Day 25- Welcome to Life Chapter Number 15-B, a.k.a. I Am An Embarrassment To My Offspring By Virtue of the Fact That I am Alive.

In the effort to promote family harmony and parental sanity in the Burlington universe this summer, I set a goal.  Not the goal of 100 days following my nose, I had already set that goal.  Not the goal of giving the kids writing prompts every weekday, that was done. Not the goal of exercising 4x/week, also already a goal.  No, I decided to add one more goal to the list:  to take 3 separate field trips in the great state of North Carolina with my children and some of their friends.  I have a 13 year old son y'all.  Nothing I can do will be remotely cool or fun without some of his friends along.  It's all about hanging with friends now.  Welcome to Life Chapter Number 15-B, a.k.a. I Am An Embarrassment To My Offspring By Virtue of the Fact That I am Alive.
But, surely I could circumvent the humiliation of my own children if I involve their friends in any activity at which I was present.  In the process of such an endeavor, I could avenge the injustice of thousands of years of children who have disowned their parents.  Furthermore, I might reverse the rotation of the earth (with Superman's help?), go back in time, and not gain that last 10 pounds. Think of the possibilities!  With the motivation of rewriting my own body history, it was time to narrow my goals with mini-goals.  Mini-goal A-  to spend the majority of one day in the presence of my children and some of their friends.  Mini-goal B- to drive to unexplored/weird/educational destinations in North Carolina, no farther than 90 minutes away from our home.  Mini-goal C- to spend $20 or less per person.  Mini-goal D- to somehow raise my standing in the esteem of my children by cementing good summer memories in their minds.  Mini-goal E- (A Burlington prerequisite to any activity) to eat delicious food along the way.
By yesterday I had the whole plan in place.  Offspring: check.  Friends of offspring: check. Destinations: check.  Directions: check.  Snacks: check.  Another responsible adult: check.  And we were off!  Details tomorrow.