Little Movers

As we have done in the past several days, the girls and I visited yet another new place today: Auntie Caitlyn's new apartment in Boston!  Julia was officially hired to help move boxes into the apartment, a fact of which she did not fail to remind me at least eight times as we drove down to Boston.

JULIA: Mom?  Did you know Auntie Caitlyn hired me to help bring boxes into her apartment?
ME: Yes.
JULIA: No.  Mom.  I said: AUNTIE CAITLYN HIRED ME.
ME: I know.  You told me.
JULIA: She hired me for DONUTS!
ME: Oh, wow, you lucky girl.
JULIA: But Mom.  Do you know that she really did HIRE ME?

Was somebody feeling extra-important??  Can you tell??

Once we had found nearby parking, we all walked up to behold the gleaming floors of Caitlyn's new place:

So, one might think that a completely empty studio apartment would not hold much entertainment value for two young kids.  In the case of my two children, however, one would be wrong.

There was SO MUCH fun to be had there.  The empty apartment served as:

1) A Great Place to Play Hide-and-Seek

Girls peeking out of an empty (aka extra-roomy) closet

2) A Dance Floor

Madeleine twirling

3) A Gymnastics Arena

Julia turning cartwheels

4) A Place to Plop Down and Watch Dora On Auntie Caitlyn's Computer

In fact, the girls enjoyed their visit to the apartment so greatly that Julia wistfully remarked, "Mom, I wish that this was OUR new place to live, too.  It's just REALLY nice here."

Hmm.  Yesterday she nixed the idea of moving to Newton to become a member of Gath Pool, because she would miss Rosemary Pool and her school and her friends too much.  But today she's ready to cast all of that aside and downsize from a three-bedroom, two floor home to a studio apartment.  Not sure I'm down for that.  I mean, it's an incredibly beautiful studio apartment in a really cool area of Boston.  But I'm kinda thinking having our own separate bedrooms is a lot nicer than us all sleeping in the same room.  (Which also happens to be the living area as well.)

At any rate, Julia more than held up her end of the bargain, helping Auntie Caitlyn carry boxes and bags from the car, parked about a block away, into the building, up the stairs, and into the apartment.  Even Madeleine helped a little bit, but we adults realized pretty quickly that things were going to work much more smoothly without Madeleine's involvement.  On our first trip to the car, Julia grabbed several items.  I handed a plastic bag with about two articles of clothing inside to Madeleine, then put a backpack over my shoulders and filled my arms with boxes.

As we walked along the sidewalk towards Auntie Caitlyn's building, Madeleine announced loudly, "Wow, this bag SURE is HEAVY!!"  Then Julia almost lost hold of the box she was carrying and Madeleine tripped over her flip-flops and nearly face-planted.  As we trekked up the stairs to the apartment, Madeleine took each step slow as a snail, puffing, "Boy, I just can't carry this HEAVY, HEAVY bag!"

After that, Madeleine stayed in the apartment with me while Auntie Caitlyn and Julia unloaded the car.

At any rate, the girls had a grand old time visiting their auntie's new place, and to add the cherry on top, they are off now buying their donut reward to save for dessert tonight.  Great work, girls!