A Survival Guide for Managing Summer Chaos at Home | Dadville Podcast with Dave Barnes and Jon McLaughlin

0:05Hi, I'm Dave Barnes and I'm Jon McLaughlin and welcome to Dadville. Dadville is a podcast where we talk about life, love and the pursuit of awesome dadding. It's funny thoughts and deep talks. So please enjoy your time here in Dadville and enjoy this episode with Dave and me. Jon. Study and play. Come together on a Windows 11 PC. And for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal. Everything you need to study and play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller.

0:52Learn more at windows.com slash student offer. While supplies last, ends June 30th. terms at aka.ms slash college pc do you feel like you're ready talent talent talent hey dave okay we're in john a lot of people that are watching and you're thinking why didn't you say listening i know one of the reasons right i didn't say that is because we are upgrading here at dadville and what you'd be used to way what you'd be used to on a traditional uh dadville show is just hearing us and thinking i wonder what they're doing i wonder i wonder if john's wearing a really cool shirt that's polka dotted and they have a little kiss of sun about both of them uh dave is wearing a celebratory arsenal shirt we're gonna get to that we'll get there i think a lot of the listeners for you know the past six years are like this is this is more you guys are being too generous even with just the audio you know they're like you're giving us you're recording both both voices and the guests sometimes and giving us basically guiding our lives through parenting free and it's free and they're getting stuff i mean let's not even start with the the one dollar per month trial period the shopify is offering right now wow etc etc and then yeah what do we do dave tell them well i'll tell you what we do is we give we give you video and john i want to tell you right now i'd appreciate if you look at this camera not the other one because there it is there's there's the guy sorry i got multiple cameras and uh but i just want to feel like you're looking at me and not um you know doing that thing that my dad did where he talked to me but look somewhere else and that's a long story for another day that we're not we're still therapatizing okay um push it back down push that back down it's all the way down but we're excited about this because we thought we wanted to give you all also a chance to uh see us because we've both had a lot of work done and we're proud of the work and we want it to be do you think there's any chance that someone who has been an avid dadville listener for six years yeah had no i they thought that i was dave and you were me they're looking at this for the first time and they're like oh it's i had the faces wrong yeah assigned to the wrong and now they're free they're emancipated from that feeling uh let me let me let me say so that's one is we want to know that And if you're listening and you don't know that you can watch it, guys, you can watch it.

3:15Now you can come see us. Watch our expressions. Watch our hand motions. If you've always wanted to watch Dadville on mute, you can do that now. There's got to be a subsect of people. Experience how Annie feels when I talk too much, and she just totally zones out. So a couple things that I thought we could talk about today, Johnny. And forgive me for just, I'm just going to be smiling. Are we going to have to set a timer? I'm just going to be smiling. I'm going to be cheesing, as they would say in the U.K. And it's appropriate to bring up the U.K. because it is. I'm wearing my Arsenal shirt. And this is another great thing about watching the videos.

3:55You can see that I've got my Arsenal shirt on, one of many. Because as of last night, we are Premier League champions, John. And I say we. I haven't gotten a lot of time on the pitch this year. That was a conversation we had. Not all heroes are on the pitch. as they say not all are and john they haven't emailed me back and i want to make that clear there has been correspondence it has not been two-way but i have let them know consistently that i'm available um but we did win the premier league 22 years john that's amazing it is and this is what i want to say because i think it would be fair for the majority of people listening to this to say, Dave, please connect the dots on you living in Nashville, Tennessee, and being an ardent supporter of a team that's based in London, England, and North London.

4:46And I would say this, went to my first game in 2009, sort of on a fluke. We were in town in London with some friends. And sort of just because I knew one player at Arsenal, I had a friend that had tickets to both Chelsea and Arsenal. And I chose Arsenal because I knew about this one guy, Oshavin, who had played in the World Cup, and he played for him, which was the summer of four. And I was like, I liked watching him play for Russia. So we went to the Emirates, which is where they play. And just from there, it's like once you go to a game, you're kind of – I think it's a lot like NASCAR in that you really do get hooked.

