Another trip down memory lane

The girls and I came up to my parents for the weekend for a visit. I don't think we've been here since July and the girls didn't have school on Friday, so we took the opportunity to go "home". It is only an hour trip, so easy to do in a weekend.

One of Leah's latest obsessions is Barbie (so help me God--I was hoping to avoid it for a few more years). I knew my mom probably had some of our old Barbie things, so I dug out a tote that had a couple Barbies, Barbie's horse, Barbie's canopy bed, and other assorted Barbie necessities like a pool table, pinball machine, and popcorn machine. Apparently Barbie had a pretty cool pad in her day, and although her house has been foreclosed and demolished, she was able to hang onto a few prize possessions.

Today we unearthed what was left of Barbie's closet. Most of our Barbies were from the mid-80's and boy do her clothes show it. She has quite a few gold lame outfits, a Coca Cola sweatshirt, and even a one armed sweatshirt ala "Flashdance". Emma found that quite disturbing--"Why does it have only one arm?" And speaking of arms, we sent a few Barbies to a permanent vacation who were missing more than one limb. RIP. And don't even ask about Ken who was simply a head and a limbless/headless body. That poor man was much abused by his harem of eight or so women.

Anyway, Barbie had many homemade clothes made by my mom or Grandma. Then she had a bunch of gems that we think my younger sister designed by going through my mom's fabric scraps and making clothes herself. There were dresses made from left over material from various prom and formal dresses I had. I sorted through all her clothes and only kept those that would maybe pass for fashion if Project Runway was doing a "rejected 80's hand-me-downs and slutty Barbie clothes" show.

Many of the Barbies are also sporting hideous haircuts thanks to the budding hair stylist that was my younger sister. One of my Barbies used to wink (how coy!) but somehow her eyelids have been ripped off. Even the poor horse was missing a hoof--an accident I seem to remember happening many years ago.

The girls have kept themselves entertained with all the Barbies, clothes, and accessories that are all new to them but have me remembering all the times I played Barbies. I have a feeling that Barbie will be making an appearance on Leah's Christmas list and I'll be seeing much more of them.

While we were home I was also able to meet up with a childhood friend for coffee. She was my "bff" in high school (after we got over fighting because of boy issues) but once we went to separate colleges we didn't stay as close as we were. But it seems like anytime we are able to get together, we can pick up like we left off. It was good to see her today and talk about the good old days and also have similar views about life in our 30's.

Since it was beyond beautiful out, the girls were able to go play at the elementary school playgrounds. The equipment has changed, but I told Emma that where they were playing was where I went to school K-4th grade. I even showed her our "warming" corner where we huddled when it was cold out. She has mentioned a few times that at recess they have their own warming corner they go to. Funny how some things never change.