Monday, July 20, 2009

Thrift Shopping

After I posted on my blog last night, I realized I hadn't taken any pictures of Darryl and Tamera's home. Since they just moved in on June 1st, few people will have seen their new house.
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So to rectify my oversight, above is a shot of the front of their house. Below are three views of their big backyard.
Every house we've seen is surrounded by lush emerald-green grass. Missouri is much greener than Arizona, more even than our green mountain home.
This pool is my children's favorite feature of Uncle Darryl's yard!
This is Darryl's new shed at the very back of the yard.
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After a quiet morning, around noon the kids and I headed into Springfield with Aunt Tamera to do back-to-school shopping. Three thrift stores later, we had 6 pairs of jeans for Dylan; 5 pairs for Jacob; a pair of pants, a dress, and 2 blouses for Sarah; and a pair of pants and a denim dress and jacket (with a cute cow motif) for me. Tamera found a lot of good stuff, too. Very productive! This will save us a trip to Mesa when we return home.
With the shopping finished, we went to McDonalds for lunch around 3pm. We'd no sooner pulled into the parking lot than the clouds burst and we were deluged with pounding rain for a very long time.
The McDonalds decor had an interesting racing theme. One glass wall was filled with model racing cars. That's Dylan peeking from the other side of the wall.
There were lots of clothing-filled bags to be unloaded when we returned. How we will fit them in with the rest of our luggage when we head back home, I really don't know.
After dinner, Dylan, Jacob, and Sarah took a refreshing dip in the pool. Rain was still drizzling down on them, but they didn't care.
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Now it's after midnight and the rain continues. Outside we can hear the cacophony of cicadas, much louder than those in the Phoenix area. Fireflies are flitting about on the grass and the kids are sitting on the patio listening to the wisdom of Uncle Darryl. Aunt Tamera just said goodnight. I'm ready to follow suit, so it's time to press "publish," gather the kids, and say goodnight.
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Good night!

4 comments:

Grandma Honey said...

You know how you said you had to "rethink" your packing when you left the condo so you could once again get everything back into your car? Well after buying all those clothes today, I'm looking forward to your next packing adventure! But hey, it's worth it...with all those good buys. I love Thrift shopping.

LORI said...

WISDOM OF UNCLE DARRYL? RUN KIDS, RUN!!! AW, SHUCKS, JUST KIDDING! WE GOT SOME RAIN HERE THIS EVENING AS WELL--WHAT A REFRESHING CHANGE FROM BLISTERING HEAT--BLISTERING HEAT WITH RAIN! THE KIDS WERE OUTSIDE LITERALLY SOAKING IT UP! GLAD YOU HAD A FUN DAY OF THRIFT STORE FINDS!

Wyndie said...

Hmmm ... perhaps the kids can dress in layers and layers on the way home. ;) I'm glad you found some good bargains, though.

Unknown said...

They can sit on them... Pad the seats with clothes. We did that once when I was little with sleeping bags and blankets when my parents bought to much for the return trip.