Ice Cream Drive

Good Wednesday morning!

DON'T FORGET - Go by and get your FREE Arby's Roast Beef Sandwich today (with purchase of a soft drink).

ALSO, DON'T FORGET - Register for the 200th Post Contest. The rules are in Monday's post. Get your name in the drawing bowl before midnight, July 27!

I've added a couple of pics of Roxie and her friend, Laura, and their very successful Lemonade/Fruit Punch/Homemade Cookie Stand. They made a whopping $14 apiece... and they only had to sit in the hot sun from noon until 5:00 p.m. to do so. Not easy money, but money nonetheless. Roxie is saving for clothes, shoes, purses, cute pajamas, jewelry, sundresses, etc. If it has something to do with fashion, she's all about it. And while we provide all of her clothing needs, the extras are her responsibility. Thus, the highly lucrative Lemonade/Fruit Punch/Homemade Cookie Stand.

I'm registering her for her 7th grade classes today. She's anxious to see which friends she has classes with for the coming year. I was always like that, too. And if for some reason you had several classes with your best buddy... oh, life was good. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Josh is in the midst of what we think may be his "big" growth spurt. We're not sure, but he looks taller every morning. I want to measure him each day, but Mike is more patient and so we will wait until the end of the month. He's definitely taller than Mike. He's definitely taller than me. He's definitely NOT taller than Austin... yet. We'll see. We'll see.

As far as we can tell, he is okay medicine-wise. He's not showing any intolerance for the old dosage at all. I mean, his head itches all the time, but his head has always itched. That's normal for him, even without the hives. We are very thankful we don't have to "start over" in that respect. It would have literally taken months, and, of course, we don't want to give his illness any more "time" than it has already taken. (Again, I love it when God answers prayers with a "Yes.")

Seasons

Well, we skipped through Spring, and now we find ourselves in the throes of Summer. Summer is my Season of Life at the moment. It has been an incredible season. I married Mikie at 26 and had the kids at 29, 33 and 35. Starting my family at the beginning of Summer was definitely exciting and wonderful. However, as everyone knows, your Summer energy level is definitely not the same as your Spring energy level. At least it wasn't for me. By the time Roxie arrived, I could tell a HUGE difference in how I kept up with two little boys and a baby girl, and how someone ten years my junior did the exact same thing. (Code for THEY WEREN'T COUNTING DOWN THE HOURS, MINUTES AND SECONDS FOR NAP TIME EVERY DAY!)

As much as I love Autumn, I know in my heart of hearts Summer will always be the Season of Life I cherish and remember the most fondly. It's the season in which I was able to do what I think I was meant to do... be a wife and a mom (with much smaller kids, of course).

My Summer has been exciting, exhausting, exhilarating and so much more fulfilling than my Spring. Now, if I could have gone through my Summer and kept my Spring body... that would have definitely been a plus. But, that's not how it works, is it? Well, not for me, anyway. (Add a note of bitterness to that last sentence.)

When my Summer season ends (in two years, one month and 11 days), if all goes according to plan (and we know how that works, don't we?), Austin will be entrenched in the middle of his college years, Josh will be a Senior in high school and Roxie will be a Freshman at the same high school. Wow! It's mind boggling to see it in writing. (I'm never writing it again!)

One more thing, and then we'll move on. I have noticed how quickly Summer flew by. You hear it every day during a regular summer season. "Summer is so short." "Summer doesn't last as long as it should." "I didn't get everything done I wanted to this Summer." It's just another reminder why "moments matter," and why time spent with the people you love is the MOST important time of all... no matter what Season of Life you are currently going through.

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven. A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to tear down, and a time to build up. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance." Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-4.

Road Trip Ideas

These are the ideas I talked to you about yesterday donated by my blog friend, Jonella.

Keeping Kids Happy on Long Car Rides: Tips and Tricks
by Sharlene Rollins, PassPorter Guest Contributor

Let's get the obvious distraction tactics out of the way so we can get into the really good stuff. A portable DVD player, along with some classic favorites or some new, never-before-seen stuff, can be a lifesaver. You can bring along favorite upbeat tunes for you and the kids, always a good idea. Allowing iPods and MP3 players is also an option but you may want to set limits on them. Be sure to discuss these limits with the kids beforehand. I think the same applies to hand-held games like Nintendo DS. Set up any limitations or turn-taking guidelines you'd like to have beforehand in order to avoid disagreements later.

Now let's get started!

About a month before your trip, grab a laundry basket and go through the house with two thoughts in mind: 1. What toys/activities are their favorites? 2. Which of these can be used in the car? For the younger kids, you may not want to let them know you're doing this, and for the older ones they might be able to do this themselves.

