Movies, baseball, cousins, Dutch Wonderland, and our noodle jar (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Sometimes you get a haircut and no one notices for weeks. Or someone finally notices and it has been so long that it’s already time for you to get another. And you sort of just wish you had told everyone right away, “Hi! I just got a haircut! How do you like it?”

So I’m not going to wait for you to notice in a few weeks or months or never that the blog looks different. It has a completely new look! How do you like it?

In sad news, in the move to the new site, not all the old posts have come along for the ride. The written parts of the blogs are saved, but the photos are gone, so I will need to try to reconstruct the posts over time. But don’t worry. I’ll start with your favorite one. Just tell me which one that was.

Who’s the patron saint of reconstructing old blog posts? It might be St. Rita, patron of the impossible. Good thing I already have her ear.

~2~

Clueless is playing at the Senator Theatre! I’m going to go with friends Tuesday night. I’m so excited. I can’t remember when I last saw Clueless, but it has been much too long.

We might need to hit Clark Burger on the way.

~3~

While spending time with our local cousins this week, I was struck once again by how much Daniel loves his little cousin, my goddaughter, who is 14 months old. He just loves making her smile and laugh, and she finds him very entertaining.

Cousins are so very special.

~4~

Daniel’s little league team lost the semi-final game, so we are headed to the consolation game this weekend. I am not sure which people are consoled by the consolation game. It seems to me that the parents would be consoled without an extra game and that half the children who play will end up even sadder.

Of course, I believe losing is a wonderful lesson, so maybe we’ll learn yet another one tomorrow. And maybe we’ll drown that lesson in a snowball afterward.

~5~

On the hottest day of the week, we took a trip to Dutch Wonderland. We go every June, and every year I think it’s our last year there. Surely one year our children will outgrow it and be bored by what Dutch Wonderland offers. But every year they love it as much as—or maybe more than—the year before. They experience it in entirely new ways.

This year Leo was old enough to be a “responsible rider” on the bumper cars, and he drove his brother around. And they both discovered the double log flume, which made me nervous, but which they might still be riding if we hadn’t called it a day.

It was so hot. It was so worth it.

Then we came home and went to Daniel’s baseball practice because the boys were still full of energy. I wrote about that here.

I wonder whether we’ll be back again next year.

~6~

We started our Noodle Jar for the summer! Somehow the noodles are pouring into it, so our sons are either beautifully behaved or really good at reminding us that someone just did something kind.

We haven’t decided what we’ll do when we reach the top, but once they reach the first line on the side, each child gets a Pokemon booster pack. We should probably pick the goals for the whole jar now, but there’s something exciting about the unknown and making it up as we go.

~7~

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers! We will celebrate my husband the only way we know how, treating him to Matthew’s Pizza. I might try to coax my father to go with us to see the Wonder Woman movie because his grandsons know Grandpa is a Wonder Woman fan.

What a gift fathers are to us. Please join me in praying for those for whom Father’s Day is a difficult day.

Read more quick takes at Kelly’s blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, and have a wonderful weekend!