With the birth of our daughter, Lauren, we became first time parents. As first time parents we made lots of mistakes and learned lots of lessons. Seeing as how that was over 7 years ago, and both of our children are happy and healthy, I think we're doing an ok job.
Lauren was an exceptionally easy baby/toddler/little girl, and still to this day she doesn't stress us out too much. But one "phase" she did go through, which I believe to be very common with kids, is a picky-eater phase. There was a time, when she was eating solid foods pretty well, that she would only eat certain things. She went through a phase where I swear the only thing keeping her alive was crackers. Then there was the hot dog phase. And finally, the chicken nuggets phase. Just about the time that I considered saying something to her doctor about it, she would get over that particular phase and move on to something else.
Now, being a relatively new mom, I got a little tired of unsolicited advice, so when my child was going through something that I knew wouldn't kill her, I didn't say much about it to anyone. Looking back, that was stupid.
I remember having a conversation with one of the smartest moms I know (my sister!). I happened to offhandedly mention that I was tired of Lauren's phase she was in at that time, probably the chicken nugget phase. My sister, who has always been great about not judging my parenting skills, managed to slip in a comment that didn't offend me, it actually made a light bulb go on in my head. She said something to the effect that her kids have had to learn that she is NOT a short-order cook and if they don't eat what she has made for supper, they go to bed hungry. Wow. Now that was awe-inspiring!
I remember putting that theory to the test not long after that conversation. Lauren was probably about 3 at the time and most likely made some disparaging comments, or bawled about what was for supper. So instead of making her something that she would eat, I calmly put her to bed. Lesson learned in ONE night. She has never had to go to bed hungry again, and I can cook ONE meal each night.
Enter little brother Braden.
He has never been an easy child. And he is a bit of a picky eater. Over the years I have done a pretty good job of making meals that everyone likes, or that contain at least one healthy element that everyone likes. Braden has heard the story a couple of times about when his sister had to go to bed hungry. We have used it as motivation for eating his meal. It has worked every time.
Braden's problem is different. He will take one look at the meal that I, or my husband, have prepared and deem it gross, or "bisgusting" and tell us that he is not going to eat it. But more times than not, he ends up eating enough of the meal that we are happy. Tonight started out feeling a LOT like the night we sent Lauren to bed hungry.
I tried a new recipe (very rarely is this a good idea with small children). Both of my kids made the "disgusting" face just looking at it. Lauren was easy to convince to eat it after I explained that all that was in it was chicken, veggies, and stuffing. Braden still refused to eat it. So, we recounted the story about Lauren getting sent to bed hungry. He still refused to eat it. We took the "ignore" approach. Meaning, we ignored his whining and just ate our meal. When he realized that no one cared that he wasn't eating, he poked a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth. Then he says:
"Huh....Mom! You're right! This IS good!"
Seriously!? And THAT was worth the 30 minute fit and refusing to eat? Good grief.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
A day in my life...
For those of you who don't yet have children, or who have children who are younger, this is what you have to look forward to:
There will come a day when your children are in early elementary school when you figure that they are old enough to be left to their own devices while you take a shower. You will get them settled at the kitchen table, coloring nicely. You will set the ground rules: "No answering the door. No answering the phone. If you need me I will be in the shower." They will say "ok mom" and into the shower you will hop.
Then it happens. You will be just about to rinse the shampoo from your hair when you hear the blood-curdling scream of "Moooooooommmmmmyyyyyy!" The thoughts that go through your mind first are: Where is the hand gun and where is my cell phone? You will jump out of the shower, stubbing your big toe on the shower door, run out the bathroom door, slipping and sliding all the way. You arrive in the kitchen with a hand gun in one hand, the emergency response team on your phone in the other, shampoo dripping into your eyes, and nothing on but your birthday suit. Then your child will look at you and say:
"Never mind, I found the red crayon."
There will come a day when your children are in early elementary school when you figure that they are old enough to be left to their own devices while you take a shower. You will get them settled at the kitchen table, coloring nicely. You will set the ground rules: "No answering the door. No answering the phone. If you need me I will be in the shower." They will say "ok mom" and into the shower you will hop.
