Overnighter Piper

Piper had expressed great interest in going again to our Children's Church, so we arranged a two night sleepover at our place. Bec brought her on the Friday afternoon and stayed for a cuppa. Once Bec had gone we found that Piper was hanging out to watch movie after movie. In the evenings it went this way with the occasional story being read to her for a bit of variety. During Saturday, Barb took Piper to a shopping plaza, and later in the day she went with us to a wedding. On the Sunday, Piper enjoyed her time at Children's Church and made a couple of bookmarks during the craft time. Afterward, we lunched with Joy, Craig and young Abigail who Piper knew. Everything we did went well and this all made for a memorable Piper experience.

Even the trip to Gembrook was memorable. While Barb napped, Peter and Piper went through a few stories and settled on a made up one about a carpet snake that lived in the upstairs of a bouse. Peter drove and let the story travel as we travelled. It is amazing what you can to with one carpet snake, three dark rooms, plenty of mice and four curious kids. The trip seemed to go faster. Peter was able to grab at enough motifs from his imagination to keep the story going long enough. There was a moment when Piper said, "Oh Poppa, I'm feeling scared." What a terrible Poppa! But when he offered to change the story, she wanted none of that. In the end, Peter was able to keep those kids from being trapped by the snake... but only just.

When we got there, Gord, with Jasper sort of helping, pulled together supper. Bec and Gord had enjoyed the different space the weekend had without their eldest. So it was a nice experience all round. Piper pressed us to repeat the overnighter. Sounds good, but we are still to work out when.