7 Quick Takes about Trips Down Memory Lane, Toy Dog Confusion, and a Lot of Flat Tires

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

—1—

The 3-day road trip back home from visiting my family in Minnesota went well. We did a lot of driving on the first and third days so we could spend a good chunk of of time on the second day stopping at our old home in Columbus, Ohio.

We lived there until our oldest was 5½, so it was interesting to see what the kids remembered. We saw my daughter's elementary school (nothing) and our apartment (the girls said they recalled the building being taller.) 

The main attraction was the science museum, which we visited all the time and they seemed to have the most memories of. Mostly sounds, which was interesting. 

My kids said they remembered the ocean exhibit as being "scary." I wonder why??

The thing that surprised me most was when we walked in my second daughter, was was 3 when we moved away from Columbus, knew how to get to a specific exhibit from the front door. (Unfortunately it had since been replaced by another exhibit. Sad face emoji.)

The thing I was most excited for was to have the 17- and 15-year-olds peek in at the little kids' free play area to tell me what they remembered. We visited that area more than the rest of the exhibits in the whole museum combined, and I have such fond memories of them playing there. They walked around looking at everything, shrugged, and were like, "Yeah, no, I don't remember this at all."

And that's childhood for you.

—2—

After the museum, we stopped at a park to eat some dinner. While we were sitting on a bench, a lady walked by with her two fluffy Pomeranians.

My 5-year-old pointed and said quite loudly, "What even are those?"

Confused and maybe a little defensive, the lady answered, "They're little dogs!" 

I think he offended her. But to be fair, they did look like tribbles on strings.

—3—

We got to our hotel late that night, so it was immediate teeth-brushing and bedtime once we checked in. 

After everyone had brushed their teeth I went into the bathroom and burst out laughing We'd been there for literally 10 minutes and the number they'd done on the mirror impressed even me.

This incidence came to my mind again a few days later when we arrived home. We'd gotten the floors refinished while we were gone, and less than 12 hours after we got home the kids had succeeded in flooding the toilet all over it.

They just don't waste any time breaking things in.

—4—

We arrived home late Sunday night and the older kids had to wake up early for church youth camp at 8 AM the next morning, so we're all a little disoriented. 

It's different again this year because of COVID. Instead of a weeklong overnight camp for the girls and a week for the boys, they're doing 12-hour day camps (two days for the girls, two days for the boys, and one day for both combined.) But still fun, I think?

I don't know, I'm just trying my hardest to get everyone to the carpool location in time every day. This is a way more significant struggle for me than it probably should be.

—5—

Speaking of struggles, Phillip got a flat tire yesterday on his way home from work. Luckily he was in the parking lot of his workplace, because the lug nuts were on so tight he had to go back in for a hammer to hit the tire iron with to get them off. 

By the time he drove home on his spare, patched his original tire, replaced it, and put everything away again, it was pretty late at night.

To wake up a little before work this morning, he went on a quick trail ride with his mountain bike... and got a flat tire.

The fact that he didn't just give up, lay down on the trail, and wait to be struck by lightning really says something about his indomitable spirit. That's what I would've done.

—6—

Earlier this spring, my 15-year-old auditioned for a more selective youth orchestra in the city. The good news is, she just got word she was accepted! The bad news is, she was putting in such long hours practicing for the audition that she hurt her wrist. 

She took a whole month off (during which she had an existential crisis because she's been practicing violin for an hour a day every day since she was 5,) and we were disappointed to find that it still isn't back to normal.

This week she went in for an X-ray and now we're off to a physical therapist, so hopefully she can play in this orchestra, after all. I don't usually ask for personal favors but if any of you have prayer lists I'd love for her to make it on yours. She's planned for music school and violin performance to be part of her life, so this feels like a really disappointing setback.

—7—

As it does every year around this time, our world map and all our flags went back up on the wall. If you're new to the blog or just can't remember what the heck I'm talking about, every summer vacation I have the kids pick a few different countries and we spend a week learning about each one. 

I try to make it fun. 

We make each country's flag and keep it from year to year, and the two youngest kids like to sit at the dinner table and quiz each other. (The fact that a 5-year-old from the U.S. can identify the national flag of Mauritania is a constant source of amusement to me.)

Note: by "sit at the table and quiz each other" I meant "run around shrieking and pointing at the flags while Phillip and I yell at them to sit down and finish eating."

At the end of each week, I write up a recap and post it on Saturday night, so you can look forward to hearing about our educational "trip" to Iceland next weekend! 

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