Family Reunion
How often do you have family reunions? My side of the family doesn’t have reunions often… I only remember having 2 reunions in my life, but another one is in the planning stages. My husband’s family on his mother and father’s sides both have a reunion every other year. I have to say that I think that having a reunion every other year is awesome. I think it is so cool to see everyone and to be honest families (especially young families like ours) change a lot in 2 years. I believe I am more updated on my husband’s cousins than my own! I think that having reunions every other year is great. What do you think? Does your family have reunions and how often?
Vacation
Well I was really going to try to update and continue bogging while I have been on vacation, but that’s just not happening. It is just kind of hard when you don’t have your computer with you to get on and blog at odd hours of the night and so on. So just know that I am trying to blog, and will be posting in at least a week and a half, if not sooner! In the meantime, if you find a super cool blog, I’d like to hear about it! Send it in a comment along with your review!
Traveling Activities
I have been asking around about what I should do to entertain my 2 year old on a long (19 hour) drive. I did 2 things which worked like a charm.
1. I decided to go with a wonderful suggestion of stopping by the dollar store and picking up a few toys, ones he doesn’t have and giving him them throughout the drive to entertain him. Well I have to say that that was an awesome idea. He especially loved the Mr. Potato Head I got him. It is just a mini one, but he played with it for quite a while, and then asked for it back again several times. So yes, a wonderful idea, and it took only 2 toys on our drive so I have 2 other activities for the drive home already!
2. I also have a wonderful friend who let us borrow her families’ DVD player. SO GREAT! It also took far less movie watching than I thought it would. I am glad that I had extras though.
I am interested to see if these tactics work on the way home. I guess we will find out. Have fun with your summer traveling!
Cool Music Video
You gotta love good music. My husband’s cousin had a link up to this video and I loved it and wanted to share it. Jon Schmit is a pianist. He arranges, plays and sings music. He and cellist Steve Sharp Nelson arranged Taylor Swift’s song “Love Story” and I have to say that it is excellent. And the reason they did it was because Jon’s 7 year old daughter loves this song. I almost laughed out loud when I heard that because several weeks ago we went to my husband’s Company Picnic and they were playing music over the loud speakers. Well they played “Love Story” and there was a little girl on the swing set, eating a sno-cone, she was probably 6 or 7 and was just belting it out. Then when it was over she said, “I love that song.” She was just so adorable I had to take a picture.
Make your own Aquarium
Going to the Aquarium is a wonderful way to show your child a new world, but it is also expensive, and I don’t know about you but I don’t live by one! No Time for Flashcards has a great post on making your own aquarium and I wanted to share it with you! This is a great summer activity and you could even do it on a larger scale in the backyard (like in a kiddy-pool) and have the kiddos in swim suits and enjoy it first hand. Enjoy!
The Internet is BORING
“The past few months the internet has become less-interesting” -My Husband (who is a web designer)
I had to laugh when he said that because, the internet is his job! But I also have to agree with him. I don’t spend hours roaming the internet like I used to. I don’t really care to navigate the blogosphere (ironic I know) and I’m just tired of it [the internet]. Of course there are a few blogs that I check daily, usually more than once a day because, I haven’t found anything else interesting to look at. Facebook is also losing it’s pull. I mainly get on to see what’s going on with friends, not really chatting to anyone or updating my status. It is kind of weird to me to be in this “cyber-rut” of sorts. I don’t really have the energy at this point to seek out new, fun information. My husband and are are super busy with work, church, my own blog, his blog, our kiddo, day to day life that we have lost that zeal to search out new, interesting sites/blogs. Is that weird? I don’t think we are alone in this. I hope we aren’t alone in this.
Random Fact
“Before sandpaper was invented, people used the rough skin of sharks, called shagreen, to smooth and polish wood. Japanese warriors wrapped the skin around the handles of their swords to keep the swords from slipping out of their hands.”
Fact courtesy of: facts.randomhistory.com
Traveling Countdown
Have you ever been really excited for a vacation? You put a countdown in your day timer/planner and then in shocked realization that you have less than a week to prepare! You have counted down, looked at the days, generally started laying out a plan, but then you realize practically all the prep work has to be done. Do ALL the laundry, clean the entire house, pack, plan food, plan activities, check out audio books from the library, enlist a small army to check in on the homestead, etc. You have been “brainstorming” about these thing for quite some time and think you’re prepared until you then calculate the time to have left to prepare and the time it will actually take to prepare and then your blood pressure goes up and you start stressing. That would be where I am. Yay. (that is a sarcastic “yay” for anyone who didn’t understand the joyousness of that “yay”) And for anyone who is wondering, it is like IMPOSSIBLE to check out the Harry Potter series on audio book during high traveling times, namely Christmas and summer. Sigh and look around my disastrously messy office. Better get to work.
Parking Ticket Anyone?
I got a parking ticket! Can you believe that? To be honest I’m not exactly sure if I’m guilty or not… but I’m fighting it. My reasoning:
1. I picked a spot that already had time on the meter. (I did fail to check how much time was on the meter.)
2. I was in the library for about half an hour.
3. When I got to my car I found a ticket, yet my meter said it still had over a hour and a half on it!
4. There were several cars around mine that were expired with no tickets. AND I really doubt someone would have put money in my meter after I had gotten a ticket and not put money in the people around me who were expired or about to expire.
I tracked down a meter maid, apparently she wasn’t the one who gave me my ticket, so she gave me the supervisors name and number. The supervisor is out of town so I left a message. I know the ticket is only 2 dollars, but 2 dollars is 2 dollars people! I still think it is an ethical choice to fight it and not pay the $2 fine, what do you think? I seriously think the meter maid was confused at which car she was ticketing. There were 2 other white cars across from me that were expired without tickets. Any thoughts?
Tricky Tricky
Do your kids try to trick you? This is a new thing for my son. He knows he’s not allowed to go into/play in the office because it still isn’t organized and he can’t seem to leave the printer and computer alone. Well his most recent “trick” is to say goodbye to me when I’m in the bathroom getting ready and he shuts the bathroom door, then he goes into our office and shuts the door. It didn’t take me long to figure out what he was up to so now I head him off and stop the fun. I’m sure he’ll soon have a new trick to play.
