melted smoosh

it feels a bit preposterous to sit down and type out a list of woes on my personal laptop, in my own heated house, while my four healthy children nap or play (respectively) and I sip on a San Pellegrino flavored water from a case that a neighbor on our Buy Nothing group just gifted us. and yet. and yet! there has been quite a bit of woe in the last several weeks and I want to complain about it, so I shall.  at the top of the list: car woes. not one, but two of Nick's cars were hit by other drivers within the past month. fortunately he was not injured, but working on his cars is essentially therapy for him -- so he lost not just two vehicles in his fleet, but also the time that was required to deal with insurance and police reports, and the emotional benefit of his favourite hobby.  this car was rear-ended while parked. Nick wasn't actually in the car, but saw it happen -- the driver of the SUV in the photo below was driving full speed in the right hand lane and didn't reali

  1) Idlewild. the weekend before school started, Nick had an extremely rare free Saturday (most of the time he's playing for weddings, funerals, or a combination of the above). we seized the opportunity to go to our favourite amusement park for the younger set. this time, Elizabeth was all about the rides, and I certainly enjoyed being able to go on the coasters again after our last few visits when I was pregnant! Victoria did great the whole day. and I was absolutely thrilled to break in the new Bob stroller: it's a dream to push and has so many handy compartments and pockets, not to mention the oversize canopies that helped keep the babies shaded all day long! best ride in town Nick demonstrating to Greta how a fanny pack SHOULD be worn. she did not agree. Elizabeth LOVED the teacups and rode two or three times! the first time I didn't spin the cup much at all in case it scared her, but it quickly became clear that she was all in! Daddy had to take a turn. our late 30s v