We head out tomorrow morning, so I’m getting all set up, naturally.  With luck, Boy Wonder will be keeping detailed records of our travels. Cottontot will be providing color commentary.  I will be providing Slim Jims and Cheez-its.

With luck, she'll be this happy for most of the trip.

Cotton lately doesn't quit. She notices everything, and talks about it. All day. She has no internal monologue. The only relief is that sometimes? She notices hysterical things.

I just sent her to the other room to tell Chance that I'm watching a Viking alien show. She came back, asking, " Is it a Viking alien? Or an alien Viking?"  Because that's an important distinction. 

At a highway intersection, there were signs indicating no right turn and no left turn. "You can't turn either way? That's weird." We agreed, it was weird.

I will start getting pictures up again soon. As it is, they end up on facebook because of that little app with the blue square and the lowercase 'f'. That and I have no idea where the camera is anymore. That thing? Where each kid gets fewer pictures? Deeply true. Practically religion.

To appreciate my adventures earlier this week, we have to visit my childhood. In particular, my New Jersey suburban childhood, and the mall. My mall, the Rockaway Mall. Not the freaky other mall that nobody went to, with the weird bookstore, and the 'Store O Knives'. Starting at about age 10, I was old enough to get dropped off at the mall with a friend. Often, with younger siblings to watch a movie, but sometimes just to walk around and admire the many, many shiny things in places like Claire's and Spencers. By the time I was in high school, spending the day at the mall was practically a job. The entire day. Living off mall food. Opening doors meant for maintenance. Doing that walk with my hands in the boyfriend's pockets.  Buying water pistols and having a complicated game of 'kill everyone' that was not a favorite of the mall cops. 

The endgame here is that I now have spent my life's allotment of time at the mall. Any further time spent in one? Gives me the heebie-jeebies. I become vaguely irritated/panicked just driving in he parking lot of a mall. The only explanation is that my brain is done with the mall, and thus tries to prevent any further mall interactions. Maybe my brain worries that I will develop a Yankee Candle addiction, or that clothing stores devoted to sizes I will never see again will bother me? It's hard to say. 

But on Monday? I overrode my brain and went to the mall, to bring Rone to a class. A class at a mall. Sure, it's one of those outside malls they do here, where they think a roof is not inherent to the mall (wrong!), but it's got the added bafflement of being a mall you have to park INSIDE of. How the hell should I know where to park? I don't know where I want to end up. I need clear outdoor parking, LETTERED parking. I like knowing I'm out entrance D, somewhere.

I overcome this parking silliness, and we find his class. I spent two hours with a 4 yo walking around the mall. Up, down, all around. She yelled hi to everyone, and it was a big cross section: leaf sweeper, barista, giant bird statue, Apple Hipsters (that's the job title, right?), and Guy Driving Green Jeep. A 4yo thinks the mall is amazing. And the 8yo likes his class. And I survive the mall.

Seph's first week of school is ending, and she's sorted out catching the bus, and finding her way from class to class.  Rone asked yesterday if it was still summer, and I said yes. He replied, "Then why is she in school already?" Which I think is a good point. I told him her summer ended a bit before the rest of the family's.  With football starting this weekend, it'll start to actually feel like fall.

Next week, the two younger will both start most of their programs--Cotton to preschool, and Rone to gymnastics, wilderness camp, and programming class.  

We managed to do  a lot of the things on our summer bucket list, and tonight we're hitting one of the last ones--Bananarchy, the frozen banana stand. Its going to be a mess, but Seph really wants to go. 

Cotton has been on a roll lately:

Rone: Do you want the rest of this doughnut?

Cotton: No, I'm full of it.

Cotton: What does murshin mean?

Dad: I'm going to need some context for that.

Cotton: Context? Why don't you just get glasses? Everyone needs glasses.

Which reminds me of the Easter when she got a Hershey kiss in a plastic egg and happily announced, "I got a SMOOCH!"

Me:  "I'm glad you're my daughter."

Cotton: "I'm glad you had this kind of kid."

And then back to making cakes of lego blocks, which is a full-time job lately.

We have AC again! All of our brains are working much better now. The combination of good nights of sleep in the nice, cool air and us all not being heatcranky has us getting along much better.

Seph bought herself a ukelele with her babysitting money. She is working her way thorough the Top 40 from KISS FM, with help from youtube videos.    The cello, sadly, has been neglected for this more portable, less 'lessony' stringed noisemaker and frowns sadly from the corner while this goes on.  

Cotton is swimming without floaties, but only in the shallow end so far. I knew this would be the summer she got rid of them, but I didn't know how excited she'd be to get them off! We were swimming in the river at Emma Long and she just threw herself into practicing without them, wore herself right out. I love a worn out 4 year old!

Rone is all about Minecraft right now. Apparently this is not an uncommon disease among kids his age. Currently there is no cure. I can't even sort out what he's doing half the time--he flies, builds things, there are zombies, and you can die. And play with other people.  And he'd like a server of his own, which I can helpfully buy for the low low price of $19.95/month. I think I may have to violate my longstanding policy of knowing nothing about videogames in order to sort this one out.

I brought Rone to skate today. It's surreal fun to sit in the middle of Texas in July and be cold, so I make sure to wear a t-shirt and capris and flipflops.

On the way, it was just me and him in the car. He asked, "Is there any number that is the last number?" My brain got all excited, we get to talk about infinity, and impossible things, and the great sort of wondering that can happen about that.

By the time we pulled into the ice rink parking lot, I'm saying," So, there's this thing people did? A long time ago? If they thought they were bad people? They would nail them to a cross made of wood."

It all seemed very logical at the time. 

In my defense, I was driving. I was not prepared for a discussion of infinity, math, how we decided what year it is right now, or religion, or what a monk is.  I really need to be better prepared.

Summer 2012 is zipping right along. Happily, before too long, we'll have a new AC unit that actually cools the house, a prospect that fills my heart with joy. Or fills the part that isn't full of sweat, anyway.

The kids and I ambitiously made a summer bucket list, and have crossed a few things off. Theirs were mostly fun things (Schlitterbahn), and mine were more mundane (clean closet).  Things that remain I'm hoping to get to include the summer musical, and a daytrip to the shore. These don't seem terribly out of reach, but given the four of us have to all want to do something at the same time, it's a trick.

Seph has taken up the cello, Rone the drums, and Cotton writes songs. And sings them. Loudly.

I've stopped cooking nearly entirely. We are living on sandwiches, fruit, and raw vegetables. When I can stand to add heat to the world, I grill meat. Did you know you can just pretend a grill is an oven and put a whole chicken in a pan to bake on it? Yes. You. Can.

Funny kid moments:

Cotton asked me if I was a woman or a lady. I lied and told her I was both.

Rone is turning into Chance.  He came tearing through the house and as he headed up the stairs I asked, "What are you doing?" He replied, "Going upstairs?", with a look on his face that was worried I'd lost my mind.

Seph wants to know if she can rock with a cello.

Seph here:

I was bored.

This is the result of my boredom:

The Sky (a poem by Seph Harris)

So blue, beautiful and everything in between.

All you have to do is look up, and it's seen.

Oh so big and friendly it has many as its friends.

And while we're on the subject (may I ask) does it ever end?