As I said we would do we woke up Saturday morning and washed the cars. It was a bit of a challenge with three kids running around trying to help, and no matter how many times I tried to explain the order of operations they would go out of bounds working before the time was right.
It all started right around 7:00 AM when I decided it was time to wash the cars. I told the kids get your shoes on and head outside. I loaded the two fastest into the SUV as we backed it out of the garage and put it into the position to be washed. It was my fault for miscalculating the length of the hose we would need. 25 feet felt like more than enough when you consider a storm knocked over a 10 foot basketball hoop and it nearly cleared the driveway.
Miscalculation aside the hose is a fine length as long as the car is close enough to it which happens to be directly in front of the garage door. The car in the garage is easy. Back it up and get to washing. The children were very excited to help and found the old sponges that my father and I used to wash cars back when I last washed a car. I haven’t had a car that required hand washing in a very long time. Car washes have been fine for the Chevy and Toyotas I have owned, but our current cars require a different level of care and I have always enjoyed washing cars.
Once the bucket was filled and sponges handed out it was time to rinse the car. My one son, the one we call the rule breaker, decided to start soaping up the other car. I once again explained the order of operations and to concentrate on the car in front of us. The one rinsed off and ready for washing.
Every now and then I would haggle for a sponge and use it to reach the places they couldn’t. With this being a full sized SUV and not a crossover there were many places I couldn’t reach and I told the kids we would need a new tool for that. My daughter asked what I meant and I tried to explain to her this car needs to be washed with a rag on a stick and she asked what stick or what brush. I can’t remember the actual words I used.
Either way the three of them and I made quick work of the SUV. I moved it back into the garage and it was time to wash the sedan. At this time I noticed that two kids were suddenly missing and the smell of bacon filled the air. I had one still with me. The crazy and wild one, and I asked him to stand against the fence while I moved the car. There was a story of a lady that had run over her own child not that long ago and I wanted to be 100% certain he was out of the way.
Once that car was moved into place the process was repeated. We rinsed the car, soaped it up, rinsed it off, and dried it off. My new shammy did not work exactly like I remembered but it still got the job down way more effectively than anything I used the other day. It got the car dry and I was able to squeeze the water out as we went.
With the cars washed I was lured inside by the smell of bacon, which I thought was fried chicken, and had myself a bacon and tomato sandwich with a mayonnaise, old bay, honey spread I like to mix up.
Thinking that the bacon was fried chicken I asked my wife if she would want fried chicken for lunch and we decided that we would make this a day of family fun. Later that day we got fried chicken and went to a park to eat it. The children made many new friends including a dog named Luna that they gave lots of attention to. After we were done at the park we headed out to the bookstore to get activity books, were distracted by a furniture store and detoured to price out a new modular sofa for the front room, and eventually made it to the bookstore where the kids picked out new activity books and I ended up purchasing The Wild Robot to read to them.
Today continues the family fun with church and then it is time for our first early morning hike of the season on Memorial Day Monday.
David Huzzard Writes 