Trip to CT

The Rowes took a trip to CT this weekend to visit Yiayia and Yiayia Megali (that's Grandmother and Great-Grandmother for those of you who don't speak Greek.)  While the girls are pretty much thrilled ANYTIME we go visit beloved family members (Julia gave me a whole spiel on the way down to CT that it's "more funner" when we get to go to Vermont or Connecticut than when people visit us, because we get to play with all sorts of new toys and you get to sleep in a different bedroom), Ethan and I couldn't help wonder if Madeleine's recent switch from crib to bed was going to turn this trip into a disaster.  Thank our lucky stars, Madeleine actually took to a) sleeping in an unfamiliar bed at Yiayia's house and b) sharing said bed with her sister without a hitch.  In fact, the girls seemed to enjoy snuggling up together in their sleep:

After a whirlwind weekend of playing with all my old childhood toys, visiting Yiayia Megali at her condo complex (including playing on the big condo-wide playground), going out to the Greek diner for old-fashioned snacks and drinks, riding bikes and cars in Yiayia's driveway, and going out for ice cream, the girls were happily run ragged, and both conked out nearly immediately upon our drive home.  One of the highlights for Julia is that she was allowed to take home two of her favorite toys from Yiayia's house: two old, pink Barbie convertables that once belonged to my sisters and I.  Since returning to our house, Julia has been driving her own Barbies around in both cars, concocting a whole fantasy world for them:

Rapunzel and Belle parked in their garage.

"Mom," Julia informed me, as one convertable full of Barbies followed the other around the living room. "My Barbie, well, I named her Lizzy, so: Lizzy, Ariel, Rapunzel and Belle are in college, and Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are in high school.  Because Lizzy and Ariel and Rapunzel and Belle are a little bit OLDER than Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, so that's why they're in COLLEGE."


Madeleine did not take home any toys from Yiayia's house, but she did take home a red lollipop, which was about as good a take-home prize as she could ever imagine.

MADELEINE: Daddy!  I'm eating my LOLLIPOP!
ETHAN: You're eating your lollipop, huh?  What flavor is it?
MADELEINE: Um... GOOD.
ETHAN: Yeah, but what flavor does it taste like?
MADELEINE: Um... GOOD!
ETHAN: Does it taste like cherry, or strawberry...?
MADELEINE: Um... CHERRY!
ETHAN: One time I ate a lollipop, and it was MADELEINE-FLAVORED!
MADELEINE: No, you didn't eat my lollipop!
ETHAN: Yeah, but I ate a lollipop that was Madeleine-flavored.
MADELEINE: (giggling raucously) Yeah... and... I went inside your MOUTH!
ETHAN: You were DELICIOUS!
MADELEINE: Did YOU eat a lollipop once, Mommy?
ME: Well, I did eat a lollipop once, but it wasn't a Madeleine-flavored lollipop.
MADELEINE: (brightly) Yeah, you just ate a JULIA one!

Madeleine with her good-flavored lollipop.

All in all, a great weekend trip, and hopefully the girls have not refreshed all of their sapped energy with the car-ride nap and they will actually get to sleep easily for us tonight...