Peaches and I spend the day shopping. And before anyone out there even starts, we went to REAL stores, not just pawn and gun shops!
But first we started out with two hours of "Walker, Texas Ranger". She even watched most of the two episodes, enough to realize that no one beats up Walker...although she was confused when I stated that Chuck Norris was the baddest man whoever lived. "But Daddy, is he really bad?" "No honey, he's just so awesome that he's bad." "I don't even know what that means." That's beginning to become her favorite phrase...."I don't even know what that means!" What I can't understand is how she can laugh at John Boy and Billy, but not follow what's happening on a TV show like Walker, Texas Ranger. I mean, the line between good and bad is clearly drawn, the dialogue is simple and direct, and the story is also pretty simple.
So after our Chuck Norris fix, we headed out into the mean streets of the Mall area....Harbison. We got to the mall at 0950 and were out by 1025. She didn't even look at the carousel, didn't want to go to Build-a-bear or anything. She even found what I was looking for in the store we went in....sort of. It helped that the item was down near my knees, which is about chest high to her. After the mall we made one more stop in a non-El Rakeman-traditional store, then headed for the bike shop. We had to stop somewhere to wait for the good restaurants to open! On the way to the bike shop, we discussed where to have lunch. Moe's was out because we ate there on Tuesday, and, "I don't want to eat there so much I won't like it". She mentioned Chic-fil-A, but I didn't really want to eat there. Then she said, "What's the other place with the chips and salsa and tacos?" "La Fogata?" "Yeah, let's go there!". Man, is this my kid, or what?
After a nice walk through in the bike shop, during which I had to explain motorcycle lifts, motocross armor, chain locks, ride bells and various other motorcycle related paraphernalia, we headed out to the La Fogata in Red Neck...I mean Red Bank. Sure there's one over by my work, but the one in Red Bank is next to the mecca of all Christmas related shopping....Wal-Mart. We had lunch, during which she ate all her lunch plus chips and salsa (awesome!), and went into Wally World. I think we bummed around Wal-Mart for at least an hour and a half...she wanted some temporary tattoos, I wanted a medium-heavy jacket that didn't have POLICE written all over it, so we bought that stuff and headed home.
After attempting to wrap some presents, then just giving up and doing it the way I always do it...badly, we went outside and enjoyed our 54 degree weather. She ran around the backyard talking to everything (golf balls, whiffle balls, soccer balls, bats, golf clubs, etc), and I read a motorcycle mag I picked up at Wal-Mart. Laura got home, Peaches went next door to play, and I rode the motorcycle on a couple of errands...with my new jacket!
We are selling this rocking chair that we bought at Baby Furniture Plus Kids. We are asking $75. It is in perfect condition. It is oak, very heavy and has a wide seat. You can take the cushion off. Let me know if you or anyone you know is interested. Oh-it has a flower design across the top.
1. Grumps playing with Peaches!
My dad or "Papa" turned 60 something so we had a birthday party for him the night we arrived in VA. My mom ran out of candles so she improvised with a lighter. I know I mentioned earlier that the cake was delicious......it was soo delicious it was worth mentioning twice.
Here is a picture of Baby Dog. I just love this face!!
Peaches got to spend the morning working cows and exercising Daisy with John's dad, Grumps. Here is a picture before she was "thrown" from the horse. Her story has now changed and she slid off of the horse. She wasn't hurt, just a little scared. John said that she didn't hold onto the horses mane and when Daisy turned to walk one way, Peaches went the other. 
