A Quick 'Other Fun' Post

This handful of pictures represent the total of 'outstanding' photos for the month, so I thought I would start August with a clean slate and get down a few final thoughts from July.

On Wednesday, whilst Emily was at band camp, Alice and William were earning some community service hours by working at the Love Clothing Center.  Once we dropped them off, we took the recycling, and other deliveries, to Sarah's house.  My mom had just returned in the wee hours of the morning, so I wasn't sure whether or not she would want to come, but she tagged along while we did our chores.

The first stop was Meijer, to return the cans and bottles.  Juliet helped me, while Grace went inside to help my mom and grab a few things from our list too.

Juliet was quite excited when we got $"6.7"0 in refunds.  

We had to go into the main store to cash them out, and Juliet got a cute little construction hat, since the building is under construction.  Grace had one too, but they only wore them a short while.

Our next stop was Panda Express, where they each redeemed one of their summer reading prizes! My mom and I shared some crab rangoons.

Grace ordered Beef and Broccoli with noodles.  She understood the assignment when I said, "hey eat some noodles for a picture!"

Juliet ordered teriyaki chicken with noodles, and did not understand the assignment, so took a bite of chicken, instead of the long stringy noodles. lol.

Alice and William messaged me at the very end of lunch that they were done early for the day, so we packed back up and went to collect them.  After collecting Alice and William, we swung by the library so that William could enjoy lunch at the Meet-up and Eat-up, and Alice could collect her coupon pack.

When we went to drop off Avia, Sarah offered everyone some fried chicken, and Scrappy was at attention!

Our day was a little shorter than planned, but we went back to Panda Express so that Alice could redeem her prize, then to the post office, and then dropped off the Ingham County Fair coupon with Kennedy since they plan to go.

Today had a few loose ends.  After dropping Emily at band camp, I took der Uebungswagen in to get a new wheel on the right front.  It had been losing air at an unsafe rate, and needed to be done.  I had made an appointment, and they were able to get me in before my time, since I was running early!

It was cold in the lobby, so I opted to walk around the backside and catch some Pokémon.  As I approached my final corner, I noticed the outdoor dining on the Speedway, and thought a cold coffee sounded awfully tasty!

While messaging Christin I noticed that the sun umbrella also had holes!  It made for a cool picture.

So, I enjoyed my breakfast al fresco, and before I even finished the drink, they called to let me know that my car was ready!

Now I can calmly say: Welcome August!

later days

Closing out the School Year

William's class got to take a trip to BizTown a few weeks ago, and he looked awfully sharp in his blazer jacket and bowtie! He had a great time, and continues to wear the hat he received as a souvenir because he was the CEO of one of the BizTown banks!

How are we pushing through all of this end of year excitement?  Sugar and Caffeine mostly.  

The twins' field day was held in the park across the street, and it was held in two waves, because there just wasn't enough space to hold it in the same manner as the old field allowed for.  I was working at the balloon toss station, so only managed pictures of my girls while they were at my station.

I felt like a trash collector each time I subbed at the end of the year, because every time I worked I left with bunches of things heading for the trash!  One such item was a container of butter leftover from their baked potato bar.  I'm happy to report that I've managed to use or assimilate it all at this point!

The instructional support teachers provided a breakfast for the rest of the staff one of the mornings that I was working, and I loved their donut display!  Everything has been themed 'construction' this year, because of the construction, so not only are they living it, but they are also celebrating it!

Speaking of the construction, this is my final picture from the drive through line!

And I didn't get a pre-last-day-of-school picture, so a post-last-day-of-school picture will have to do, but Emily and William are officially off to ninth and seventh grade, respectively!

Alice has four days left, and both of us are d.o.n.e.  But we are almost there!  William starts summer camp tomorrow, so I'll be getting him up and on the bus pretty close to his regular day, but he'll be having way more fun while there, I think!

later days

edit 6-8-25: backdated for continuity.

Cat Cafe

Shortly after the new year, Alice was talking about a cat cafe that she'd seen in a video, and Grace and Juliet had also seen the same one!  Sadly, it was in Japan, or somewhere abroad.  When we told Billy that there was one in the Lansing area, he scheduled a family visit for that afternoon!

In true Grace fashion, she planned her outfit cat-fully.

The cafe is set up that you enter through what is a regular coffee shop.  You order your drink, which we had prepaid when Billy set up our visit time, then you can take your drink into the cat area (but the cats are not allowed in the cafe area.)  

There is a double door that buzzes loudly if you have both doors open at once. You aren't supposed to mess with sleeping cats, and the kids did a good job obeying this rule!  

William, Emily, and Grace each got time with a kitty in their laps.  

We were in the room alone for the first ten minutes or so, but then a group of college kids joined us, and the sparse number of cats who were active (most of the cats were hiding or sleeping) was now further split.  So, Alice and Juliet didn't get much interaction with the kitties.  

Even with the inactive cats, the kids had a good time! They are scheduling to move into a new building, much closer to us, so maybe we can go early on a weekday in summertime, so everyone gets more kitty time.

later days

edit 2-11-25: backdated for continuity.