Noah's Big Sleepover

In early September Noah had a special sleepover at Gma June and Gpa John's house. He was so excited it wasn't even funny. He was excited especially about having Gma and Gpa all to himself. He did not want Anna to come to the sleepover because he wanted and I quote "for all of their attention to be on me." Good enough. Then just a few days before the sleepover Noah got some Spiderman pajamas so he got the idea in his head that he would put those on under his Easter suite (otherwise known as his Peter Parker outfit) and arrive at G&G's with his coat and tie and then when they were least expecting it, he would "transform" and reveal himself as Spidy. He was so excited to do this and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when it happened. My mom said that he barely waited ten seconds before transforming. It was so adorable.

Grandma and Grandpa went all out for this sleepover making Noah a special bed, getting some special new toys and games, and also serving octopus for supper which was really a hotdog cut to appear like an octopus. Too awesome! Noah had a blast and absolutely did NOT want to come home. When I talked to my mom the morning we were to pick him up she said Noah had at least another 3 hours worth of activities that he wanted to do, but we went to get him that day anyway.



Meanwhile across town...
After we dropped off Noah, Anna and I had some time just the two of us before Jon got off work. So, I asked her what she wanted to do. She said, "play tennis." So we got our rackets and went to the courts. We hit for all of about 10 minutes and then she wanted to explore around the school grounds. I love those times when we're not in a rush and can indulge in a bit of "sure let's do whatever you want and go wherever you want, Anna." So we did.

She wandered through the trees, and then wanted to go look at the bleachers that were at a nearby field. She had never been on bleachers before. Sure. Why not? So we walked up and down those for a while. Then she wanted to go onto the track, so we did that just as football practice was ending. Then she wanted to go look at some other bleachers on the sidelines of a farther-back soccer field, so we did that. It never occurred to me that when practice was over they would lock the field.

So we were just happy as larks without a care in the world...walking around the field and up and down the bleachers. Finally we made our way back to the gate we had come in, and it was locked tight. Hmmm...big chain link fence all around the field. Interesting. What to do? What to do?

Well, thankfully there were some parents nearby still waiting for their sons to emerge from the locker room so I called to them to ask for their help. They were super nice and game to help us in whatever way we needed. So, I threw our tennis bag over the fence and then I just lifted Anna up over my head and a nice man on the others side took her from me, lifted her over the fence and put her safely on the ground. Then I climbed up the one side of the fence, over the top, and jumped to the ground. It was an adventure that Anna still talks about today every time we pass that school.

I am just so thankful for that fun, care-free day when we took the time to just wander and follow Anna's lead. It was an adventure we could never have created if we had tried.