Once upon a time, there was a great aunt named LeAnn. One day, her big brother Galen sent her a text message that said, "Looking for adventure, excitement...something new? You could have the "opportunity" of hosting a 6 & 7 year old girl (Lucy & Jenna) this evening and overnight." The great aunt sent a text back, "I would love it!"
And so it was that after the great aunt got off work, she met her brother in the parking lot at Fred Meyer with his excited granddaughters. Lucy, who lives in Hermiston and hadn't seen this aunt since August, said, "Oh, so YOU'RE Aunt LeAnn! I wasn't sure who you were!"
So off they went to Fred Meyer to buy sausage and Eggo waffles for breakfast. Then they bought tickets to see Monsters Inc. 3D, but had 40 minutes before the movie started. Aunt LeAnn asked the girls if they would like to go to the Dollar Tree across the street while they waited. The girls were SO excited! "My mom never wants to go to the Dollar Tree!" Aunt LeAnn generously gave each girl $2. "I love you, Aunt LeAnn!" was the loud, frequently repeated refrain from the back seat as they drove to the store. Running and skipping, they located the toy aisle and spent some time joyfully deciding the two most wonderful things they could buy with their dollars.
They found some fantastic things indeed. Jenna's pink and purple hair dryer/curling iron/beautician sets were things of beauty to gladden the heart of any little girl. Lucy had a baton with streamers and a little bear she promptly named "Foofy".
As the girls skipped ahead of Aunt LeAnn toward the movie theater, she wondered, "When do girls stop skipping? And why must we stop skipping?" So she skipped with them into the theater, and it was fun. She vowed to skip more often. The two girls picked out a package of candy and declared they also needed a large popcorn. Yum. Aunt LeAnn had never seen Monsters Inc, or a 3D movie. Everyone loved it.
Next they drove to McDonalds to meet Great-Aunt Anisa. When Lucy saw her, she said, "Oh, you're the one I thought was Aunt LeAnn!" Jenna chose a kid's cheeseburger meal, Lucy wanted chicken nuggets, and a very kind cashier added a toy to Lucy's meal as well. They also shared Aunt LeAnn's leftover salad! They are very good at sharing!
They went in the house to say hi to Great-Uncle Doug and immediately started playing with the nativity scene under the tree. Aunt LeAnn hated to interrupt their fun, but soon it was time to leave.
Hugs for Aunt Anisa!
Aunt LeAnn had told the girls they would all need to run around the loop when they got home because she hadn't had any exercise that day. She was only kidding, but when they got out of the car at her house, Jenna asked when they were going to run around the loop! Both girls really wanted to do it. "I really need exercise too!" said Jenna.
The girls spotted some Legos when they got inside and spent some spirited time playing with them, but soon reminded Aunt LeAnn that they needed to go run. It was a beautiful moonlit night, so off they went. They ran and walked, enjoying the Christmas lights still twinkling on many homes. When they went through the park on the way back, they stopped to play. The moonlight was amazingly bright, and there was plenty of light. They were enjoying themselves when suddenly, a man stepped out of the shadows, startling Aunt LeAnn. But she immediately recognized him as the man who lived next to the park. Her children had always referred to him as "The Park Nazi". He said he heard children playing and was just checking to make sure they were supervised. Aunt LeAnn assured him she was supervising all right and they had a nice chat. Realizing it was 10:30 p.m., she decided the responsible thing to do would be to go home.
Lucy still had plenty of energy, but after a little more playing, Aunt LeAnn noticed the time was 11:11 and said it was bedtime. The girls picked out two Little Critter Christmas books, and Jenna read them. Then they went upstairs to the guest room and Jenna asked if they could read some more. She loves to read, and had brought two books. Aunt LeAnn listened to her read for a bit, then said good night as she continued to read.
After awhile, they wanted to come back home to play with Zeek, Uncle Will's beautiful chocolate lab. They had a great time running around with Zeek, throwing his ball for him to fetch, and ordering him to sit. Zeek is such a good dog! Aunt LeAnn loved hearing all the squeals and giggles in her back yard!
Aunt LeAnn was very sad to realize later that she hadn't noticed her camera was set to Manual, which caused her pictures to be fuzzy. (Aunt LeAnn sometimes has trouble noticing little details. She won't mention that someone else had changed the settings. Hint: it was the serious looking guy in the above blurry picture.)
Aunt LeAnn had showed the girls the park memorial to their cousin Tyler Troyer, and mentioned that she planted flowers there last summer and needed to pull some weeds. After the girls played with Zeek for awhile, Lucy asked if they could go back to the park and help her pull weeds. Aunt LeAnn was happy to get out the wagon and load up some gardening tools!
The girls had asked to bring snacks, so they all sat at a picnic table and ate crackers and treats before walking back home to play with Zeek again. Jenna remembered doing "crafts" at Aunt LeAnn's, so they got out colored paper, fancy scissors, star punches, and markers, and made some fun papers. All too soon, it was noon and time for good-bye hugs when Jenna's mom came to pick them up.
Jenna and Lucy are both very kind girls, and it is a delight to watch them have fun playing together. They are both very respectful, polite, smart girls. Aunt LeAnn hopes there will be many more sleepovers and promises to say, "Yes you can" as much as possible every time!
And that is the story of the very fun sleepover with Great Aunt LeAnn and her two cute, funny, adorable great nieces! She is the luckiest great aunt in the whole wide world.
The end.
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