Has come and gone…but we were able to take in some of the festivities between the move and Loran’s travel. A mere four days before we moved, we boldly volunteered to be the Garden of Hope parade HQ again this year. I had some help designing our “float” (my car) and we had a super turn out of families who wanted to walk in the parade with us. Loran and I cooked some hot dogs, families brought other foods, the weather was perfect, we were near the front of the parade line and we happily passed out 3,000 pencils!
While I thought the biggest problem in entertaining a crowd at our house would be the fact that it looked that we lived in a box fort, I was surely proven wrong by a law we’ll call – Murphy. Wouldn’t you know, in the midst of packing/cleaning/prepping for a gathering, I walk by the basement stairs to smell something unpleasant. That’s the more polite way of saying, I walked by and thought, “Why does our basement smell like anus?” Because, upon further inspection, our floor drain had backed up all over the floor. That’s why. Apparently, when you do a lot of laundry, that happens. Apparently, up until that point in the house, I’d never done “a lot” of laundry. However, prior to the move, I was washing a lot of blankets/rugs/towels before packing them up to be stored. Luckily, Murphy’s cousin had visited us a few days prior and I had already packed up the floor rug and all of the toys that had previously been where there was now sewage. Thankfully, we didn’t lose anything other than a different rug that was on its last legs anyway. But, there was poor Loran, mopping up gross water only a few hours before company. That’s the way we roll.
And of course, last year I couldn’t have forced people into the house if I tried, everyone stayed on the deck or in the yard…this year, everyone congregated in the kitchen. Thankfully, the smell had been replaced by a nice, clean, bleachy smell…and food.
Ella started the parade in the car, watching the crowds from the safety of her car seat. Lily passed out and slept through most of the parade. However, half way through, Ella wanted to get out and proceeded to work the crowd, passing our pencils, waving and having a good time!
A few days later, the girls were back under our roof at the new/old house and Daddy was on his way to Europe for a week. We made our usual post-airport stop at Ikea. Apparently, with Loran’s frequent travel this year, my habit of stopping at the nearby Ikea has rubbed off on the girls. Anytime they hear the word “airport” they ask if we’re going to Ikea. Like Pavlov’s dogs, they probably salivate a bit too because every time we stop at Ikea, I treat them to hot dogs, chips and a lingonberry juice – for a whopping $2. So we ate our hotdogs, purchased some fine Swedish furniture and headed home for a week of unpacking. That evening, with help from Ella, I reassembled the swing set. That was a big step in the move-in process for the girls.
The next morning, we were off to take in more events of Manitou Days. We attended the annual pet parade. We didn’t bring our pets, but we enjoyed other people’s pets. Especially the giant dog that was waist high at only eight months old!
After the pet parade, we were off to Cup and Cone to meet up with Kid-O-Deo volunteers from church to celebrate our awesome win over the other volunteers through church. Our group had the highest percentage of volunteers who got their pictures taken for the volunteer directory. That translated into a treat from Cup and Cone. Cookie sandwiches. An inch of ice cream between two chocolate chip cookies. It was pretty intense. Even with help from my side-kicks, I couldn’t finish it all.
During the week, we also did some home improvement projects, like wiring new lights and outlets with my grandpa. A few Home Depot runs – one after swimming at the Y pool with the girls in their pjs.
We visited some old haunts, like the “High Tower” where the girls danced and sang and met some new, fluttery friends. Then enjoyed ice cream at home. During my “downtime” I worked on cutting through the chaos and assembling order, box by box…
And one week later, Daddy came home. Everyone was under one roof. Order was mostly restored. And Manitou Days marched on, right into the Fourth of July celebrations!
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