The Lee Family: Sofia's Second Successful Lemonade Stand

Today Sofia held her second lemonade stand that we set up at 2pm just inside our neighborhood. Many of my friends and tennis ladies know about Sofia's goal and asked that I let them know when she held her next lemonade stand. So, this morning I sent out an email and posted on Facebook about Sofia's stand, where and when it would be and explained her goal of going to see and meet Jim Lovell and Fred Haise. Since the first lemonade stand, Sofia has become more and more involved in the Gala. Sofia's lemonade sign and write-up was included in their advertising for the Gala and a write-up of Sofia and her desire to be an astronaut would be in the Gala program! In the past week or so, the head of marketing contacted me to see if Sofia would actually present the awards to the two astronauts. They also asked to interview Sofia and show a few minutes of her interview during the Gala as well as several of the photos from our trip to NASA, pictures of her with the Stearman over the years, and pictures of her working her lemonade stand.

Olivia headed out with CK to go flying and have lunch so Sofia and I ran a few errands and went to lunch together at Trio and then ran to the grocery store to pick up 50 lbs of ice. I wasn't sure how much ice she would use but I wanted to be sure we had enough. After we loaded the ice to our ice chest, we headed home and Sofia made up the lemonade in our stock pot and our blue pitcher. She did all the work making the lemonade while I got all the other things together. I loaded the car with our card table, the signs and cups. We then loaded up the lemonade and drove to the front of the entrance and set up under a tree. It was actually an absolutely perfect day in the low-80s, so a great day to sell lemonade. Sofia also made a "Fresh Lemonade" sign that I taped onto a post and then placed in our front entrance so people driving by would see it. The main road outside our development is undergoing construction for the city's main water pipe replacement, so it's actually really difficult to notice a sign for lemonade, but we figured it was better to try to get a few people in to buy lemonade.

Sofia's first customer was actually Mrs. Schultz, her former 1st grade teacher and Olivia's current Kindergarten teacher. They both absolutely adore her and she's the sweetest woman and a terrific teacher. Mrs. Schultz was with her son, Parker, who is a senior in high school now. Although I've never met Parker before, I feel like I know him from the years of having Mrs. Schultz talk about him and seeing pictures of him on Facebook. They bought two lemonades and chatted for a bit. We soon had our neighbors, Todd and then later Stacy, Antonio and Luca. We had a steady stream of friends and neighbors and even a few complete strangers. Everyone was beyond generous and in under two hours Sofia had made over $100! I couldn't believe it! I also had several family and friends pledge $10 each to support her efforts! Everyone was beyond generous. With the $60 she made from her first lemonade stand, Sofia has now earned over $195 and is planning to use her "allowance" to cover the remaining $55 she needs to pay for her Gala ticket. Technically the girls get $5 every Friday unless they lose their allowance due to misbehaving. Honestly, we hardly remember their allowance and they almost never ask about it. Neither of them really want to buy anything, other than a book from time to time for Sofia.

Although we've already paid for the Gala ticket, we wanted to be certain Sofia was serious about her desire to meet her heroes. Sofia gets really involved in a topic but also quickly loses interest and we didn't want to buy the Gala tickets and learn she no longer has any interest in space or becoming an astronaut. Thankfully she is still very dedicated and remains very excited to meet her two heroes. It should be an amazing event and we are so proud of Sofia for her dedication!

Ready to sell lemonade on a beautiful day!