School Vacation Week, Continued

As we reach the mid-point of April school vacation, the girls seem to be simultaneously enjoying the extra play-time as well as growing bored of being stuck at home.  As Julia pointed out to me today, "I don't even KNOW what to do right now because there's NOTHING to do!"  I suggested she clean up the toys in the living room, and believe it or not, it wasn't the task itself that she complained about.

JULIA: Well, fine, I will, but there STILL won't be anything to do after I'm DONE!

It's a tough life, man.  School vacation week.  Such torture to stay at home and play all day.

Luckily, Julia has been greatly enjoying her swim lessons, and Madeleine has even made a little friend in the bleachers, with whom she shares her coloring supplies during the lesson.  Furthermore, I took the kids to the child care room at the Y today so I could go for a run, and Julia discovered, to her delight, that her good friend from kindergarten was also there.

Even Madeleine was excited to see Julia's friend Sydni.  When I picked the girls up after my shower, Madeleine ran to me and exclaimed, "Mom!  Sumana was there!"

And by Sumana, she means Sydni.  There actually is a Sumana in Julia's class, a little girl of Indian descent.  Sumana has been over to our house to play, and has therefore met Madeleine.  However, Madeleine seems to think that ANY of the children in Julia's class who have black hair and darker skin are named Sumana, whether they be of African American, Chinese, or other background. 

That's not awkward at all.

Anyway, Julia too was thrilled at having seen her good friend, and as she skipped over to me at pick-up, she told me, "Mom, Sydni saw me and said, 'JULIA!  What are you doing here!?!"

I asked Julia how long Sydni had been there before she left, since she was gone by the time I picked my girls up.  Julia didn't seem to have an estimate, but that didn't stop Madeleine from bursting forth with confidence to answer my question. 

MADELEINE: Um, FIFTY-NINE minutes!

And by fifty-nine minutes, she apparently means something less than forty-five minutes, which is the length of time my own girls were there for.

Back at home, the girls got busy with some pretend My Little Pony play.  Julia launched into another on-the-spot musical composition about Cutie Marks:




Afterwards, her ponies did some kind of complicated hoof-clapping ritual, while Madeleine had her own ponies playing in the background.

You can see how Julia reacted when I switched the focus of my filming and attention over to her little sister. 

Oh, wait, silly me.  That wasn't Julia's doing.  It was RAINBOW DASH.