Okay, this might just be my favorite picture ever. It is my 2 favorite people, participating in my favorite earthly thing ever. I will tell you, watching your child's personality, likes and dislikes emerge is both fascinating and at times frightening. But I will tell you, this new "favorite" of my daughter has brought more delight to my heart than I can tell you. As silly as it sounds, the written word has taken me to places I will never go in the flesh. It has challenged and stretched my imagination
to the limits. It has encouraged and inspired me more than anything else on the earth. It bonds me more quickly to other readers than anything amount of time or experiences. As I faced a cancer scare earlier in the year, it caused me to reflect and journal a lot....leading me to write Bobby a list of things a father might not think to do and things I wanted Abby Kate to learn if I was not around to teach her. One of the most important things to me is fostering a love for reading in our children. My Mom was great at that. I would go to her countless times in a day, asking for ideas to break through my boredom and she always challenged me to go curl up with a book. Thanks Momma.
So thus to the point....Abby Kate has loved reading,
particularly a book called Miss Spider's Tea Party since she was terribly young....I think because the cadence of the language is so beautiful, the pictures colorful...but lately, she is loving ALL her books. She will sit for long periods of time (a feat in and of itself) thumbing through the pages. But my
most favorite, the part that causes my spirit to scream with thankfulness is this... she comes toddling over, places a book in my hand, signs "more" and then climbs into my lap, leans back against my chest where I can smell her sweet hair and feel each sweet breath and I know... there is nothing the written word has never done more for me than this....
So let me explain the history behind Pete's....my Grumpies was a friend of Bill, Pete's son and so Grumps would take his family to eat every time they were at the lake. Of course, once you eat at Pete's, you will be hooked and will drive the distance just to get a taste of the incredible, authentic, huge portions of Italian food. If you know me, you know this place elicts more excitment than anywhere else. Thus I am thrilled that I married a man that loves it as much as I. If you make reservations, they will seat you in a private room (they have many, as the building was an old house and still holds such charm, even under modernization and rennovations). They first serve you salad with delicious oil and vinegar salad, cheese, olives and the best homemade garlic bread ever. Then before your meal arrives, they bring you bottomless (yes bottomless) spaghetti, ravoli (the best in the world), and meatballs. That is in addition to what you order....ummm Heaven! My very first solid food as a baby was Pete's spaghetti. Perhaps that is why I love it so. I have been DYING to take Abby Kate (she went once as a 5 month old but was a bit to young to try the food). We went for our birthday this past weekend and all ate until we were sick. The first pic is of AK and her Aunt Ashley, who she ADORES. The second is her trying the spaghetti for the first time. The third is a glimpse of what is Pete's. The final of the fam with AK's head cut off. I was so bummed! Anyway, just wanted to share!
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