Road Trip: Birthday Books and Bikes

Road trip part one is now just about complete....we've gotten Mom's computers working, and showed her how to log into the private family blog we set up.  We done Halloween with our son and daughter-in-law, and today we did a small birthday party for granddaughter K who turned 9 on the 29th.  She had an early morning shopping trip with her Tutu and her stepmom, and only wanted to go to the hairclip store and the book store.  We had a wonderful stroll thru the entire children's and YA departments as she explained to us what she was interested in, what she'd already read, and what she didn't like.

We came away with a Junie B. Jones journal for school, a Beverly Cleary (I forget which one she finally decided on), and another who's title also escapes me.  I had already gotten her Toni Buzzeo's glorious Sea Chest.  When my daughter (her auntie) arrived later that afternoon, she presented Miss K with a fabulous shopping bag of books saying..."These were some of my favorites when I was growing up...I remember Tutu reading them to me, and then I learned to read them myself."  My son (her father) readily agreed to help her read them, but she thought she'd be able to handle them herself.  They included Anne of Gren Gables, The Island of the Blue Dolphin, two poetry anthologies, and Hoot. My mom had sent Mr. Toad and Mr. Frog book plates to be inserted the growing grand-girl library.  A perfect topping for all the books.


It certainly made this old Tutu feel real warm and fuzzy to see how much the whole family values books and reading, and to hear my adult kids speak so highly of the reading experiences they had as kids. But.........I will have to be honest also and admit that all those books were not to compare with the new bike...AWESOME. 

We'll just be sure that  in the coming months when it's too dark, cold, rainy or snowy to ride the new bike, she'll have plenty of reading material.  As far as I'm concerned, I can't ask for anything better than that.