Yesterday Claire was sure she didn’t need a nap. So I decided to let her play first with Sophie and her friend in the sprinkler. After sprinkler time, she played in her “kitchen” for a little while. At 3:30 PM I put her down for a “quick nap” before our evening services. She woke up at 5:45 AM THIS MORNING. Guess she was tired.

Well today provided quite a bit of variety. We changed our piano lesson time to 11AM for the summer. Today was the first day at the new time. So, while Sam and Sophie were at their lessons, Wilson and Claire and I had to find a way to entertain ourselves. We decided to visit a new Goodwill in that part of town. Wow! Did Claire make out like a bandit. Wilson found for her a round Minnie Mouse, that looks like a decorated basketball with ears. She loves it, and it came all the way from Disney World. And as if she weren’t happy enough with that, he also found her an awesome little wooden kitchen set.

It’s too cute. It even has a towel bar and a pot hanging rack. It had one little spot on it where the previous owner had chipped the wood/paint … but that was nothing a “paint pen” couldn’t fix. It’s as good as new!! … and only cost $9.99. That beats $125 any day. Wilson found himself another golf bag, because, as you know, we have a shortage of those here. I found Sam a hardcover version of one of the books he likes to read for fun.

When we got home, Sophie and I went out to the garden and found six cherry tomatoes, one really ripe large tomato, and four cucumbers to harvest. Today’s harvest actually covered the bottom of the basket. Even more exciting … there are a TON more cukes and tomatoes; and we saw a few teeny-tiny zuchini and squash growing. Hurray!! Summer’s here.

Garden as of May 25th

The first photos off the SD card for the summer. Lots more still on the laptop, but this gives a great idea of our first few weeks. The pool’s open, the garden is well underway, the pollen has finally begun to subside, and the local schools are out. So of course … Mark’s headed to Miami this week.

So yesterday, I took the kids to Carowinds on my own. Everything was going fine until I made the mistake of riding one of the “kiddie” rides with Claire … and accidentally sat backwards. YIKES! When I got off the ride Sophie was REALLY worried. Needless to say it took a while to recover and Sophie took over the “riding with Claire” duties for a while.

The park has changed ownership, and the “kiddie” area is not longer Nickelodeon themed. It’s Peanuts, and it’s called “Planet Snoopy”. We didn’t even see other parts of the park, or the “water fun areas”. The kids had a blast and even got to see some of the “gang”.

On the Balloon Ride ... facing the correct direction!

What did I learn from this experience? I learned that I can take the kids to the park and survive, but I also learned that I can’t ride the “no thrill” kiddie rides … They are appropriately named. It’s no thrill to feel that bad and have to keep up with a two year old, even if you have a stroller.

There’s a lot to be said for good customer service, and a quality product. And when a product doesn’t live up to its billing … good customer service can save, or destroy, the consumer/retailer relationship. Zappos has great customer service. I thought that their low priced, and sometimes free, shipping was fabulous … but it gets even better.

In January, I purchased some sandals to replace my FAVORITE Merrell sandals. I’d worn my favs for two years and they were in need of a permanent rest. So I found a style I’d purchased for Sophie and ordered them in January. I wanted to be ready when the heat arrived. I broke them out of the box about four weeks ago and have been enjoying them since. Today, I looked down only to discover that the stitching on my new shoes was coming undone. At first I thought that maybe it was just an aesthetic issue I could overlook for comfort, but no …. it turned out to be structural. So, I decided to call Zappos and see what, if anything, could be done.

Their Customer Service department was only too glad to help me. My shoe has been discontinued, but they found a similar style by another company and agreed to do an even exchange. In fact, they are sending my replacements out to me as I write this. They didn’t even wait to get the defective shoes back!!! They emailed me a shipping label to do the return, and said to try to have them back within 14 days. I can do that. The best part is … my new shoes will be here TOMORROW!! Awesome. I will definately be shopping Zappos again.

So, this morning … after stopping off for a fresh cup of coffee … I ran a few errands and ended up at the local fruit stand purchasing what may be the season’s last round of Strawberries. I took all four little (and not so little) munchkins into the shop and as we were leaving I was just shaking my head. Somehow we managed to spill a few strawberries and cause the untimely “rolling” death of a very large watermelon. I guess I should mention that we had already purchased ‘said’ watermelon. It was amazing how quickly a LONG line formed in what had been a relatively empty shop just moments before.

As we’re buckling to leave, I said … mainly to myself …

Self … “I must have done something just really terrible.”

Sam … “Mom!  That is a VERY Lucy VanPelt way of looking at things.  You know that’s not the way it works.”

Self to Sam … “Do I?  (Smile) Yes, you’re right.  Sorry to be too much like Lucy.  It was just a rather difficult trip through the fruit stand.”

Sam … “That’s okay, Mom. Man is born to trouble, as surely as the sparks will fly.”

Self … “What?”

Sam … “Man is born to trouble, as surely as the sparks will fly.  You know … Job 5:7 … but I’m sure the rest of the day will be better.”

I had to laugh, and so yes the rest of the ride was much better.  

Somewhere, I have a picture of Sophie that is very similar to this. I think it was from the weekend of Alex & Nichole’s wedding. This is my new favorite picture of Claire. She’d been playing with the cat and decided to remove her own hair elastic. The crazy hair is working for her though.

Claire

About three weeks ago, we brought home a new pet. We haven’t had a pet since our cat died almost 3 years ago, and the kids have missed Arial.   This is Cinder.

Cinder

This is Cinder’s new friend, Claire.  Claire likes to look for Cinder when she’s hiding… or napping behind the sofa in the sun room.

Looking for Cinder