Nanny's visit

After much anticipation and about a month-long countdown,
July 10th arrived, and with it came Nanny!
As luck would have it, the really warm weather returned just in time for her visit.
She must have brought it down from the Northeast which was having a big heat wave.
No matter though, we had a wonderful visit
and tried to acclimate Nanny to our new area in just a few short days.
First up, upon Lexi's request, was taking her grandmother to the pool.
My mom was a great sport and spent time in both the big pool and the kiddie pool.
She drew the line when it came to testing out the water slide though.

Next up was the brand new Bush Library just down the road at the SMU campus.
You know what they say..."When in Rome..."
It was beautifully planned out, and if we weren't with two small (and one really impatient)
children, we could have spent a good bit longer touring.
The room dedicated to 9.11 and the War on Terror, especially, was truly remarkable.
The beams in the shot below were recovered from one of the Twin Towers. 

We left Ryleigh with a sitter for her nap,
and the three older gals headed out for an afternoon of fun.
The first stop was lunch in Inwood Village,
and then we visited The American Girl Doll Store.
Lexi brought along my very own Samantha doll -
saved all these years for just such a moment.
We had a lovely little tea complete with hot chocolate,
fruit smoothies, finger sandwiches, petit fours, and of course, tea.
Samantha had her own seat next to us at the table.
It was pretty adorable.
Afterwards, we spent a good bit of time examining every American Girl
and deliberating over which one should make the Christmas list.
Finally, Samantha was treated to a salon appointment (seriously!) where her hair was tamed
from years in storage, cleaned up, parted into braids and tied with ribbons.
She was also washed off, scrubbed up and treated to a sticker pedicure.
This place is nothing short of a goldmine.
But, it sure made for a really fun afternoon - and left the three of us with a wonderful memory!

During the rest of our visit, we drove Nanny around some of our favorite streets in the Park Cities,
went to a few local playgrounds, went on a walk through our neighborhood,
took her to the amazing Northpark Mall - think Madison Avenue meets shopping mall.
The place even has a little water area with ducks and turtles,

 and then to lunch at one of our go-to spots, Bread Winners.
Vic and I took her to a grown up dinner at Patrizio's in Highland Park Village.
It was lovely for the three of us to spend the evening together
and really get to catch up without any distractions. 
I feel so grateful that my mother has known and loved my husband for so many years,
and that she has such a wonderful relationship with him.
(It must have something to do with her chocolate chip cookies!)

Nanny kindly babysat the following evening so we could join family friends for dinner.
To beat the heat, she took Lexi to see the new movie Monsters University,
and then she and I snuck away for a Starbucks trip.
Sunday afternoon came all too quickly, and everyone was so sad to see her go.
There is a lot more ground we want to cover during the next visit.
We can't wait for her and Grandpa to come back in October!
And hopefully this time, I won't get terribly lost driving to the airport.