The Fourth

Ruby picks the world's worst times to say her favorite awkward phrase "I like your boobies." This time it was during the sacrament closing prayer on Sunday. She is crazy. Later Sunday I was telling her not to say that and telling her other things she could say instead like "I like your hair or your eyes". Then she said,  "I like your tongue." I groaned "no!" and then she said "That's awkward". Yes, yes that was. 

Besides Ruby's awkwardness, Sunday was pretty restorative. I was able to take a nap, Tyler cooked dinner and then I cleaned the house while the older 3 were at a fireside. Cleaning may not seem restful but a clean house just soothes my soul. Plus not having to worry about cleaning it during the week is really helpful. 

Monday I took the middle 3 to the Mall. Ben needed new shoes and the other two came along for the Auntie Anne's pretzels. Without a toddler in tow (Tyler was off work for the week so he watched her) it was really nice. We chatted, ate pretzels, got banana candy from the coin machines, we checked out the Lego store, and, of course, we bought Ben new shoes. It was a good outing. 

After the mall, Tyler and I went to a car dealership and got our new, obligatory Equinox (as part of the deal of him getting a company car, we have to own a new car). They were offering 0% APR so we felt we needed to jump on that deal.  This was our first time financing a new car (we've always bought used) , but spending a lot of money isn't exactly fun. It involves lots of paperwork. The car is a pretty blue and has some fancy features. The only drawbacks are: I think the ac/heater vents are ugly and the trunk isn't automatic. But it truly is nice to have a car that I know won't give me grief for a long while.

Leaving the lot I almost hit another car as I was pulling out of my spot (I swear it came out of nowhere) and then I almost hit the lady who sold it to us (she zigged when I thought she was going to zag). That felt like a bit of a bad omen so later when I took my new car to the airport to pick up Grams and Poppy, I was a little bit nervous about wrecking it. Thankfully we all ended up back home safely and now Grams and Poppy are back to being our neighbors.

Tuesday afternoon the girls and I met Stacey, Jenna, Marin, Cherish, Geli and Luna at our beach. The girls played with Ruby for a bit so I was able to catch up with Stacey and Cherish. Eventually though, they got tired of Ruby and then Ruby started to make friends with a random mom at the beach. This mom was really nice and humored Ruby for a little bit, but then this mom's own daughter needed help so I needed to intervene and take over Ruby duty. This mom ended up letting Ruby play with their inner tube so I spent the rest of the time pulling Ruby around the water in it. This meant I did not get to socialize any more with my friends but I am glad I invited 2 friends so they could socialize with each other while I was busy with the toddler. 

Wednesday morning I had a dentist appointment. I have been having a random ache that I can't quite pinpoint so I wanted to get it checked out. I went to a dentist office by our home that Tyler uses because I am tired of the commute to Novi. The dentist did an xray and didn't see anything that he felt would be causing the ache. He said I had a cavity but it was small and he didn't think that was the source. He said it could also be a previous root canal gone bad but they don't have the proper x ray equipment to see the whole root so I would have to go to a specialist if I thought this might be it. Then he shaved my tooth a bit because he also thought it might be that my bite was off. I don't know, he honestly made me feel like I am crazy and making up the ache. I am not sure if I will spend the money to go to a specialist...

Wednesday evening the ym and yw were at different places so I had the privilege of driving the girls to their activity at a leaders home. Ruby and I hung out there while the girls made candles. I sat and chatted with other leaders while Ruby played with another kiddo that was there. I am trying to figure out two of the newer to the ward ladies that were there. They both are very well off. Money and expensive hobbies seem to be at the center of all their conversations so I am not sure these people will be my people.

Thursday morning I took Ben, Ruby and Penny to Chuck E Cheese. Ruby really loves dancing with Chuck E and she gets so excited when that giant rat comes out. We got some bonus tickets and ended up getting a fun little Playmobil toy for Ruby and cotton candy for everyone. After coming home and getting lunch, Grams and I took the girls to get pretzels at the new Auntie Anne's by Walmart. It was a long wait for the pretzels because they literally didn't start making the pretzels until after we ordered. SO the long wait was lame but the pretzels are cheaper than they are at the mall and they really are delicious when they are warm and fresh.

