Three is a special age. It's the spot where baby meets up with big kid, and so very many things are going on in the cute little heads. When Amanda was three, we went on a very long road trip, 7,200 miles worth of adventure. She loved the butterfly zoo (Butterfly Palace, Branson MO), the wind turbines along the side of the road, sleeping in hotels and in the car. Bathroom emergencies were fun on that trip, driving hundreds of miles through west Texas and New Mexico desert there weren't many rest stops. We did lots of "peeing on the grass," as she called it.
The impetus for the whole trip was Aunt Polly's 50th birthday, celebrated in Wells, KS. We stayed a few days with Aunt Jayne in Manhattan, KS before the party. My favorite part of that trip was the night Marc and I left the girls with Aunt Jayne to go see a movie. We were excited, we hadn't been out without the kiddos since before Christina was born, and she was nearly 6 months old then. Of course I was a little nervous, uptight momness coming out or something, but we put the baby down for the night and went to check on the girls, who were having a bath in Aunt Jayne's big tub. Bubbles were flying everywhere and the girls were shrieking with delight. We lingered, getting our "kissyhugs" and just lingering. Jayne finally said, "Leave! I'm trying to make some memories here! I don't get these great nieces very often!"
We left, and had a great time. The girls still remember that bubble bath at Aunt Jayne's. I wish I took more time to intentionally sear memories into my brain back then, but I'm working more on it nowadays.
