We had a nice memorial weekend up north at the lake - where I'm sure 92% of the people in Minnesota were as well. We left our home around 1:30 pm and went to drop off Attley (the big black dog) at the farm as he is not allowed at the resort where Scott's parents lease their cabin. Then it was off to drop off Scott's truck at a work site so that we could drop him off at work on Tuesday morning (we try to come home the morning after a big summer holiday to avoid the huge line of cars headed home). And, since Scott is adamant about not eating in our new van, we had to stop and have a snack outside. Once we got everyone buckled back in and a movie set up for the girls, we were off to the cabin...I think we didn't leave the city until about 3:00. We stopped in Nisswa for some yummy pizza at Rafferty's around 5:30 and finally arrived at the cabin around 7:00 pm. Yes folks, that's 5.5 hours for a 3 hour trip.
Even though the weather was cool, the girls (and Cooper) had a great time with their cousins all weekend, playing in the sand, running around the yard, and just generally goofing off. We took a couple of boat rides on Grandpa Kenny's ginormous pontoon and sat by the campfire one night. Scott got in a lot of fishing with his brother and some good conversation with his folks and the other resort people. I, on the other hand, didn't have as fabulous of a time. As all moms know, it takes a lot of work getting everything packed and ready for a trip with 3 little kids. I also had to bring a lot of food since we (the ladies that is) were sharing food duties this weekend. While we were up there we had to have Cooper in our room with us which was a complete nightmare the first night since he was scared in the new place and unsure about having US sleeping with him. After the first night he was much better but I would wake up at every little grunt and movement so I was counting the seconds until I could be back in my own bed. Then there was all the normal stuff, making meals, cleaning up from meals, watching kids, cleaning kids, putting kids to bed, etc. Then, once home of course, there are the loads and loads of laundry to deal with and super crabby overtired children to deal with. We've been home 4 days now and I feel like everyone is just now catching up on their sleep. Going up north is great for the kids and Scott and, while I do have some moments that are good (like chatting with my Sister-in-law) or where I can get off by myself, they seem too meager in comparison to the increased amount of work and stress that goes along with it all. It is definitely not a "weekend getaway" for me at all.
Crabby enough for ya? Sorry about that big rant. It's the reality of life sometimes, isn't it? It's part of what we buy into when we plunge into having a "family". I had lots of years of "me" time and now I'm just trying to remember that it all goes by so swiftly and soon I'll have more "me" time than I will want.
The only other eventful thing that happened this week is that Cooper cut his left pointer finger pretty badly in my shower, of all places. I've looked all over in there and cannot figure out how he did it. Anyway, he sort of sliced it so that there is a big flap of skin (sorry for all you squeamish folks out there). I probably should have taken him in to get a stitch or two or at least some glue since it bled for a really long time. But the thought of putting 3 crabby overtired kids (one bleeding all over) into the car right before lunchtime to hang out at urgent care for who knows how many hours just didn't sound all too appealing to me. Call me crazy. So I did my best to clean it up, put antibiotic ointment on it, and wrap it in a few bandaids with him crying and pushing my hands away with his other hand, and wriggling his finger so I couldn't get a good grip on it. It wasn't easy. And of course the bandaid fell off 20 minutes later. So I managed to find my gauze and medical tape and did a more "professional" looking job and that stayed for a while. But he loses the bandage once or twice every day and that dang flap of skin gets pulled back and it starts bleeding all over again. So I'm afraid it's not healing super well or very fast. I've been keeping a close eye on it for infection and so far it looks okay. If I could only get that flap of skin to stay closed and a bandage on for a nice long time, I think it will start to get better. Speaking of which, just looked and it's off again. I'd better go do some more bandaging.
Enjoy the beautiful late spring day. That's all from Schwakeland for now.
