On the road again...

So after Wednesday’s barftastic driving spree, I was absolutely dying to try the whole “take all 3 kids out in the van” thing again. Today’s goal was to get my passport application in, and maybe the kids’ too, so that we can get to Wolfe at some point this summer. First, we took Quinn to work, and then headed to WallyWorld. Nate & Nomes needed some new footwear, and we needed to stock up on Quinn’s Father’s Day goodies. I’d gotten him a GoPro HD, but ended up giving it to him early - we had been getting ready for the PA Warrior Dash the previous weekend, and he lamented that his GoPro wasn’t the HD model. It just wasn’t worth taking it, since the video quality wouldn’t be that great, with all the shaking and bouncing around. I got his new toy out of my secret stash, and gave it to him, but he ended up not taking it with us after all. (Clever way to make me give you presents early, honey!) Next present I’d gotten him was an ice crusher. Since our fridge here doesn’t have an ice maker/crusher attachment, we’ve been going old-school, and putting the ice into a gallon Ziploc bag and smashing it with a hammer. Fun, but not terribly effective. So mid-week, Quinn asked Ben to go down to the “mancave” to fetch his hammer (yet again), and I went back to my secret present stash again, and fetched gift #2! Now we can have classy crushed ice, not that ghetto stuff! ;)

So, having already given Big Gift #1, and Medium Gift #1, I really needed to restock on Friday. I didn’t want to get a ton of stuff, but it’s always nice to unwrap presents ON the day of the event. I let each kid pick out an orange shirt, and I scoured the food departments for anything orange, or wrapped in orange packaging. It was actually really fun. ☺ The kids loved helping me look for orange stuff, and they really liked that they got to pick out clothing. We ended up with a TON of treats, and although I went over budget a tiiiiiiiiiiiiny bit, it was worth it!

After scouring Walmart, we headed back across the bridge, and stopped to replenish our dwindling mai tai supplies. Then it was on to the post office, to get my passport application sent! Turns out, the Dowell post office is actually a rusty trailer out past the Annemarie Garden. It’s the craziest post office I’ve ever been in. The open interior space is maybe 4’ x 10’, max. I sent the kids to the back corner, where they informed me that there were a LOT of dead bugs. (thanks, guys)

Well, turns out that nothing’s easy, not even in the most derelict post office in the US. To apply for a passport, you must send your ORIGINAL birth certificate, marriage licence, etc off for processing (the nice man assured me that they mail them back to you) and since I needed those things to get my MD driver’s license, I didn’t want to ship them off for the passport. So guess what we did next! We hopped BACK in the van, drove BACK across the bridge, and sat in those comfy chairs at the DMV yet again! This time, with my marriage license in hand, I was able to get my MD driver’s license, after only a total of 45 minutes in the building. Keep in mind, it’s about a 20 minute drive each way, too!


After that, it was time to head back to the post office and surrender all my docs to the great churning bureaucratic machine and hope for the best. Side note: without going through the gnarly details, I decided not to bother getting the kids’ passports, as it would take 2 forests worth of lumber to generate enough paper to make it happen. And I just can’t have that on my conscience.

Final stop for the day: Food Lion! I’d waited to do that last, since I had some fridge items on my list. Plus, the kids had been SO good, I told them that they could each choose whatever lunch they wanted, and we’d buy it and make it when we got home. This is how Ben got chicken alfredo, Nate got cheeseburgers, and Nomes got pizza! I was feeling rather carnivorous, so I got steak. Noms!

I think it was about 2pm when we wrapped up lunch, and I tucked the Littles in for their naps. I just didn’t feel like treading (I felt like I had been on a treadmill all morning, actually), so I skipped it.