A Last Hurrah

             
With my uncle passing away and family in and out our door and me, a complete mess trying to clean house, figure out how to make a Sunshine and Lemonade themed birthday party for Lanie, how to sift through piles of old school uniforms and get the kids to sit still long enough to try them on, how to pay bills and budget which if you know me takes a good 3 days, how to prepare both physically and emotionally for a full-time job starting, well, now - tomorrow(although when I started writing this post, it was last week) and how to do all the last minute things I haven't had a chance to do this summer -- I needed a break.

I searched my purchased Groupon's and Living Social's and found one that would expire that day and would take us to KEMAH, a waterfront community gone commercial that has carnival rides, restaurants, and shops.  So in the one day we had between the Buehring family visiting and the Ward family on their way to visit, we drove the 35 minutes to try out the newly built human Maze.  Have you seen those before?  There's one in Ft. Worth which made it on an episode finale of The Amazing Race, and I'm sure there are others all over, but this is the only one near Houston that I know of.  I was determined not to waste the few bucks I spent on the Groupon but mostly, I was determined to get our family out for one last spontaneous summer trip.

When school begins, I'm hoping by 8pm, our kids are at least showered, in pajamas and brushing their teeth, but for now, while we have just a few days left of summer, we are pushing that clock as much as we can.  We pulled into Kemah about 8pm, made our way through the Maze, which was really fun.  We split up into three groups - me and Lydia, Kenny and Lanie, and Elijah on his own.  It was over fast, 9 minutes to be exact - we were timed, but it was such a good night. Besides us, there was one other family - a dad with his two kids running through.  No crowds. And while it was still warm and humid, there was a nice breeze outside.  It was a nice night, a needed night, because I was relaxed.  I love that while we had a house to clean up, I wasn't eager to get home. I wanted to be there, and didn't mind spending money on ridiculously jacked up prices for a train ride or a carnival game or ice cream that turned their teeth blue.  It was just the right spontaneity for me.  And a great last hurrah.