I am not sure what I want to talk about tonight. It was a really long day. I was invited by friends to Three Oaks today. Crystal Lake has done an above average job in crafting recreation areas. They used an old quarry, filled it in with water, hemmed it in with hiking/running trails, and opened it to the public. It has a splash pad, small park for the kids, swings, a Culver's, paddle boats, sailboats, etc. It's beautifully landscaped, kept up well and my kids love it.
The problem is that the kids have a hard time there. The beach and the splash pad are separate from one another. We have a tough time deciding, as a group, where we should be. There tends to be disagreements about whether we should be in the lake or at the splash pad. I don't like taking them by myself. Doug is not ready to sit still yet, Jeremy gets upset and bolts and Bekah doesn't understand that she can't visit the splash pad on her own.
I met two friends and their kids there. My friend's son and Bekah were in preschool together. She has kind of a crush on him (and he enjoys her as well). He is Jeremy's age and, as it turns out, they were fast friends as well. We were late to get there--they open at 10, we got there at 11:30. I am attending a Bible study this summer and it's from 9-11 on Thursdays.
Of course, it's not as simple as just showing up. I started prepping for this excursion last night. I packed a substantial lunch, sippy cups, etc. I made sure the beach towels were washed and in the dryer before I came upstairs. I hung the bathing suits so they would be dry today. I asked for prayer from my best friend. I knew it was going to be an undertaking and I knew I would be stressed. I asked her to pray for strength for me and safety for the kids.
Then there was the frenzy this morning. We've fallen out of the habit of getting out of the house before 9, so we were working against that. Then I had to make breakfast, get everyone dressed, shoes on, etc. We were late to Bible study (of course). It was a good session about friendship, but I spent most of the time worrying.
Before we left the church, we stopped in the bathroom and the real work began. I had to strip everyone down, slather them with sunscreen, put on their bathing suits and keep them contained so I could do the same to myself.
At this point, I was already sweating. I sweat easily--it's partly my weight it's partly just I sweat a lot. The kids had a lot of excitement and were bouncing off the walls--it makes it tough to dress people acting like human pinballs. I did my best and then we were off. Luckily it's just a hop, skip and a jump to Three Oaks from the church.
We made it and started the arduous journey from the van to the beach (not very long in distance but challenging). Doug's stroller served as the beast of burden for the bag with food, bag with clothes, bag with toys, my wallet, keys, iPhone and Doug. It was helpful to transport but it's tough to push it on the beach.
The joy of being there, though, is immediate. The kids ran to the water as soon as we hit the beach. I had a tough time finding my friends until I walked to the water line. I had already set up our stuff, so I headed back and muscled the stroller to it's final resting spot. I laid out a towel, got Doug out and got to it.
There were a few times when my heart sank into my stomach. I am fortunate, in spades, that my friends were there. Bekah took off once for the splash pad without telling me. She did it just after we had been in the water, so I spent a few minutes thinking she had drowned. I didn't yell at her when I found her, but I was firm in saying that she was not allowed to run away.
We migrated as a group to the splash pad, much to Jeremy's disappointment. My friend wanted us to go as a group so that she and I (and our other friend) could talk to one another. Jeremy loved, loved, loved, swimming in the lake. It took some coaxing to convince him to join us. Everything was going pretty well. I was swinging Doug, Bekah was swinging and then my friend motioned to me from across the way. "Where's Jeremy," I heard her ask. I couldn't find him. My heart sank again. I started searching for him until I heard, "Mrs. Patronik, please report to the lifeguard station."
The irony is that I'm not Mrs. Patronik. I didn't take Brian's name when we married. It's a story for another blog entry, but suffice to say he ribs me about it every once in a while. I didn't do it because I don't love him, but we tease each other about my stubborn defiance to not make the change. So today, when I heard the call I had to laugh. I told him about it and he said, "did you say to yourself, Gloria (my MIL) isn't here, why are they calling her?" I laughed and said, "yes, I didn't go get my son because they used the wrong name."
I did get him and we had a conversation about not taking off. "All those people were trying to help me find you," he told me. I reminded him that he couldn't just leave without telling me.
It all confirmed for me that I have no business taking the kids there by myself. We had a blast and the kids utterly wore themselves out. When we got home, I put Doug down for a nap, set Bekah up to play on the computer and then went down to the couch and closed my eyes. Correction, my eyes would not stay open. I didn't wake up until Brian got home at 7 and then I discovered that Bekah had as well fallen asleep.
Brian had to coax Doug awake (he was not at all pleased with the decision) and we endured a 5-minute long tantrum. I had no energy to cook dinner, so Brian made himself some salad, I heated up pancakes for Doug and Jeremy and Bekah declined to eat anything. I also wasn't super hungry, so I didn't eat either.
The beauty is that I knew Jeremy would go straight to sleep tonight. The beast is that, as I type this, Bekah is keeping me company. Yep, 10:45 and she's still awake. I will send her to bed soon. I wouldn't normally allow her to be up, but her nap was as extensive as mine (and as late).
In her words, her favorite part of the day was "letting you see me flip underwater. And next time, you need to look at my feet underwater closely. And look for my feet to stick out. My favorite part was finding you."
She is a riot, honestly. I enjoy that she has fun when I pay attention to her. I was impressed by her swimming skills, honestly. We haven't done very many swim lessons so it's cool to see some natural talent there. Jeremy had fun wearing his goggles (that Santa brought him) in the lake for the first time. I'm actually pretty impressed that he has kept track of them for so long before actually using them. It is important to note that he wore them around his neck to school for almost a month straight when he first got them. You never can be too careful, right?
All in all, I consider today to be a learning experience. If I ever get brave enough to take them on my own, my friend suggested leaving if anyone takes off without telling me. She said that it would probably take three visits with three exits before the kids would be broken of it. She's probably right, but I'm not sure if I'm up for all of that prep and short visits. For now, I will wait until the kids get a bit older to try it on my own again.
(Although....the lure of a solid night's sleep for Jeremy may be enough to coax me back into the water. Just saying. It's just that significant.)
No comments:
Post a Comment