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August was a busy month. In fact,
I’m pretty sure I blinked and it’s already over. There’s too much to catch you
up on everything, so we’ll just hit the highlights. (It’ll be like speed
blogging.)
It started with our summer mini
vacation to Philadelphia. I guess I never actually realized how country bumpkin
we were until we went to a major city. (Spoiler alert: Our hick level is pretty
up there.) My husband and I found out that we aren’t cut out for the bumper to
bumper mad traffic that comes with big cities. If you ever want to find out how
quickly an argument can break out between you and your spouse, sit in traffic while
hungry, frustrated and disoriented. (So. Much. Fun. Eye roll.)
Other than the crazy traffic, we also
saw a professional baseball game. The youngest child and I were the only ones
in our family that had yet to experience a “real” baseball game. It was pretty
cool, even if it’s not really my thing. When we asked the littlest one what his
favorite part of the game was he said, “When it was over.”
Oh.
Well, we always say that honesty is the best policy. Plus, you'll never have to wonder what he's really thinking!
The next day we checked out the Philadelphia
Zoo. Apparently it’s “America’s First Zoo”. So if you want to know which city
had the bright idea to stick large, man eating cats in a city full of, uh, men,
look no further. We all enjoyed the zoo, but probably not as much as my step
tracker did. There was a lot of walking and animals and at the end we let our
kids pick an overpriced, touristy memento in the gift shop.
The middle child left his in the
hotel dining room the day we left. (Insert palm smack to forehead here.)
Since the mini vacation was only 3
days, that’s pretty much the high points of our trip. Unless you count our trip
to an Aldi that is even bigger than ours, which is pretty dang exciting! (I did
mention that the hick level was pretty high, right?) And the hotel had a pool
which, as it turns out, was very good for the 80 degree plus weather that we
had during our stay. Incidentally, THAT was the favorite part of the five year
old’s trip to Philadelphia. You know, the VERY exotic, only found on vacation, full of questionably hygienic strangers,
pool. That one. (Insert second forehead smack here.)
The rest of the month passed by in
an annual tradition called
“I-can’t-freaking-wait-to-get-the-kids-back-to-school-because-I-ran-out-of-things-to-occupy-them-three-weeks-into-summer-and-I-am-NOT-an-events-planner-so-let’s-buy-ALL-the-supplies-and-clothes-and-shoes-and-dream-of-the-first-day-of-school-when-I-get-some-of-my-sanity-back”.
(I’d shorten it but it would probably still be one heck of a long acronym.)
While this year is exceptionally
awesome because ALL THE KIDS (!!!) are going to be in school, it’s also a
little bittersweet as the five year old says goodbye to his daycare family that
has been, well, like his actual family, for the last five years. His last day
was super emotional for both of us (and by us, I mean the littlest one and
myself since my husband usually shakes his head and rolls his eyes when at my
overly mom-motional episodes) and although he has an awesome memory book that
they made for him, it’s still a pretty touchy subject.
Which makes it pretty hard to gloat
(outwardly) about how close we are to the first day of school. Not like I'm counting down days (hours, minutes...) or anything. Sure, mentally I’m
doing somersaults and cartwheels, but I’m trying to be emotionally supportive
so I have to keep it to myself. (And you guys. But I’m trusting you won’ tell
him.)
If I’m lucky he’ll
be wrapped up in finger painting and making new friends after the first few days, but if his refusal to
join his soccer practice is anything to go by, I may be taking Kindergarten
again. On the plus side, it never hurts to update your skills and my shoe tying
and napping abilities could use some work. Maybe it’s a win-win for both of
us.
