One Fine Day: LIFE'S LITTLE DETAILS

"THE DETAILS ARE NOT THE DETAILS. THEY MAKE THE DESIGN." — CHARLES EAMES

Happy Tuesday, m' dears! Let's jump straight to the details, shall we?!

Potty training aside, I'm really glad I took last week off from blogging because we finally found out our moving dates and figured out a rough PCS timeline. As things currently stand, Flyboy will be headed to Oklahoma for training in mid-October and the "requal" process will last tentatively through late January. In an effort to keep a routine as long as we can manage, Max, Beesly, and I will stay behind in Swell Rio through the beginning of December when we will pack-out and head East to stay with my parents over the holidays and for the remainder of Flyboy's training. We won't actually move to Delaware until the beginning of February, but it's nice to have an idea of what's coming for planning purposes.
If there's one thing I've learned over the past 2.5 years, it's the more I push Max the more he'll resist. So when our resident toddler had his spiritual potty awakening last week, I prepared myself to fail in the event he fully reneged. While I wouldn't describe last week's efforts as a total miss, I would say there's still a lot of work to be done before he fully gets it. Armed with Dollar Tree prizes, timers, and all the tips Lady Google has to offer, I really wish I could call our latest attempt a success—like those who accomplish the milestone in a mere three to four days—but we're on our way.
A few weeks ago we picked up a birdhouse at Home Depot. Max spotted the sweetest baby Sparrows in our backyard one morning and we figured they deserved a cozy hangout. Naturally the moment we came home and tied it up to the tree, the birds disappeared for almost two weeks straight. Every morning Max would ask me why they had yet to visit and eat any of the bird food we put out for them, I attempted to come up with really creative answers to appease the little guy, and then FINALLY they returned this past Sunday. To say we were ecstatic would be an understatement.
After a recent trip to the local lake, Flyboy presented me with the task of ordering a floatie that he and Max could use the next time we got out the boat. As the self-assigned family "snack and prop captain," I didn't take this job lightly. It was too late to find anything at Walmart this time of year, so I hopped on to Amazon (obvi!) and thought we'd be as basic as they come by ordering a big-ass swan. I knew it was going to be large, but I had no idea it would be so big that airing the thing up (even with a pump) would be tedious and take so much time (40 minutes?!). Oops! When we finally got the 75" bird blown up, you can only imagine the spectacle we became as we putted around the lake in a fishing boat. I threw my body into holding the swan down (not an easy feat considering my 5' 2" frame and gusty winds) and Flyboy tried his best to sit up high and look over the inflatable while he drove and navigated. Long story long, we had a great time with our yet-to-be-named floatie and joked that Labor Day's adventure could be best described as our Swell Rio swan song or us giving this border town the bird. The latter is a joke—you know I'll be a bawling baby come December.
A whirlwind week calls for Gin and Tonic Popsicles. Wouldn't you agree?! I swear it was like the cocktail gods were smiling upon me when a sweet blog reader brought this recipe from A Beautiful Mess to my attention. Yaaaaassssss! I whipped up a batch on Friday and we enjoyed them on Sunday afternoon. The best part?! They double as amazing ice cubes in the event the popsicle starts melting and you're ready to sip on something fizzy instead. Winning!!