probably really NEED to do it. :) So, we walked up to the temple from our parking spot. As we're walking in the parking lot the girls have to hold a hand and Ria sort of wistfully and happily says, "Isn't it wonderful to be at the temple together as a family!?" That comment just warmed my heart all the way through! It REALLY is wonderful to go to the temple together! I'm so grateful that Jess supports my desire for the family trips and spends some really wonderful time with the girls while I'm doing some work inside. It's just amazing and SUCH a blessing to me that our girls love the temple SO much! I KNOW it's because they are there frequently and can feel how it FEELS to be there - not just see that it's something important to Mama that Mama goes off to do! ^_^ We LOVE to see the temple!!!

Disgruntled Daddy
While I was inside Jess and the girls spent some time getting gas in the van, looking for a McyD's (for a playground and some ice cream), and then went to the regular playground. The gas in Orlando was $3.91 as opposed to $4.14 (least expensive) in Flagler County! So, we filled up from almost nothing. Can we say, "UGH!" It was $92 to fill up! Crazy, huh!?!?! That wasn't a problem at all for Jess. We found the gas station on the way to the temple so he just went back there.

From there he looked for the treat place (McyD's) and didn't find one at all. He didn't find a place with a playground AT ALL. Isn't that crazy!!?? On our way back to the itnerstate from the temple I looked the whole way and there wasn't a single fast food joint with a playground! WEIRD!

After not being able to find the treat spot, Jess took the girls back to the playground they normally frequent. The girls always love it, but Jess gets tired of the same thing. But that's not what bothered him. They spent some time there and the girls played. There were actually THREE other Daddy's there with their children (and no wives). The fact that there are Daddy's with their children is wonderful, of course, but Jess hadn't EVER seen another Daddy out with just his kids at that playground before. So, Jess introduced himself to the one Daddy that was hangin' out by himself. The other two were chatting together. Well, Mike, was there with his son, Eric. Ria and Eric became fast friends. When I called to tell Jess I was finished, he let the girls know it was time to leave. Kat was ready in a heart-beat (unusual!), but Ria didn't want to leave her newfound friend. Eric didn't want Ria to leave either. Rather than deal with a farewell, Eric headed to the place his Dad was keeping their cooler. He sat down on a bench and sort of pouted. Jess suggested Ria go over to say good-bye, which she did (also unusual because she normally tries to ignore good-byes). Jess is observing from a point outside of hearing range when Ria sits down next to Eric and said something to him. Then Ria hugs Eric to say good-bye and moves to leave. Eric grabs her back to him, hugs her tight again, and then plants a bug fat KISS on her cheek!

Of course, I know it's just on the cheek and all because I've heard the whole story now, but when Jess told me about the incident initially the look on his face made me think the kid had lip locked her or something! Seriously!!! Jess was so totally NOT happy about the fact that he had just observed his eldest daughter being smooched. It was absolutely hilarious to me to find out that not only had it just been a cheek kiss, but that Jess was just as disgruntled during the telling of it as he'd appeared when he informed me that "Ria had been kissed." What a RIOT! ^_^

Friends
We had the pleasure of having Victoria, a friend of Ria's, over to play for a little while today. It was really nice! Sage, Mary, and Victoria actually came to the library for story time this morning and then Victoria came home with us to play with Ria. After playing at the playground for a little while, we had a small lunch together and then Ria had the joy of playing pretend and dress-up with her friend. This is THE FIRST "big" activity with any other little children we've had for the summer. I've been so fatigued that I couldn't even consider the idea until a couple weeks ago. And then because of scheduling and me getting sick with the chest cold crud we couldn't have Victoria over to play for a little while even though I'd mentioned it to Sage. But it was really wonderful today!

Sage is just the sweetest lady and such a dear friend!! She actually brought us lunch when she came all the way out here to pick up her daughter, as a way to say thank you! Can you believe it? I mean, she brought her daughter all the way out here AND picked her up. That's TOTALLY a huge thank you to me because I didn't have to do anything to have her daughter to play with Ria! Except HAVE her here and that was just a joy.

On top of all that Jess and I have a business sort of meeting tomorrow morning and I had planned to ask and DID ask Sage if she would mind watching Ria and Kat for us. She totally didn't and then offered to come pick them up AND bring them home since she was going to be out and about anyway! So, not only is she serving me, but she's TOTALLY going the extra 20+ miles of driving/gas money to do it!!! I'm so blessed and so completely grateful to have such an amazing woman in my life! ^_^ Father surely loves me to have blessed me with such a friend as she!!! She's such an awesome example to me. I want to be like Sage when I "grow up."

Fried Veggies
So, my Mom used to make friend okra, squash, zucchini, and other veggies for our family when I was a kid. We would dip them in ketchup (ungrateful kiddos) and eat 'em up! Out of nowhere I got this HUGE craving for fried squash and zucchini (which we had in the fridge) a few nights ago. I told Jess. He was pretty much asleep so it's amazing his response was comprehensible, "I don't think there's anywhere that sells that stuff this late." I had to laugh because I wasn't thinking, "Let's go out and buy this." I was thinking, "Would you pleeeease make this for me because I REALLY want some!" You know... a weird twist on the preggie woman asking her partner to go to the grocery store for ice cream and pickles in the middle of the night. He didn't hear the hinted at request and I didn't ask him outright because it WAS pretty late. I just was hoping that the craving would disappear since I didn't get to satisfy it when it appeared.

Well, it hasn't gone the way of the dinosaur for the last few days, so I finally asked Jess to whip up some fried veggies for me today. He did, though he was sort of confused when he was preparing to do the actual egg dunking and stuff because traditional 3-step breading usually involves bread crumbs as the last step. But that's TOTALLY not how my Mom made it and I was craving that same style of stuff. So, he understood after a minute of Tori-explanation and they were totally WONDERFUL!

Basically you just cut up the veggies you want to use, (I like them kinda thick) cover them with flour, dunk them in scrambled egg, cover them with flour again, fry them up, and then sprinkle with salt. I HIGHLY recommend that if you make it yourself, you taste them after they have cooled. The flavors are AWESOME and much more enjoyable when the food is cooler than if it's right out of the oil! :) So, my craving is satisfied for a little while! ^_^ What a RELIEF!!!