Is This Thing On

Dear Ones

Here I am sitting home with a sick child... AGAIN. Not that I mind the company, but I think we've had nary a full week of school, for one reason or another, since October. And it just makes it very hard to get in a good productive routine, in any department.

So...

This seems like a perfect time to endorse my favorite shows:

The Great British Bake-Off !!!!! Spectacular. WEll, at least to a home baker like myself. American TV just cannot match the quality & humor of this series. You know?? You can find it on PBS.org

Broadchurch Holy shit, this is good. I mean, the kind of good that you grieve for a bit when it is over. The 1st season is available on Netflix. Be prepared to binge watch this. And be forewarned that this is intense and depressing, but in a most well execute fashion. The acting in this series is top notch. The characters are deeply flawed. You will love it.

Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries- You guys!!!! Did you ever listen to me the last time I recommened this?! It is so charming. One of my favorite shows to workout to. Fast paced, entertaining. Really enjoyable. I cannot wait for the 3rd season. Available on Netflix.


On other fronts: We went to Disney World. And we loved it.

The girls, ages 12 & 8, were maybe the best ages yet. I mean, we were in the parks, riding ALL the rides, for a good 12 hours a day. Disney continues to be a great vacation for our family... where we are together, engaged, and active. The very very poor wifi-signal also meant very little phone/screen use, and for that I am grateful. Maybe they do that on purpose?... 

After a week enjoying ourselves, lest you think it is all fun and games over here,  I came back to HELL...

 

Um, yes, those would be live lice.  WTF??!?  Worst outbreak in history at Baby's school.  I went through her hair for 8 straight hours one day.  I was picking nits out like it was a full time job (literally)  So, let me save you a lot of trouble... if you have daughters with long dark blond hair... order the Terminator from Amazon RIGHT NOW.  It is, hands down, the most effective tool.  For $10, it is absolutely worth just having on hand.  No chemicals necessary.

I'm not sure when we'll go back to Disney again, I think Europe is in our traveling future, now that the girls are capable. I'm currently trying to plan out a Spring Break trip for the me and the girls... at this point, after spending their future inheritance at WDW, Paris is off the table, much to Baby's Francophile chagrin.

And speaking of Baby, check out her new haircut:

She feels like a "successful business woman!!"

If only I had cut her hair before the lice... would have made my life a bit easier!!

You Are Always On My Mind...

You should know that I do indeed think about you all the damn time.  My inability to carve out the theoretical few minutes (actual 2 hours days) to come and update has nothing to do with my lack of interest in updating.  Just laziness.

This summer has been epically lazy, and I'm not even going to pretend otherwise.  It's been delightful.  The girls have spent hours upon hours shut in a bedroom playing Calico Critters (door shut because Kid doesn't want anyone to know she is actually playing, too... but word is out... she totally is).  I haven't gotten anything done, have cooked as little as possible, haven't organized a damn thing.

I read a few books.  Have been keeping my hair short.  And started the DailyBurn (whoa... do it!!!!!! deserves its own review post).

We went to Mackinac Island (loved it).  Mr F's mom came to visit (great). We packed Kid off to camp & Baby to day camp (so-so).  We bought an RV (which turns out to be an investment in the FUTURE of our summer vacations and not so much for this year... boo... still waiting at the body shop for welding).  The kids and I went Up North to the cottage for the annual parade and to hang with family (and first time cherry picking).  Matt went to visit his mom (brought me home an original NordicTrack... what was I thinking?... It is pretty much a leg breaking machine, there are no safety features on that thing at all). We took our hobbled RV on an overnight trip close to home (everything works on the inside at least!). Baby got glasses! My niece came to visit (yay!) and we went back Up North to visit with more family and enjoy a stop at our favorite lunch spot.

And now we have 18 days of summer vacation left!

I intend to continue to avoid cooking & cleaning at all costs (there will be time for that soon enough), doing my DailyBurn (worth it, peeps), and plotting out future RV trips (will they ever happen??!).  I will also fight the urge to make more of this summer than what we are... because... maybe we are totally nailing it.  You know when people count down their kids' summers left at home?... let's never do that (whoever thought of that is a horrible masochistic person).  Let's just take a load off when the opportunity comes and be grateful for it.  You know?  Not need to "take advantage" of everything, max out summer break, use up all of our "spare" time,  etc... just actually relax.  Because, as I always say, it will take just as long to clean up tomorrow as it will today (or next month).  So why do it?

xoxo, Mrs F

Summer Photo Recap:


Kid has grown into herself and has developed a natural elegance with her style and super long limbs.

Baby?  um... yeah... she looks like she just finished a serious Prancercise workout, am I right?!

Baby's new glasses:

Just kidding!

These!

Cherry Picking:

With hands

And mouths

Annual Anchor Day Parade in Empire Michigan:

Shriners in gocarts.  

Also a septic company that tosses out toilet paper rolls (coveted!!)

 First camping trip:
 
                    
Those captains chairs convert to a bed as does the dinette they are on.
You can see the kitchen on the left, and the bathroom & closet are on the right.

Don't mind Kid's glamourous eye makeup... she had just received a stunning makeover courtesy of Baby.

Here they are trying out their converted front bed.  Um... that looks comfortable, right???!

 

 Kid loves the camping lifestyle!!  To make matters worse, she forgot her book. Good thing for her we really aren't camping people, we are road trip people... the camper is a means to get places (eventually).

  
Them there are Fudge Stripe S'mores.
We are never ever ever going back to graham crackers and Hershey bars.  EVER.

Enjoy your summer, peeps!
 
 

 As I say to Mr F, every single day (albeit often sarcastically), 

"Enjoy your lifestyle!"...

 

 because you really can always clean in the Fall (if you must).

 TTFN!