Thursday evening Penny had VBS with a friend. Lucy had been taking care of a cat that week for someone in the ward so after we dropped off Penny, we went to take care of the cat. The cat's house was so hot. It had been in the 90's that day and their house was also in the 90's. It was awful, but when I sent them a text about it, they didn't seem too concerned. Ruby had come along with us and while we were there, I made a mistake and left Ruby alone with the cat while I was helping Lucy with something. I don't know what Ruby did but for the short moment I was away, the cat scratched up Ruby's arm. She was devastated and spent the rest of the time there and the drive home crying and talking about what a bully the cat was.

Friday morning I took Lucy to go mow her lawn. Ruby and I walked down to the park while she mowed. It was another warm day and we were pretty sweaty by the time we returned. After lunch, I decided to take Ruby to the beach- just us two since no one else wanted to come. The water was warm and it was actually a nice outing just the two of us. There was a nice family there when we arrived and they had a 4 year old who was as friendly as Ruby. They also had a floatie that Ruby loved and they let her use. I had bought Ruby her own floatie but of course she likes everyone elses stuff better. After that family left, another family came but they were less fun. The kids were fighting and the dad wanted to tell me all about it. It was a bit awkward so we left shortly after their arrival. 

Friday afternoon I took the girls to the Orr's house to swim. They were going to stay until 8pm but at 7pm I got a text from Lucy telling me that Penny was melting down because she wasn't feeling well. Penny melts down a lot so I was skeptical but I left to go pick her up. Shortly after I arrived at their home, Penny threw up on their tile floor. Thankfully it was a small load and easily cleaned up but it still felt super awkward. It ended up just being a one off so I think maybe she had too much sun and not enough water.

Saturday was the Fourth of July. We woke up and went to the parade in Northville- we got there an hour early which always seems to be the best timing. The weather was cloudy and had cooled down some and I was very grateful for that. The Mays were going to come but cancelled on us, but the Eakins still came with us. Ruby loves Miss Grace and spent most of the parade sitting with her (and looking at the candy in her bag). The kids especially loved the tooth fairy, the goats in tutus and the person in a moose costume. We did have this mom and kids that somehow inserted themselves into our space and she was kind of obnoxiously loud about everything but it was fine. Penny was nice to this lady's kids so this lady expressed her gratitude to Penny. After the parade Ruby wanted to play in the newly redone park (everyone else wnet home in Tyler's car). The sun had come out at that point so it felt like the longest 15 minutes of my life. I was grateful when I was finally able to convince her to leave.

After the parade we went home. I baked a cake for Poppy and then took a break with Ruby. Then at 4pm we headed to our beach for a BBQ with friends. We had the Mays, the Eakins, the Bloomfields (just their boys), my parents, and the Townes. At first I wasn't having the best time, the conversation was centered around drama stories and I wasn't feeling it, but then the Townes came and I just really appreciate their presence. They are fun and uplifting. Unfortunately about half way in, after Ruby had been watched by various siblings and Tyler, it became my turn for Ruby duty. I spent the last half in the water with her. We did get rained on twice while there but the rain never lasted long. At the end of the night the kids lit up some sparklers as per tradition. The boys used their sparklers to explode ants on the grill so that was gross.

The last event for us was the fireworks on Long Lake. We left Ruby at home with Steven because it had been a long day and I could tell she was not up for staying up way past her bedtime. This year there ended up only being a couple other cars where we parked (one car was the Eakins). I think the forecasted rain was partially to blame. They also started the fireworks at 9:50 (instead of 10:15) so I am glad we got there early. I think the rainy forecast was again to blame for the early start. The show was a good one and I especially love the golden fireworks that look like willow tree branches and the glitter bombs. It was a good but exhausting holiday.

Also this week, Tyler began reflooring our downstairs. He managed to get our living room by our front door and the dining room replaced with vinyl flooring. Right now our kitchen has half the floor ripped up. I don't know when the rest will get done. I know the other living room is going to be quite the ordeal because there is so much furniture to move. But I also know that once it is done it is going to be so nice. 

