Earth Day

Elizabeth - Matt and I had to laugh after your last post. We both agree you have a mini Lee on your hands. And another "inspiration" story about your family huh? Seems like you guys get one of those comments every other week there in Milan. You would think the city would give you the Most Inspirational Family of the Year award. Besides the whole town knows who you guys are. Who could miss a family of 7 trekking 5 miles across town in a triple jogging stroller to get groceries at Kroger. I'm surprised people don't stop, roll down their window and take pictures of you guys because of how inspirational you are! Ha ha ha!!! Just kidding!

Thought I would post about an incident I had yesterday at a family carnival. There were the staple family games at this carnival-pin the tail on the donkey, face painting, and water balloon throw. Then we strolled by one I didn't remember partaking in as a kid. The game had the feel good name plastered in rainbow colors, "Keep the Earth Green". You don't remember racing to the recycling bin with plastic bottles, newspapers, and pop cans in order to save the earth? Neither did I, I must have been too busy throwing my candy wrappers out the car window. Well I didn't want to stop at this game, but the woman hosting this game lured Madeline in with none other than cute fluffy stuffed polar bears! Made organically of course. These were the prizes given away. So alright whatever we stop, I smile at the lady. My smile quickly turned into a hard laugh though when the woman said to Madeline, "I bet your mom is an enviromentalist". I said "Yeah sure my Save the Polar Bear bumper sticker is right by my Arms are for Hugging sticker on our new Prius!" Ha ha ha! I wasn't sure how I could be sending off the "tree hugger" vibe. I showered this morning and shaved my legs. My only other thought was maybe she can smell the organic fiber in my kid's Hanna clothes... I'm checking into this possibility. Well the game was explained to Madeline. The woman asked her "Do you know what this bin is for?" You know the one with the recycling symbol on it. Madeline shook her head no, so the woman turned to me and gave me a brochure about how to explain recycling to young children. So I told this greeny "Yes we do have a recycling bin and you know what I really like it because I put whatever doesn't fit in our trash bin, in it. So saves me money on buying more trash bags". Come to think of it this would be a great way to promote recycling. Well Madeline didn't win one of those fluffy polar bears that may be extinct soon, but she did walk away with a lollipop. The game made an impression on her though because she threw away the wrapper in the garbage, however I can't claim responsibility on the whereabouts of the lollipop stick. It may or may not have ended up on the green grass by our gas guzzling van. Just kidding!!!