Laundry Time

I'm really sad that I don't have pictures for this post, but I'll try to capture it in words...

In our apartment we have a washing machine but no dryer. So I usually end up doing a load a day and line drying the load. This works well in the winter when the heater is on, but in the summer...not so well. The problem is that it is SO humid that the clothes don't dry fast enough and start to smell. Towels and jeans are the worst. There is a laundromat nearby but since the twins were born, I have never attempted to take the clothes there to wash. Last week my family was here in town, so JL watched the kids so I could do all of our laundry in one day. It was SO nice! I got it all done in one night and the clothes smelled so good!!! Then, because my family was here, I got behind on laundry again. So I made an attempt to do something I didn't think was possible (and to stay sane). I took the three kids with me to do the laundry. JL had to work so he couldn't watch the kids. I put the clothes and laundry detergent in a cart (Thanks Mom!), put the leashes on the boys and we took off. We were quite a sight. Ryan insisted on helping push the cart and Daniel insisted on pulling it. This made our walk of a normal 2-3 min. into at least 10 min. EVERYONE was watching us and making comments as we walked by. Daniel kept getting his feet smashed, but apparently that didn't bother him because he didn't want to let go. Maddie held onto the side. We finally got to the laundromat and I put them all to work. It was amazing...they each had something to do and they didn't fight over them!! Yay!! Maddie was in charge of putting the quarters in the machines. I gave her a little plastic bag with all of the quarters. Daniel liked helping put all of the clothes in the machines, taking them out and putting them in the cart, taking them to the dryer, putting them in the dryer and taking them out when they were dry. Ryan was the cart pusher. He helped me transport the clothes from the washing machines to the dryers. I can't say it was perfect the whole time. But it went MUCH better than I expected. I ended up throwing the last load of laundry into the cart before I folded it...the kids and I had had enough. I don't know if I will try this often, but its nice to know it is possible. Yesterday we were driving home from church and Maddie saw the laundromat. She asked, "How many more days until we go and wash our clothes again?"
Umm... I'll have to think about it.