Home

Sunday we woke up and packed up, it was time to check out of the airbnb. Since I had purchased 2 day tickets, and it was father's day and Tyler wanted to see some more races, we hit the race track again. First we stopped at the museum gift shop where at last, all the kids found something. Lucy and Penny got shirts, Steven got a small toy car, and Ruby got a flag (which she used to poke everybody with on the ride home). After the museum we parked in that same middle area and then this time we decided to try a different view- we went and sat in the Grand Stands. We were at the end of the first straight. Ruby again panicked a bit with the noise and fought the earmuffs but once she had them on, she calmed down. The stands were less entertaining for her so we had to walk back to the car to get some toys. I often find myself behaving like a rookie mom- like of course, bringing toys to a boring adult thing is always a good idea. Once we sat back down with her toys she was good for quite awhile. She seemed to enjoy pushing her toy cars from one side of the bench below us to the other.

This view was a little less exciting to me but I did a better job of paying attention to who was in lead and how the beginning positions were changing. Unfortunately two of the races we watched had crashes that had to be cleaned up which meant yellow flags and for some reason the clean ups were very long and it took forever for the cars to be allowed to get back up to speed.

After watching 3 races, we said goodbye to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and went to get lunch at Freddy's. 

When we finished eating, it was time to head back home. Ruby was a little more squirmy on the ride home but overall did good. She however, never feel asleep which was quite astonishing to me. I really thought she would take a car nap after the long weekend she had had. It was a good trip in the end. Tyler thinks we should go back next year and see the races. I honestly wouldn't mind. They were fun to watch.

Monday was busy catching up on life. I cleaned the house, did the laundry caught up on this blog, ordered groceries, ran a quick errand to Krogers, and even baked a cake for book club... all that with a toddler making new messes behind me. At least she wasn't begging for attention like she can sometimes. I think she was happy to be back with all her toys and just wanted to play with all of them.  Also today, I took her with me to the library (I was stealing unpainted stones from library rock snake for a book club craft idea). While we were there, she pretty quickly made friends with an older girl. The older girl was happy to boss her around, or rather enlist her help in making a house from the large magnetic tiles at the library. Ruby was just talking away to this older girl and while talking, Ruby told her that she was sick and that her tummy had been hurting her. Yes, Ruby has had a runny nose and some sneezing...but her tummy? Her new friend looked a little worried but thankfully it was just Ruby making up things because she had zero tummy issues the rest of the day.

Tuesday evening was my book club. Our book was Crocodiles on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters. I wasn't expecting too many people to come and then 3 people dropped out at the last minute- all people who had told me they had read the book and were looking forward to meeting up. It was frustrating because I had put effort into the meeting. I had made a Victorian Sponge Cake and I had made a dorky powerpoint with some facts about the book and discussion questions. I even got supplies so we could paint hieroglyphs on rocks. Thankfully we still ended up with a decent sized group- Sandra, Grace, Cherish and Carli attended the meeting. It ended up being a nice meeting. I know I have been to past book clubs where the book was never discussed, so it was nice that we actually discussed the book and they felt like good discussions. And I think the rock painting was a fun addition.

Wednesday I was going to take the kids to Dave and Buster so we could enjoy some half priced games with the giftcard we still have from Christmas. Unfortunately Tyler took the carseat with him to work so that did not happen. Instead I ended up going on a walk to seven eleven with the younger 4. There is now sidewalks all the way there and that made the walk so much better. We also had a nice chat while walking. It is fun having older kids that I can have real conversations with. 

Thursday I had to drive the oldest 3 kids out to Detroit for Stake Youth Conference. They had to be there at 9am so we hit some obnoxious traffic on our way there. They also were being obnoxious with each other. Someone would say something, then someone would make a rude comment about what they said- repeat, repeat, repeat. I was honestly quite relieved when we got there and I could say "goodbye" to my fighting teenagers. 

