A Love Passed Down One Car at a Time

My dad taught us at a really young age HOW TO and WHY it is important to wash our cars and keep them clean. I mean seriously I am sure major Child Labor Laws were broken. But despite any broken law...heehee...I am grateful to him for it. Growing up in California, washing cars was always a weekend chore for what seemed like the entire state of California. (Or maybe I was clueless and suckered into this belief.) This chore quickly turned into an enjoyable past time. I remember washing cars with my brother Taylor and loving every minute of it. It was always such a great time to talk, even if he did not want to chat with his kid sister. Over the years as I got older and I soon learned to drive I continued to enjoy washing cars. It soon turned into my "meditative time." It gave me time to clean my car, break a sweat, all the while think through my thoughts and feelings! Weird I know...but like I said I love washing cars. When I moved to Utah things were different. Other than the occasional Cheerleading Car Wash Fundraiser and washing cars with my buddy Alexis I swear no one ever washed their own car. I think Utahan's are all about the drive through "Super Sonic: the Work's" experience. I must admit even my husband does not have an interest in cleaning his own car. Dan would MUCH rather take his car in and have someone else do all of the cleaning. Now I understood that washing cars was not posh at one point because of the whole "drought episode" but that still was no excuse for Utah's lack of manual labor. Just so no dirty looks would be shot my way by drivers I went as far as parking my car on the grass so the water would run off and "water the lawn." Apartment living over the past 4 years has deprived me of the opportunity to meditate and wash....until NOW! Yet another perk of renting a home is that we have a hose!!!WooHoo! Today I thought that I would teach my 2 and 4 year old a little something about what it means to work! Following in my dads footsteps and starting young. I can just see the grin on his face right now. I am sure my dad is thinking, "You know when I was their age your grandpa and grandma had me working all day.....in the blistering sun.....cleaning anything and everything, without any food or water....all before the age of 3!" Hahaha, just teasing dad. I love you!

No but really I was so excited to get the girls bathing suits on and get sudsy and wet. They were equally as excited as I was. They each took turns using the hose, scrubbing the car, rinsing it off, and then of course spraying each other with the hose. It was fun! Madeleine was pretty grossed out with the dead bugs all along the front of the car and Elisabeth stayed to her one little section on the tail bumper. It looked pretty dang shiny if you ask me. They decided to pull out their bikes and do the entire works on them as well. That's the spirit!!! Well now that the fun part was done, I introduced them to the ever-so-exciting world of cleaning the inside. Yah, their attention lasted all of 4 minutes. I put on some tunes but Elisabeth decided that it was more fun to explore the front seats and put pennies in the CD player, than to Q-Tip clean the gunk out of all of the crevices. But finally after 3 HOURS the car was cleaned, cleaning supplies put away, and a whistle and a wink were given to our favorite 4 wheeled-blue steel and WE WERE DONE!



As soon as Elisabeth's bike was cleaned she immediately hoped on and said, "My bike's all done, I'm riding it!" I was laughing



Here is my little trooper...waiting it out while we cleaned the car! Love her!


So... was it still meditative doing it with children? Umm with teeth clinched I would say YES. Now it is only combined with crying baby, numerous child potty breaks, crumbs in every nook and cranny of the car, and the occasional refereeing that must take place between the "sisterly/friendly arguments." Now I may be wrong, but I think that this life-long love of mine has officially been passed down. I will keep my fingers crossed for a bright future of many more car cleaning weekends ahead.

P.S. Our wonderful neighbor Nikki has a pool and she is always telling us to come over and swim WHENEVER we want, no invitation needed. So tonight when Dan got off we took her up on her offer and jumped right in. The girls had a really great time and Dan and I got to swim some much needed laps. Madeleine is officially our little fish. She is all over the pool, swimming soooo well! I love it! I foresee the next three years will be spent many-a-night over at Nikki's house enjoying the water. Big thanks again to our WONDERFUL neighbor and friend!