5:20It's a lot like NASCAR. Yeah. Well, let's don't make that a theme yet. I mean, if the EPL – if you're listening, let me know. We can workshop that a little more. Or NASCAR. English Premier League Soccer. We like the EPL. It's like NASCAR. Or NASCAR could be like, we're like the English Premier League. Do you like English Premier League soccer? Well, this Sunday, check out Dale Earnhardt. Oh, my gosh. Junior, junior. But anyway, I think the thing that's really crazy about it, and here's where I'm going to go with this. It is the weirdest culture to follow for a sport that I know of in that, you know, if you grow up, I think some college teams have this.

6:04I think some sports teams have this. You think about the Cubs and the Red Sox and some really storied old sports franchises. This would be like the Cubs, right? It would be like the Cubs. I mean, they won the World Series somewhat recently after like— Yes, and it went crazy. Not winning forever. Years and years, yeah. And I think the reason that it's such an interesting thing to follow and why it's so immersive into your life is because, you know, all of these clubs were neighborhood teams. at one point, you know, or the majority of them. And so that means like if we lived in 12 South, like we do now, it would be the equivalent literally of maybe even on our street, a stadium would be at the end of the street.

6:46Yankee stadium is right there. Yeah. Is, is right there. Which, you know, again, is a lot of major league baseball situations in, which is going to be our next podcast, by the way. You can tune in this summer to major league baseball situation. John and I'll be talking about things we don't know about. I'll be just listening mostly, which is basically dadville. if we're being honest. But, you know, it's crazy because, you know, these sports, these teams become like institutions because it's not just something I follow. It's your neighborhood. It's like who you are. You know, so when you follow these teams, it is like almost like family in a weird way because it's just so ingrained in who you are and where you live.

7:29And there's so many of them in the greater London area. How many soccer stadiums are there? I'm going to get this wrong, but my guess for this year, they were in the league. They were 9 to 10. That's crazy. The U.K. land-wise is so small, so the majority of them would be in London. But I think a lot of people listening, this is what I want to make clear to people, because they're like, why do you care so much about this thing that these humans don't even know you're a human? You know what I mean? Like these guys who play live live, much less. You don't know that. That's fair. I've texted all of them.

8:02They could be listening to Crazy About You pregame. And just listen, I would – we're not going to go there. I would evaporate. I would just need to leave the earth at that point. But anyway, it's just – once you start watching it, that's the kind of culture you find yourself slipping into. It's kind of this is who we are and this is who I support. And I think, too, the season is so long. So you're going from August to May. So it's just – I mean, Annie laughs all the time. I'm just like, you pick the one sport that's basically all year long. And so it's just really immersive. And you just find yourself like really feeling like one of these people.

8:39You know, we've been over there now twice with my family. I've been over there four times to see them play at the Emirates over the years. But, you know, you just really get indoctrinated. It's hard not to sort of like get completely into it. And so, you know, and I think that's shown by last night when they won, when we won. And they showed all these videos of the stadium. I was telling Jason before, our producer, like, I bet there were, I know this is going to sound crazy. I bet there were 5 ,000 to 10 ,000 people that all came to the stadium just to be together at 10 o 'clock that night. And it's just, so it shows you, and I think, too, 22 years of waiting.

9:16I mean, you brought the Cubs up. You think about the Red Sox, these teams that, so it's not just that we won and there were people excited. It was that it's just been like this ever going. And it's been, you know, some of the years have been really hard and really embarrassing because you're getting beat really badly and your players aren't as good as you thought. And so it was a really fun day. And it's fun to experience it with the family, like one of my dear friends, Eric Staples, who I probably text more than any other person, maybe other than my wife and Micah, because we just text about Arsenal all the time.

