When the cat's away...

... the girls will play. Joe left this morning on the train to Chicago for work meetings and then future brother-in-law Ben's bachelor party. Joe will head home Saturday morning, fully rested, I'm sure. Solo parenting days used to be stressful for me, but Calla's at an age now where it's just a little easier to handle the daily ups and downs. Besides, some people do this every day, so three and a half days on my own shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

And in fact, a few days of quiet isn't all that bad considering we had so much fun this past weekend. Friends from Chicago, Catrina and Chalise visited for four days and we enjoyed every minute. Calla, especially, loved three-year-old Chalise with her big vocabulary and big girl underwear. She's still talking about the visit.

A few pictures from this past weekend...

Playing around at Giant City State Park, where we went for a hike and lunch.

Chalise and Calla finishing up the hike. Big girl Chalise realized they were heading out to the road and parking lot and insisted on holding hands,
because that's what you do in parking lots, of course.

Our hike was followed up by lunch at the lodge. It turned out to be all-you-can eat fried chicken and sides dinner. Finger-lickin' and spoon-lickin' good, in Calla's book. That's my good eatin' girl.

More pictures later this week of Calla's newly decorated Big Girl Room. Joe did a great job of assembling my ideas and Calla's loving her new space. Until then... we'll be playing our version of Girls Gone Wild...which just might involve pizza and playgrounds and Calla's favorite videos.