Today we went to the lake in town.
This is really what we pretty much do every day all summer long.
I honestly feel like it is my reward for getting through the school year and spring sports and all of the nonsense of scheduled life.
This year it is a little more challenging for us because if there isn't anyone for my 13 year old to hang out with, he is miserable.
My daughter on the other hand is in her prime for enjoying the lake. She has tons of friends there and is so happy to splash around and hang out with them,
Today we arrived in the morning for the kids' lessons. The lake opens up for swimming soon after.
The plan was that one of my daughter's friends would come home with us for a sleepover. My daughter had slept at her house last week and it was time to return the favor.
They have another friend that they play with and I was making arrangements to have a sleepover with her (the girls and their moms have been friends of mine for years) for later this week or next week when the girls decided that they all really really wanted to have a sleepover all together.
I was game. Honestly, they're going to talk and giggle and I'll probably have to remind them a jillion times to get some sleep because they have lessons in the morning, but I figured if I was doing it , why not get it all done in one night instead of two nights and two mornings with a cranky mommy searching for a caffeine fix?
The girls squealed with delight when all the moms agreed and the plan was set.
It was then I sensed some puppy dog eyes staring at me ....It was my son, giving me that, "If she's having people over...." look.
Why not, seriously after adding one extra kid, it hardly seemed like it would matter.
So I have 5 kids in my house right now, but other than giggling and some running up and down the stairs , you really wouldn't know it.
I love that even though it was last minute , as you all know , I'm a bit of a planner, we've managed. I hope the kids have a blast and I hope they all get a decent nights sleep, but that's never really the point of the sleepover, is it?
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Ridin' Along In My Automobile
I've discovered that there are things that my family will always do on a car trip.
- If there is a town that has the same name as a town near home, we always make a comment as if we've driven the wrong way, or that our destination was closer to home than we thought. Clearly,it never gets old.
( For example- "Milford? Aww man, we're back in Massachusetts")
- Any town name that can be made into a song or silly word, will get the royal treatment from my husband and daughter who are excellent at making these up.
- We hunt license plates. I was amazed we found 34 different ones! 32 of them states, one from Quebec and one from Washington D.C. We even saw one from Alaska!
- At some point , someone will be ill. In this case , my daughter threw up in the car. I have to hand it to her though, she got everything into the jillions of bags I had , just in case and there was no mess. She also did it while were were one mile away from a rest stop where we were able to get rid of everything and brush her teeth.
- We read signs, out loud. I kind of assumed everyone did this until my sister got married and her husband pointed out that we all did this. I don't know if it's so we remember different things, or it's just nice to see new signs, businesses, or beach house nicknames, but we all do it and it's a bit of a competition to see who can find the coolest one.
What do your families do while on the road? We're always looking for new games to play or fun ideas! Let me know, I'd love to hear them.
- If there is a town that has the same name as a town near home, we always make a comment as if we've driven the wrong way, or that our destination was closer to home than we thought. Clearly,it never gets old.
( For example- "Milford? Aww man, we're back in Massachusetts")
- Any town name that can be made into a song or silly word, will get the royal treatment from my husband and daughter who are excellent at making these up.
- We hunt license plates. I was amazed we found 34 different ones! 32 of them states, one from Quebec and one from Washington D.C. We even saw one from Alaska!
- At some point , someone will be ill. In this case , my daughter threw up in the car. I have to hand it to her though, she got everything into the jillions of bags I had , just in case and there was no mess. She also did it while were were one mile away from a rest stop where we were able to get rid of everything and brush her teeth.
- We read signs, out loud. I kind of assumed everyone did this until my sister got married and her husband pointed out that we all did this. I don't know if it's so we remember different things, or it's just nice to see new signs, businesses, or beach house nicknames, but we all do it and it's a bit of a competition to see who can find the coolest one.
What do your families do while on the road? We're always looking for new games to play or fun ideas! Let me know, I'd love to hear them.
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Woah, We're More Than Halfway There....
We finally got to the hotel.
We were all exhausted, but in pretty good moods.
We had picked a hotel with a pool, so that the kids would get a chance to do something after being cooped up in the car all day.