9:44He came over and watched it and the boys were home, which was really fun. So it's just, you know, it's a sweet moment. It's crazy. I think one thing, this is the last thing I'll say about this, unless you ask questions and I'll answer those forever if you want to. But I think the thing that I really underestimated before I became an Arsenal fan about sports in general, I think I probably would have rolled my eyes a little bit at people that really follow sports closely. Because I would have been like, what are you getting from it? It's just, and I love sports. I grew up playing sports to some degree, but went to games and college games and all that stuff.

10:16But I think I just was like, what's the big deal? Like, who cares? Don't you think there's two different categories? You have the people who follow it closely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say my father-in-law, he watches every Pacers game that there is. But then there's another category of people who get emotionally, the emotion of their day is guided by the outcome of the game. That would be me, yeah. That's the tier of people where you lose me a little bit. well and i think okay that hurt oh i didn't see that coming um it's not judgment it's just uh curiosity it's a it's a feeling of being better than someone else is all that is um but i think i think and again lastly what i'll say is i think when you get that emotionally invested which is hard not to do at some point for me at least the joy that comes from the community that you find in and something you share with your kids, which is such a sweet thing, going and having them see the Emirates, see a game.

11:19You know, Lee Dixon coming on the podcast, and he and I are becoming friends now. Just these really – I mean, I sent him a text during the game yesterday, and he sent me a picture in the box with a thumbs up. And so it just becomes such a big part of your life that all that said this. I think it's so clearly exhibited last night with all of those people coming down to the stadium just to be together because it was like – And I think that's what I misunderstood about the power of what sports can be. Is it's, yes, you're winning these things, but it's just this way to relate to people and to be together around something that you have such a love for that becomes just this joyful thing.

11:57It's really hard to explain. And, you know, it doesn't need to touch spiritual things. I'm not saying that at all. But I think outside of sort of the spiritual thing, it's a really powerful. I mean, we were at that game that we played Everton that we went to go see, and the youngest guy on Arsenal scored, and he's the youngest goal scorer. Now he's the youngest person to ever win a Premier League. But when he scored his first goal, I mean, I don't know that I've been around people that felt like that. I mean, the guy next to me who I'd never met in my life kissed me on the cheek and got my number.

12:29Nice guy. Paid for dinner. And so, anyway, it's just been a really fun night. I mean, I told Jason before, like, I would be embarrassed to post the time that I was on my phone last night because it was just like, it's so hard to not just keep scrolling. All these, and some of the funnest things to watch were like, they were doing these mashups of celebrations all over the world. And it was just bedlam. I mean, people were just losing their minds. So I got to ask, though, because speaking of community, your best friend, Micah, is a Tottenham fan. Spurs fan. He's a Spurs fan. And you guys have been supporters of these two teams, you know, for years and years and years.

13:11Yeah. And now you guys finally won. And I mean, you guys are at completely opposite ends of the spectrum right now. What are the chats like? They can very much get relegated. Well, it's funny. I mean, when Micah chose to follow Spurs, I don't like he and I have been best friends for whatever it is, 26, 7 years, whatever it is now. Um, and, and it was a slow burn because he, he, where he, I'll never forget, he wore a hat one time to something and I was like, what are you doing? And he was, I literally said, what are you doing? He's like, I don't know. I just liked the hat. And I was like, okay.

13:46So then I ordered an Arsenal hat and had it sent to his place. Oh yeah. I'd been probably five or six years at that point. So I, I ordered an Arsenal hat sent to his house. Cause I was like, if you want cool hats, I'll find you a cool hat. And then he came over in a Jersey and I was like, uh-oh. And so I kind of was like, what are you doing? He was trying to break up with you. He was kind of too late. He was, well, it was. I didn't let it happen. Anyway, and so it's been, you know, the first few years were kind of contentious, but now, you know, it's kind of smoothed out. And what's really tricky about it is that I love him so much that it's been such a dilemma because I want – just like he would be in Arsenal.

