Open Weekend = Possibility

Yesterday we didn't really have plans for the weekend, and yet we knew things would fall into place.  Bill wanted to get his new grill, we had the Open House at Ellie's new childcare place and the rest was still up in the air.

And then Friday night came and we filled up our calendar for Saturday.  With the first part of the day complete, it's already been a great day!

Early visit to Children's Lighthouse to visit their newest location, much closer to home in Sachse!  Ellie will finish out the summer program at her current location in Wylie, and move to the new one the first day of school.

It was gorgeous, and we were overwhelmed by the number of hugs that Ellie got during the visit.  And that was from the TEACHERS!  She is a popular girl apparently!  Not many kids that she knew during our visit, but the school-agers room is gorgeous and she can't wait to start!

From there we had an awesome lunch at Frankie's - literally next door to Lighthouse.  All that accomplished in time for Ellie's playdate with a new friend from the pool last evening.  The Cooper family live around the corner from us and Calena is also 8 and going into 3rd grade at Whitt with Ellie.  They recognized each other from school last year and struck up a friendship at the pool.  Her parents are awesome, and her siblings - Lydia (13), Garrett (10) and Landon (6) are all part of the friendship package.

She stayed for two hours and they played games, did puzzles and used kinetic sand - which was new to us!  What a great family - the Dad (Brian) is an exec at a medical company, and Mom (Natalie) stays home with the kids - moved from IL about 5 years ago.  Originally from Seattle - with a stop in Phoenix en route here.  And their kids love the pool too.  So we'll be seeing a lot of them.

After a light dinner we head to the soccer field for Ellie's first team meet and practice.  I say we didn't have all these plans yesterday because the email arrived about 6pm last night announcing this first meeting.  She has so much to be excited about she can barely contain herself!

Here's a few photos to mark some of our adventures today ...

Ellie in the school ager room with a huge safari mural and lifelike tree!

Checking out the outdoor play area.
Best part is the huge awning over the entire playset.

Ellie and her Taco Plate!

Frankie's Mexican Restaurant for lunch.
Ellie is the photographer!