See the previous episode of Clay and April’s Imaginary Tropical Vaction here, or not.
After Clay and I had shared a few hours at the beach we decided to walk down the street to the most adorable old drugstore that still has a fully operational soda fountain and lunch counter. As you can see it was packed with all the sunburned beach bunnies.
Check out the menu. All you need is a pocket full of change and you’ve got yourself a cup o’ joe.
And a homemade piece of pie. Can I hear it for the old mismatched diner plates? Love it.
Oh look! The beach bunnies have arrived. Clay and I ordered our usual flavor of shakes; him strawberry and me vanilla. While we waited for them to be made I decided to browse around and look at the merchandise. Maybe I would pick up a nice gift for P-Dub.
I couldn’t decide between this upside down hanging doll with a thick layer of dust on her skirt or
this bag of Monkey Business gummi candy. So hard to choose.
In the end I had to go with the Monkey Business gummi candy, because that smokey grey monkey? It had delicious written all over it.
I swear I think we had stepped back in time. Since we were already pretending to be on a tropical beach vacation in Kansas, it wasn’t too weird that we were suddenly thrust back to 1953, was it?
Why aren’t cash registers pretty now? Did people think they were pretty back in 1953 or were they just another cash register? Will my children know what I’m talking about when I say cash register? Isn’t it refreshing not to see the mc/visa logo on it? Yes, it is.
How was our shakes you ask? Let’s ask Clay. I wonder if I could go through a day without calling him an Idiot? I don’t think so.
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What a fun imaginary vacation!! I should try that sometime!!
I have never seen gummi monkeys…my kids would love those!!
Hey April, I’ve been following you for awhile and I love your new site as well as your sisters. Tried to watch the video of Clay, but says I must first accept the senders friend request. I would love to accept you as a friend, but how do I do that? Christy
I couldn’t get the video to work. Am I Blacklisted? Is there a conspiracy?
That pie twarn’t homemade.
And just the pictures gave me the heebie jeebies.
I know. I’m a snob. But I’m from the midwest and I ain’t goin’ back!
I know, I wasn’t too impressed by those pies either. Little plates full of rubbery blobs.
Ok I know that this is completely random, but I just discovered your site and have been reading through some of the archives. So my question is, how in the world are you educating your children? I’ve seen mentions of homeschooling but also mentions of regular school and I am so confused. Do you homeschool your kids until a certain age or just certain children or just for certain subjects?! I don’t understand!!! Help me understand please, I swear that I will be eternally grateful.
Allison,
In order to answer this question I would need to write a book. So, I will answer what we are doing right at this moment for our children’s education. My older two go to a teeny tiny Christian school full-time and I homeschool my first grader. We re-evaluate the needs every year and make changes accordingly. We have used public, private and home school to educate our children. It’s a bit crazy, but I’m all about the crazy.
Love that drugstore! I couldn’t make the video play.
Hey April! Another private video? Good grief, stop teasing us like that!
I couldn’t see the video!!!!!!!!!
My great grandfather Hawthorne was a salesman for the National cash register company. True story. Too bad that’s all I know of it. He died long before I was born. That cash register looks older than 1953.
Clay wont let me play his video….. its says I have to be his friend or some such thing… but the rest, I would LOVE to have went to that soda fountain! What a blast..
Well it must be a naughty video because it is “private”. Geesh!
I was banned from the video too. Guess I’ll have to find my chuckles some where else this morning.
Love the gummy monkeys. I wonder if they are available in 2009 or only 1953.
Help?!!! I couldn’t see the video either!
No video – again.
Coffee for 50cents. Dear Lord guys that’s awesome!!! It’s 1.75 here in a diner with a counter to perch up on.
Is this the Two Americas???
Ack! Sorry Guys! I forgot to press the public button again. It’s fixed. Come baaaaack, I fixed it!!!!
Well, I live in Kansas and I still haven’t decided what town or towns you were in to find that beach place and now the soda fountain. I loved them both and would still like to go visit each with my friends. 1950s the year of my first son’s birth. Great year.
Dorothy,
Both of our Tropical Vacation destinations were located in downtown Ottawa, Kansas. Go and enjoy. It’s a very sweet town.
Yeah, that’s not he Lawrence Sandbar, LOL!
How fun!!
I love places like that! Old fashioned and making kick-butt shakes! There is nothing like a shake made the old fashioned way! I am glad that Clay didn’t have problems driving while getting that last bit of shake!
Funny stuff. If you liked Ottawa, you should visit Baldwin (much smaller) for the maple leaf festival.
I love those old cash registers. Every time I go to Greenfield Village in MI, I ask anyone who will listen, why don’t they make things pretty anymore? What happened to craftsmanship! Even the radiators of old were pretty.
Hey, stop the name callin. I use my straw to vacuum every last molecule of Big Boy’s choc. malt (which is all over in MI….dont know if they have Big Boys in Kan-sas).
Hopped over from The Pioneer Woman’s website. I will be visiting often as you have made me laugh harder in the past 2 days than I have in a long time. (I watched one of the videos where the bee was in your hair!) The kind of laughing where a snort escapes and you can’t help it. Very very funny…thanks for sharing!
Came over from PW’s website. Dave Ramsey. I hated that man’s guts for the first 6 months after starting our total money makeover. Guess What? We just (as in 4/30/09) paid the remaining balance on what started as $40,319.73 of credit card debt. It’s good to see other folks are doing it and making it. Good luck!
Love the vavaction, and that old store…so cool!!!!Great pix, by the way. The only thing missing from Clay’s milkshake video, is a good, hearty Midwest belch!!;)
I found Clay’s face interesting when you said “I haven’t had a shake in a long time.”
Just sayin’.
Carrie,
WOOOHOOO!
Clay whipping off his lips totally cracked me up. He is a nut.
Hi! I just found your blog and am hooked!! I have to say that it is kinda funny how clay (in this video) acts just like my hubs! My hubs is such a goofball that now, all three of my boys are too. People don’t get us (well them!hehe) and it makes for some interesting conversations when one of the boys will tell us how their friends have reacted to what they said. When they get older they will look back and laugh, right now, just get through it!hehe Thanks so much for sharing this vacation, too funny!!!
Shorty
Clay is funny. You must laugh all the time.
Top notch baby! MMmm!
What was Clay going to say next when you cut him off…he looked like he had something on his mind.
Ya’ll are hilarious!
That cash register is a work of art.
So is Clay. lol
1953???!!! More like 1883. You are such a yound punk. And I say that with love.
That video looks like it should be a Sonic commercial. Too funny.