14:17I mean, he told me yesterday, he's like, there's no one that hates that team more than I do. But it's like, you know, it's good for you. This is amazing. Like, you get to be – so I think for me, you know, now with Spurs, it's coming down to the last day if they get relegated. And I should make clear, Spurs and Arsenal hate each other. Like, hate each other. They're both North London teams, generations of families who have hated each other because of these clubs. And so it's funny because I'm like, part of me is like, man, it'd be hysterical. It'd be the best Arsenal year ever if we won the league and they got relegated.

14:47I mean, they got pushed down to the next league because they were that bad. But I love him so much that I'm like, oh, it would just make me so sad to see him. Are you going to mail another Arsenal hat to his house today? I have. You should. I have. They keep coming back, which is weird. but anyway yeah it's going to be an interesting last question about this is it any different because you know the only sport really that i follow is tennis and i'm imagining as you're talking about tottenham fans and arsenal fans and they're both in the same neighborhood basically and there are generations who just hate each other generations of people who have nothing to do with either organization hate each other on a visceral level just like chirping can you imagine right now the two biggest tennis players in the world are yannick center and carlos alquarez yeah yep can you imagine if i had just vitriol for let's just i love both of them but let's just say i'm an alcaraz fan if i just had vitriol for a center fan would that i feel like that would hit people differently they'd be like well yeah easy bro i mean what's the deal yeah but when it's a team it seems like it's a little more warranted well and again i think that's what that's what is so unique about this and again it's not it's not just them i mean there's american teams that are like this but it's fewer i think because you're not talking about a team you're talking about where I'm from and who I am.

16:20Like, I am from this part of North London. These are my people. My family still lives there. For those people over there. We support Arsenal. But for the... Yeah, yeah. But here it makes no sense. Tons and tons and tons of fans all over the world. It's hysterical. That's the funniest thing. That's one of the funniest things about following this, because on dark days, which I've had a lot with Arsenal, the gift of being an American EPL fan is you just turn your phone off, and your day will never... Other than your friends who text you, anything that you find you went to seek any headline any news article any tweet or Instagram post where if you live in London you're screwed because it's gonna be everywhere I mean it's gonna be on the headlines and the news you know TV whatever but here it's great because you can just kind of zone out which makes your point even funnier because you're like why I don't even know those people which again now we're back to EPL's pitch for NASCAR for London locals it's like look you can get in on this sport whatever whoever wins on Sunday, just turn your phone off.

17:17I know, I know. And listen, thank you everyone for gracing me this time to tell you about that because it has been a wonderful Well, I was going to give you 22 minutes for every year that you didn't win. I don't want anymore because I can feel people.

17:33Right? I mean, that's what I told him. I was like, that's not how hide and seek works. Oh my gosh. And your Spanish is getting so good. So much better. Wow. You know, John, the Danville podcast doesn't just happen. People think it does. Yeah. There's so many things going on behind the scenes. Oh, my gosh. It's like lots of rigmarole back there. Oh, yes. You know, and it's stuff I never would have thought of, like logos, ads, uploads, scheduling, clips, et cetera. It can feel overwhelming, especially if you're just on your own. Yep. You know, and thank goodness we're not alone. Because we have Shopify.

18:05That's right. Shopify is basically your built-in business partner, Dave. I tell you that all the time. Sorry, geez. It powers millions of businesses from huge brands like Dadville to people just getting started. And it puts everything in one place. Inventory, payments, analytics. So you're not piecing together five different apps. Plus, they have AI tools that help you write product descriptions, fix up your photos. Which would have saved us a few bad early ideas. I'm going to take that one. Those were my ideas. That's true. That's on you. And I say that all the time. And when it's time to grow, you have email and social tools built in.

18:40and 24-7 support. That's almost all the hours. So when you hit a wall at midnight, you're not just spiraling alone. Yeah, which may have happened to us before, but it won't happen again. Not again. What do I always say, John? See less carves go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and the ShopPay button. Man, you can wake me up and say that all the time. So sign up for your$1 per month trial period today at shopify.com slash dadville. Go to shopify.com slash dadville. I said go to Shopify.com slash Dadville.

