It must be global warming, or something.

The weather finally warmed up a bit, here in our neck o' the woods.

Then cooled way down. Then rained. And rained some more. It must be global warming or something.

But, then it got pretty hot for an entire week. So, we've been spending as much time as possible at the lake house, going on as many bike rides as we can fit in, petting as many dogs--belonging to strangers--as we can find, and enjoying our new boat.

During my short little computer sabatical--ok, not so short computer sabatical. Fine! Over a month long computer sabatical, geez--we've been training our young brood to take life by the tube handles, relax and enjoy the ride. And, so far so good.

Rest assured, we're still around, despite our attendance on this edge of the blogosphere.

And believe me, in a couple shorts months when that water back there:

...will have turned to ice, we have 6 foot snow drifts out our front door and fantasy football is in full swing, we'll be ready and rearin' to share our Pear Plum Crisp recipe, the pictures of what my bed looks like on laundry day, and what 2 year old twins look like when they shove half of a banana in their mouths.

You can't wait, I know.

Why the motion?

UPDATED: Well, the actual update is at the end.


ORIGINAL POST:

Any ideas why, on a cloudy day at the lake, I loaded up our 4under3 and navigated down the river to the nearest town to take this picture yesterday morning?

Any thoughts on why in the world I would pull all four children out onto the cement--for approximately 3 teeny little minutes and for passerbyers to see--and make this parking lot our first stop in a journey that later included a podunk park that appeared older than the trees over it's head? A park whose rocks entertained the children more than anything.

You got any notions?

About our motion?

Here's the answer:

So, our reasoning behind stopping here is not that it was their first visit out of state. Nor was it that it was their first time purchasing fireworks. (However, we did visit one of those the next afternoon. I never thought to snap a picture of that.) But, Lori, you were right on. Slippery's restaurant was the 'Slippery's' in Grumpy Old Men. The actual movie was filmed in that very town. The children, however, could have cared less. They really just wanted more of those Sour Patch Kids I bribed them with before we got out of the car.

driving in cars making memories

Why do we travel 5 hours in a car with a child who, for the most part despises her carseat 4 children still in 5 point harnesses, and then think of it as fun?

To build memories. Duh.



And, I'm not talking about the type of memories that include twin 1 year olds stripping off their pajamas and dirty diapers and throwing them over the edge of their extra large pack-n-play that they were just tucked into for bed, while staying at a cabin with 2 other familes and their children.

Not those kind of memories.



The kind of memories that include itty bitty people walking/falling/swimming/splashing/crawling/stripping down to their Bob the Builder underwear (without you knowing) across the beginning of the mighty Mississippi:

The kind of memories that make you think back to what it must have felt like to snuggle with your 3 year old son in a parking lot next to your car's wheels while stopped for an ice cream and potty break:

Those kind of memories.

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And you thought I was kidding when I said Mondays and Tuesdays are the only days I do laundry around here. Here's round 1 of 4:

But for some reason, it's not as big of a deal when you can do it while sniffing a sweet zephyr of lilac from your neighbors backyard.