Tuesday’s highlights had to do with Hershey’s caramel ice cream topping and fresh organic oranges

I was going about my business in the kitchen when one child appeared

Asking for apples, paper wares, and caramel

‘We are out of apples and paper goods, but there is caramel syrup in the fridge’

‘Oookaaay, can we use oranges?’

‘For what?’

‘We are having a store’

‘Okay’

‘Do you have any other dishes we can use?’

‘You can look in that cupboard there’ (with a nod of my head as my hands were soapy and wet and holding a dish)

She got right to scrounging around in a bottom cupboard, her body almost disappearing bumping and clanging and displacing dishes until she found the treasured item

A set of espresso cups with saucers that I almost gave to Goodwill during my last pitching fit

And now I am glad I held onto them

She disappeared with the dishes and caramel

Another kid came in and filled a bucket of oranges and disappeared again

They took turns flying in and out of the kitchen gathering essentials

And then I hardly saw them the whole day

When I peaked at them, they really did have a ‘store’ set up on the concrete apron in front of the garage

A Rubbermaid bin with a leftover piece of 24” tile from the bathroom remodel laid across the top as their ‘cutting board’

A chunk of Styrofoam set up as a cash register

They had dine in option in spite of COVID-19 shut down orders

A folding table and camp chairs made up the dining room

They also had drive through option for all the patrons wishing to remain safely on their scooters bikes and trikes

‘Hello what can I get for you today?’

‘A (espresso) cup full of caramel sauce and a plate of sliced oranges?’

This kept them entertained for hours.

Just more reasons kids are the best thing on earth.