We were going, going, going all weekend long in 17 different directions and anything that *could* go awry did. Psssshhhh. We drove up in what seemed to be prime holiday weekend type traffic. The kids never fell asleep (and they both needed naps). I somehow got stuck in the pilot seat, for whatever reason. And those little people in back talked and talked louder and screamed the entire car ride. Where is the mute button?? The most enjoyable part of my entire weekend happened Friday night after the nut jobs finally went to bed and I drank almost an entire bottle of wine by myself. I needed that.
Marley woke me from my wine-induced slumber at 5:45am and we were UP FOR THE DAY! Relaxing on the couch, watching some cartoons...as I made a pot of coffee and wondered how long it would take for me to drink all 10 cups. Oy vey! The *good* part about life with kids is that you are up early and you don't just waste the day away. I very much appreciated our little people when we were able to convince daddy at 8:30am that it was TIME to go out on a morning boat cruise. We packed up our gear and headed down to the oh-so-peaceful lake.
But let's face it...the kids hate their life jackets, they hate the confines of the boat, they are curious about the water and want to be all "bodies flopping over the edge" to the point that this mama is near heart attack. And that...that right there is not relaxing for me. No pause button needed. Fast forward to dry land please.
Near nap time brought more battles. No one wants to eat lunch. No one wants to sleep. A certain someone has decided her new favorite thing to do when little brother won't share toys is to attack his eyeballs. Literally. Like I fear she will gouge them out one day. But finally they do sleep...and Travis and I are able to squeeze in a very quick bite to eat and then they are up again. One hour long naps just don't cut it...didn't they get the memo?
And as if we weren't already losing our minds, we decided to take the kids back down to the lake after naps...keep them occupied and get a little sun. I can't say we didn't have fun...Marley was a little sweetheart, jumping off the dock with me and swimming on her own to shore (with life jacket on). She was having lots of fun and Jax was loving the water too.
Life was feeling good...so why not, why not take the kids on another boat ride to see the sights? We all hopped in to the boat (swimsuits and towels) and started off on our cruise. About a 20 minutes later, as we're getting ready to turn for home, the boat just quits. We're about 1 mile from the cabin via shoreline, more from the lake road. There weren't a whole lot of boats out, so no one was around to HELP US! And we had no oars. Just us. We drifted to a marshy spot that had a little beach we could pull the boat up to. It was just one of those "f'in seriously this is really happening" moments. Marley was the only one that had flip flops in the boat. The rest of us were all barefooted and in swimsuits. I grabbed Jax and plopped him on my hip and we were off...up the trail to the lake road to begin the almost 2 mile walk to the cabin...on the dirt/gravel road. Joy! About 1/2 way in, Travis offered to take Jax and whew...did it feel good to get a break from carrying an extra 30lbs. But as soon as I handed off his sweet little self, I had Marley looking at me..."Mama, I'm getting tired. Can you carry me?" Now this is love...as I loaded my 36lb girl up on my shoulders and continued the shoeless walk home.
**What was really heroic, was daddy. He took the paddle boat all the way out to our stranded boat. He tied a rope to it. And he paddled with all his might...the whole entire way back to the cabin. Seriously superman. When he returned, all he said was, "My legs are burning!"**
I'm certainly not meaning to sound as if the whole weekend was a bust. Just challenging and it didn't really live up to what I thought it would be. I had hopes for lots of relaxation and peacefulness and longer naps...and as I read what I'm writing, I understand that sounds a bit delusional! I love my babies. That's for sure. And I always love spending extra time with them...quality time.
The weekend proved to us one thing, in particular. The kids are too young to go on a week long family adventure (say to Florida, for example, like we have been tentatively planning). For starters, it wouldn't be very enjoyable for any of us. I mean, for real. They'd be out of their element and out of their routine. And we'd be going crazy trying to manage all that. Plus, forking out a bunch of money for a trip that ends up being as far from relaxing as it can get is just not something I'm too keen on doing at the moment. Get what I'm saying???
And here we are...back to the grind and waiting for the weekend so I can go crazy with my babies. Such is life.
Happy Monday!
