Sunday, June 6, 2010

The Birthday Plum

It was to be the last time we'd see SugarPlum until a week after her birthday, so when we picked her up Thursday morning, we let her dive into a bag of gifts:


I think she'd never seen a Woolly Willy before, and I also think she initially wasn't terribly impressed with a bald man's head atop a pile of metal shavings.  Well, who would be?


After a buffet dinner, we drove up the road to the rodeo, where we needed to get a cowgirl hat for our rodeo clown, and so we did:


While waiting for the rodeo to begin, Uncle Son3 took the plum to the concession stand for popcorn...and returned with Plum and cotton candy.  He was comfortable doing that, because he was seated two people away from the sticky little kid, who was sitting beside Nana.  Of course.


Because she was wearing sunglasses, no one knew Nana was sobbing (I mean full-blown, body-wracking sobs) the entire time this cowboy was circling the large arena — twice — before the rodeo began:


On with the show.  The emcee did a wonderful job, and except for a couple of loud, unexpected, crowd-thrilling explosions accompanying the rodeo clown's act, the plum loved the action.


The bucking broncos were her favorite, and the sweet little plum turned to express exuberant thanks to Poppie and Nana for bringing her to the rodeo.


After a short night's sleep, we were off to the lake with Grandaunt Kath for a day of fishing:


SugarPlum got to drive...


And she caught some fish.  Helping her dress in her new togs Friday morning, she looked down at her feet and said, "These look like a clown."  You know, the little kid has more fashion sense than her nana, who was primarily seeking a good color match.  Maybe those were "clown feet" after all.  Oh well, at age nearly-five, it probably won't scar her for life.


By the time this one was in the boat, and given its girth, she wasn't so keen any more on being near any fishes.  She handed her rod off to Poppie and ducked:


Nana had stuffed a cake into a cooler, and it survived the 90º temperature and rough ride on the water:


While the rest of the crew continued fishing, Nana and Son3 dragged one tired cowgirl onto the dock, into the van, and delivered the weary little waif to her home, where she was whisked away to her first tennis lesson.  It's usually the nanas and poppies who need a nap after plum visits, but I think this time we wore our little SugarPlum plum slick.

Happy 5th Birthday, SugarPlum!



Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.  Psalm 98:4

5 comments:

willow said...

Happy Happy Birthday pretty SugarPlum!

Nana as always did a great job with the cake (somewhat more questionable on the shoe issue....)

but I'll tell you a secret - you could not be more loved!

keeping all our Plums in prayer!

CarolineNot said...

questionable shoe issue -- You crack me up! ºÜº

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday, SugarPlum!

Unknown said...

Nice pictures! And I see you got one of me looking like Cousin It! I love it!!

CarolineNot said...

To be honest, Kath, by the time I'd gone through upwards of 200 photos (ours and yours), I barely knew what I was poking on here. I know I wanted to be sure you were included in Wave 1 and can assure you you'll arrive tomorrow in more lovely form via the post set for deferred publishing. I was quite smitten with the It-Pic you snapped of me...and it'll be here. ºÜº