Four Feet More

It's been pretty crazy over here at Four Feet More. First off, Vika has turned 8 years old. I know! My little girl is now 8! She's moving into that preteen phase and is growing up way too fast. For her birthday this year, she asked for (and received) a pair of texting devices. This was her second choice after we told her there was no way she was getting a cell phone at 8 years old. On the up-side, the texters are Hello Kitty, and Vika wanted them primarily to text with me, so she's still my little girl. For a while, anyway.

My dad came out to visit from Tennessee again this summer and was here for Vika's birthday. It's become a bit of an annual event - him coming out in July. The kids enjoyed hanging out with their "Deydushka Joe," and it was good for him to meet my brother's baby Tyson as well. Even though my dad doesn't really do kids, he was pretty tolerant of Eamon's excessive manhandling and Vika's incessant chatter. He may have even enjoyed it to some extent. I think.

So, Vika is now 8, going on 18. She also, much to my dismay, loves country music. I blame my mother for this, and she gleefully takes responsibility for my daughter's crushes on Brad Paisley and Jason Aldean. Well, in an extreme show of love for my daughter, I am going to subject myself to 6 hours straight of country music this evening. Laurie, a close family friend (kind of a sister-in-law, really), managed to score us free tickets to see Kenny Chesney and Sugarland in San Francisco tonight. It's actually a big country music festival with other acts like Lady Antebelem, Miranda Lambert, and Montgomery Gentry. Whoever they are. So, Vika, Laurie and I are doing a Girls' Night Out, and I plan to get schooled in country. Hopefully Vika will have a great time and this will be a fitting finale to her birthday week!