Then it happens. You will be just about to rinse the shampoo from your hair when you hear the blood-curdling scream of "Moooooooommmmmmyyyyyy!" The thoughts that go through your mind first are: Where is the hand gun and where is my cell phone? You will jump out of the shower, stubbing your big toe on the shower door, run out the bathroom door, slipping and sliding all the way. You arrive in the kitchen with a hand gun in one hand, the emergency response team on your phone in the other, shampoo dripping into your eyes, and nothing on but your birthday suit. Then your child will look at you and say:
"Never mind, I found the red crayon."
Friday, November 18, 2011
Bad Mommy Moments
Do you ever have one of those days when you just really suck at being a parent? Today is my sucky Mommy day.
Our school makes a big deal out of having good attendance. One of the ways we show our appreciation to the kids and their families for getting their kids to school on time, every day, is by having monthly perfect attendance breakfasts. Last month Lauren's dad took her, and this month she asked if I would take her.
Today we were running late because Jason was out of town for work, so it was just me getting the kids around and out the door in the morning. This never ends well, and usually one of us ends up in tears. Today I thought I had done a pretty good job, despite the fact that we had no milk in the house for breakfast. No matter, we were out the door in plenty of time to stop at Casey's for some donuts. (Which totally makes up for not feeding my kids at home right?) I dropped the kids at the daycare that walks them to school for me, and went on my way and on with my morning routine. Then I see Lauren at my classroom door.
For those of you who don't know, I teach in Spanish every day, all day long, and when Lauren comes to my room for one thing or another she is expected to speak to me in Spanish. So today she says: "Mama, hoy es el dia de Perfect Attendance......" and proceeds to break down crying. Oh pobrecita! I feel about THIS big (picture me practically squeezing my fingers together to represent how tiny I feel)!
I made all sorts of promises of taking her out for a special breakfast, letting her come to the craft fair with me tomorrow, etc. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to call her dad to tell him what a horrible mom I am. So......she did. Somehow, hearing all those promises from him made her feel better....and me feel worse. But who can blame her right? I had let her down. Lesson learned. :(
Our school makes a big deal out of having good attendance. One of the ways we show our appreciation to the kids and their families for getting their kids to school on time, every day, is by having monthly perfect attendance breakfasts. Last month Lauren's dad took her, and this month she asked if I would take her.
Today we were running late because Jason was out of town for work, so it was just me getting the kids around and out the door in the morning. This never ends well, and usually one of us ends up in tears. Today I thought I had done a pretty good job, despite the fact that we had no milk in the house for breakfast. No matter, we were out the door in plenty of time to stop at Casey's for some donuts. (Which totally makes up for not feeding my kids at home right?) I dropped the kids at the daycare that walks them to school for me, and went on my way and on with my morning routine. Then I see Lauren at my classroom door.
For those of you who don't know, I teach in Spanish every day, all day long, and when Lauren comes to my room for one thing or another she is expected to speak to me in Spanish. So today she says: "Mama, hoy es el dia de Perfect Attendance......" and proceeds to break down crying. Oh pobrecita! I feel about THIS big (picture me practically squeezing my fingers together to represent how tiny I feel)!
I made all sorts of promises of taking her out for a special breakfast, letting her come to the craft fair with me tomorrow, etc. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to call her dad to tell him what a horrible mom I am. So......she did. Somehow, hearing all those promises from him made her feel better....and me feel worse. But who can blame her right? I had let her down. Lesson learned. :(
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Sugar Free Gum
Have you ever had that experience where something you eat, see, hear, or smell brings forth an instant memory? I had a bizarre one today.
Lauren and I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart (groan) during half time of the Husker game. She had written us a list so that we wouldn't forget all of the "important" things we were there for. Well, a half hour later we left after paying way too much money for too few of items. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't ever get out of Wal-Mart (groan) for less than $100. . .regardless of what I'm there for.
So, we got in the van and were headed on our way when Lauren asked for a piece of the gum she had talked me into. Our rules about gum are pretty simple: it must be sugar-free, and you are allotted one piece of gum per day. I dug some out for her and asked her to get a piece out for me too. Enter, THE MOMENT.
I popped that piece of gum in my mouth and was instantly transported to my childhood doctor's office. Dr. Mortimer always gave us a piece of sugar-free bubble gum at the end of every checkup. And this gum tasted exactly like the gum he always gave us. Weird. I don't actually have a specific memory that comes to mind, just the overall feeling of leaving his office with that gum in my mouth.
