Saturday, August 16, 2008

~Shopping With Kacy~

I had the great pleasure of a visit from my niece Kacy and her mother this weekend. Kacy is my deceased brother's only child and a real joy to me. She is the youngest of my mother's grandchildren and a surprise to all of us. She certainly does her part to keep us young.

My SIL, Deb, emailed me last week to say they were going to come to our area to shop and spend the night in a hotel as a treat for Kacy. I was a little disappointed that they were staying in a hotel, but remember how much fun that was for me at that age. The plan was for us to meet them for dinner, so I was appeased. BUT, to my great delight, Kacy decided she liked it better at my house and they came here on Thursday evening. Also to my delight, they decided to stay over on Friday night too, and asked me to go shopping with them on Friday.



We left my house about 10 A.M. bright eyed and bushy tailed. We stopped for breakfast at our local cafe. I love to show her off as much as I can. I'm amazed at how much she changes from time to time that I see her. I last saw her in October and she has grown taller and more lovely in that time.

We drove to a nearby mall and started our day with Kacy having highlights and a hair cut. That gave Deb and me time to shop a teensy bit for ourselves. We both knew that the day wasn't about us, but we did manage to purchase a couple of things.

Then the fun began. I received a total education in what's cool and what isn't. My vocabluary has increased a lot. Words like, Zumiez, PacSun, Delia's, Hot Topic, Urban Behavior, Hollister and Aerie have now begun to make sense to me. I thought of our friend Cheryl as I followed after this little ball of energy all afternoon while she traipsed from one store to another. I learned the difference between skinny jeans and super skinny jeans. I discovered the names of bands I had never heard of before. After an hour, my head was spinning. There was one moment when Deb and I felt cool as we danced to the music in Abercrombie and Fitch. The feeling was short lived with one whithering glance from Kacy who was clearly embarrassed by our behavior.

By 5 P.M., I was whipped, but determined to keep going as long as they could. By then I had taken to going into the mall and sitting on a bench, guarding packages while she tried on clothing. About 6:30, they came out of a store, both with glazed expressions on their faces saying, "We've had it." Hallelujah. I called Jim and told him to order a pizza and wings, we were on our way home.

Of course, we had to bring in the packages to share the bounty with Uncle Jim.



This is the VERY EXPENSIVE hairdo. I told Jim that when the hairdresser told Deb the amount, she very calmly paid for it and then turned around and picked me up from the floor. WOW!! I'm glad my girls pay for their own hairdo's these days. On the other hand, isn't she just the cutest?



Kacy and her "baggage".



A few less packages for Deb. The beer is a consolation prize.



"Thanks, Mom".

Both Jim and I really enjoyed our time with them. They are so easy to have around and we always laugh a lot. Kacy has taken to calling me Aunt Pamela. She says she likes the sound of it and, you know what? Me too.

We were all tired out from our day of shopping and went bed early. Kacy was still recovering this morning.



After a nourishing breakfast and a shower, she managed to revive enough to start for home. The house sure feels quiet and empty this afternoon. Love you, Kacy.

9 comments:

Nancy said...

Hi Pam!

Oh, my gosh, this is Bobby's little girl??? When I think of him, I still envision him as a young, good looking school boy!!! Who did he marry? Do they live back in our hometown yet? I think I recall hearing one time that Nancy lived in Coudy.(?)

I know you all had a great time!!! Isn't it fun to be with a member of the younger generation to make you feel young again?!!! But with all that walking, I think I would have felt like an old lady by the time the day ended! LOL I know you have a special bond with Kacy. Bob lives on through her....

Boy, you've had some busy times lately!!! I'm so glad you shared them with all of us!!!

Yes, Jo Hofer is in that old graduation photo...she's on the far right, front row. I have another picture somewhere of their class reunion, too, and it has their husbands standing behind them. Whenever I come across it, I'll scan it and email to you. Josephine looked so pretty in that photo and Mr. Hofer looked just how I remember him as high school teacher/principal! It's in Mom's things here......somewhere!

Love ya!

(((((( HUGS ))))))

Renie Burghardt said...

Hi Pam,

What a fun time you've had with your lovely niece and SIL. I love to go shopping, and shopping with a teen can be exhausting, but fun as well.

Lovely pictures. Kacy is adorable. I enjoyed reading all about it.

Hope your Sunday has been great.

Hugs,

Renie

camport said...

Love it! I can totally picture the scene playing out of you dancing and her glaring. Too cute!

:)

Michelle said...

She is beautiful Pam. And I did the "shopping" thing this weekend too,....I could have paid for a small country and come out with change!

hugs Pam, I think of you often.

Diane said...

There's a whole entire "other" world out there for teens now. We didn't have all the "specialty" shops that's all the rage.

Kacy is so pretty. I'm sure the time spent together was very special for all of you.

Hugs,
Diane

Anonymous said...

What a fun outing! After that experience you are WAYYYYY more hip than I could ever hope to be. I recognized the store name and that's it (heh-heh).

Seriously, you have such a great family and it's fun to read about your adventures. Thanks for sharing!

Cheryl Wray said...

What a FUN post!!! And what a FUN, FUN aunt you were!!

So now you understand, just a little bit, the joy of having a preteen and teenage daughter in the house. It's fun; it definitely keeps me young!

I love all the pictures, and the beer as a "consolation" prize made me smile. I love it!

Kari (GrannySkywalker) said...

Hey, I'm the mother of two teenaged boys that I've had to shop with the past couple of weeks...does that mean I can get a "consolation prize", too? LOL

Thanks for your visit to my blog. I highly recommend a "cousin getaway" if you can swing it! The 3 cousins I visited with recently all live in the Birmingham area and my sister lives in the Florida panhandle. That means I had to travel the most to get to it, but it was worth it! One of the reasons it made more sense for me to do most of the traveling is that the 3 cousins are all younger than my sister and me and 2 of them still have young children at home so it was more feasible for me to come to them, rather than the other way around. Anyway, it was great - I'm so glad we did it and we're hoping to make it an annual thing. We used to be such a close family, but since our grandma passed away, we've all sort of drifted a bit. That weekend went a long way to insure that we'll always remember we're family. I'm thinking of doing little "mini scrapbooks" for them as a memento of our fun. So anyway, the point of all this rambling is to say, if at all possible, do that cousin get together. It's worth the planning!

Also, your Kacy is beautiful! I mean, really! And I love her 'do! (I'm also loving that I only raised one daughter. Girls are expensive. My three sons could get a hundred haircuts out of the cost of one serious hairdo for my daughter. lol)

By the way, what part of NY do you live in? I spent a year in Plattsburgh, New York way back in the early '80s. Loved all that snow!! :)

Kari

Tracy said...

You DARED to dance in Abercrombie and Fitch? And you're over 25? **gasp**
As Cami would say (ith emphasis), "O - M - G!"