After I got back from dropping them off I took Ruby and Penny to Chuck E Cheese. It is really so boring to just follow Ruby around as she goes on the same rides or plays the same games over and over, but they had a good time. Afterwards we went to Costco to pick up a couple things and so the girls could have smoothies. Costco is good for some cheap lunch treats. Then since it had cooled a bit outside, I decided it was a good day to vacuum my car. I am really trying to keep it nice! Ruby played around in Gram and Poppy's garage while I vacuumed. It made me aware of how many Ruby things I am using their garage to store. They are very nice to let me do that.

Later Ruby and I went on a walk with Asher. They went and dipped their toesies into the water at the boat launch. Except Ruby ended up fully submerging herself in the water. I had taken her dress off but her diaper totally inflated so I ended up letting her play commando in the water (don't worry she had on a pair of shorts). Thankfully she didn't poop and I don't think she peed either. On our walk back home we saw a free Little Trike Truck at the end of someone's driveway. We ended up taking it. Pushing a stroller and the truck back to my house was lots of fun. Once we got home I washed it up- it was really gross. I think it may have been a bad decision to get it because they next morning she wanted to drive it, but was getting so frustrated with her inability to maneuver it.

Friday Penny had her friend Luna over at noon. We went on another outing to Chuck E. I ended up having a bonus of 30 play points for the girls so I gave Ruby the 30 and then Luna and Penny split our normal 100 play points. Not the best choice because Ruby ran out of points before them and was getting bored and frustrated. I think Penny and Luna had a good time though.

After we finished up at Chuck E we went to Target. I ended up getting Penny and Luna matching shirts and some candy. Ruby wanted me to buy her everything so I offered to take pictures of what she wanted for her bbirthday. I took a lot of pictures but here are a couple. She basically just wanted a picture with everything within her reach.

For dinner, we ended up going to Culver's. Luna was nice and helped me convince Ruby to eat her grilled cheese sandwich. You can tell she has her own little sister.

The day was long...Ruby was a lot all day and proceeded to be a lot the rest of the evening. It probably didn't help that she was up during the night which meant neither of us slept well. I was pretty crabby by the time I went to bed. I don't even know how late Penny and Luna stayed up because I was done with everyone by the time I put Ruby to bed. The crabbiness bled over into Saturday. We ended up meeting Julie and her boys at the beach that morning and Ruby had an epic meltdown because she wanted to play with Penny and Luna out at the dock but also she was scared of the dock. We spent the first half of the beach hang out with her crying. Thankfully when I got over myself and finally sat down with her and distracted her with making sand castles, she calmed down. Then I was able to have a nice time hanging with Julie and Ruby ended up having a nice time hanging with Asher. And Luna and Penny were able to play out in the water without a screaming toddler guilting them. These toddler years are tough.

As a reminder that these toddler years can also be fun...a funny thing Ruby has been doing lately is asking "What time is it?" We will tell her but I am not sure why she wants to know. She literally has no concept of time. Also I love her drawings:

Indianapolis

Sunday was busy. We had a Linger Longer after church and I really only attended because the person leading it had been good about attending the last 2 craft clubs. I suppose I wanted to support her in the way she had supported me. I am not sure I was needed though, it was very well attended. It was orginally going to be outside but due to rain, it got moved inside. I was hoping they would cancel because of the rain but no such luck. I brought chicken salad and croissants. It had been a long time since I had made (or ate) chicken salad it was very tasty. I did not really socialize with anyone, basically I ate some food with my family and left.

Then for dinner we had the missionaries over. This was nice because it was Sunday which meant Tyler was the one cooking, not me. Such a relief. I really don't like cooking for others- I worry too much about it not turning out well. One of the missionaries was from Mesa, Arizona so we chatted about familar things with him. Then Tyler made them Shirley Temples after dinner which they seemed to think was scandalous even though it definitely does not have alcohol in it ever. 

Sunday evening I found out our airbnb was getting a new owner so they had to cancel our reservation and then the new owners would get us in. This ended up taking a few days and it made me anxious but it ended up working out- despite airbnb trying to help. Airbnb kept messaging me and calling me the wrong name and offering me new airbnb's in different states- basically they get getting in the wrong message thread...it was obnoxious.