19:16Dave. Yeah. Look, I feel like improving your sleep has somehow become this whole production. Yeah. You know? Yep. It's like it's on Broadway. Like new mattress, blackout curtains, supplements, tracking your REM cycles. It's exhausting just thinking about it. It's too much, John. It's too much. Yeah. Right. But funny thing is, I realized the issue for me wasn't any of that. It was just my bedding. No. My sheets were worn out. corners popping off, pillows flat, gross. And I didn't even notice how much it was affecting my sleep. Here's the thing. Most people don't need a whole new system. They just need better sheets on their bed.

19:51Exactly. And that's why we upgraded to bowl and branch. And it's wild how big of a difference it actually made immediately. They make everything too, not just sheets. Their signature organic cotton sheets, pillows, blankets, comforters, it's all designed to be super soft, breathable, and actually work together. Yeah, we started with the signature sheets, and the first night I got into bed, I knew it was different. It was softer. It was cooler. Just more comfortable overall. And here's the funny thing. The sheets get softer over time. It's like me, John. That is funny. I can't imagine sleep without Bowling Branch now.

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20:44So, John, this is what we're going to do. This is going to be helpful. This is what you and I have decided to do. We went from that. Thank you for encouraging me. People that want to send me Arsenal stuff, please do. If you have friends that are Arsenal fans, give them a high five for me. Or if you have friends who are Arsenal players, send them to Dave's house. Yeah, please send them to me. Can I tell you one thing? Last thing was the coolest thing. This is one of the coolest things I saw. One was just seeing the guys celebrate because they all got together at their training facility to watch the game because, you know, Man City had to draw.

21:13The second coolest thing is four of the biggest stars on the club went to the Emirates at 5 a.m. this morning and just walked around it. And all these people – and, you know, it was pretty dead by then, but all these people were freaking out. They didn't have bodyguards. And it was just so cool to see, like, you remember these are just – I mean, a lot of these guys are in their 20s, you know? I mean, like, what a moment to go, I just want to walk around, you know? So it was a really cool thing. and I miss them and I love them. Okay, so what we're going to do, we're going to call it Tips and Tricks for Summer with Kids, John.

21:41Tips and Tricks. Okay. Got it. For Summer with Kids. Are we starting with tips or tricks? And I guess what, to me they're both, they're synonymous. I don't even know why I said one or the other because they're kind of the same thing to me. But here's what, I don't know if you guys feel like this, but I know John and I have talked about this. Summer with Kids is tricky business. And each, you know, we only have, we're now up to ninth grade. You guys are up to eighth grade. So, I mean, we don't even know high school yet. Like, we're about to enter into high school with us, you know. So, our kids are not even like, what do you do with a junior?