I remember Dr. Mortimer as being a very kind doctor, but a little "old school" looking back. Of course, what we might consider "old school" now, was probably very with-the-times then! When we would go in for our school/sports physicals he would actually tap our knees with that funny triangle shaped hammer thing that I have NEVER seen our doctor use on my kids. And he actually used those nasty tasting tongue depressors to check the back of your throat as you stuck out your tongue and said "Ahng." (No, that's NOT a typo....you try saying "ah" with your tongue out and a wooden tongue depressor pressing down on it! It comes out "ahng.")Speaking of those tongue depressors; maybe I have Dr. Mortimer to "thank" for my strong gag reflex and my sensitivity to textures in foods. Hmmmm.
Who would have thought that a silly little piece of sugar-free bubble gum could bring back such vivid memories. I wonder if he's on Facebook? LOL
Lauren and I took a quick trip to Wal-Mart (groan) during half time of the Husker game. She had written us a list so that we wouldn't forget all of the "important" things we were there for. Well, a half hour later we left after paying way too much money for too few of items. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't ever get out of Wal-Mart (groan) for less than $100. . .regardless of what I'm there for.
So, we got in the van and were headed on our way when Lauren asked for a piece of the gum she had talked me into. Our rules about gum are pretty simple: it must be sugar-free, and you are allotted one piece of gum per day. I dug some out for her and asked her to get a piece out for me too. Enter, THE MOMENT.
I popped that piece of gum in my mouth and was instantly transported to my childhood doctor's office. Dr. Mortimer always gave us a piece of sugar-free bubble gum at the end of every checkup. And this gum tasted exactly like the gum he always gave us. Weird. I don't actually have a specific memory that comes to mind, just the overall feeling of leaving his office with that gum in my mouth.
I remember Dr. Mortimer as being a very kind doctor, but a little "old school" looking back. Of course, what we might consider "old school" now, was probably very with-the-times then! When we would go in for our school/sports physicals he would actually tap our knees with that funny triangle shaped hammer thing that I have NEVER seen our doctor use on my kids. And he actually used those nasty tasting tongue depressors to check the back of your throat as you stuck out your tongue and said "Ahng." (No, that's NOT a typo....you try saying "ah" with your tongue out and a wooden tongue depressor pressing down on it! It comes out "ahng.")Speaking of those tongue depressors; maybe I have Dr. Mortimer to "thank" for my strong gag reflex and my sensitivity to textures in foods. Hmmmm.
Who would have thought that a silly little piece of sugar-free bubble gum could bring back such vivid memories. I wonder if he's on Facebook? LOL
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Potty Training
For those of you who know me well, you are probably wondering why in the world I am posting about potty training when my children are 4 and 1/2 and almost 7 years old! The type of potty training I am referring to is not the conventional kind one thinks of when one becomes a parent.
By "conventional" I simply mean "parent training" where your young child trains YOU to take her potty every hour on the hour until she "gets it." No, the type of potty training I am talking about today is a much more important kind dealing with a parent's sanity.
In my line of work I deal with young children, which means all day long I am burdened with repeating myself 20 times, getting asked questions after every statement I make, dealing with puke, other bodily fluids, and my personal favorite....boogers. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job as a kindergarten teacher! My sanity, however, has a very hard time keeping up when, at the end of a long day, I come home to the same behaviors and bodily fluids I have been dealing with all day long at work.
Which brings me to the topic of "potty training."
When my children were infants I was not one of those mothers who was scared to death of germs, or of people holding my babies without washing their hands, or one of those mothers who had to do everything herself. But there was one thing that I did that I now find to have been very stupid. Whenever I decided to get cleaned up for the day, I wouldn't ask anyone to watch my infant while I showered even if someone else was in the house with me. I would simply bring them into the bathroom with me, sitting in their bouncy seat, and enjoy their cooing with I bathed. As the kids got older, they may not have stayed in the bathroom with me, but we have always had an open, or unlocked, door policy where our bathroom is concerned. Which brings me to the present day.
I was stupid to have invited my children into the bathroom with me at all.
