It's never been achieved before. It may never be achieved again. But Saturday, while the children were swimming, I achieved it.
Yes, I see the clothes whirring around in both washers and dryers. That doesn't count. What counts is that Every. Single. Piece. of clothing in the house that was dirty, was either clean or being cleaned at the moment.
Swimsuits and swim towels don't count, because (in a perfect world) those get hung up in bathrooms to dry for next use. Not slumped in a sad pile, molding into a health hazard until mom says "What's that smell?" Not really wanting to know, mind you, but bravely confronting the necessity of not wanting the house to rot. Boys, at least let let the towels slump on the ceramic tile bathroom floor, not on your wood floor in your rooms? I mean, assuming hanging it over the towel rack requires too much exertion and you're met with those two options only. What also doesn't count: bedsheets. If I can't smell 'em, they're okay.
But that was two days ago. Mt. Washmore is once again on location.
Last Friday was "homeschool family day" at Worlds of Fun, where homeschooled students got discounted tickets, meals and the thing Josh declared "the very best part of all" was a paper bracelet allowing the bearer to receive unlimited free drinks all day. Good day for it too, as the temps were breaking records that day. Christina was able to join us as nursing school lets out early on Fridays.
Some favorites:
Are we REEEAAALLY SURE? There's still time to change minds...
Nope. Rip-cord pulled. Descent begins quickly.
Braver, knowing it was going to be okay...
And a graceful landing.
And although Isaiah declared the entire day "a big piece of fun, the most fun I ever had!" he looked like this on all of the rides:
And then we split up, I took the little ones to Camp Snoopy.
At least, that was the plan. But the big kids wanted to try the Worm first. I'll never be sure why.
Silly girls. No matter what kind of horse it is, they'll ride it.
Then the big kids went with Brett, and the little ones decided that Snoopy must be thirsty.
But Gideon was the only one I could talk into a face painting. He chose the dragon.
He looks rather fearsome, don't you think?
Having explored the depths of Camp Snoopy as much as we felt possible, we hooked up with the older set again. The log flume proved to be a good match for all. Yet note the still-worried look on Isaiah's face.
A wet landing.
Have you ever seen such joy-filled faces? Except Isaiah of course.
Kept trying to find a pic of Isaiah smiling while riding. Here, even Judson tried to talk him into not being worried--to no avail
There's so many missing photos. When Brett and the older kids split up and went on the Big People rides, I didn't get photos of those. Huh. Maybe we'll have to make another trip if we cash in our retirement account.
This pretty much sums up the day:
Though Sunday was supposed to be a day of rest, it didn't really turn into that. Usually how it goes.
So Monday afternoon, when the kids were done with school, we decided an afternoon of swimming would suffice.
Unfortunately, the dreaded Pool Snake was discovered, and Isaiah came in yelling that it was the biggest snake EVER.
We retrieved it out of the depths and disposed of it properly. Depending upon your particular persuasion of How Animals Should be Treated, I will leave it to your imagination. If you choose to think that he is now slithering back to his family with a great adventure story, then do so.
But it was traumatic, and there was no getting back into the pool until said snake had been properly removed. It also required Ice Cream--the Universal Bandaid.
Hope your weekend was slightly exciting and that this week brings you joy and not snakes. Unless you like snakes.
