August 9 Afternoon

Sunday:  I thought yesterday would be our last visit to Versluis Park to swim--because we discovered by talking to one of the life guard's yesterday that the park officially closes for the summer TODAY at 5:00! When I dropped Emma off to her house, I suggested to Kaity that we take advantage of one last swim--she was VERY happy to comply.

I didn't take any pictures of Kaity swimming today. It was SUPER crowded. There was one dear little girl who attached herself like GLUE to Kaity and I and would not leave us alone for a second! She was a little bit annoying and Kaity really didn't want to share her last swim with this little bugger. We managed to lose her in the crowd every now and then. Kaity and I played catch with my cool floating ball and we swam for about an hour and a half. 

We ate a nice meal at my house. Mr. Matey-Bird LOVES watermelon! Kaity had fun watching him eat part of her piece.

While I was cleaning up dinner, I handed my camera off to Kaity so that she could take a few pictures. She managed to take quite a few--some of which I deleted because they were totally unflattering of her grandma (and even at my age, I am still vain!). I'm posting these that she took of Matey.

 Dear little Matey. Kaity has become his bird trainer. It's official. She claps her hands twice while stating his name and he will land on her shoulder every single time (practically). She is very pleased.

Kaity and I had a long talk on the way back to her house. I told her that she was a "born leader" and she was very pleased to hear it! She asked me all kinds of questions to see if I was being sincere. We talked about how she watches over her little cousins when they spend time together. We talked about how she has lots of really good ideas about what to do next! I told her that God had given her a special gift to have good ideas and a smart brain to be able to share those ideas and get friends to do what she has suggested. I also told her that there are many types of "leaders"--some that lead people to do good and right things--stuff that God is happy about; but also "leaders" who encourage people to do bad things. Kaity told me she was very happy to learn that she was a leader and that she would try very hard to be a good one.