We find a Holiday Inn Express. The kids ran around like crazy. They were so hyper from being stuck in a car for about 12 hours that they couldn't sleep. We had put them both in the same bed but they just giggled and yelped and giggled and climbed out of bed over and over. David and I were exhausted and decided to split them up. Violet slept with mommy, Liam slept with Daddy. Violet only kicked me once. David said it must have felt nice, but it's not nice to be woken up with a kick to the back when you are exhausted...no matter how small the foot. It was sweet that one time she reached over to stroke my hair a few times, to make sure I was there. And I felt her wiggle in bed for a few hours before I decided to wake up. When I did she looked at me and had a big grin on her little face. It was pretty sweet. The look said "hi mom, heh, yeah I'm here too, I slept in the bed with you" lol.
It turns out David's brother, sister, mom and nephews also stayed at a Holiday Inn because the camp had closed at 8 and they had arrived at 8:10 and it didn't matter anyway because the roads were closed too.
We left our hotel at 10:30 and arrived around noon to the campsite. The lady at the front desk was very rude... First she said she couldn't find our reservation. She asked if we made the reservation. David said no a friend of mine did named Mike. She said he should have said that in the first place and to next time be more specific. I wasn't there, I was outside with the kids, but I want to know why they didn't have better records because his name was also on the reservation. David pointed out that he was told he only needed to give his name (we really were told that).
THEN she said, since we didn't arrive last night (even though the roads were closed anyway) we lost our reservation. David pointed out that the reservation was for several days so it didn't make sense not to honor it. She begrudgingly gave in.
It turns out she gave the same attitude and speach to David's brother when they arrived just an hour before... so this wasn't new information, in fact it sounded like a script to try to bully more money out of people.
When we got to our site I was in an extremely bad mood. I can't really say why, I just was. I'm sure it had to do with the long car ride... arriving a day late... it was very hot outside... camping when I was younger always had lots of lush trees and water, this site was beautiful but had small bushes for trees and a large canyon surrounding us, it kind of felt like a desert... I was hungry... I had to pee.
Right away I'm yelling and snapping at the kids to stay near us. David goes right to work setting up camp... though we had to wait a few hours to set up our tent because the ground where the tent would go was wet...though everything else was dry. I pick up the "bathroom backpack" to hike to the bathroom which is about a mile or so away. Mike stops me and says the road is flooded to the bathroom and the best way to cross it is by car, that it was a river basically. So I had to wait for David. Who kept getting side tracked into helping in other areas of the camp. Also David's family had cooked a ton of eggs for lunch as some had cracked during the trip. Now it was very very very nice of them to offer us some. But please remember that A) I'm in a bad mood B) I worked very very very hard on preparing all the meals we would eat for the trip and I was already two meals behind because of the delay. ALSO I'm a middle child and I realized during this trip that I usually go with the flow and just do whatever someone else has planned (which turns out to be a middle child trait) BUT, and I mean BUT, IF I do ANY sort of planning and my planning gets thrown off, it stresses me out to no end. Which leads us to C)Don't Ignore My Wishes when expressed. Thank you.
We were lovingly offered lunch. I politely said "no thank you, we have lunch as soon as David gets the cooler out". But oh we have these made already, come eat them. No really, thank you though. Someone says "David come eat some eggs", ME: No, we have food thank you!. 'How about the kids, they must be hungry'. OMGoodness. No, thank you! But they are hungry. ME, now kind of snapping: Liam won't eat eggs, and Violet hasn't liked them lately, plus won't eat them at all without ketchup. Oh, okay... but we have ketchup... ARRRGGGHHHH.
David still unloading, I start putting sunblock on the kids, then myself. Liam says "mom, may I have something to drink please?", I answer "Yes Liam, just give me a minute to finish putting on sunblock". My mother-in-law says "oh we have juice boxes he can have". I know she was being helpful and I'm overreacting at everything at this point but I was planning on the kids only having water during the day, juice at night, the day because of the heat... and sugar takes more water to break down and therefore is not good to drink in this kind of weather and when going to be outside all day. Juice later as a 'reward' for drinking water all day. I don't say I have water for them, because I don't want to come off that I know better... because I don't... this is just my feeling on the subject is all.
My mom-in-law, who is usually VERY respectful of my wishes for the kids, hands Liam a juice box. I can't believe nobody is listening to me and can't imagine this is how the entire trip is going to be because I just can't take it after all the careful thoughtful planning I did concerning my children. I hate to admit this but I snapped at her. This makes me very sad. I said "I wanted them to have water" but you have to imagine me saying it fast and with an impatient attitude. She says "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize... I thought you were just going to give him a juice". I say "it's okay, it's okay" but again, with an attitude. Now I feel bad. Really bad because I know I probably hurt her feelings. After about 10 minutes I apologize to her, say that I just hate not being listened to but she's a grandma and can give them a juice box if she wants. Also that I was in a bad mood but praying that I can change my attitude. She said she was just upset that she didn't listen to me in the first place, but she really didn't know I was just giving them water.
Okay so with new resolve I scream at David that I need to pee and to please hurry. After I pee all is well. My attitude improves. Even more so after I make lunch of hotdogs, chips and broccoli. And even more so when we finally get our tent up. By the evening I'm in a really good mood. But now David has a headache from all that sunshine and is in a really bad mood.
He's now snapping at me over nothing... I suppose it's a taste of my own medicine, but I just tell him "don't be so rude to me, I haven't done anything to you" lol... at least not right then... nearly the entire day, but not for the past few hours. Haha, we are so off track.
After a dinner of slider burgers and corn we learn that our 'host' Mike and his family are leaving that night. He feels sick, like he has heat exhaustion and one of his little girls isn't feeling well either. First he helps David set up a telescope we borrowed and we roast marshmallows. The moon was so beautiful, we saw all sorts of details of the moon. No stars as it was still a bit cloudy. Mike and his family leave. We go on a very little night 'hike', exploring the camp. Liam and Violet and the nephews already went on one during the afternoon with their Tia (David's sister).
We leave the rain fly off the tent and enjoy the stars that start to shine as we fall asleep.
1 a.m. I wake up. I have to pee. I pee about 3 (at least) times a night. I can't hold it in very long either, I've had two kids and they broke me, I just can't. I can't fall back asleep feeling uncomfortable anyway. So I get up and drive to the bathroom. Apparently that worried David to the point of pissing him off. And it worried his mom when she saw it was me coming back into the tent. Sorry guys, I just can't help it.
At 5:30 I wake up again. I toss and turn for an hour. Now the stars are sooo bright you can see all the constellations so clearly. It was gorgeous. I got up at 6:30. I peed off in the tall grass rather than drive to the bathroom again. Gross I know, but oh well. I had t.p. in our car which I grabbed beforehand. I then tried to take a picture of the constellations but my camera wouldn't focus... I don't know manual well enough and it was too dark to figure it out. SO no pictures of that beautiful sky.
To be continued...
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