That Popsicle Stand idea Addy had? Wow! I had no idea children were capable of raking in so much cash!
See, just before April general conference, Aaron and I were trying to figure out how to manage all the trips we wanted to take. We wanted to get down to Arizona to visit Aaron's grandparents, attend a family reunion at Mount Rushmore, and maybe go to Cincinnati for Aaron's graduation. On top of that, we want to get down to Disneyland before our kids get too old to have stars in their eyes. All that traveling and hotel nights and everything can really add up though! And besides that, there's still lots to do on our house to get it ready to sell. Even more $$$.
So, Aaron and I had been talking this over fairly regularly, trying to figure out which trips to cut . . . only our choices changed every time we talked. Then, during conference, we listened to Elder Hales' talk on providing providently. He told a story about his family saving up for a year for a "dream trip" down the Colorado River. Aaron and I took one look at each other, and a fabulous idea was born. At our next family council, we asked the kids if they wanted to start saving up for a trip to Disneyland. Um, yes, they did.
After that we started brainstorming ideas with them in the car and at bedtime or whenever. Emerson volunteered (okay, we sort of bribed him) to drop out of preschool for June (when we'll be out of town for most of the month anyway), and the kids offered to contribute part of their allowances. But it was Addy who came up with the idea for the popsicle stand. We had talked about lemonade stands before, but the popsicle thing was all hers. Pure genius.
They started one sunny afternoon in early May (there weren't many of them at first, to be honest) with a sign colored in marker and a cooler filled with ice and popsicles. It took them a couple of hours, but eventually they managed to drum up a few customers. They talked a few of the students from the school across the street to part with seventy-five cents, and after that, word spread like wild-fire. By last week, kids started lining up across the street before we even got set up. Addy and Emerson have this whole spiel that they do to attract customers. It goes something like this. "Popsicles, seventy-five cents! Cold and delicious! Purple, orange, and pink! And there's two of them, because they're twin pops!" They've even added merchandise, branching out to sell ice-pops as well. So far, they've saved up $275. And I think they just might appreciate taking the trip in February after all their hard work even more than they would have if we had tried to squeeze it in this summer.
Well, while Addy and Emerson were flexing their entrepreneurial muscles, Theo pretty much lucked out by scoring a trip with Aaron down to Arizona to visit his great-grandma and grandpa for a week. We had procrastinated a trip down there for too long, worrying about completely overrunning Aaron's grandparents with our sheer mass. A visit from just Aaron and Theo seemed like the perfect solution, so the two of them packed up and drove down to Bismarck, North Dakota, where they got a cheap flight down to Phoenix.
Let me tell you, Theo had a great time exploring Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's place, which is like a clock museum and a cool stuff museum all rolled up into one. He took his little camera along to snap pictures for Addy and Emerson, and brought back pictures of at least thirty different clocks and a variety of other things, notably nude sculptures with great close-ups of the private parts--gotta love those seven-year-olds! They went out for dinner every night, mostly to Mexican places (I drooled with jealousy every night), and Theo loved all the attention . . . and all the Sprites. Their favorite outing, though, was probably the visit to Organ Stop Pizza, this crazy place where a huge theater organ rises up out of the floor and an organist performs old-fashioned movie theater organ music while customers enjoy pizza. It looks amazing, and I can't wait until the rest of us have a chance to visit.
It was a great trip for them, and a good week for us at home, too. Aaron and I decided the kid division was pretty fair--Theo really does require triple the parenting of the other kids . . . in a good way. I had fun painting the kitchen cabinets as a surprise for Aaron while he was gone, and when he got back, we got new countertops installed! I wish I wasn't so affected by my surroundings, but having an updated look in the kitchen has done wonders for my feelings of contentment when I'm cooking meals and making cookies.
Other random nuggets about the kids: they've had such a blast finally playing outside! Honestly none of us wants to come in at night especially since sunset doesn't happen until after nine o'clock. School is starting to wind down, but the kids don't technically get out until June 24. Like any reasonable parents, we're ripping them out early for a trip down to Cincinnati for Aaron's graduation. We suppose they can go back for a couple of days after we get back. If they want to. Emerson is having poop problems again. Ugh. And Sera has figured out how to get the doorknob thing off her door so that she can raid the cookie jar at night. I've been a basic failure at teaching piano lessons for about two months now, which is kind of sad--but remember, they've been outside at last! Theo and Addy read a bunch for the Mayor's May Mega-minute reading challenge. And favorite phrases from Sera include "My diddit in washing nashine" (my blanket is in the washing machine), "Ay-ant! Ay-ant!" (regarding the ants that have invaded our home), "I yuh you so much honey!" (I love you so much--the "honey" gets tacked on to a lot of things), and of course "Sickles! Fooey-five say-ents!" (Popsicles, seventy-five cents).We hope you had a great month too!
Feeding the geese (or "duckies" as Emer and Sera kept saying)
Emerson went down this slide before I even had to "persuade" him--that's a first!
Farewell to Winter (at last)
They can finally run again!
"What's that? Sun? What's sun? I don't remember seeing such a thing in the recent past"