Great! Now that you have your pile of stuff, pick out the best and keep it hidden until the trip. This way you will be armed with toys that have a "like new" appeal, but are also bankable favorites for your trip! Some ideas include card games, favorite stuffed animals, action figures, Polly Pockets and Transformers, etc. Many times I'll pack each kid a little bag of their own, but as our family has grown, I have found it easier to keep one fun bag at the ready rather than deal with too much stuff underfoot in the van.

Next, make a trip to the nearest dollar store and purchase new items like sticky stretchy toys, activity and coloring books, blank and lined notebooks, noisemakers (it's better to hear a harmonica than a screaming toddler), small puzzles that can be done on a book on a lap, magnetic play boards, sticker activities, chewing gum (in case you need to drive through any higher altitudes it will help ears to "pop"), and my personal favorite, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, bracelets, etc. for when it's too dark to do anything else. Be sure to buy the non-toxic ones, as many children tend to put them in their mouth at some point! We even placed them around the hotel room as night lights for the kids to navigate their way around a strange room at night.

Consider making your own games. Older kids can help with this! Car Bingo is a classic in my family. Simply take squares of paper, and then with a thick black marker and a ruler draw five lines down, and the same across. Then after a trip to the dollar store, put stickers of farm animals, cars, trucks, road signs, wildlife, dogs, birds, cats (whatever you manage to find) in each square. Make one card for each player and simply have the kids mark them as they spot the things on their cards. A line is a bingo! Then the cards get passed along and a new game begins. The best way to mark them is to get them laminated and then use a dry-erase marker, since you'll just need a facial tissue to rub off and start fresh.

Other games include looking for neat license plates, red barns, counting horses (or other items), or the classic "punch buggy" game minus the hitting. We slap the seat in our car!

Another classic with my family involves a deck of cue cards with a thing to find on each one. Road signs, railroad crossings, emergency vehicles, churches, speed limits, pylons, animal crossings, gas stations, favorite restaurants, etc. We make up the cards beforehand and to play we deal out three at a time. When you spot one of your items, you put the card in your lap, score a point, and draw another card. First to five wins! Variations can involve each item having different point values, or event cards like "steal a point card from another player," "choose one card and place it in your points pile," "lose (or gain) one point," "trade hands with another player," etc. Be creative and inventive. Maybe you can add landmarks or rules specific to your route of travel!

One final thought... Consider stopping along the way at fun, free, or cheap places. It adds time but makes for a memorable journey. When our family was faced with a 21-hour drive, we opted to spread it out over three days and stopped at little museums, aquariums, a cave tour, a mall with a huge old merry-go-round inside, a state park, and other neat places along the way.

Before your trip, make a list of the cities you will be driving through and then Google the area to see if there are any places to stop that might be a perfect side trip for your kids. Taking these moments whenever possible can relieve a lot of the stress and tedium of a long drive with the kids.

Pretty good advice, huh? As always, I gave credit where credit was due at the beginning of the section. Thanks for sharing, Jonella. I always want to pass along helpful "family tips."

Ice Cream Drive

This idea was copied from Family Fun Magazine (August, 2000). A lady named Tawni Ballinger in Germantown, Tennessee wrote:

For the past several summers, my children and I have had the joy of turning our van into an ice cream truck, an idea my twin daughters came up with. We decorate our van with drawings of ice-cream cones and such, load up a cooler with frozen treats, and head out to the homes of friends and neighbors. A few phone calls ahead of time and a cowbell help announce our arrival.

The twist to the Ballinger Famly Ice Cream Truck, however, is that rather than take money for the frozen treats, we instead collect canned goods from our patrons. The following day, we drive to the food bank to deliver the supplies we've gathered. Not only is it a fun way to spend a sunny summer day, but we get to help others as well.

That's a pretty good Seasonal Tradition, isn't it? For years, the Faulkner Five have saved "charity" money and used it in November to buy something out of the Samaritan's Purse Magazine (Franklin Graham's charity). We like to buy chickens or a goat or part of a donkey for a family or village. (And Josh and Austin like to add a soccer ball or two with the "order.") Last year we used the money for a local charity. However, this is something a family could do in addition to saving "charity money" for a specific purpose. And it's something to do during the summer months for others... not just around the holiday season. I like it. I like it a lot.

Have a little fun today. July is half over. Amazing! Tomorrow we'll have our Weekend Family Fun, thoughts on the Autumn Season of Life which is right around the corner for me, and a fun little date for two.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.