22:15And, you know, and that's probably a whole other thing. They're probably working or whatever. But, or have that lifeguarding job that everybody envies that John did so well. I mean, I did it. I don't know if I did it well. But, wait. Nobody died? Nobody died. No, that's true. At the pool. and there are probably some people who have passed on since it was a long time ago i can't card them forever you know you're not legally responsible anymore for this um but i think like you know summers are just tricky because i think what we've experienced and and you know i'd be curious to hear what you say john but like i just know what the barnes family you know you kind of come out of summer or come out of school and you feel the friction of like they're used to having a rhythm they're suddenly a whole list like just a completely out of rhythm you still have stuff going on um that you have obligations especially you know you and i work our wives um are keeping the home the homestead together so so they're now they are they are first they are it is a frontal assault on our wives because now they have all of the kids staring at them going what are we doing what are we because you don't want them on tablets a bunch you don't want them on the tv a bunch but that does become a little bit of a bargaining chip you know in nashville it gets really hot so you're also like i kind of feel that you don't want to be out running around because you might pass out from the heat um so then what what do we do john what do we do what do we do i feel like how do we think don't you feel like every let's see this is our 13th summer as parents for us your 14th or 15th or whatever i feel like it has taken me a decade of summers to realize you got to prep for summer you know like it took it took me so long to and i feel like with our kids too it's like no no one thinks this this is going to be somewhat of a transition that you got to be intentional about everyone obviously the kids are like get me out of school i'm ready for summer and then i don't know two weeks in there starts to be this sort of like a realization of like oh we got to find some kind of new rhythm even they feel that on some level i think you know yep yep yeah so what what what for the mclaughlins is kind of the lowest hanging fruit what's and and and i think there's kind of two ways that we could qualify this i'd say one would be what's worked in the past like what have you seen kind of been like man it's been going to win and then i would say the second qualifier is probably like what are you thinking about now because you know a 13 year old girl is a very different thing than a seven year old girl yeah you know when you think about how to spend time and what they're expecting i think what has what has worked for us so far or a big thing my number one advice is get the family together have some kind of a family meeting and talk about what the kids want to do that summer like a goal like something fun that they want to do or like a list of fun things that they want to do but also like what is like a challenge that you can take the whole summer to work on like with my girls they each are going to pick a song and they've got all summer to to learn that on the piano and if they they learn that song and they can play it front to back they get paid I give him$100.

25:48$100 worth of Bitcoin. That's amazing. Sorry. $100 worth of John McLaughlin merchandise. It has to be on clearance already. And sizes are limited.

26:03Devil XL looks great on you, Lou. You can sleep in that just around the house. Total side note. Isn't it funny? Does this ever happen with you and Annie where you buy some new piece of clothing or somebody gets, you know, you're on the road and some company gives you some clothes or some shoes or whatever. And Amy will be like, oh, those are cool. Like for around the house. It's the for around the house says so much. Yeah, she's letting you know with, she's being kind. And maybe just certain parts of the house. Not even like the whole house. Yeah. Let's just stay like when you're writing a song, put it on back there and then take it off when you're about to come in.

26:39Maybe. Anyway. but I think that I think having the the girls you know take uh like participate in it like I'm not gonna we're not gonna assign them all their stuff I mean there's gonna be some stuff that we assign them but you know I want them to feel like I want them to think okay what do I want to accomplish this summer because you don't think of the summer as being time to accomplish anything as a kid You're like, I'm done accomplishing stuff. Yeah, I'm anti-accomplishing. I'm forgetting things. I'm trying to forget. I'm trying to unremember anything that I've done. Yeah, that's good. And it's funny.

27:23One of the great things about doing video now, John, is that, look, we get to do examples. Whoa, look at you. So let me say this. Let me start by saying this. I don't have a lot of wisdom on this. Any that I do, I share. Any wisdom I have is from Annie Barnes. I mean, she is, I don't know, Amy's the same way. She is a professional with this, right? So when I knew we were going to talk about this, it's like, hey, I need pro. I need you to come at me with like, I've got a couple of thoughts, you know, one of them being I'll start here. Annie was like, hey, I really want you to have a day because our job can do this.

27:59I know not every parent can do this, but if you could give me a day a week where you have them, that'd be awesome. And I was like, great. And that can look like an afternoon. that can be like hey if you can give me two afternoons post work whatever but i do think there's something to uh in our case our wives you know letting them take a break just like hey like i'll do my best so you have a minute to not have to be in charge of everything because it's it's just so much i mean it's just it's a lot right so that is one piece of wisdom i don't i don't even know that i have another i'll think but this is what she said and you said it too john um bucket lists for the barns have been so much fun and so what annie will do we'll sit down with the kids probably in the next week and we'll say hey let's make a bucket list and i want to show you what this looks like because it's really fun so we'll hang this up so there's the bucket list right uh and i'll read these but i just want you to see them first okay just like here's all and and what you'll notice is that is the children's handwriting and no that's not mine for those who are it looks but they will come up and they'll yeah it's suspect um but at least you know we don't have any dna tests at that point um so they'll come up and they'll write and they'll just put like okay and she'll say, hey, anything you are thinking, let's write on there.

