Morning Musings

Yesterday, Alyson woke up after having slept with her mouth open. 

Aly: "Eww! Someone put slobber on me!... MayLee did... And I didn't like that!"
Mom: "Sorry to tell you this, honey, but that's your slobber."
Aly: (blank stare waiting for me to say "just kidding")

Ice Cream

Once upon a time...

I was on vacation with my parents and my brother and sister.  We went for the day to Aspen to do the Alpine slide.  It was a lot of fun and as we were leaving, Mom and Dad said maybe we could get some ice cream. Really nice of them right?

Well, then Rachel and I had to ruin it.  I thought it was over by the "x" thing and Rachel was sure - absolutely positive that, no, it was definitely over by the "y" place.  We argued about it.  Until Mom said, "Fine, we just won't get any."

I can't be sure, but I think that was a pretty good learning experience.  When ice cream is on the line - play nice!

Confession

Dear Mom,

Do you remember that Sunday when we were trying to leave the house to go to church?  And I couldn't find my dress shoes?  And we were late because we were all looking for them?

I have a confession to make.

I hid them underneath the table.  Do you remember that fancy round table we were going to re-varnish?  It had a really long table cloth over it.  It was green with a lacy white over cloth.  It hung all the way to the floor.  It was the perfect place to conceal something.  I don't remember if I ever used it for anything else intentionally, except for that one day. 

So why did I hide my perfectly good (probably adorable) Sunday shoes underneath a dusty table?  I was hoping you'd notice the super adorable strappy heels you didn't really wear anymore.  I'd conveniently laid those out somewhere conspicuous after Rachel or I were done playing with them. I think I must have been a tween or early teens at that point.  And man, but did I want to be wearing some more grown up shoes. 

Incidentally, if you don't remember - you didn't take the bait.  I gave up and then "found" my shoes underneath the table. 

Though I didn't think it was awesome at the time, I appreciate it now.  Thank you for not letting me grow up too fast.  I'll have to put the brakes on for my own girls all too soon.

I love you,
Cakle-berry.


PS. Yes, I do know that "and" is not supposed to start a sentence.  I like it anyway.

Dose 5 - the Aftermath

When we were at the Cosmosphere, Erik picked up a fancy little contraption in the gift shop.  It's pretty much a wing on a stick.

 The next day, Erik and the girls tested it on the hill next to my parent's house. 

All you do is put the stick between your palms and drag your hands in opposite directions.

Think of how cool it was when we all used to "Give a five, and let it slide".  That's pretty much what you want to do with your hands - but vertically. 

After the wing is free of your fingers, it spins up and away from you.  And then you have your children bring it back to you.  Because it's hot and they feel more like running around than you do.

My little Pookle

 I'm not sure why, but I absolutely love these two blurry pictures.

We all had a blast.  And then the girls needed a bath.  Exhibit A:

MayLee's hobbit-ish feet

Dose 4 - The Roadtrip within a Roadtrip

In addition to hanging out in town, we decided to go on a mini roadtrip while we were in Topeka.   The girls have never been to the Cosmosphere space center and it's been years and years since we've been.

Before I give you the meat and potatoes though, here are some appetizers.

Grandpa C on a walk with the girls

MayLee playing at Aunt Amy's house

Alyson playing at Aunt Amy's house

MayLee with one of her cousins

Here we go now...


To be honest, we double dipped.  On the way to Hutchinson, we stopped in Abilene to see the Eisenhower Museum.

We waited for a while before our tour of his boyhood home.

At the Cosmosphere, they have an entire HUGE airplane in the lobby.  I can't believe I didn't get a good picture of the whole thing, but here we are at the tip of the airplane. 

It's cool - there are no ropes - you can touch it, take pictures with it...

...or even sit your kids on it.

MayLee is looking at what we soon found to a lunar module.  Pretty cool.

Alyson was kind enough to share her chapstick (tap-stitch) with Grandma C

The girls got to learn about Mars explorers

Aly got to sit in an ejection seat

Grammy, Grandpa C and MayLee next to the Apollo 13 space ship command center.  Uh yeah.  I said the Apollo 13 command center.  The one they made a movie about.

MayLee fell asleep in Grammy's arms

Grammy and MayLee (asleep) in front of a the Lunar Module

We had a blast - an awesome, exhausting and memorable day!  Thank you Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Grumpy and Aunt Rachel!