Neighborhood Detective - Part 2

I posted recently that our son had decided to become a detective. He has been "hired" for a few cases here and there, such as a missing soccer ball, missing jacket, etc. My sister even came up with a plan to hire him all the way from Tennessee to have him find a missing lipstick (non-existent, of course, that needed to be planted by me) that must have accidentally come home in our luggage after the last time we saw them. These few cases, however, have not satisfied his desire to be a detective, and he has been disappointed in the lack of business he's been receiving. He often complains that he's just not getting enough work.

So, he decided that he needed to change things up a little and do a little more advertising. First, he moved his "office" to the garage. He felt like nobody was coming to see him because they probably didn't realize that he was available. So, he set up shop in the garage so that he could keep the garage door open and people would see him there and think to hire him. He also printed some forms for customers to fill out stating their name, phone number, problem, etc. That way, if he wasn't around, they could let him know that they required his services. He also posted signs on the garage door (the one that has been broken for a couple of years so it can't be opened...which works well for him) stating what his business is and what his hours are. He is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:30, closed Saturdays and Sundays. He informed me that I should only plan on him coming in for lunch. He also let me know that if I was ever looking for him and couldn't find him, not to worry because he might be off solving a case somewhere. He has an "Open" and "Closed" sign which he posts on the door so that people know when he's around. I also found him the other morning busily working on signs to advertise his business. He printed out a sign for his business pointing people in the direction of our house, glued it to some cardboard, and then nailed it into a post that he could put in the ground. That is currently at the top of our street, pointing people this way.

So, if there is ANYBODY out there who can think of a case that needs solved, PLEASE PLEASE, for the sanity of our family, let him know! He charges a very reasonable rate of 25 cents per case. Remember though, he is closed on the weekend. Addi tried to hire him on Saturday to find something she was missing, and he turned the job down because it was outside of his regular business hours.

Birthdays

We've been busy celebrating around here since Jake and Addi both just had a birthday. The big news is that they finally saved up enough money to get their Disneyland passes. Jake earns money by recycling bottles and cans, and has been saving for over a year for passes. We told him that if he saved enough for two passes for them (Addi had to pitch in any money that she happened to get), we would buy the two additional passes for us...since, afterall, they do need somebody to take them. They had gotten up to about $250 or so, and then Jay's parents gave them each cash for their birthdays that got them where they needed to be. We bought the least expensive passes we could get, which blocks out all weekends and the entire summer, but really, who wants to go to Disneyland when it's at its most crowded anyway? (If you asked Jay, he would say, really, who wants to go to Disneyland at all?!) We were able to go once last week for their birthday celebration, and then we are going again once this week before the passes are blacked out for the summer. Jay is thrilled.

Jake is definitely a thrill-seeker. He was just barely big enough for the California Screamin' roller coaster at California Adventure and couldn't get enough of it. He was very nervous at first because it goes upside down, and he was just not understanding how it could possibly stay on the tracks. After one time though, he was hooked. He would have just done that ride the rest of the day if he could have.

We waited in line for 45 minutes for Addi to meet the princesses. She was very excited, but then she was almost too nervous to talk to them...as evidenced by her nervous habit of rolling her hands up in her clothes. She could hardly let go of me long enough for me to get a couple of pictures, but she managed to do it.

After having Addi just borrow an extra scooter of our neighbor's for the past year, we decided it was probably time for her to have her own...a pink one, with a bell and streamers.

Jake picked out these clip on earrings for Addi all by himself. He was very excited to give them to her.

We took the kids for ice cream for their birthdays and Addi did not like when they sang Happy Birthday to her. Jake, on the other hand, stood up on the booth bench and was loving it.