Violet's sense of direction

This girl's got skills.  One of them is her uncanny sense of direction. Before she was even two years old, she could tell me the way to the zoo and her favorite parks.  Last summer, we lived in corporate housing which she referred to as our "splash pad house."  In December, more than four months after we had moved out, we passed the exit to our old corporate housing and she pointed to the exit and said, "Mommy, there's our splash pad house!"  You can't even see it from the freeway.  She just still remembered where it was.  Nowadays, when we go to a park that we haven't been to in months, she will ask what park we are going to.  All I have to do is explain where it is, and she will remember what park I'm talking about and tell me which way we have to go to get there. 

The best story happened when Brandon and I were in Belize and my sister-in-law Lena was staying with Violet and Charlie.  Lena lives in Utah, so I gave her directions to a park and to Target, but she really didn't know how to get anywhere else.  One day, Lena took the kids to Target and Violet told her that she wanted to go to HEB. (Violet loves HEB.) So Lena got in the car and told Violet to tell her the way to HEB.  (Target is nowhere close to HEB, by the way.)  And Violet got her there!  The best part is that I mentioned to Lena that I didn't know that Violet knew how to get to HEB from Target, since we always go to HEB after we drop Brandon off at school, never after we go to Target. And Lena said that Violet actually gave her directions to Brandon's school, and then gave her directions to HEB from there. When Lena would try to turn a different direction, she would start crying and yell, "You're going the wrong way!!!!"

Not bad for a 3-year-old.