Back At the Red House

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig.

Julia was so bummed to leave yesterday that she was compelled to kiss all the walls and doors in our hotel room as she called out longingly, "Bye-bye, hotel, even though your elevators took FOREVER, I'll STILL miss you and I wish we didn't have to leeeeeave!"

(The elevators really DID take forever.)

After we checked out, we drove over to Auntie Shannon's apartment to have breakfast with her before heading to the airport.  As we drove along, Ethan spotted a Kia Soul (albeit not a black one like the one that Madeleine is so desperate to find.) 

Before I continue, I must explain that the girls feel the compulsion to yell out: "Kia Soul!  That's just like OUR car!" every time they see a Kia Soul ANYWHERE.  (They also need to yell out "Volkswagon Bug, my favorite kind of dinky little car!" when they see one.)  Their car-spotting exclamations are so important to them that they will literally erupt with their exclamation in the middle of talking about something completely different.  Like this:

JULIA: Mom, did you know that one day at school, we were - Volkswagon Bug!  My favorite kind of dinky little car! - working on our journals... etc etc

SO, it was somewhat egregious to the girls that Ethan, who first spotted the Kia Soul en route to Shannon's, was the one to announce it.

ETHAN: Kia Soul!

JULIA: Kia Soul!

MADELEINE: Daddy, the NEXT TIME, can you NOT say "Kia Soul," and can you let ME AND JULIA say it?

Parenting FAIL, Ethan.  Seriously.

We then drove past a restaurant which, for some reason, has pictures of skeletons all over its building front.  We had driven by this particular building nearly every day of our trip, but for some reason, Julia hadn't really noticed it until our last drive-by, and it reminded her of the touristy Halloween witchy wonderland of Salem, MA.

 

JULIA: Mom?  Are we in SALEM, because I just saw some HALLOWEEN stuff!

ETHAN: Yup.  We are.

JULIA: (disbelieving but slightly uncertain) Mom?  Are we REALLY?

ME: Yup.

ETHAN: It's amazing how long it takes to get to Salem from Needham.  I guess it's a much shorter drive from Atlanta.

JULIA: (still a bit uncertain) WELL, I just THOUGHT of Salem when I saw that skeleton, because Salem DEFINITELY has lots of Halloween stuff, even when it's not Halloween!

 

Suddenly, Madeleine, who has been so befuddled all vacation, was confident of our surroundings.

 

MADELEINE: Julia, we're in ATLANTA Georgia.

JULIA: Mom?  Is there a place called Herbert's?

MADELEINE: Julia, we're in ATLANTA Georgia.

ME: I don't know if there's a place called Herbert's.

MADELEINE: No, we're in ATLANTA GEORGIA.

JULIA: It just sounds like the right name for a place.

MADELEINE: We're in Atlanta Georgia Julia.

JULIA: I just think Herbert's is a nice name for a place.

MADELEINE: (insistent) JULIA.  We're in ATLANTA GEORGIA.

 

You're living on two different planets here, kids.

 

When we drove our rented car into the Atlanta airport car return, Madeleine, of course, had a pressing question: "Mom?  Where's our BLACK car?"

 

Now that we are home, we have been reflecting on our favorite parts of vacation.  Julia even began dreamily preparing her vacation synopsis for Monday's school journal writing.

 

JULIA: Mom?  On Monday when we do journals, I'm going to write that I went to GEORGIA and I watched "Hocus Pocus."

ME: And you can write about going to the museum, and the zoo, and the aquarium, and Stone Mountain.

JULIA: Well Mom.  There's only one little tiny piece of paper, so I don't think I can FIT all that.

ME: Well, why don't you pick one thing?

JULIA: I picked "Hocus Pocus."

ME: Well, why don't you pick something specific to Atlanta?  I mean, you can watch "Hocus Pocus" anywhere.

JULIA: Well, maybe I'll write that I saw a beluga whale.

ME:  That's a great idea!  That's something we can't see at the Boston aquarium. I bet not a lot of kids in your class have seen a beluga whale.

JULIA: Well, technically, none of us would have seen a beluga whale, because we don't LIVE where beluga whales live.

 

I can't believe she used the word "technically" in the same conversation as her wanting to write about "Hocus Pocus" being the highlight of her vacation.

 

Speaking of, I asked the kids what their favorite parts of vacation were: 

 

ME: Girls, what's your favorite thing we did on vacation?

MADELEINE: Um...playing with Clara.

JULIA:  Watching "Hocus Pocus."

ME: Okay, let me put it this way: what was your favorite PLACE we went?  Like the aquarium, the zoo, the museum, Stone Mountain...

MADELEINE: Umm...Stone Hearth Mountain.

(Yes, she definitely had our red house on the brain, as Stone Hearth Pizza is a Needham restaurant and the mountain we visited is plain old Stone Mountain.)

JULIA: (nervously) Um...Mama...I'm not really sure, because there were SO MANY places I loved going.

 

Come on Julia!  Commit!  Don't worry if you can't give an answer with 100% certainty!  Take the plunge, here!!

 

At any rate, it was truly a wonderful vacation, and we are slowly trying to get back into the swing of things here at our red house with our black Kia Soul.  As I said on facebook, vacation is always too short!!