Looking forward to it!!!

My DH will use a night splint when it gets bad. One or two nights generally solves the problem. However, he tries to keep it at bay by wearing his minimalist shoes. It took him a good six months to work up his feet muscles to be able to wear them all day. Now he'll wear his regular work shoes (or boots), but if he starts to feel his plantar fasciitis acting up, he switches back to his minimalist shoes for a while.

We always go to Krispy Kreme that day... the kids are already looking forward to it. :drool5:

I learned about durian from Andrew Zimmern's show. It is one of the very few foods he spits out. I saw my first in real life durian a few years ago at our Asian speciality market. SaveSave

We have embraced the family selfie and it has now become our tradition. There are six of us, we don't use a selfie stick, and it's always fun to get everyone in the photo while still trying to show off our destination. :lol: We have a great time with it. We recently went to an air show and we were trying to get our family selfie with a giant plane in the background. It was hilarious. We had someone offer to take our picture and I had to explain how the selfie is our family tradition. I'm also a scrapbooker and those family selfies get entire pages to themselves. They are some of our favorite pictures, so it doesn't bother me one iota if someone thinks it's disgusting. I know they are wrong. :laugh:

Radishes - the peppery, spicy ones. Yumm! I can eat them up like candy. But only raw, never cooked. I also love onions and asparagus, but you can keep the black licorice. My DH came home from Sweden with tons of their salty black licorice. Yuck!

I would absolutely let my children go to a trampoline park, but I'm also a big believer in letting kids do dangerous things, Gever Tulley-style. I think it's great for (most) kids to test their bodies and balance and coordination in a relatively safe place like a trampoline park. However, you do you! If you're that uncomfortable about it (or even just have a bad gut feeling), then chose something else for your family.

This little commercial runs before all the films at our movie theatre. I'm pretty sure it's my daughter's favorite part of any movie. Spoiler alert: UNICORNS! "It's probably the unicorns" has become one of our family sayings.

Short and sweet is perfect. I bet most guests are secretly hoping for a short and sweet speech anyhow. I know I detest long, rambling speeches, usually given by someone who is not a natural speaker and did not prepare any kind of speech but just hopes to wing it. TBH, the speeches are probably my least favorite part of a wedding.

That was just gorgeous! Thank you for sharing your pics with us! Congratulations to you and your DH!

I would go.

Umm, I'm not in my senior yearbook for a similar reason. IMO, I really wish I had just that one classic senior pic. I know it's popular to have all kinds of photos in different clothing options, but looking back over 20 years now, I wish for just one classic senior pic and for that to be in the yearbook.

We've done it and we'll do it again. Last year we did a 16 hr Google map trip in 19 hours. DH and I go to bed early and tell the kids they get to stay up all night long. Then, DH and I wake up at 2:00, load the mostly-still-awake kids in the car, and take off. The kids then fall asleep and we get a really good solid chunk of drive time in before they're ready to wake up. I wrap presents for the kids and they get to open a new present every few hours. The presents are things like books, puzzles, origami instructions and paper, etc. I also make vacation journals, and part of it includes a map. They color along the map as we go through major cities. Also, like someone mentioned above, we'd make a food stop but let the kids play instead of eating. They would eat in the car after we got back on the road. For bathroom breaks, we like the roadside visitor centers best. They almost always have a small patch of grass for the kids to run and play. We only do this for the start of the vacation! On the way back home, we break the trip up as much as possible. The excitement of getting to our vacation destination helps with the drive, but doing that kind of drive on the way back home would not work for us. We also talk quite a bit about the expectations of being in the car for such a long time. They know that it's not all that much fun, but we'll try to make it as fun as we can. They also know that they will get to swim in the pool when we arrive at the hotel. We also plan for lots of walking/activity time for the first day at our vacation spot. My youngest was five and he handled the trip nicely. The whole staying-up-all-night right before a big trip has sort of become a family tradition for us.

Ahhh, I see. You believe that everyone is inherently racist. I disagree with that notion. I believe that saying we live in a racist society and that people are inherently racist is a step backwards in the conversation about race. I refuse to believe that because someone was born a certain race that s/he is inherently racist. I believe we live in a diverse society and that most people in our society don't believe that a person is inferior to them because of the color of his/her skin.

