just me and my girl

Transporting our son to his basketball camp for the day happened to be quite a distance from our home. Returning, and only having to go back again made no sense.

As my younger daughter was coming along, we planned ahead for some mommy and daughter time, just me and my girl, to explore a town's area new to us.

We both looked forward to checking out entire streets filled with quaint little shops and antique stores, and had hopes of finding the perfect spot for a midday tea and lunch.

One antique variety store filled us both with curiosity, and naturally my young girl became transfixed to the stack of hats resting on a nearby lovely old oak chair.

"Look mommy, it's on sale! I can buy this myself! I have enough money!"

"Very cute, you already own a few cowboy hats, are you sure you need another?"; I said, smiling at her for she was already almost bursting with love for it.

"Oh yes, this one fits me perfectly, and look, it has a clasp to keep it tight under my chin so it won't fall off AND I can wear it to the barn when I help prepare all the trail rides this summer at my job."

Sold! A twenty something dollar cowboy hat for a mere $3.99, a hat she just had to have! We hit the jackpot her and I, oh yes we did, well, rather I think she did...laugh.

As we tootled forth walking down the quaint town's sidewalk, what a special spot directly ahead for her and I to discover. A tea spot, a restaurant of sorts, so inviting that we just had to go inside.

Glass bakery cases filled the interior of this original vintage building, and wicker baskets were stacked up at the door for patrons to place their fresh baked goods inside while shopping the front section of the store.

There were delicious fresh baked goods for either taking home, or staying a while and dining in at one of the many vintage tables in any part of the building, either up the creaky stairways, or along the other dedicated nooks and crannies where patrons were sitting and visiting while sipping on something lovely.

Everything from soups, salads, freshly baked quiche or other assorted deli items, bread fares, really, simply almost anything you might even dream of for calorie ridden drooling moments, yes, these things were all here in abundance.


And both the locals and the visitor were filling up the store's walkways, folks were dodging about exclaiming their cinnamon buns and fresh baked breads to be the very best!

This great find was just perfect for slipping in to anytime of day for that matter for a snack, an espresso, taking tea, or bringing something freshly baked home to the family.

We found ourselves moving here and there, to one glass case after another and then returning to revisit them all over again before selecting our perfect lunch. My girl just had to have a scrumptious cupcake, and I chose something ultra healthy with the fresh fruit bowl, and a yummy fresh espresso latte. It was a two-hander for sure, and I was very careful not to try to pick up up with one hand as I still remembered very well what happened when I did that once before while living in our former home when I found the weight wasn't balanced holding it that way and the entire steaming hot contents spilled all over myself.

After we completely licked our lips and found ourselves ready to move on again, we strolled along with my girl wearing her newly acquired cowboy hat, and us strolling from one wee shop to another.

I know I would love to return to this area, found three little stores I would like to bring my husband to, including the espresso bar again because the barista gave me a free coupon for another large latte, to come again sometime and try another. What a nice carrot!

Later when our time together came to a close and we had to return to pick up our son from his basketball camp, this extremely humid and hot day was beyond my girls' ability to avoid the water park nearby the basketball court.

She came back to me, soaking wet and laughing from her unintended spraying adventure. How fun!


Little did we know as we sat to wait out the remaining time before heading home again, there would be an earthquake under our feet and several tornado funnels touching down in this same area a few hours later. Worst of all was a devastating tornado touching down just a drive away placing the area under a state of emergency.

What a crazy day this ended up being with that earthquake rumble at 1:40pm, and then a tornado before 7:00pm.

And, as for the cowboy hat purchase?

While watching "Toy Story 2" as a family the following evening, my girl sat viewing the entire movie wearing her new beloved cowgirl hat and was thoroughly entranced meeting "Jessie" the cowgirl in this film. You see, this young lady of ours confessed she did not remember any of these Toy Story films from before, so for her, this was very fine indeed.

Yeehaw!