Monday evening I had Craft Club at Tana's. Caroline, Sasha and Sandra B all attended it. Sasha teaches perschool and Caroline's a sub so most of the time was spent talking about the challenges they have with teaching. Honestly it was kind of a bummer conversation but everyone needs a chance to vent I suppose.

Tuesday morning I went on a walk to the library with Grace, Penny and Ruby. It was good weather, a nice chat, and I founds some good books at the little book shop there for the trip. Sharon was there and helped me get change for my 5 so I could buy them. She is a good lady and offered to get our mail while we were away. She is always so helpful. (She even sent me pictures of our mail while we were gone). It was day full of Grace because that evening I went to her house as well to color. 

Tuesday afternoon Nahoko came over with Mimi. She had asked if she could pop by so of course I said yes. Mimi had an incident with her thumb (it got smashed between a bat and a baseball at a summer camp) and I think she just wanted someone to talk to about it. I think it traumatized her- I can understand that. So we chatted for about an hour and then she left. After that Ben had an orthodontist appointment. Ruby and I went with him and Ben was told that he was doing a good job cleaning his braces. I hope that this sentiment lasts throughout this process.

Thursday morning I packed. I also debated the merits of taking 2 cars- extra space for people and things- but in the end I decided it wasn't worth the extra hassle and gas. After making decisions and getting things packed, I went to Marshall's with Penny and Ruby. I had promised Penny real Crocs this summer and we were on a mission to find them. Spoiler alert, we were not successful. They did not have her size for any of the fun colors.

Once we finished our unsuccessful errand- we came home, had lunch and then headed out. The drive itself went very smoothly. The new things I had purchased for Ruby held her attention well and there was no fussing from her. Our first stop was a rest stop for bathroom breaks and snacks- there is no eating in Tyler's work car. Our second stop was Sweetwater. It was a really cool music store that had some free games- arcade, pool, ping pong, foosball, arcade games. It also had a giant slide that was too scary for Ruby. We played all the things and then looked at instruments. There were some fun ukuleles for Tyler and Lucyto play and then we all had a pretty good time with the keyboards. Lucy and Tyler ended up buying some ukulele music.

Our third stop was at Uranus Fudge store. I always thought that store was funny but it fell kind of flat this time- maybe because I have a whiney toddler that wants me to buy her everything?

Our last stop was at Walmart for some groceries and then we made it to the airbnb. The area of town wasn't the nicest but we never felt unsafe. The airbnb itself looked remodeled and new but holy cow are the floors creaky. You couldn't move at all without making a sound. 

That night was awful. Ruby had fallen asleep in the car for the last half hour of the trip and was wide awake when it was time for bed. The girls' room had no curtains so it was bright and that didn't help. She ended up in me and Tyler's bed and she didn't fall asleep until about 11:30pm and then woke up several times in the night crying. 

Ruby not sleeping meant we were all pretty crabby Friday morning. We had a slow morning and then headed out to the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It was pretty packed for the holiday (Juneteenth) but we managed to get decent parking and the walk to the entrance wasn't too bad. It was quite a cool entrance with dinosaurs peeping in, a transformer and teenage mutant ninja turtles.

The first exhibit that we visited was the dinosaur one and that had a lot of cool bones to look at and some fun interactive things- like uncovering bones and coloring in a dinosaur and watching it get projected on a screen. Everyone was doing pretty good in the beginning, only Steven was being grumbly.

After the dinosaurs things kind of soured. It was really an awesome place for littles, but not so much for teens (the reviews said even adults love this place, LIES). Ben and Penny were good at humoring Ruby but Steven and Lucy just hung back looking bored. And unforunatly Ruby was so crazy from lack of sleep, she would get mad about leaving exhibits or sharing things or pretty much everything. Basically the one person this museum was geared towards wasn't much fun. I felt bad that I had spent so much on tickets for something that felt like a flop.

Our next exhibit was the American Pop exhibit which had some dress up clothes and some mini mannequins to dress. It also had "old" toys which were mostly from my childhood. Offensive.

After that we went to the Princess Tiana exhibit. It had flowers to plant, wrist bands to stamp, fake food to serve, some clothes to put on child sized mannequins, secret sauce to "make", etc. 

