Simple Pleasures

 Josiah just set his cup down while we were at the park, and wouldn't

pick it back up. Mama was like, "Okay, say goodbye to your cup then"...

and he just walked away. We had a hard time convincing him we were 

joking, haha! He actually did it a few more times on the trip...

 I don't think he likes this cup, hahaha!

The next day we spent looking at a few houses. Noah was sooooo sad all day long, he wouldn't stop crying. We eventually discovered that if we had the air conditioner on full blast and I held him next to it for a few minutes every time Mama and Daddy got out of the car, it helped a bit... but for the most part he hated the car rides. He had been such a good car baby up until this point that we were shocked! He still seems like a pretty laid back passenger for short trips -but it's as if he knows when we're planning on a long trip, because he starts crying instantly. I haven't figured out how he knows the instant we get in the car how long we plan on being gone...

We stopped at our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch (it was soooo delicious!!! Although they've changed one of the dishes, which was slightly disappointing), and then we headed out to our favorite park that we always go to afterwards. We were walking through, asking each other "Do you remember when we ate that picnic here, or here? Remember when they put in that path? Remember when we found this?". It was sad to realize that the younger three haven't had those constant trips ingrained into their backstory- we're excited to fix that in the future! It's hard to realize that the entire park was so flooded last year, with the creeks as empty as they always are. And I've been amazed to find that SC has a TON of Red Flowering Gum Trees. I have loved these trees ever since my Aunt pointed one out to me -I call them Dr. Suess trees, because, why not? They look like his clovers, haha :). I had only seen one in SC before we moved (she pointed it out like a month before we left, haha), and I thought VA had more of them... we move back here, and I discover they're everywhere here, too. I don't know if I just notice them now because I know what they are, or if I couldn't tell the difference between them and crape myrtle from a distance before I got my glasses, but I chuckle at myself every time I see one now!

Later that evening, we stopped at Coldstone for some ice cream. We got there shortly before they closed, but they were very kind about it, and we very much enjoyed our ice cream! We were going and sitting down with ours as they got done, and we took up pretty much all the tables once we all had our ice cream... and we had five of us at one of the two-seater tables, haha! Tori and I had all the little boys, and I may or may not have been giving Josiah enough of my ice cream after he had finished his to give him danger of a sugar crash, haha. I'm constantly letting the younger ones drink my coffee or share my snacks... sometimes I think I'm more of an aunt than a big sister to these little people, haha :). I realized on this trip that all my favorite things fit very nicely into the trip; I was able to bring my bible and books, fuzzy socks, blanket, and journal; we listened to music and had plenty of family time; there was ice cream and coffee; and I had plenty of opportunities to spoil and read to the little ones :). It was so much fun :).