Setting: A seemingly deserted pool…

Looks like only two girls were swimming…

But the truth is, there were four girls swimming that day.

Bianca: Wow, it’s such a nice day today, isn’t it?

Kelly: Yes, good thing our swimming day pushed through today.

Bianca: I know what you mean. It’s boring being stuck all day, all summer in the house!

Kelly: Talk about the summer just going by without us going swimming, not even once! Bummer! Now we can wear our bikinis and swim all we want!

Bianca: Look, I can now ride my surfboard! Wendy made this for me.

Bianca: Look Kelly, I can now stand on  my surfboard!

Kelly: That’s great Bianca! Now let’s swim!

Kelly: Ooooh, the water’s so cool! I love to swim!

Kelly: Look at me Bianca, the swimming lessons must have worked! I can now float on my back!

Bianca: That’s great! Now just practice!

Kelly: Let’s do it together!

Kelly: Oh what a fun, fun day! I hope we can go swimming again soon! I need to practice my floating!

Bianca: Then let’s tell Wendy’s mom to that we want to swim again next week!

Kelly: Don’t worry, I have a feeling we will be!

*****

[Bianca's and Kelly's bikinis were designed and made by Wendy and Juday. Photos taken by Mommy Grace, through her cell phone.]

Around a month ago, Wendy asked me to buy her a trumpo [top]. Last week, it was this:

I was instantly brought back to my “jackstone days”! Oooohh, how I love jackstones: it’s a cheap toy [kahit ata sa palengke meron nito], it has many “variations,” it is fun to play!

I tried playing again after so many years, just to show off in front of Wendy. Sabi ko kasi expert ako sa jackstones! He! He! In the round of 1 to 10, I went “dead” only once! Yay! Yun nga lang, pagdating sa exhibition, medyo hirap na sa “around the world,” “cave,” and others.

Remember the “exhibition” part? There are so many choices; minsan pwede pa mag-imbento! As long as you do something not normal [ie, not just picking up the stars], lusot na!

Oh, how I love it when kids nowadays play what we were playing before! At least it’s not all computers and PSPs! Enjoy naman diba?

Just recently, Wendy asked me to buy her some books. Her request: Sweet Valley Kids. I grinned at her choice.

I bet you are too. After all, who among the women in this generation haven’t heard of the famous twins of Sweet Valley? Without a blink, I know that you know their names: Elizabeth and Jessica. And I bet you know who the bookish, nerdy, responsible twin is and who the outgoing, happy-go-lucky-, “I-hate-school” twin is. You know by heart their characteristics and personalities. And I bet the names Lila, Ellen, Amy, Todd, Steven, Enid you would also know!

I remember the first Sweet Valley Twins book given to me, which started it all. I went from Sweet Valley Twins to Sweet Valley High to Sweet Valley University. And the collection grew [such a pity though that we gave them away years ago]. I would read these books in my spare time to catch up on them. Weren’t we witnesses to the growth of the Sweet Valley gang? I remember being inis at Jessica [and Lila and the rest of the Unicorns] because of her cunning tricks and endless evil schemes (especially when they got older). Sometimes, I also hate Elizabeth for being too darn nice and forgiving! Hello! Is she for real? Anyway, hate them or love them, I found the series too engaging!

For the fun of it, if you read the series when you were young, do take this trivia quiz and see how well you know the people of Sweet Valley [I scored 11/20...such a pity!]!

I know that most women [and maybe none of the men] will be able to relate with this childhood treat, after all, us girls were much more likely to have used this in our childhood: autograph book.

I can still remember my friends asking me to sign their autograph book while I hand them mine for them to fill up. Autograph books come in different colors, shapes, sizes, thickness. May pabonggahan din dito! And in keeping with celebrities, perhaps, for a time, it becomes a status symbol, for it becomes a gauge of how popular you are. How many people have asked you to sign their autograph book?

Oh, and I can still remember how most of the girls would answer. The first page is usually for the basics, like name, nickname, birthday, etc. The favorites also come in here, like favorite color, subject, actor, etc. No sweat!

The juicy part comes on the next page, where the crushes will be revealed, that is, if you and your friend are brave enough to write your crush’s name. Some personal questions are also answered in this page, like “What is Love?” or “What is your most embarrassing moment?” So it’s sort of do or die: Either you are brave enough to write your real answer or you will come up with the lamest answers:

Looks like the way I answered when I was young!

Well, no matter how our friends answer, it’s always a thrill to read what they have written, diba? I guess it was our version of a gossip magazine then, only we knew the persons involved! We treasured these notebooks because they contained information about our friends, not to mention their secrets!

Wendy and Cherub got their first autograph books last week. But I guess they still do not know the significance of these. I mean they asked a new-found playmate at the park [as in 5 minutes pa lang silang magkakilala] to sign their autograph books. Hello! I wanted to scream, “Hey, those are for close friends!” but bit my tongue. What they want to do with their autograph books and who they want to sign are none of my business.

However, I am not discouraged, I know they will soon know the “sacredness” of the autograph book.