Then there was the Peru exhibit. It had airplane seats to sit on, models of homes and schools in Peru, a place to make pretend smoothies and of course, these amazing Alpacas to feed and brush.

One of Ruby's fights was over this cool work of art in the middle of the staircase. She wanted to go touch it which simply was not possible.

Our next stop was a place specifically made for toddlers with water to play in, blocks to build with, a little play place... Ruby mostly played in the water and went around taking all the toys so that other toddlers could not have them. The big kids were not allowed to play here so they were bored silly. When I finally pulled her away from this stop, it was with the incentive that she could ride a carousel. Unfortunately there was a bit of a line and she did not appreciate waiting. It was rough but worth the wait- lots of smiles, even from the big kids.

The last thing we did at the museum was the sport's area. I thought this would be more fun for all the kids but Steven still would not engage. Lucy shot a few hoops at the basketball court but that was it. Ben did basketball and played some soccer with Tyler. Ruby pretty much cried at everything and even was uninterested in the giant tree playground. 

Honestly it was a really amazing children's museum, just wasn't for my boring teens and not great for a tired toddler.

We left the museum around 1, grabbed a bite to eat at a sketchy Wendy's (nice workers there though), and then we headed back to our airbnb for some much needed quiet time. After taking a bit of a break we headed to a public pool in Franklin because the kids really wanted to swim and this one got decent reviews. Orginally I was going to go to a lowkey water park (not very big and fancy) but at $20 a person, I opted for the $2 a person public pool instead. It was nice- had a slide, some diving boards and a splash playground for Ruby. Ruby seemed to have mellowed out and really enjoyed it there. Steven got bored almost immediately but I think the other kids liked it well enough. The middle 3 all got brave and jumped off the diving boards. They were quite proud of themselves.

On our way back we grabbed a 6 person folding bench at a local sports store so we could have somewhere to sit at the racetrack. We hadn't had room to pack all our camping chairs and for $40 this seemed like a good solution. Spoiler alert- it was! And then it was back to airbnb for TV dinners and bed. The older kids went and got ice cream while I put Ruby to bed. She still fought bedtime but went to bed at a more decent hour- 9:30pm.

Saturday was the day of the Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We weren't 100% sure what to expect but it ended up being not very peopley (probably because that place can house 300,000 people and there were only hundreds). We were able to park in the lot in the middle of the track and walk a short distance to a mound by a turn. We set up our folding bench and blanket, sunscreened up and got to watch the excitment of cars racing. It was very loud when we arrived and Ruby had a meltdown but as soon as she calmed down enough to let me put her earmuffs she did good. Not all races were loud so she didn't have to wear the earmuffs the whole time. While I wasn't really able to follow the races, I did enjoy watching different kinds of cars take that turn and there was some excitement with spin outs and a car that caught on fire. One big adventure was walking to the food - it was a long walk with a toddler. Tyler went again with the older kids and they got to go on the brick (original) track and touch the bricks and meet some drivers. We were there for 4 hours and it wasn't until the last hour that Ruby got restless and I had to give her my phone. Pretty good for a toddler.

After our racetrack fun, we went back to the Airbnb to rest up. Then we went on another outing. Our first stop was The Shop in a small downtown area of Indianapolis. Parking was a pain but the kids were wanting souvenirs and this place was supposed to be a good one for Indiana things. It ended up just being shirts and hats. Ben managed to find a hat there but he was the only one with success. There was a pizza shop next door where we ordered some overpriced pizza (the slices were large but tasted like Costco pizza). The kids and I watched Reels on the curb outside of a bank while we waited for the pizza. Once we got it, we drove to a nearby park- Holliday Park. There were some cool ruins that none of the kids wanted to get out and see so we just parked by the playground and ate there. The playground was really cool and the kids had fun there (well everyone except Steven). As we left, Lucy found a good climbing tree that everyone climbed- even Steven!

After the park we got drinks at Swig (everyone was so excited that there was a Swig nearby) and went back to the airbnb just in time for  Ruby to go to bed.