7 Quick Takes about Coming Back to Work, Places You Can't Skateboard, and Celebrating American Independence by Shooting Marshmallows at Each Other

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

We just got back from visiting Phillip's family in Utah for two weeks, and it was the first time in a long time that I was actually on vacation while on vacation: no blogging. Or at least very little.

Playing our favorite vacation game at the airport: how many Evanses can you fit in an elevator?

My family would be quick to point out that I was still working a little most days, but I still maintain that it was a restful break, and I'll be back to blogging full-time in my usual form on Monday!

—2—

With the time difference and the late-night flight (it was 1:30 AM by the time we got home,) I think the kids are going to take a while to adjust to a normal people schedule.

Yesterday morning they woke up at 10:45, with the exception of my one early bird who was awake at 10.

This morning I rolled them all out of bed at 9, so progress, right?

—3—

I'll share more highlights from our Utah trip next week, but I wanted to brag about a particularly proud moment right here.

Allow me to set up the scene: Phillip's extended family is all meeting up to get family photos taken. At Phillip's parents' house, there are 18 of us rushing to get ready and out the door by 9:45 in the morning. Actually, just picture that scene from Home Alone and you'll be fine.

Half an hour before we're supposed to leave, the baby poops all up the back of his white onesie. His picture outfit. This is literally a crappy situation.

So I asked myself what I always ask myself: What would MacGyver do? (Just kidding, I don't really ask myself that. But in this case, I did exactly what he would have done.)

I quickly handwashed the onesie and used my magical lay-it-out-in-the-sun trick for 20 minutes to disappear the stain, then dried it by sticking it out the car window driving on the freeway to our photo shoot. When we arrived on location, it was like nothing ever happened.

—4—

On Tuesday we went on a really pretty walk to see some mountain springs, and noticed this sign.

This is why humans stopped using a pictorial language system: too ambiguous.

I think it's telling us we're not supposed to go wading here, but the two little circles underneath made me wonder if it actually means 'no skateboarding in the water.'

So we didn't do either, just to be on the safe side.

—5—

On the 4th of July we had a big BBQ with the whole family, minus one of Phillip's brothers and his family who live in Arizona and couldn't make it this year: 12 adults, 14 kids, and a dog.

Phillip's dad made the coolest marshmallow guns out of PVC pipe for the kids.

Load mini marshmallows at the top, aim, and blow.

We divided the kids into teams to play a capture-the-flag type game, but I wasn't sure about all the particular rules. Possibly they weren't either, but they knew they got to run around blowing mini marshmallows at each other and that was enough for them.

My 4-year-old participated by following everyone around, picking the marshmallows up off the ground and eating them. Safe to say she had an excellent 4th of July.

—6—

Between the MacGyver move with the onesie and this brilliant 4th of July hack courtesy of my brother-in-law, I'm starting to think we have a family full of super-geniuses.

Before he handed out sparklers, he slid the little kids' through a little hole at the bottom of a plastic cup to protect their hands. 

Proof that my family is a genetically-modified breed of masterminds. Or somebody just uses Pinterest.

Not saying they absolutely couldn't burn their hands this way (because toddlers can always find a way to hurt themselves,) but it would certainly be harder.

—7—

I used to clean the house (or at least stress out about trying to clean the house) before going on a trip because the thought of coming back to a dirty house depressed me.

Phillip never used to get it when we were trying to pack suitcases and I'm running around yelling, "BUT I HAVE TO MOP THE KITCHEN!!!"

Anyway, that was then and this is now. I think I gave up on that dream around Baby #4. I just didn't have time or energy to pretend anymore that I was going to sweep, mop, and vacuum every surface in addition to packing.

So the house was pretty dirty, just the way we'd left it, when we came home on Thursday morning.

On the plus side, there wasn't much in our fridge when we returned so I took the opportunity to scrub it out. Because, as someone in our family pointed out, it looked "like someone had been murdered in it."

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