Lilli's last week

We started off the week with a show at a library in Decatur. It was a live reading and performance of books. It was a lot of fun and the kids laughed. Zoey was being a crazy lady running around, of course. We then had a picnic at Hannah's mom's house and played in the yard for a while before heading home.

We then had our Dora's Pirate Adventure Play and party. Let me disclose how much I dislike Dora and shows. However, it was by far the best play for the little audiences performance yet. It was very interactive and the kids laughed, hollered, danced, clapped, etc throughout the entire show. It was sooooooo much fun. We then had a pirate party with 10 kids and 5 adults hanging out here. I had created an actual map of our yard for the kids to have a treasure hunt with a pirate prize such as a spy glass, a rubber pirate ducky,pirate mini beach ball or gold debloon awaiting them at each location. They were in teams and so there were 4 different maps so that they could go in different orders and race all over the yard but not have to have us adults split up to help too. The kids seemed to love it. We did a pirate sticker craft and had pirate masks for all of them. We had lunch and I had made homemade marshmallows cut into stars and dipped in chocolate and graham crackers. S'mores are never a disappointment. Hannah made little jello beaches. So of course, dessert was a grand slam as well. We all had a fantastic time and I cannot say how fun the play was.

We had dinner at the Compton's house one night. The treasure hunt had gone over so well, Izzy insisted that we have another one. Hannah set to work and got one together.

We ended the week again at the lake. It is always a great time. Then Sunday we had to return to St Louis to drop off Lilli to go back to Utah. We found an empty baggage claim area and played cars, and did the usually rounds on the escalators, elevators, stairs and watching security check points. It was a shorter stay due to Lilli's year round school that started. It's always sad to send her home not knowing when we will get to see her next.

 I need to throw in a section just about Lilli. I am so incredibly proud of her for going running with me and conquering her doubting thoughts of whether or not she could do it. She pushed and ran farther and in a shorter time most nights than the time before. Her face would light up like Christmas when I'd report when we stopped on how far we went and how long it took. Even the nights where we just went farther but made it home in the same amount of time, she knew to be very proud. We turned it into a very positive experience for her. I enjoyed having the time with just her and I to chat while we ran about everything under the sun. I had forgotten how quiet it is going by myself. It took a few runs to get used to it again. It was very fun running on nights around the 4th of July because we got firework shows that made the runs seem really short. We found beauty in all kinds of things while out there.