It has been a long time since I wrote a Thursday Rundown. In fact, the last time I published one was LAST YEAR 😂. For those counting at home, the last rundown I wrote was three weeks ago. So after 20+ days I am sure you are craving five random topics so let’s go…

LEGO Store – One activity I didn’t mention in last night’s holiday recap post was our visit to downtown Spokane to eat lunch with Sidney during her lunch break. After we ate, the four of us checked out the brand new LEGO Store. The shop had a lot of cool stuff but what the kids appreciated was the LEGO Minifigure Factory. It was at this station where Sloan and Beau could create their own custom LEGO Minifigure.

The LEGO Store in Spokane is pretty cool.

Claire’s – Not every store can be as cool as the LEGO Store. Case in point…Claire’s. Perhaps my animosity toward this store is that I have just spent so much damn time inside it. Sloan LOVES Claire’s and will very thoughtfully stretch any gift card she has been given to the retailer. I am talking “so thoughtfully” that she will take 60 minutes to choose a pair of earrings. Does your daughter enjoy Claire’s as much as mine?

Sloan shopping at Claire’s.

Throwback Wedding – Thought I would throw in a throwback photo for this initial Thursday Rundown of 2024. I don’t even know the year of this gem but this photo is of my family at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Walla Walla. This was the site of a wedding in which I was a ring bearer for. Don’t I look like a million bucks? Well, maybe not…

Hanging with my family for a wedding at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Walla Walla in the 1990s.

National Spaghetti Day – Today is National Spaghetti Day and we celebrated by eating…you guessed it…spaghetti! What is funny is that we scheduled this meal for tonight before even knowing that significance of this day. A couple years ago I mentioned that Sid and I would always play up spaghetti night to our kids by telling them they could eat with their shirts off.

Just a no-filter type photo of our spaghetti dinner tonight.

Offer Encouragement – Just a quick reminder to lift up those new members at your gym this week. While it is easy to scorn and scoff at people who are trying to make good on a New Year’s resolution to get fit, let’s not belittle those who are trying to make a positive change in their lives. I expressed this point more thoroughly in a blog post from 10 years ago.

Be nice to the new people at the gym!

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It is good to be writing these rundowns again, thanks for reading them! Enjoy your first weekend of 2024, friends. Don’t Blink.