It’s good and weird to be home!

Well, we’ve been home less than a week, and 60% of our family has already hopped on a plane again. 

As I mentioned in my last post, we have been planning to be gone as much as we can this summer since our house is being renovated, specifically our kitchen, more than most other spaces, and it is down to the studs right now. It’s so weird as I have never done a renovation before, and every time I walk in the door, I expect to see the old kitchen. But let me say, I am happy I don’t. 🙂

If you’ve been to our house, you get it. If you haven’t, well, here’s my famous description/line - it’s like Golden Girls married Miami Vice and had a baby. That’s this house. So 80’s coke party house - be gone! 🙂 I am not even kidding when I say the whole house was covered in mirrors. On the walls in the den, dining room, the refrigerator (the first time my mom saw it, she was like, “Well damn, I’d be skinny if I had to look at myself every time I opened the fridge!”) 🤣

Even the master bedroom had mirrors on EVERY SINGLE WALL. I don’t know a single woman who wants to see herself from ALL THE ANGLES. So we ripped up the carpet and made it the gym. 🤣

The most famous part of the house that most are actually sad we got rid of, that Shawn was adamant about changing, was the foyer bathroom, aka the gold bathroom. The entire room was covered in gold mirrors. I am not exaggerating. It is an odd shape - maybe like an octagon? And the ceiling, the back of the door - all of it. Gold mirrors. If you had a few cocktails and went in there, well, good luck not puking. But perhaps the most special part of this bathroom was Scarlett.

Above the sink, inside the wall, was a naked woman statue, like something from the Louvre. And then the mirrors that were inside the wall reflected off of her so you could see all HER angles (Jude had to tell me after we lived here for 6 months that there weren’t 3 of her 🤣). The boys were 8 and 9 when we moved in and they thought her nakedness was epic and popped in regularly to pay her a giggly visit, and they named her Scarlett.

The other day they asked what happened to her when they demo'd it, and we told them we don’t know, but secretly, we had our contractor save her so we can pull her out at their rehearsal dinners one day. :) Shhhh...

So Shawn set off with the boys to visit his parents for a few days and Macy and I will head north to drop her off at CSI camp! But first, a stop at the DMV today for her to get her learner’s permit! She has literally studied at least 6 hours a day all week and just like every other test she takes, she is claiming she will fail. She’s never gotten less than an A- her whole life so I am fairly certain she’ll pass. :) I also never thought I’d be so excited to have a kid who could drive!

SO back to CSI camp real fast…in case any of you readers know of a teenager who loves crime shows, well, I gotta tell you about this camp. 

Macy fell in love with all things crime when she started having Friday night sleepovers with my parents years ago. Friday nights meant snuggling between MomMom and PopPop and watching Dateline. She was hooked. Next, enter Aunt Heather, who is an even bigger crime junkie than Macy. Heather has even driven 8 hours to spend the night in some crazy old abandoned insane asylum. She cray. She is dying to go to camp with Macy. lol 

So last year, when the Today Show did a story on this group of college students who had a project for a crime class and basically ended up partnering with the local police department to solve a cold case from the 80's (which is GENIUS by the way. Free help AND practical hands-on experience? Make it a thing everywhere!), well, we knew we needed to find something similar she could do now.

So we googled CSI camps and the first thing that popped up? This camp in NJ - and in the craziest twist of fate, this is where my dad went to college! I mean, normally no one has ever heard of this school, but they are famous for this camp! Kids are coming from 32 states. I was born in Atlantic City while my dad attended school there, so it’s a fun backstory. You also have to watch that video in the link!  The Today Show did a story on the camp years ago so share that with anyone who may like that stuff!

I am excited to see which part of the process she will really love the most. I think it will be the legal side as I am convinced she is going to follow in her dad's footsteps and go to law school. Noone loves rules and justice more than my girl. She is even on the honor council at school!

So that’s the latest here. Other than snuggling my face off with Denver this week and FINALLY getting some sleep last night (terrible insomnia - I think just trying to get through the jetlag - which stinks bc I sleep like a champ normally), it’s felt good to be home. 

What doesn’t feel good is the disaster that is my closet and office. And I need to pack FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER. I hate packing as I am a terrible planner. I think ahead in hour increments (I literally drove 30 minutes to a doc appt yesterday, ran into the office and sat down, only to learn I was 3 hours early. No one is more exhausted by me than me). 

So I gotta get my life together today because, after camp, we drive to Florida to ride out the final weeks of summer. At least I got all the kids' physicals done for school while we were here, which is a first, as I usually send them in the last possible day, if not late. 😂

I hope everyone is having an awesome summer! Thank you for all the kind comments on the blog, too. :) Like I have been saying, this is much more for me than anyone else as I love writing and love looking back on these posts, so thanks for humoring me.