Sunday, August 31, 2008

Day 'o Fun

From the moment she woke up, Tanya planned today to be the "Day '0 Fun". Seeing as how it's one of our last free days before school starts, she felt it should be memorable.

While I'm not sure how the Day 'o Fun could beat yesterday's events, which included "The Big Walk" I was ready to play along.

Let me share a quick overview with you.

Breakfast included our 'usual' menu of "get your own breakfast", with the addition of some scrambled eggs that Tanya was kind enough to share with Alexia and I. Near as I can tell, Mikayla skipped breakfast all together.

With breakfast out of the way, Tanya sped off to take care of the "September Get-Ready Stuff" shopping list. You know, the toothpaste, contact solution, shaving cream type of stuff that you need to replenish about once a month. In our family, if you don't get your stuff on the list at the right time, you're S.O.L until the next month. You have to be on the ball however, because Tanya snuck the September purchases into the last day of August.

Meanwhile, I began the process of emptying the last four inches of water out of the pool and catching up on yard work. Miraculously, the kids suddenly became invisible for the duration of my yard work. They apparently have a much better grasp on the Day 'o Fun concept than we do.

Upon Tanya's return from the store with September's booty, we had a lunch of leftovers and then headed out to Sakuma Brothers Farms for End of Summer ice cream sundae's and milkshakes. Now that's more like what we had in mind for a Day 'o Fun.

Next Stop on the Day '0 Fun tour: the mall. Here we enjoyed some birthday gift shopping opportunities and watched the movie The Longshots. Actually it was a rather enjoyable family movie. I'm pretty sure the kids didn't want me to join them for the movie since I tend to argue against the $129 popcorn and drink purchases. This time no one asked

about it - well, they didn't ask when I was within earshot anyway.

Next stop was Party City... since apparently you can't buy all the party supplies you need in one or two shopping trips. At least all the party goers on Alexia's invitation list will now receive dog invitations... with envelopes.

On the way to our next destination we drove by the Petsmart store. Mikayla piped up and, with some urgency, requested with stop to go in Petsmart. Feeling a bit shopped out and tired from this wild Day 'o Fun we both balked at the extra stop. A brief conversation ensued:

Tanya: "Why do you need to go to PetSmart?"
Mikayla: "Well... isn't this the Day 'o Fun? That would be 'o fun for me."
We all laughed.
We kept driving.

Next stop: Goodwill. Found some used books. Found some little dogs in a coin operated machine that apparently were on the 'must have for the party' list and weren't available anywhere else. We didn't have $6.00 of quarters (go figure), so we had to have an intelligent conversation with the Goodwill cashier.

Tanya (T): "We need to get some quarters."
Cashier (C): "I can't open the register unless you buy something."
T: "We are going to buy these books."
C: "That will be $17.25."
T hands her the credit card, while still holding the six $1 bills that need to be exchanged for quarters.
C: "I can only open the register if you pay with cash".
T: Blank stare - serious rant building behind the scenes
C: "If you have a penny you can use that for cash and pay for the rest on your credit card. That way I can open the register".
T: Manages to locate a penny while biting her tongue.

It was all very dramatic. Really.

Finally we grab some food on the way home for dinner and everyone disappears upstairs.

I head outside to wrestle with the last three inches of water in the pool and (making a long story short) ... an hour later as the sun is setting in the evening sky ... the whole family is in the pool with buckets, bailing water out onto the patio. After the novelty of this unusual activity wore off Mikayla pipes up once again, this time with obvious sarcasm:

"This is a great way to end the Day 'o Fun".

Friday, August 29, 2008

Every Day Is What You Make Of It

Real excitement in a small town is sometimes hard to find.

Not so with the Rolfs clan. We make our own excitement - with ease. Of course, everything is relative so maybe I'm completely wrong.

Today the gals were busy making the most of their last free Friday before school starts up next week.

Alexia had a friend over for most of the day - as did Mikayla. Too wet to go out, too cold to play ball, so they sat in the house and, well, I'm not sure exactly what they did because I was at work. Chances are high that entertainment included lots of imaginative play involving animals.

The gals found some time to do a little party planning & related shopping for Alexia's upcoming birthday. Chances are the party will be some kind of animal theme (yep... dogs) but I'm still hoping they reconsider my suggestion.

We met up for a late dinner in Burlington after I finished my last bus-commute day for the summer. The bus was really quiet today, except for the 11 year old who kept forgetting to turn down the sound on his video game, the bio-chemist who claims to also be a professional guitar player (live demonstration halted by bus driver) and the 55+ year old WWU Cheerleader wannabe. Despite the excitement, Mr. Holistic Medicine couldn't stay awake and woke up just moments after we passed his stop. Whoops! He might want to consider some natural caffeine for his next bus ride.

After dinner some of us (ok, one of us) pondered the painted on eyebrows of the Dollar Store cashier while the rest of the family finished party shopping.

Once home, our Tech-Guru Tanya immediately dominated the computer with hopes of being the first teacher to finish her district website for the year. She was all giggles until she found a coworkers website with flashy colors and clip art jazz. She'll be back at it tomorrow for sure.

So, here comes a three day weekend. Should be some great stories to share in the near future.

Can anyone enlighten me as to what a "decodable book" is? I'm pretty sure it has more to it than a simple 'rolling eyes' gesture.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

2008 Open House

Today our family enjoyed the Little Mountain BBQ and met the girls' teachers for the upcoming school year.

It was a blast!

You wouldn't believe it!

Pictures not yet available.