I think I understand where you're coming from, but I think I didn't explain myself clearly. I'm not confused or shocked because of a white girl standing in front of POC dolls. I was confused why the photo was supposed to be jarring or shocking at all in the first place. Like others have stated in regards to that photo, I had to look for the race aspect to it. As for your second paragraph, you completely missed my point. I think Bluegoat, whom I've quoted below, gets closer to my feelings on the subject. It literally doesn't matter to me what race my nail tech or housekeeper or grocery clerk or doctor or financial advisor is. It comes across as every white woman is inherently racist just because they are white. It literally does the opposite of pushing my buttons. It doesn't give me something to think about. It doesn't facilitate a productive dialogue. The photos are a dead-end for me. Oh look, you're supposed to be shocked and outraged when the races are reversed. If you are shocked, boom! proof you're racist. If you're not shocked and think the photos are disconnected, then boom! you're defensive and uncomfortable, and guess what, you need to go think about how racist you are. It's a dead-end, no-win for anyone conversation that keeps getting played over and over. And dammit, don't I always kick myself when I join controversial threads. :lol: I should know better than to address sensitive topics on the internet with complete strangers.

I don't get it. First, I've never seen an all-white doll aisle. That photo seems so out there that if I didn't realize it was about race, it wouldn't have made any sense to me. Second, so when I want my nails done, I need to shop around to find a white woman to do my nails because it's racist if I pay the Vietnamese shop owner? When I call the agency that sends out housemaids, I need to make sure I request only a white woman. Gee, doesn't sound racist at all. /s I don't understand how these photos are supposed to open my eyes to racism.

We like to stay at Still Waters Resort. It is somewhat pricier than other options, but you get a full kitchen and free access to lots of their amenities like kayaks, paddle boats, pools, bikes, mini golf, fishing poles, etc. You can also rent pontoons, ski boats, and jet skis. Things to do: Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery Dewey Short Visitor Center Lakeside Wilderness Area Dogwood Canyon - I haven't been here, but my friends just went and said they had a good time. However, it is not free. You have to pay to get into their hiking trails. Silver Dollar City - Again, not free, but if you're going, don't miss out on the Marvel Cave tour.

I've read The Little Book of Hygge. It is indeed a little book, as in a quick, short read. I think I read it in one sitting. I just looked it up - it's only 3 hours long. Might be good for short trips with frequent stops. I hope that helps.

Several years ago I bought kitchen bar mop towels from Amazon. I love them! They're white with a stripe, and less than $1 per towel. I'm thinking about buying another order just because our family uses them so much.

You may not have to change your summer plans just yet. My exH has WPW. He had an outpatient procedure and within a few days was cleared to resume all activities. That was over 20 years ago, so hopefully they can do even more for you now. Best of luck to you and your son!

Haha, oh man, Dad is never going to live that phrase down. :lol: Similar story, I made DH take me to the ER because I was having a terrible headache. Turned out I had meningitis and spent a week in the hospital. Long after the fact, DH confessed that he thought I was acting ridiculous to go the ER with a headache. We're both glad he never told me I was "over-exaggerating."

I like to scrapbook and have been using the Project Life system for several years. I'm using the app this year, but I've found that we really like the physical scrapbooks better. However, ordering, waiting, and picking up prints is cramping my style. I'm thinking about getting a photo printer. I only need 4x6 size and 99% of my photos are taken from my iPhone. I was thinking about getting a Canon Selphy. Does anyone have one or something like it? What has been your experience? Any tips or suggestions for me? Thanks!

Check out AllTrails.com. You might have some places to hike closer than you think.

I big puffy heart hiking! Hiking, for me, means walking in nature on unpaved trails. Everyone in my family carries his/her own backpack. It includes water, jacket, hat, extra socks, and a snack. I also carry a first aid kit, bug spray, sunscreen, and a map. The kids may also include binoculars and pocket knives. Our hikes are generally 3-8 miles long. We love day trips and hiking, so we don't mind driving a few hours (2-3 hours one-way) to go hiking. However, we also do hikes at state parks within 30 minutes of our home. Exploring and being in a state of mind for adventure and learning is a hallmark of our hikes. We look for animals and animal tracks. We observe rocks, trees, whatever is in our surrounding area. We explore caves, nooks and crannies. Water crossings are always fun! Walks are completely different. It might be a walk around our neighborhood or walking on a mixed use paved trail. We don't take backpacks or carry water and they are almost always under 3 miles long. It's not the adventure that hiking is for our family.

Slightly off-topic: About three years ago I had an epic meltdown around Christmas. Why, you ask? Because I was still finding and vacuuming up plastic easter grass. My sweet DH has made sure that the evil stuff has never crossed our threshold since. I've switched to tissue paper and it has saved my sanity. When the kids want to tease me about cleaning up the house, they'll mention the infamous easter grass fiasco.