wow. What a weekend. Atiras birthday is coming up, the big one four. I told her she's grounded from getting any older. I cannot believe how quickly my kids have grown up. Each year for their birthdays they have a choice, a party, cash in the amount we would spend on a party or a gift. Or something in between, but we have a dollar limit each year. This year, Atira decided in lieu of a party, she wanted to see her long time very close friend Maddie. We met Maddie 5 years ago at a love for Israel conference. She and Atira hit it off right away and became good friends. Thanks to technology, they have maintained that friendship even though they have not met since then until this weekend. Amazing. Maddie lives about 3 hours from our house, across a ferry, which makes for a full day. We decided to meet up in a small town on the other side of the ferry. It was a wonderful first meeting. The girls hugged and smiled and chattered away. We spent time getting to know her family a bit before whisking their daughter away for the weekend. Our day was full! We headed back for the ferry, and made our way to American Girl for some lunch. We dinked around the mall some as Maddie had not been in a large mall before, found some fun stuff we needed and decided to head out. Since it was Friday when we picked her up we came home to have Scott BBQ burgers, baked up tater tots and had corn on the cob. The birthday girls requested dinner. :) as sundown approached we had an erev Shabbat service and then had a quiet fun evening together. Shabbat was wonderful! We headed out to the beach took a long walk, looked for sea life, rocks and shells. Played on the rocks and logs and took loads of pictures. Sunday the girls enjoyed some time playing with makeup, talking and doing generally fun girly things. In the afternoon I took them out for coffee and a trip to the pet store. Sadly, Atiras fish Kitty died so we decided to get some new fish. The girls and I enjoyed looking at the puppy, and then trying to figure out what fish would be a good new addition to the family. She finally settled on a pair of beautiful guppies. Sunday night the girls asked me if Maddie could cut Atiras hair, specifically bangs. I said yes. They both looked so shocked, it was priceless. I was honestly shocked myself! We decided to sleep on it and decide in the morning. Well, I still said yes!! We went outside and Maddie cut bangs in to Atiras hair and did a fantastic job! We finished off our time together with a trip in to Snohomish for some shopping fun. We got home, and headed out again all together to get on the ferry and head back to take her to her family. While we were making our way over, another friend of ours, Hana, who we have not seen in a few years happened to be in the area we were heading to! We decided to surprise Atira with a meet up there! While we were in the store waiting for Maddies family to arrive, Hana comes jumping up behind Atira, completely and totally surprising her!! Her shock and surprise were evident! She was nearly speechless. She laughed, she cried...she muttered. She hugged. It was precious and overwhelming for my sweet souled daughter. Truly a cherished moment. We enjoyed visiting with Hana and her mom and wen Maddies family showed up we had a wonderful time sitting, talking and getting to know one another. We have been blessed with some wonderful new friends, an amazing weekend and memories to cherish for our lives. God has been so good to us. ❤️
