Rainy Day Fun Times

We've had a span of cool, rainy days here and while it's been kind of nice, in July I'd rather have the hot summery weather. Salads and pools and creek days, and getting by with as few clothes as is appropriate. That's what I love.

Still, yesterday--the third straight day of rain--was the last day for this little scavenger hunt one of our bookstores hosted this month. So we woke up and the girls were ready to hit the town looking for Waldo. It's a Waldo celebration, and I guess it's going on nationwide, but Waldo is hidden in all these little small shops downtown and we had to find him in each store and have the store clerk sign our little paper, which let me tell you, by the end of yesterday morning that paper was looking pretty sad and soggy.

We got our sweaters, we got our umbrellas, and off we went. We started with the best smelling bakery, and ended the morning at the coffee shop where Martin was able to meet us. Being the end of the month, our bank account was empty, which was A VERY GOOD THING, because otherwise I would have spent all our fortunes on baked goods, coffee, books, and antiques throughout the day. As it was, I got by only spending a few dollars on a truffle for each of us at a chocolate shop and a cup of coffee for Martin and me. Lucky me! We were quite wet when we came back home for lunch, but that didn't stop us! We went back out after lunch! We were determined to get all the stamps we needed to be entered into the drawing at the WALDO PARTY that was being held that night at the bookstore. We really wanted a chance at winning the deluxe set of Waldo books!

(There were a few kind of frightening experiences... the Waldo to be found was about three inches tall. Some places had him near the front counter, but some places were quite large--like the ANTIQUE STORE--and the smiling lady was just like, "good luck!" Aaaahhh!!!! I think we spent more than half an hour looking for him there. It was very fun, but a little stressful, haha! Thankfully, having something to look for kept curious hands off the shelves upon shelves of Extremely Breakable and in some cases Very Valuable items. Whew!)

We finished just after 5:00 when everything was closed for the day and we had *just* the exact number required to enter the drawing. The party was scheduled for 6:00 so we zipped home for a quick dinner, then walked back down to the bookstore, which was...

...Closed!

They are never open on Tuesdays, but at ten after six the store was still locked and dark. There was another family waiting outside, just as disappointed and confused as we were. We all were checking on social media for an explanation, but could find none. The mother of the other family sent a message to the shop owners, we looked for a mail slot to drop in our stamp sheets for the drawing, but there was none. We waited around for half an hour.

During that half hour, we talked to this family, and I can never believe what a small world it is! Inevitably, the "where do you go to school" question came up. I always feel so self-conscious about homeschooling, even though I believe in it so firmly, and am so confident that it is the right path for us at this time. I still don't like the feeling of being labeled as weirdos by the rest of society. But guess what! This family is also a homeschooling family! Not only that, but they had just joined one of the homeschooling groups that a number of my friends are members of! And NOT ONLY THAT, but it turned out the husband of this family works at the same company as Martin! All these similarities were just unbelievable! Phone numbers were exchanged, and we went our separate ways at the intersection.

It's funny, but nobody in our family really cared that much about party not happening. I was disappointed for the kids' sake, but they didn't really seem too bothered. We had had a GREAT day, and yes, the end goal was the party, but even though it didn't happen, we still had a super fun day. I'm so glad my girls pushed me to get out the door and wander around in a downpour. I'm so glad they are so easily excitable. I'm thankful for big fun on small funds. I'm thankful for our community and all it's little corners--the small business corner, the homeschooling corner, the bookworm corner (we went into a bookstore we'd never visited before and it was hard to drag Anja away!) All the people working at these stores were SO kind and welcoming. The men at the game store, the women at the chocolate shop, the familiar and the unfamiliar faces, they all were just so nice and enthusiastic. Many of the participating businesses are ones we frequent, but some of them I had never visited before, or had not visited in years. The goal of the hunt was to get people into shops that were outside their habits, and I think that goal was achieved. I've got a lot of places in my mind for Christmas shopping now that are not Amazon.com!

Later that night I got a nice text from the mother of the family we'd met--she'd heard back from the bookstore saying they had rescheduled the party for Friday. I'm happy it's going to happen anyway! And I have a feeling it will be even a better time for us, since the kids won't be totally wiped out from walking all over town all day in the rain!