Poetic Justice

Our adventures did not end at the library today (see previous post), but were happily begun with the introduction of new friends. We had met the Millers at the library on Monday, and ran into them again today. They invited us to follow them to a great local park, making a short detour at McDonald's. The kids had a blast at Beech Acres which had a water fountain to play in, train to climb on, sand to sift through, barred windows in which to imprison Paul... Meanwhile the workers were putting together kiddie rides for the big Anderson Days celebration this weekend. We may have to call it our Pioneer Day celebration and return!

After a great couple of hours of playing tag and getting soaking wet, we headed back home. Amy suddenly missed her Colorado friends: "I miss Katie; Maggie, do you miss Jonah?" Their conversation reminded me of a scene in "Barbie as the Island Princess" and I tried (using 3 and 5 year old princess lingo) to help the girls understand that you can get new friends without giving up the old. I admit, I broke into song. "Love knows love grows..." did not appeal to the male palate in the car, however, and the boys hummed as loudly as they could to drown-out the Barbie essence lingering in the car. Should boys enjoy singing Barbie songs in the car? Not necessarily, nor would I expect them to; but they should appreciate music and its effects. AND they should always respect their mother, even when she's teaching things in kookie ways! I felt it appropriate to bring this home in their minds and hearts by making them learn and practice all the words to this particular song and then perform it with dignity for me no later than after dinner. Perhaps dignity was a little too much to ask, but they did learn all the words and performed their version with Maggie & Amy's library-prize Echo Mikes. I'm confident they learned their lesson.