Shutter Bug and Parking It

The Impossible Girl at Fish Park, running bridges.

I'm pretty lucky that My Sailor is a shutter bug. Honestly, I'm usually so busy living that I forget that these moments are important to record too.  Luckily for me, he has a pretty good. He takes the pictures. I do the editing and sharing. That's the deal.

So, on weekends, we've taken to doing a walk and a small picnic or a mini-road trip somewhere.

Okay, so truth be told, these are both of these are born of necessity. A car ride puts The Impossible Girl to sleep, and, since she is prone to waking up as soon as we park, these car rides can last an hour or more. And walks/hikes are a cheap way to get out of the house when wallets are tight and we're all about at our wits end. But it dawned on me the other day, when a Child Care staff member asked if we take The Impossible Girl on hikes because she LOVES being outside and in the dirt discovering nature whenever she can be.

That was awesome. As much as I complain about her screen time, which is unavoidable in today's world, we get her outside EVERY SINGLE DAY. And not just outside to walk from a parking lot to another indoor location - but actually spending time OUTSIDE. I've always been a nature girl. In fact, we have a camping trip planned and I'm already looking forward to exploring new woods, trails, and what not. 

Fish Park in Poulsbo is one of our usual haunts - usually on a hunt for painted rocks (thanks to the talented folks at Kitsap Rocks) or out for a picnic to let The Impossible Girl burn off some energy.

Last month we were at the fish park quite often -

Hanging out with my favorite little alien.

The Impossible Girl rocking her Angel hoodie - From Disney's Lilo and Stitch series

One of our napping/road trips lead us to Port Townsend for lunch.

  The Impossible Girl quickly discovered the perfect size playground. Usually a bit of a wallflower, she surprised us by diving right in with the other kids, climbing the stairs and riding the slide over and over and over.... you get the jist...

 And wasn't too thrilled when it was time to move on.

She teaches me a lot every day.

A lot about patience.

A lot about guidance.

A lot about courage.

A lot about fear.

A lot about love.

A lot about her.

A lot about marriage.

And a lot about myself.

I guess she's not the only one growing up.

My Husband The Hero or "I kicked the Sh!T out of it."

Today My Sailor was a real hero.

When our septic tank had some serious issues back in May, I made a trip to the laundromat with The Impossible Girl to do some laundry we couldn't do at home.  Somehow, in balancing baby, laundry, giant change jar and detergent, I didn't check that the lid to the detergent was on all the way... and, of course, it tipped over and spilled all over the inside of the trunk of the T (my trusty 2006 Pontiac Torrent).  I sopped up as much as I could with towels I was going to wash anyway, and decided that the traces of blue goop left over would just have to stay for the moment. The bits that had absorbed into the car were just a new air freshener.

Anyway, more than a month later, I go to pop the trunk and it makes the popping sound, but won't open. There is no key hole as an option to open it either. It's key fob or nothing.

To add to the problem, it's my lean season at work, so the wallet doesn't have wiggle room for car repairs right now - and of course my right brake light is out - and we're going camping with family.

So, being the resourceful gal I am, I Google "how to manually open your tailgate of a 2006 Pontiac Torrent". Turns out my car (for some strange reason) is missing the opening other cars have in order to manually open it from the inside. (Sigh)

Just as I'm about to give up, My Sailor offered to take a look at it.

After about 10 minutes, I hear a loud Bang. Thinking he gave up and just slammed the doors, I come outside to find the back is OPEN!

After high fiving him, and still in a state of complete and utter shock, I asked, "How did you do it?"

"I kicked the shit out of it."

"And it worked?!"

"Yup."

"You should be in IT."

The culprit? The ever changing weather had caused the detergent that was stuck inside the lock of the tailgate to gum up the works.