I didn't realize that it's been so long since my last update. I know a few times I've told myself I need to the the 2018 yearly summary, but I never even got to do that. So, where do we begin.
The end of last year was/is a blur. We did go out to Silver Dollar City for...I don't remember what occasion - maybe it was Thanksgiving? Anyway, we went there and it was SUPER cold. There were Christmas lights up in the amusement park so that was pretty cool, but man, it was cold and raining for much of the time we were there. The kids did great, though, all things considered. I used a lot of hand warmers, too. I think we also lumped the Polar Express event in together with that because it was at the station near Silver Dollar City. Wasn't as good as the Stillwater one, but it was fun for them.
Christmas, I really don't remember at all. Opened some presents as usual and the kids were restless the entire time. We had our New Years party here and that was about it.
Ohhh, so, a couple of days before Christmas and just before we headed out to Tulsa for the holidays, I got in a car crash. Yup. I wasn't paying attention and hit the car in front of me. To my defense, the car was parked in an awkward place that I wasn't expecting because they were letting another car turn left across traffic where they aren't allowed to turn anyway...but, whatever. Bottom line, I wasn't looking, hit the car in front and that car hit a little of the car it was letting turn. I was in the Santa Fe with Emmeline on my way to pick up Connor. I quickly called Kelly to pick up Connor and I started talking with the guy I hit. Luckily, they were super nice old folks. Couldn't have lucked out more. I called 911 to report the crash and a AAA guy randomly stopped to ask if we needed help. Since we really didn't, we moved the car to the parking lot we were next to and waited for the cops. I called again since they were taking a while and they said they didn't need to come if we all agreed that we didn't need them. Since we did, we all exchanged our information and went on about the day. The car I hit, the trunk was the only thing damaged. The car in front of them, I think they just had a little ding or something. I didn't see, really. However, our car was another story. I didn't even hit the car at high speed, probably under 30 or 25. The airbag didn't even deploy, which I thought was strange. Anyway, I called our insurance and a tow truck came to get the car to drop off at the service center after the weekend. This was literally 2-3 days before Christmas, I can't remember exactly. Anyway, later that day or the next day, I called to make sure it got to the right repair center for the estimate. I chose one right near our house. After the holidays, I called to check in and they said they're looking at it. We got a rental for the time being. After about a week, they had an estimate that was pretty much the price of the car, maybe a bit under. We were pretty sure insurance would total it. After another week or so, they did just that and we got a check for about $6800.
About a week later, we decided to get a van and put that towards it. It sucks because our initial plan was to trade in Laura's car for a van and Laura would start driving the Santa Fe. I still feel bad about that. So, now we have a van that is coming in handy for a bunch of stuff.
The rest of the school year went fine. During Spring Break, we took a trip out to Moab with Chris and Alicia. That was fun. We went to Canyonlands and Arches National Park. Our Airbnb was right near it, and it all worked out. The weather was nice and had a good time. We drove, of course, and on the way to Moab, we, just the Yams, stopped at the Great Sand Dunes in Colorado. It was super cold when we went the night we got there, but we went again the next day and it was much better. We stayed at the lodge right on the park. It's definitely a place to spend more time, however. On the way out, I wanted to stop by at this weird, UFO place right near the park. It was interesting, to say the least. Another 6-hour drive later, we were in Moab. We stayed there for a few days and then drove back a different way, more south, stopping at Santa Fe for one night to rest and check out that area. We also went to this place called Meow Wolf which was a pretty cool, and weird, museum of art and stuff. The kids had fun but was overwhelmed after a couple of hours. It was expensive, too, so I don't think we got our money's worth, but whatever. The adults could have spent way more time in there. Cool place, though.
Summer then began after school and, like the previous Summers, I was getting overwhelmed with them being bored and stuff. We didn't really plan any vacations this Summer because of the Spring Break trip as well as a Colorado Thanksgiving trip that's coming up in November later this year. Well, school started this past Monday and both are getting into the swing of things. They both like their teacher, so that's good.
It's been super hot the last month or so, so that put a damper on playing outside, too. They took swimming for most of the Summer and both did pretty good. They were super small classes, especially near the end, so that was good.
The other big project that we started I don't even know when, was converting our laundry into a mudroom/laundry room combo. We had a huge cabinet countertop that took up a lot of the space and it was something that we weren't utilizing very well anyway. We went ahead and removed that countertop and moved it to the garage. I still can't believe that we got it out of the laundry room, through the door to the garage, and fit it where we wanted it to fit. We then brainstormed how we wanted the bench in the mudroom to look and fit and, over the next few months, slowly built it up. We finally JUST finished pretty much the day before school started. We moved our old shoe rack location into the mudroom and it looks so much better in the house. No more shoe clutter and they kids can now just come in the house and take off their shoes right there. It was big project and while it didn't come out perfectly as I wanted in terms of everything fitting nice and flush, at right angles, etc., it came out better than I thought. There's a few more touch ups to do and the baseboard trim and crown moulding, but at least it's 95% done and usable.
Connor started piano again this year next week and this time he's promised to practice at least 10 minutes every day...we'll see how that goes. I know he won't. I just know it. Emmeline is doing ballet again but also tap, back to back, so Tuesdays are going to be a busy day. Other than that, I have some time to do stuff in the morning after Emmeline goes to school. I need to figure out what I want to fill the time with. I really want to get a side project going for some money to save up for our proposed trip to Japan in a few years. We really want to go business class as well, so we have been thinking of ways to use points and stuff from credit card promos. We're confident we can do it.
Well, it's almost time to get Connor.