For those of you who have seen the kids' movie: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, you will know, and can relate to, the scenes which I am about it describe. In the movie, the boys' parents leave them alone for a weekend in the house with the instructions that no one is allowed over while they are away. Of course the boys don't listen and they end up having a party. (A pretty tame one really, which was nice to see in a movie, that consisted of too much pop, food, and loud music.) The next day their parents let them know that they are coming home early, so the boys scramble to get the house cleaned up. They are very proud of the job they have done, until they walk by the bathroom door and realize that one of their friends has written Roderick Rules in permanent marker on the outside of the door. They rush to the basement, where conveniently there is an extra door stored, and change it out. Then they realize that while the original bathroom door had a lock on it, the new one in fact does not!
Everything is fine until their dad has to use the bathroom. He can be heard commenting: "Hey, didn't this door have a lock on it? Huh, I must be losing my mind. Oh well." The boys sigh with relief. Then their mom uses the bathroom. She, of course, notices that there is no lock. She confronts the boys, who try to convince her that there never was a lock, to which she responds: "Don't try to tell me that this door never had a lock on it! I KNOW it had a lock on it! Sometimes during the day the only solace I get is from going into this room, locking the door, and tuning all of you OUT!" (Or something to that affect.)
I can TOTALLY relate to that mom's rant. There are times during my day when I invent reasons to go to my bathroom and lock the door. But my kids are too smart. They will stand outside my door and berate me with questions, or knock on the door because they think it's funny to hear their mom scream at them, I guess. Well, no more. We are going back to basics.....Potty Training 101.
The children are no longer allowed in our bedroom, which will also help with tripping over their toys in the middle of the night. And now when I go to use the bathroom (IE, escape from my children) I not only lock the bathroom door, I also close and lock my bedroom door. Then I close and lock my bathroom door, turn on the fan and sometimes the water, and relish in the quiet oasis that is now my bathroom.
Strange? Yes. Necessary for my sanity? Absolutely!
By "conventional" I simply mean "parent training" where your young child trains YOU to take her potty every hour on the hour until she "gets it." No, the type of potty training I am talking about today is a much more important kind dealing with a parent's sanity.
In my line of work I deal with young children, which means all day long I am burdened with repeating myself 20 times, getting asked questions after every statement I make, dealing with puke, other bodily fluids, and my personal favorite....boogers. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job as a kindergarten teacher! My sanity, however, has a very hard time keeping up when, at the end of a long day, I come home to the same behaviors and bodily fluids I have been dealing with all day long at work.
Which brings me to the topic of "potty training."
When my children were infants I was not one of those mothers who was scared to death of germs, or of people holding my babies without washing their hands, or one of those mothers who had to do everything herself. But there was one thing that I did that I now find to have been very stupid. Whenever I decided to get cleaned up for the day, I wouldn't ask anyone to watch my infant while I showered even if someone else was in the house with me. I would simply bring them into the bathroom with me, sitting in their bouncy seat, and enjoy their cooing with I bathed. As the kids got older, they may not have stayed in the bathroom with me, but we have always had an open, or unlocked, door policy where our bathroom is concerned. Which brings me to the present day.
I was stupid to have invited my children into the bathroom with me at all.
For those of you who have seen the kids' movie: Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules, you will know, and can relate to, the scenes which I am about it describe. In the movie, the boys' parents leave them alone for a weekend in the house with the instructions that no one is allowed over while they are away. Of course the boys don't listen and they end up having a party. (A pretty tame one really, which was nice to see in a movie, that consisted of too much pop, food, and loud music.) The next day their parents let them know that they are coming home early, so the boys scramble to get the house cleaned up. They are very proud of the job they have done, until they walk by the bathroom door and realize that one of their friends has written Roderick Rules in permanent marker on the outside of the door. They rush to the basement, where conveniently there is an extra door stored, and change it out. Then they realize that while the original bathroom door had a lock on it, the new one in fact does not!
Everything is fine until their dad has to use the bathroom. He can be heard commenting: "Hey, didn't this door have a lock on it? Huh, I must be losing my mind. Oh well." The boys sigh with relief. Then their mom uses the bathroom. She, of course, notices that there is no lock. She confronts the boys, who try to convince her that there never was a lock, to which she responds: "Don't try to tell me that this door never had a lock on it! I KNOW it had a lock on it! Sometimes during the day the only solace I get is from going into this room, locking the door, and tuning all of you OUT!" (Or something to that affect.)
I can TOTALLY relate to that mom's rant. There are times during my day when I invent reasons to go to my bathroom and lock the door. But my kids are too smart. They will stand outside my door and berate me with questions, or knock on the door because they think it's funny to hear their mom scream at them, I guess. Well, no more. We are going back to basics.....Potty Training 101.
