Quick Takes Friday

Late, late, late!  Seems like I'm always behind the eight ball these days.

Eh, what are you going to do?   On with the Quick Takes!

One:

Dear Maternity Clothing Manufacturers,

Not every woman wants to dress like a 20 year old pregnant hooker.  This is my seventh baby, and while I'm sure it never entered your mind that a modern woman would ever allow herself to be impregnated this many times on purpose, I'm just telling you that I'm going to need more than a 4 inch inseam on a pair of maternity shorts.

All the best,  A.

Two:

I would like to travel back in time to the year 2000, find myself as I am complaining about packing up for a vacation with just Rob, Francie, and myself, and then punch myself in the face.

Seriously, what the heck was I complaining about?  I still had the luxury of just throwing a few things into a bag, making sure we had the sippy cups and diapers, and then hitting the road.

These days, my packing lists rival those of any seasoned quartermaster, and our vacations have all the organization of a military expedition.  With about 1000% more whining.

Three:

We took a very quick jaunt to Annapolis last weekend.  Rob was speaking at a conference and since the hotel was paid for, we decided to tag along.

Annapolis is a lovely city, and we walked a fair bit of it.  Unfortunately, it was a trillion degrees outside when we did it, so our faces melted off.


I know, I know, it's summer.  Summer is hot.  But 95 degrees at 7 pm does not make for happy walking weather or for happy walkers.  It was too hot for ice cream, if that is to be believed.


On the other hand, all that hot walking makes for deep sleeping in air conditioned hotel rooms.  Win.


Four:


On the way to and from Annapolis, we made our customary stops at several Cracker Barrel restaurants.

They have large bathrooms with changing areas, they have tables big enough to seat the traveling circus we call our family, they have real(ish) food that my children will eat, they play Dolly Parton on the sound system, and they have checkers.

Oh!  Plus, they have that peg game that my kids love to take out of the game board and set up like bowling pins and then spill all over the floor.

How can we not stop?

Five:

This is the halfway point in all the Face-of-theSun walking we did in Annapolis.
Mopsy absolutely rules facial expressions.
(Note: We made her sit on the ground at the Naval Academy next to the "E" because that is her real first initial.
We are not in the habit of just making her sit on the hot ground.)

Six:

This is like every other family photo I take.
In fact, this was the best out of too many.
My hopes are extraordinarily low for Christmas card pictures.

Seven:

Time for me to go.  It is almost 10:30 at night and the 47 baskets worth of folded laundry on my bed won't pack themselves.

Happy weekend, my friends - see you when I see you!