We thought picking a hotel with an indoor pool would be smart, that way in case it was raining, we could still swim.
Well, so did every other human in a 50 mile radius.
I get it, there wasn't a lot going on in the town we stayed in, so most of the people there had the same brilliant idea as us.
Everything in the pool area was wet. Chairs, towels, even the walls, were soaked.
Kids were running around like maniacs, I remained calm, but couldn't help notice that the adult presence seemed a little low for how many kids there were.
Once we found a partially dry corner, we all went in the pool. It was then I was able to see that there was a large group of kids there with one woman as their adult supervision. Okay, that's fine. Except, she couldn't have paid less attention to any of them.
I am all for kids letting off steam, I know that in a pool full of kids, you're going to get splashed and bumped into, but these kids were out of control.
They ran from the hot tub to the pool and back..jumping in each place without paying any attention to who they were jumping on, and just at the moment when I thought,"Okay, my nerves are shot, just calm down" , my husband looked at me and said, "Someone is going to get killed, who is watching them?"
Once my kids had had enough (we felt awful, they basically stayed in a shallow corner to avoid the madness) we attempted to dry off and head out for some dinner.
As we were leaving the pool area, all the other adults who belonged to the pack of wild ones, were coming into the pool area, with tons of alcohol. Awesome, things would clearly get better.
Once back on our room we all decided we were much too tired to go and sit at a restaurant, so we ordered some take out , ate it in the room and soon after , went to bed.
Tomorrow we would head to our destination!
We were all exhausted, but in pretty good moods.
We had picked a hotel with a pool, so that the kids would get a chance to do something after being cooped up in the car all day.
We thought picking a hotel with an indoor pool would be smart, that way in case it was raining, we could still swim.
Well, so did every other human in a 50 mile radius.
I get it, there wasn't a lot going on in the town we stayed in, so most of the people there had the same brilliant idea as us.
Everything in the pool area was wet. Chairs, towels, even the walls, were soaked.
Kids were running around like maniacs, I remained calm, but couldn't help notice that the adult presence seemed a little low for how many kids there were.
Once we found a partially dry corner, we all went in the pool. It was then I was able to see that there was a large group of kids there with one woman as their adult supervision. Okay, that's fine. Except, she couldn't have paid less attention to any of them.
I am all for kids letting off steam, I know that in a pool full of kids, you're going to get splashed and bumped into, but these kids were out of control.
They ran from the hot tub to the pool and back..jumping in each place without paying any attention to who they were jumping on, and just at the moment when I thought,"Okay, my nerves are shot, just calm down" , my husband looked at me and said, "Someone is going to get killed, who is watching them?"
Once my kids had had enough (we felt awful, they basically stayed in a shallow corner to avoid the madness) we attempted to dry off and head out for some dinner.
As we were leaving the pool area, all the other adults who belonged to the pack of wild ones, were coming into the pool area, with tons of alcohol. Awesome, things would clearly get better.
Once back on our room we all decided we were much too tired to go and sit at a restaurant, so we ordered some take out , ate it in the room and soon after , went to bed.
Tomorrow we would head to our destination!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Scenes From A Road Trip
The following takes place on a very early summer morning , when a family of four jumped in their minivan and headed south...
5am- "Can we watch a movie?"
"Sure, just use your headphones please."
"Ummm, we didn't pack any."
Cut to me ripping through bags to find my husbands and my ear buds for our ipods, since it's way too early to pop into a Target or Walmart to grab some. Oh lord, I hope that's all we forgot.
7am- Paid $3.99 for gas in New York. Yikes!
- I love how we have a set of directions to help us bypass some of the busier parts of the trip, but we're still using our GPS. Our poor GPS, who is a girl, has recalculated a jillion times and it's only 8am. Also, even though we are the ones who are "disobeying" her, my husband still feels completely justified in arguing with her.
10:00- Hit bumper to bumper traffic as we enter Delaware. Boo.
Baltimore- This is where my husband and I threatened to take away every bit of electronics the kids brought if they could not be bothered to look at the scenery. I think that's a lot of the beauty of a road trip, I love reading signs and coming across interesting things. I also love how content my kids were because of the DVD's they could watch. Also, I love that they watched "Clue" and "Annie", two childhood favorites of mine.
