Anything Can Be Fun

On Wednesday, Thing One, Thing Two and I, were ready to set out for Summer Adventure No. 57: fruit picking.

Under sunny blue skies, we packed our picnic, chose a rendevouz point with our friends, mapped our route, filled our station wagon with petrol and away we went. It was a scene that could have been ripped from a 1950s Good Housekeeping issue, except (a) I wasn't wearing a skirt, (b) the boys had chocolate on their faces, and (c) our station wagon [or estate, depending on what language you speak] does not have wooden cladding, nor is it American made.

All was going swimmingly as we sped down the highway until I heard clunk-clunk-clunk. "Oh," I thought. "That must be the car next to me," as I turned up the soundtrack to "Cars." As my friend in front sped up, I had the distinct feeling that our car, who we affectionately call Gazerbeam for its GB country sticker on the back, wasn't keeping up. Finally, disaster: we lost power, I couldn't downshift and lights starting blinking ominously on the dashboard. Luckily, I was able to get us over to the shoulder.

"Well boys, I've got some bad news and some good news," I told them after I had called my friend to say we wouldn't be joining her after all, and then the Automobile Association to come tow us away. "The bad news is we won't be fruit picking today. The good news is we can have a car picnic! Hooray!!"

"Gazerbeam is sad," observed Thing Two. "Poor Gazerbeam is tired," added Thing One.

So while we waited an hour for the AA to come rescue us, we ate our lunch, consoled ourselves with chocolate chip cookies (which always make me feel better), planned Thing One's 7th birthday party and listened to the "Cars" soundtrack some more.

After our tow truck driver left us in the warm embrace of our usual mechanic, he handed me the receipt for the tow. "Ah, yes," I said. "Good times!"

And while I have to say it wasn't the absolute best time we had all summer, it wasn't the worst time either, thus proving the maxim: Anything Can Be Fun.

MarathonMum Update

Hello MarathonMum fans. Yes, I know I've been on hiatus, with nary a word about where, when or how. Lots of things have happened since the previous post. To recap:

-England lost to Portugal. But it was a great party! (And many times, that's all that matters)
-Italy won the World Cup, but not before Zidane, arguably one the best players to play the game, showed the world how manly he was. ("Wow!" Thing One said when he viewed the head-butt-in-the-chest-incident. "That must have hurt.")
-Mr.MarathonMum went to Singapore for the second time in two months. How was it? "I have no idea," he said. "I was in meetings all day."
-MarathonMum had a sad, unexpected and brief SOLO trip to the U.S. Three weeks later, Thing Two still runs up to me, gives me a hug and says, "Mom! You're back from America!"
-Thing One finished his school year July 21. I still laugh when people say, "Have a great summer!" When the so-called summer is only six weeks long. If you want a summer, go to school in the U.S., where it's twice as long.
-Thing Two received his official letter about starting nursery school. I spend my time vacillating between joy (mornings to myself!), wonderment, (time for school already?) and a teeny, tiny bit of sadness (where did the past three years go?)
-Finally, the whole family went on a much needed and much appreciated two-week break to France.

We are back. I am back, refreshed and rested.

Normal MarathonMum postings will now resume.