With Claire headed off to college in two days, we were looking for something fun to do. Molly suggested we go to Cumbl Cookies to get the official limited-edition Olivia Rodrigo GUTS cookie.
We had been deeply amused by one review of this cookie that went viral, describing it as “Olivia Rodriguez, that little Mexican girl that be crying… zero out of ten.”
“Hey Dad, the Olivia Rodrigo cookie is back!” Molly told me.
“We have to go try it,” I said.
And so on the last official night with me and Claire and Molly before Claire goes off and conquers the world (starting with college), we hit Crumble for the GUTS cookie. We gave it eight out of ten. Claire got a super good chocolate chip cookie. We also had Indian street food and a pretty animated discussion about music, dating, and feminism.
It was such a beautiful, perfect night and literally a bitter-sweet way to wrap up our nostalgic summer and send off our Clairey.
At the beginning of the summer, Molly was feeling pretty nostalgic about Galveston from the past few years and requested a return trip this year. Last summer’s trip to Ireland was going to have to be swapped for something more local this summer anyways, so Galveston was perfect in my book.
Since Galveston was such a major part of my own childhood, it really melted my heart that Molly felt the same way, so off we went for quick summer trip to the sandy island. Claire was excited too.
Here’s the trip in pictures, which do not quite capture the intense heat or the relaxed, good cheer. ☺️
Bahn Mis at the pool cabana from a place called Viet Cajun, the most “real Galveston” restaurant imaginable.This crustacean freaked Molly out a bit – she kept asking if it was real.Our cozy if retro condo rental.
The beach…
The beach where we swam and jumped waves, and where Claire walked and listened to the Cranberries.
Misc
Aboard the USS Stewart. I made the girls watch Greyhound to get a feel for what this board was for in WWII.Keep Galveston weird.Nostalgic trip to the Rainforest Cafe!We had a sunset dinner at Jimmy’s on the Pier.
It’s not that often that I get a “framed” picture of Claire and Molly posing together these days.
But alas, after a fun night of tacos and goofiness at El Chilito with my brother (who is visiting town), his girlfriend’s dog (the dog is visiting, not the girlfriend), and my mom, they were in the mood for a cute picture. 📸
With all the rain we’ve been having lately, the backyard has turned into a water park for the girls. Molly, in particular, loves going outside to play, especially when it is raining. She likes when it is raining really hard best of all. She and Claire will spend hours at a time out there just splashing around and playing with their toys.
They even set up a water park for their My Little Pony toys. The park is inspired by Schlitterbahn and features a giant water slide with a big pool at the end of it. There is also a “natural pond”, which is basically a big puddle. And the Swamp of Doom in the muddy grass area. Claire made a map of the park and even added a snack stand for refreshments (it’s alternately a smoothie place, a fish taco place, or Benny’s Fish ‘n’ Chips).
Claire convinced Molly to do a blind taste test today. Their nanny, Sarah, sent us this picture of the fun with the caption, “Blind taste test was fun. Molly was a great sport!”
Molly by her tent in her “M” cape and Dora nightgown.
Molly may be at her most adorable age right now, four and a half years old. A year ago, she was a dopey toddler. In another year, she will be a hearty five year old kid. Right now she is in the middle, no longer a babyish mess but not yet a big kid. Here is a snapshot of what makes Molly adorable right now…
Molly sleeps in a ladybug tent at night. The tent is filled with stuffed animals and about 80 magazines.
Molly vaguely resembles Mike Wazowski. Luckily, though, Molly does have two eyes.
Molly calls peanuts “peanut butter nuts”.
Molly often wears her “M” cape with a princess costume and a tiara. She calls this “Super Molly”.
Molly sincerely believes that her “M” cape makes her go faster.
Molly will only wear dresses that twirl properly.
Molly plays along with Dora the Explorer when the show prompts you for an answer. We often hear her loudly yelling things like “Purple!” at the computer.
Molly judges things primarily by their color, with pink and purple being the best colors. Luckily, this approach does not apply to people.
Molly says “No fair!” a lot.
Molly clambers a lot. She clambers into her dining chair, onto her bed, etc. (Clamber: to climb, move, or get in or out of something in an awkward and laborious way, typically using both hands and feet.)
Molly believes that the Disney princesses are real. She was initially confused by the idea of Disney World and Disney Land. Which one do the real princesses live at? Then she figured it out: “Disney World has the real people, and Disney Land has puppets.”
You will commonly find Molly wandering the house wearing nothing but skivvies and sparkly shoes, and sometimes only the shoes.
Molly always says her sister’s name as two syllables, “Cla-aire”.
Molly loves her big sister. They spend a lot of time playing and hanging out on the weekends. Yesterday, Claire went off for a playdate for a couple of hours. Molly quickly got bored without Claire around and said, sadly, “What am I supposed to do now?” Molly later stated that she really likes being with Claire.
Molly always smells good, even when she is hot and sweaty. Well, not always; she is sometimes gassy — then look out!
Molly has been doing pretty well sleeping in the same room as Claire. Molly is letting Claire get to sleep, and after quietly “reading” leftover magazines (Austin Family, Parent & Child) and catalogs (Oriental Trading Company, Pottery Barn Kids) for a while, Molly gets to sleep eventually too.
But a new round of bedtime madness has come up recently. This round involves not just being loud and keeping Claire awake, but some rather rude behavior too. While Claire is trying to get to sleep, Molly has tried everything to keep her awake, including hitting Claire with a magic wand, hitting her with her lovie, stealing Claire’s blankets and stuffed animals, and finally last night, spitting on her. Yes, spitting. Sometimes Claire partakes in some silly talk and giggling, but this aggressive stuff pushes her over, and she comes to get us for help. We think maybe Molly did not initially realize that spitting is not okay, but now she does.
Molly would rather be doing this.
When things get bad, it’s “guest room city” for Molly. That phrase usually makes the girls giggle. So Molly has been moved into the guest room a lot lately to sleep. Molly takes “all 72 of her magazines”, as I call her stack, and settles down pretty quickly when in there alone. And Claire falls asleep within a few minutes.
With Kit on vacation, Molly has been able to sleep in late (7:00 or so) for the last couple mornings. We think this is making her less tired and more aggressive at night. Molly got up early with Claire like usual today, even a little early at 6:05 for Claire’s before-school handwriting club, and hopefully it’s not guest room city tonight.
Claire reading to Molly, in a shot posed by Claire 🙂
Tonight, Claire volunteered to put Molly to sleep. Claire was not just talking about reading a book to Molly and tucking her in. Claire insisted that she would help get Molly completely ready for bed: get her dressed in her night gown, help her brush her teeth, read her a story, etc. Claire said that way I could go work while she took care of Molly. (I am always trying to find time to get things done around here, and Claire has picked up on this.)
Molly loved the idea. Claire and Molly were a good team. Bedtime went surprisingly well. It only took a little bit of prodding to keep them on track. And I actually did get some work done while Claire took care of Molly, which meant I was not up quite as late working. Thank you, Claire!
The next night, Claire volunteered to put Molly down again. It was a bath night, which is much trickier. But Claire insisted. That night did not go quite as well as the previous night. After 45 minutes, they were both still in the bath, and Molly was really worked up, jumping, giggling, laughing, etc. This is pretty normal for bedtime, but it was one notch even more than usual. Eventually the screams of joy from down the hall got to be too much to take; I was not getting any work done that night. I had to go in and break it up. Kit and I split up the kids and got things nearly back on track. The girls were nearly in a frenzy. How many times have I said it… bath nights are tricky!
Claire did not volunteer to put Molly to bed the next night.
McG Kids 