The Capital Beltway- Where exhaustion sets in as we sit in traffic. On to Richmond!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - WE WILL NEVER GET TO RICHMOND!! Traffic sucks, oh and did I mention that something in/on/under my car is making a howling noise? **car stuff freaks me out**
The moment when I lost my cool- (a.k.a. How many people does it take to change a baby?)
We stopped off the highway to check on the car. Our professional diagnosis being, we have no idea.
We all decided to stop at a McDonald's and use the restroom.
We step out of the car. So hot. Sweating, and we haven't even moved yet.
There is a line for the bathroom, once you get in the bathroom there is another line. There are TOO many people in this bathroom.
My daughter and I are next.
Three, that's right I said THREE, adults come in the bathroom to change a baby. The changing table isn't in a stall, it opens up into the already tiny bathroom waiting area.
My daughter and I have to move and now stand between the sink and a stall where a woman is trying to get out and has her adult diaper in her hand. ( Please don't think me insensitive, I was completely overwhelmed in the moment and I HAD TO PEE!!!)
I may have yelled, "THAT'S IT!" and pushed our way out of the bathroom.
My husband and son stood there with their oh so empty bladders as I yelled, " WE HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!" (Here is a dramatic representation of the event, I swear the bathroom was even smaller than depicted)
Luckily there was a Target across the street where we were able to use the bathrooms and score some cheapo lumbar pillows that saved the rest of the car trip.
We were thrilled that we had planned to stop at a hotel for the night and not drive straight through.
More to come.....
5am- "Can we watch a movie?"
"Sure, just use your headphones please."
"Ummm, we didn't pack any."
Cut to me ripping through bags to find my husbands and my ear buds for our ipods, since it's way too early to pop into a Target or Walmart to grab some. Oh lord, I hope that's all we forgot.
7am- Paid $3.99 for gas in New York. Yikes!
- I love how we have a set of directions to help us bypass some of the busier parts of the trip, but we're still using our GPS. Our poor GPS, who is a girl, has recalculated a jillion times and it's only 8am. Also, even though we are the ones who are "disobeying" her, my husband still feels completely justified in arguing with her.
10:00- Hit bumper to bumper traffic as we enter Delaware. Boo.
Baltimore- This is where my husband and I threatened to take away every bit of electronics the kids brought if they could not be bothered to look at the scenery. I think that's a lot of the beauty of a road trip, I love reading signs and coming across interesting things. I also love how content my kids were because of the DVD's they could watch. Also, I love that they watched "Clue" and "Annie", two childhood favorites of mine.
The Capital Beltway- Where exhaustion sets in as we sit in traffic. On to Richmond!
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD - WE WILL NEVER GET TO RICHMOND!! Traffic sucks, oh and did I mention that something in/on/under my car is making a howling noise? **car stuff freaks me out**
The moment when I lost my cool- (a.k.a. How many people does it take to change a baby?)
We stopped off the highway to check on the car. Our professional diagnosis being, we have no idea.
We all decided to stop at a McDonald's and use the restroom.
We step out of the car. So hot. Sweating, and we haven't even moved yet.
There is a line for the bathroom, once you get in the bathroom there is another line. There are TOO many people in this bathroom.
My daughter and I are next.
Three, that's right I said THREE, adults come in the bathroom to change a baby. The changing table isn't in a stall, it opens up into the already tiny bathroom waiting area.
My daughter and I have to move and now stand between the sink and a stall where a woman is trying to get out and has her adult diaper in her hand. ( Please don't think me insensitive, I was completely overwhelmed in the moment and I HAD TO PEE!!!)
I may have yelled, "THAT'S IT!" and pushed our way out of the bathroom.
My husband and son stood there with their oh so empty bladders as I yelled, " WE HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!" (Here is a dramatic representation of the event, I swear the bathroom was even smaller than depicted)
Luckily there was a Target across the street where we were able to use the bathrooms and score some cheapo lumbar pillows that saved the rest of the car trip.
We were thrilled that we had planned to stop at a hotel for the night and not drive straight through.
More to come.....
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