Novali Vacation
So this is the longest amount of time I spent with Novali in a while! I came on Thursday morning and stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Not only was it a lot of time in a row, but no school, no work, no places to go... nothing but hanging out! We watched movies, went shopping on Black Friday, played at the park, went to the emergency room, read together, and tried on shoes for the wedding. Wow... I am tired just thinking about all of that! Needless to say there are some funny Novi stories in this long weekend. Here are a few highlights:

Toys 4 Tots
On Black Friday I took Novali shopping. We went to Kmart and I wanted her to pick out a gift for Toys For Tots. The night before we talked about it and what it means to give to others. She related it to a can drive her school did for Thanksgiving. Wow, they are teaching kids early these days about service. I told her we would not buy her anything since she would get presents for Christmas, but that we would buy something for someone who might not be getting anything. She said it was a nice thing to do as we walked into the store. In the store it was a little harder, she kept asking, "Can I get that... or this...", but she did not carry on or beg... she picked out two nice toys and we took them to the service counter. After we paid for them, I told her how proud I was of her and how nice of a thing it was. Her reply... "Can I get some pizza?" I said yes... she said, "With Crazy Bread?" I said "Yes, and I will even get the sauce", she said, "I don't like the sauce."

It was great. We sat and ate in KMart and talked about the toys she wanted for Christmas. Then later at Circuit City they had a Toys 4 Tots booth set up. As we are walking out Novi stops me... I think we should give for these kids to right? How can I say no? Another $10 out of my pocket and we headed home.

Movies and Macy's
Saturday we went see the movie Flushed Away. The movie was a little over her head, and at times scary. Half way through the movie she stood up, looked at me and said, "I don't like this movie, lets go home now." The funny look in her eye nearly made me crack up, I asked her to give it a second chance. She waited through the movie, and as we walked out she said, "I should picked the other movie." We left the theatre and walked next door to Macy's. One of the missions for the weekend was to get her wedding shoes. Man finding white shoes in Chicago in November is not easy.

Well in Macy's we hit the jackpot. They had a display pair on clearance, it was her size and a very cute off white pair of Kenneth Cole girls shoes with a little rose on them. She tried on the display and it was perfect... it was the only off white pair they had. Well guess what... they could not find the mate! Two different people looked. They kept asking us to white as they looked... NOTHING. When the last woman came to break the news to us for the third time that no one can find the shoe.... Novali told her, "How can you not have the other one?" It was not snobby or mean... very matter of fact. The lady apologized, and I think Novali's career in management just started.

I have problems
Sunday Novali awoke crying. The night before she had a slight nose bleed and complained after that her ear hurt. She took some medicine and went to sleep. Well in the morning it was worse and she was crying from the pain so Tamara and I took her to the emergency room. She has an ear infection... reminds me of when I used to have them all the time as a little boy. Must run in the family. Well on the drive home the topic of being good came up. Tamara asked Novali if she is always good for her papi, Novi said yes. So Tamara asked, "Why aren't you always good for me." Novi replied "I try, but sometimes I can't help it." Tamara asked "Why can't you help it?".... to which Novali responded, "Because I try and try, but sometimes I just have problems." Tamara and I cracked up... she said that because when she does act up Tamara asks her, "What's your problem?" Hence she internalizes it as when she is misbehaving she is having problems. Too funny...

Cheaters never win
Sunday night Novi was feeling better and after shopping all over for white shoes we went to the park. We played on the Tic-Tac-Toe board. Well Novali was cheating and taking more turns. I told her that she was cheating. She said she wasn't, but I told her that not letting me take my turn was not fair. She said, "Well it might not be fair, but its not cheating." I asked her what's the difference, she replied, "Not everything is fair, I didn't win because I was cheating." Such the young philosopher.

School
Monday I took her to school. It meant I had to get up horribly early. Its been a while since I had to be up that early, I can't believe that when I worked at JCI in Holland I was at work each day before 7:15am. How did I do that! Anyhow... back to Novi's school... I got to meet her teacher, and see all the other little kids in their uniforms. It was really cute and her teacher was great. After school I was outside waiting for her and she ran out, waving bye to her friends and asked to go to the park. So of course we went. We played, ran around, pretended to be on a pirate ship, and watched a big Dalmatian chase a little squirrel.

It was a great time! Tuesday I took her to school again and then I packed and went to the airport. I had a great time in Chicago as always. Now I am in New Orleans and I have back to back business meetings for the next 48 hours. Tonight I got to relax on Bourbon street and now its back to work. Its been a good week so far, and to top it off I finally got my new phone... and this post is brought to you by my new Treo 700p. I finally got a Palm Pilot Phone... its been five years in the making! I can't believe I was this patient. CIAO!