The children are no longer allowed in our bedroom, which will also help with tripping over their toys in the middle of the night. And now when I go to use the bathroom (IE, escape from my children) I not only lock the bathroom door, I also close and lock my bedroom door. Then I close and lock my bathroom door, turn on the fan and sometimes the water, and relish in the quiet oasis that is now my bathroom.
Strange? Yes. Necessary for my sanity? Absolutely!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Modern-Day Lemonade Stand
Every Tuesday and Thursday our local Michaels craft store has a free kids' craft. We started going a few weeks ago and the kids just love it. I love it also, because it combines my three favorite things: craft stores, kids, and getting out of the house!
A couple of weeks ago we were walking up and down the aisles just looking at all the crafting possibilities when the kids spotted something that made me physically cringe. FACE PAINTS! Oh the horror! I could just imagine waking up to find that they had painted the dog, or Lauren's dolls, or even MY face without my knowledge. And since I have a hard time saying no to my children when they're behaving, I figured that we would be going home with these awful face paints that day. However, much to my delight and the childrens' sadness, the little box of face paints cost $13!!! Hahaha....no WAY was I spending that kind of money on something I was going to have to wash out of my carpets! But being the brilliant mom that I am, I didn't say no. What I actually said was much more insightful. It went something like this:
"Well guys, that face paint is very expensive. It costs $13! <gasp> That's just too much money for me to spend today. But I tell you what. You guys can save your money until you get $13 and then we'll come back and buy it!"
They totally fell for that little genius idea, so home we went. And I didn't hear another word about face paints all day.
The next morning I was awakened to Lauren asking me if she and Braden could have a lemonade stand to make their $13. I explained to her that selling lemonade doesn't usually net such a great profit, so not to expect too much, but that we could set it up after lunch. The kids were overjoyed and I was equally NOT as thrilled. But, it's not about me (again), so I sucked it up and we had a lemonade stand.
For about the first 30 minutes or so the kids had NO customers. That's the downside of living on a quiet street. Then, one by one the favors I called in started to arrive. I explained to each of our friends who came for lemonade that the kids were saving up to buy some face paints and that by having this lemonade stand they were learning the value of money. But after the third friend left our house I had to keep my mouth shut.
It's kind of hard to teach kids the value of a dollar whenever you have very generous friends and neighbors who are over paying for tiny glasses of lemonade! The kids raked in over $7 in the course of an hour.....better than minimum wage right? Good grief! So, now that they were half way to their goal, they started to get really motivated.
The kids spent the next week relieving Jason and I of any change we might have on us and putting it with their lemonade money. They turned into really good scavengers! Or maybe it would be more accurate to call them pirates, because most of the money they "found" was taken off of dressers where it was technically just resting overnight.
Yesterday we took their jar of change into the bank to turn it into "real money." They easily turned their $7 into $61.
Suffice it to say, we had fun painting their faces today. :) And the rest of the money will be split between the two of them and placed in their savings accounts.
A couple of weeks ago we were walking up and down the aisles just looking at all the crafting possibilities when the kids spotted something that made me physically cringe. FACE PAINTS! Oh the horror! I could just imagine waking up to find that they had painted the dog, or Lauren's dolls, or even MY face without my knowledge. And since I have a hard time saying no to my children when they're behaving, I figured that we would be going home with these awful face paints that day. However, much to my delight and the childrens' sadness, the little box of face paints cost $13!!! Hahaha....no WAY was I spending that kind of money on something I was going to have to wash out of my carpets! But being the brilliant mom that I am, I didn't say no. What I actually said was much more insightful. It went something like this:
"Well guys, that face paint is very expensive. It costs $13! <gasp> That's just too much money for me to spend today. But I tell you what. You guys can save your money until you get $13 and then we'll come back and buy it!"
They totally fell for that little genius idea, so home we went. And I didn't hear another word about face paints all day.
The next morning I was awakened to Lauren asking me if she and Braden could have a lemonade stand to make their $13. I explained to her that selling lemonade doesn't usually net such a great profit, so not to expect too much, but that we could set it up after lunch. The kids were overjoyed and I was equally NOT as thrilled. But, it's not about me (again), so I sucked it up and we had a lemonade stand.
