John's confused car

During his sojourn in California we have had the use of his Ford Crown Victoria.  It has been indispensable to us from the first day because our own car has been out of commission.  And our life with all of the piano and violin lessons, the picking and dropping off of children, the procuring of groceries and the getting to work, would be impossible without the Crown Vic right now.  We are very grateful.
But lately I've been trying to see the whole experience from the car's point of view.  Aside from the difference in location and weather conditions (it's been a Georgia car up to now) the most remarkable difference between its current and former life is not what's outside the car.
Following is a list of some of the things that you would recently have found inside the car that would not typically have been in the car during all the previous years of John's ownership.
six people at a time
little girls
five-gallon buckets full of kitchen scraps
dolls
mittens and hats
library books with titles like "Miss Ducky Loses Her Hat!"
a splitting maul
snow
50 pound bags of layer pellets
car seats
crumbs

I'm looking forward to returning the car to John soon and it's my intention to return it just like we found it, but the car will have some strange memories from this time.

Waiting for Carpool (or Mrs. Elliott) . . .

I find myself frequently waiting with Obie outside at the end of the driveway or just inside our front door if it is 10 degrees or below, waiting for Mrs. Elliott to pick him up for school.  We have had some interesting conversations and here is one of those . . .

Setting:  Just inside the front door because it was frigid!  Too frigid for someone who was just in sunny California.

Obie:  Me no go to school today!

Momma:  You need to go to school today and tomorrow you are having your birthday party for Jesus at school.

Obie:  No birthday party for Jesus!  My birthday party, for me.

Momma:  No, tomorrow you are having a birthday party with your class to celebrate Jesus's birthday.

Obie:  No!  Jesus lives in another world called Bethlehem.  He will not be at my school.  Jesus's birthday is on Christmas and my birthday party is tomorrow.

And then Mrs. Elliott pulls into the driveway, and we run out to meet her.  The whole time I am buckling him in the car, I think to myself, "Wow!  He can say Bethlehem and he understands that celebrate the birth of Christ on Christmas day.  Umm . . job done!?  And I pat myself on the back.

Disney Land

 The safari boat tour was our first ride in Disney.

 Waiting in line for Splash Mountain!

Thumbs up for Tom Swayer Island! Okay, Obie was the one child who was always with me at Disneyland, therefore, I have LOTS of pictures of Obie and very little of anyone else.  I was also having so much fun at Disney that I didn't always have time to pull out my camera thus I don't have lots of pics from that day.

For Josh. I want you should learn the musical stylings, old boy..

The Beach