This past weekend we took the kids to my friend's cabin in Pennsylvania. Our van is acting funny (I still maintain it is possessed by a demon), so we decided to take BigDaddyFish's commuting car, a Subaru Outback.
Three kids. Side-by-side. In the back seat.
Can I just say NEVER AGAIN?!?
Screaming was the order of the day - them screaming because someone touched them, or looked at them, or had an idea about them, or something, or just boisterous screaming while they were playing with each other and don't understand the meaning of "inside voices," or else BDF and me screaming at the kids to be quiet because we couldn't even talk to each other because the kids were so loud, or else the baby screaming because she was "so sad" for various reasons over the course of the weekend. Just a veritable screamfest. Of epic proportions.
When we arrived home last night, BigDaddyFish asked me if we did ANYTHING right this weekend. We did - here are some highlights:
- Rainbow Trout and BDF went up for a helicopter ride in the dinkiest helicopter I've ever seen. I managed to make it through without a panic attack, mostly because Sunny flipped out when the helicopter took off and started to bank around to the left. Sunny saw that and said "Oh, they're coming back" and I explained that no, they weren't right now, they would be back in a few minutes. She flipped and exclaimed "I want my Daddy to come back" so I was distracted from my own anxiety by trying to console her. They made it safely - they just flew over the lake and park where we were staying. Trout sat in the front and made her dad sit in the back. When we asked her how it was, she said "It was so cool I couldn't even talk." What greater reward for me for letting her go in spite of my own fears?
- Little Man fell in love with a waitress in a restaurant where we had dinner, so he wouldn't talk to her but kept whispering in BDF's ear when he wanted something. It was too cute. Plus, he got a lego set. And I let him take pictures after we came down off the water tower.
- Yes, water tower. Here in sue-city, no one would EVER let anyone climb up on a water tower due to liability reasons. Up there, in the relative boondocks, they have a water tower and you can climb steps up to the top and look out over the lake and countryside. Beautiful.
- We went to Horseshoe Curve, where trains go completely around you. BDF and I had been years ago, before we had kids, but this was the first time we'd taken the kids. They have a little meadow and the kids just ran around and played and picked wildflowers and watched trains. It was quite relaxing.
- Due to my girth and general grumpiness and discomfort, I have a big problem sleeping, so I got a full bed to myself while BigDaddyFish and Sunny slept on the futon in a different room. They slept well, Sunny was delighted to be sleeping with Daddy, and I slept as well as I could for six months pregnant.
It wasn't all bad, and those were just a few of the high points, but we chalk it up to a learning experience, thank our friends profusely for the use of their cabin in hopes that they might let us go back someday to right our wrongs, and are simply glad to be home, and grateful for our health, BDF's job, and all our other blessings.
Including the minivan I swore I would never get and couldn't live without.
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