This is what Lauren thought of the non-kid friendly food at the restaurant:
After lunch, despite not having eaten, Lauren was treated to "ice cream" (aka frozen yogurt), courtesy of Nana, who instantly became her new best friend:
We then headed across the street to Lauren's favorite "beach park" at Main Beach. She kicked off her shoes and wiggled her toes in the warm sand:
Lauren was ready to drop from exhaustion by 1:30 p.m., so we drove up the hill to my parents' house so she could take a good nap (she no longer naps at home for us on the weekends, so you'd better believe I took my mom up on her offer to get her to nap at her house). I was able to enjoy a couple of hours on the sunny back patio, reading the paper and catching up with the 'rents.
We then stayed for dinner and played with the huge variety of toys my parents have collected for her, the most interesting of which Lauren discovered at the bottom of a large toy box. Let me preface this by saying that my mom has gathered a number of "older" toys from estate sales and other sources. These include many vintage Barbies and other toys, which are very cool. There was one older doll figure I saw Lauren playing with that looked much different than the others. It appeared to be a little boy, but his hair was spiked and he had a scary looking face. Upon closer inspection, I saw that he had a mustache and eyebrows drawn on with marker, and his eyes had been shaded different colors. My dad took one look and said "Oh, that must be Chuckie" (i.e. from the horror film). I saw some writing on the doll's feet in silver marker, also clearly not originally there. The print was very small, but I squinted and couldn't believe what it said. It did not say "Chuckie." No, as I read it aloud, this doll had been anointed "Twisted Tommy". I'm not kidding, that's what it said. I think my parents and I laughed hysterically for 2 minutes straight. Lauren guffawed along with us, although with a somewhat confused look on her face as to why we found it so funny. I guess you had to be there.
My mom said she thought it must have been one of my dolls that my brother Brian defaced back in the day. A very likely scenario, except I saw the date imprinted on the doll was 1994, so it was a little past the time in my childhood when Brian routinely tortured me (to this day Brian insists he was just "practicing" his karate). No, it must have been a prank by another brother on his sister. I suppose I should be thankful, though, because Lauren now absolutely loves Twisted Tommy. In fact, I think she told me he's going to marry Cinderella. Makes me kind of proud to see that our message of beauty being on the inside seems to be getting through to her.
Ladies and Gentleman, let me introduce you to Twisted Tommy:
Right before we headed home for the night, my dad caught a rare shot of the two of us:
It was a really great day. I can hardly wait for the next girls' day out (and another nap at Nana and Pop Pop's house).
2 comments:
Her eyes are just gorgeous, Dee!
Oh my goodness, Twisted Tommy is fantastic! You have to keep that around for when she has kids!
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