29:10So I'm going to read.

29:14I just saw the very first one. The very first one. Go to Walmart. Okay, and we don't treat, see John, completely attainable. You got two months. Attainable. Let's start at something we can do. Okay. It doesn't say shop at Walmart. It doesn't say walk to Walmart. They just want to experience. they want to experience walmart what is that one about who's gold i can i i think uh i think ben was in a dark place and he just needed he's like i may have felt unsafe and reasonable prices just let me what is a grape what is a cluster of grapes in the summer like at walmart but here's here's the thing that i'll tell you that is really interesting about this so so just to give more examples to this i would say what what you can tell really quickly with this is it's the different handwriting shows you like the enormity or small nature of these dreams so then go to walmart annie had shower up on monday nights now what that is it's a non-profit that we that we serve with a lot where um one of our dear friends that we've gotten to know uh they have mobile uh showers that they will take down to downtown nashville and once a week uh homeless people anybody that needs showers can come shower so they you know you clean the showers you help organize so that was annie obviously the kids love doing it once we've done it that would not have made their list but that's annie's any float the harpeth so we go down and we get to we've done this with y 'all it's one of my favorite things you know uh so that would be hers like uh give sammy a hundred dollars that didn't get crossed off and here's the other thing that's fun too when you do them you cross them off right this is a fun thing but i mean you know a couple more annie put make a strawberry cake Spend the night at the cabin We have a cabin Lemonade stands Which we've done with McLaughlin girls Baked cookies was one that Zanna had Soup Rica pancake pantry Some of this stuff is fun too Because it'll be Topgolf have a picnic Some of this stuff is kind of Nashville centric Which is kind of fun Where it's like hey we've lived here We haven't done pancake pantry or whatever Here's another one real quick This was last summer This is summer 2025 you know it's just it's fun it's like that you'll see here uh ben passed pre-algebra and that was mom you can tell that's her handwriting not his but you know we just got a lot of things float the harpeth is always making them um walmart breakfast what do you say breakfast sam's club oh that was sam's club this is kroger kroger yeah we're doing this year we go more ralph sort of uh battery i do think there's something really so anyway important about it's fun having it tangible and on display where they can see it yes that's right and again and again this is just anti-genius but you know uh can i just give a quick shout out for nashville glass house have y 'all done that glass house so there's a place down by the uh geodas where where uh nashville sc plays oh my gosh y 'all five find a four-leaf clover and a five we did that which was crazy we found a four-leaf clover that summer um we uh down at the dragon park near vandy which was so crazy because we spent like you know 30 minutes what we found one um so there's a place called glass house this is just for my national i know about this place it's down by the stadium so they they um they it's the front of it is like a little coffee house cafe the back they make glass they blow glass and you can watch and so on saturdays you can go for free they have little stands it's the cutest thing ever just like a baseball game you can sit in these stands and i mean you're five feet from them and and and they and they will the guy will walk you through it he'll be like all right here's what we're doing and they make these and this is classic annie she was like let's go do this and i was like babe what the kids and it it has become one of our favorite things to do like we've gotten to know the owner she's awesome but it is such a fun thing to do because you can get some food sit and he'll just show you like okay i'm gonna blow this vase here's how we do the vase and it is the coolest it's so cool but just little things like that i think to your point you know hanging it up really helps i think them writing it is really fun and then crossing it off you know it kind of gives you that that's a big one so what do you guys do because i feel like maybe the number one um stress of summer ends up being screen time how i'm sorry smoking screens and smoke screen it yeah this episode is sponsored by better help you know john summer's funny because everybody talks about it like it's automatically relaxing right you know it's as if the second it gets warm outside we're all supposed to become carefree people on the beach somewhere meanwhile real life's still happening kids are out of school schedules get weird travel picks up it can honestly feel more chaotic than relaxing sometimes You know, and there's definitely a difference between thriving during summer instead of just trying to survive it.