My friends . . . . I will be the first to admit that I can sometimes (okay, lets be honest, most times) be an irrational bee-yatch. So why should this week have been any different? Let me explain, and perhaps by the end of this post, I will have convinced myself that maybe . . . just maybe, I am not as crazy irrational as I think. We'll see. . . . . . This is how it all played out.
Many moons ago (say, six months) Damon informed me that we would be going to
PPW at the
Great Wolfe Lodge. He goes to photography conventions and print competitions all the time, and thought it would be fun for us to come along. I thought it would be fun also, considering that this is a very family friendly place with a water-slide park and lots of other fun stuff to do.
Well, it got closer and closer, and I started having second thoughts. You see, Damon was in charge of a huge job at the Western States Print Competition, which would require him to be gone all day long, several days in a row. I got to thinking . . . hmmm . . . . this doesn't sound like a very good idea. Me, alone with three kids, far from home, in a hotel, with a baby who requires napping and two bigger girls who don't. I told him of my worries and he informed me that we were basically going two days early and we would be able to play the whole time. He would also be able to hang out with us at night. Okay, count me back in.
Then came Monday. The first day of spring break. We were to leave on Wednesday, so I was going to take Monday and Tuesday to do some quick spring cleaning and packing. Monday was great. I got a lot accomplished, and even had some friends over for dinner. About three a.m. Tuesday morning, I awoke to a severe case of the stomach flu. Needless to say, I laid on the floor the whole day feeling as though death was imminent. (on the bright side, I was able to lose a quick and unexpected four pounds, and NOW, I am only four more stomach flu's away from my goal weight).
I don't even know what my kids were doing. I got nothing done that day, except for a lot of barfing, and I informed Damon that I didn't think we would be leaving the next day, because surely our kids would be getting this sickness, and it was horrible. Bad news. . . . . . Due to my sickness, I had to cancel my appointment for my spray on tan, which was very unfortunate for all the people at the place who had to see not only chubs, but my whiteness too. Good thing for me though, I saved myself 35 bones!
Against our better judgement, we did a quick pack up Wednesday morning, and crossed our fingers that our kids wouldn't get sick. We ended up leaving at around 1 pm, just after lunch, and just about two hours later, the spewage of said lunch began. ALL. OVER. MY. CAR. Don't worry, we brought a very festive Halloween barf bowl just in case. We even emptied a box for Edyn to barf in, as Ava was occupying the bowl. Unfortunately, Edyn decided it would be a better idea to put the box on the floor of my van and vomit everywhere except IN the box. GROSS is an understatement. Just be glad you weren't there. The sickie poo's were so cold after we had to pull over on a very snowy White Pass and change their clothes, so we basically hot boxed it for the next two hours of the trip with the heater on.
We spent the first evening cooped up in a hotel room, enjoying the hurling sounds of two very sick little girls. (Thank goodness Lila didn't get it).
Two sick babies. One Festive Barf Bowl. They will kill me later in life for posting this picture.
The next day Edyn was better, but Ava was not, so Damon and Edyn went to play at the water park and I, once again, was cooped up in a hotel room. Ava started feeling better by that evening, but unfortunately that was about the time when Damon had to leave to go work at the print competition, and was not to be seen for the next three days. (Those so called nights he would be able to spend with us . . . . no such luck). Do you know what that means? Me. Alone. With three kids. In a hotel.
Now its just so happens that I am amazing, and decided that I would be brave and pack the kids up and we were going to go and have some fun. We decided to try out the wave pool, which looked pretty fun. . . . oh wait, until the waves started splashing around, and with Lila in one arm, Edyn clinging to my leg, and one "freaking her brains out" Ava, who decided to cling on to my swim suit top for her dear life. Unfortunately, it caused my left boob to pop out for all to see. It had to have been out for a good 30 seconds, as I was struggling against the waves and my other two children to pry her death grip off my top. Fortunately, the left boob is the bigger of the two boobs I own, so if I was going to give a peep show, the left boob was clearly the better choice.
Sorry, there will be no pictures of my left boob on this post. Not that kind of blog. I will, however show you my feet, as they are my best asset. Especially since I had that nasty bunion removed three years ago.
We opted out of the wave pool and made our way to the kiddie playground for a good hour. It was pretty fun. Although I had to pay Ava to go down the slide. I think I owe her like 20 dollars. Lila managed to drink about half of the pool's water, which turned out to be a good thing, as she has problems with constipation and this was just enough germ infested pee/chlorine water to give her a quick bout of the runs. Cleared that constipation right up.
I did it. I made it through the water park all by myself. Like I said. . . . amazing.
We managed to make it through the next couple of days venturing out around the resort. I even took them back to the water park a couple times by my lonesome, however, we did have to spend a good majority of those days in our hotel room, as Lila requires napping. So naturally the kids got to watch a lot of Disney and I had plenty of time to spend picking my zits in front of a very well lit mirror (i was quite impressed) . . . . and of course, eating countless calories, as if it would help to drown out my sorrows. At one point, me and the Toots ended up taking an hour long shower, because Edyn and Ava decided to take their one and only nap of the year and we had nothing else to do in a small room. All the while, I am cursing my husband, because naturally, this was all his fault. It couldn't have been the fact that I have a bad attitude or anything.
Luckily, on Friday night,
Tio and Tia came up to play with us for a few days. They helped so much, but we still had 5 kids to take care of, and that is a lot of work. We saw very little of Damon, who I had managed to take out all my frustrations on, so the poor guy not only had to work his brains out the whole time, but then he had to answer to his witch of a wife. Don't worry, we still love each other, but this is the last time I go on one of these trips until my kids are way older. (BTW, I came home 2 days early).
The kids did manage to have lots of fun. I am glad. That is what it is really all about. Most of the time though, I am just too busy thinking about myself, and what I want and need. Looking back, I feel really bad about having such a negative attitude, BUT, does it make me want to do this again? I THINK NOT.
So . . . . . I think the verdict is . . . . . I may have been somewhat irrational. I will have to work on that. Starting tomorrow of course. Because its Monday. And while I am at it, I will start a new diet too, because I obviously fell off the wagon this week.
Oh, I will also be spending my Monday detailing my van, as no amount of air freshener can cover the smell. Believe me. We tried.