For about the first 30 minutes or so the kids had NO customers. That's the downside of living on a quiet street. Then, one by one the favors I called in started to arrive. I explained to each of our friends who came for lemonade that the kids were saving up to buy some face paints and that by having this lemonade stand they were learning the value of money. But after the third friend left our house I had to keep my mouth shut.
It's kind of hard to teach kids the value of a dollar whenever you have very generous friends and neighbors who are over paying for tiny glasses of lemonade! The kids raked in over $7 in the course of an hour.....better than minimum wage right? Good grief! So, now that they were half way to their goal, they started to get really motivated.
The kids spent the next week relieving Jason and I of any change we might have on us and putting it with their lemonade money. They turned into really good scavengers! Or maybe it would be more accurate to call them pirates, because most of the money they "found" was taken off of dressers where it was technically just resting overnight.
Yesterday we took their jar of change into the bank to turn it into "real money." They easily turned their $7 into $61.
Suffice it to say, we had fun painting their faces today. :) And the rest of the money will be split between the two of them and placed in their savings accounts.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Turtle Soup
Once in awhile, Jason and I like to pretend that we're good parents, and we do something fun with the kids. This particular Saturday afternoon, Jason had the great idea to take the kids to Little Sioux Park in Correctionville, Iowa for some fishing, canoeing, and roasting hot dogs. (The funny part of all of this was that when Jason mentioned his plan, all he said was fishing, so I was going to try to get out of going so I could finish reading a book I had started. Then I walked out into the garage, saw the canoe in the back of the pickup, muttered an expletive to myself, and went back inside to change into some grubby clothes. I'm so totally Mother of the Year huh!)
Now, I don't know how all of your family outings work, but ours usually end up to be a little bit of fun mixed in with a lot of whining and complaining. Ah, the memories.
It takes a little over a half hour to get to the park and the kids kept asking the ever-popular, "Are we there yet?" and "When are we gonna get there?" types of questions. I just LOVE those, don't you? Then we get there, get the canoe unloaded and they decide they want to fish first. So we fish. Then they don't want to fish, they want to canoe. So we get ready to canoe. But they whine about Jason taking along his fishing pole because they "just wanna canoe!" Too bad, Jason takes it anyway. Then Lauren is screaming every time the fishing pole comes close to her. And I mean screaming! (I never should have told her the story about the time that my sister Meghan hooked me in the cheek with her fishing pole when we were little. She was casting and the hook caught my cheek. The bad part was she kept tugging at it not knowing it was attached to me....or maybe she did know....hmmmm.) So Lauren is screaming, I'm yelling at her to knock it off, Jason's trying to explain to her that in all his years of fishing he has never hooked anyone, and Braden is trying to look into the lake, thereby rocking the canoe, and making Lauren (and I) scream more. <sigh> Finally Jason says he's just going to keep fishing until she gets used to it. What a great family outing. So, we fish and canoe, fish and canoe, fish and canoe. And we finally start to have a little fun even though we have barely even seen a fish, much less caught one. Then Braden decides he needs to pee.
We tried to get him to just pee off the canoe (yuck, I know, but we were in the middle of the lake!), but he wouldn't because he didn't want anyone to see his "buttocks." (Now that he knows that word he likes to say it because he thinks he's getting away with saying 'butt' which is a word we don't allow the kids to say. It's reserved for us when we need to drive home the point that punishment is near if they don't shape up!) So, we rowed over to the shore and the kids and I jumped out and ran to the "bathroom." Jason then proceeded to row back out to the other side of the lake to fish while we were using the facilities. I remember looking back at him and thinking that he looked so peaceful out there by himself. Meanwhile I'm stuck in a campground "bathroom" with two kids who are more interested in conversing with each other than getting their business done.
We continued to canoe some more, and even rowed over to the little swimming beach and walked around for awhile. The kids had fun wading into the lake with Jason while I watched and took pictures from the shore. Lauren waded right in, but Braden was not a fan of the "goo" that he had to wade through to get to the clear water. (The "goo" being mostly mossy stuff, but I couldn't blame him considering I was staying ashore too.) The highlight of the beach area was the little frog we found and played with. . .until it went belly up. Literally, belly up. I thought the kids had killed it for sure, so we told Lauren to just put it on the beach and for them to leave it alone. The stupid little thing should have just continued to play dead, but it started hopping away with my kids hot on its heels. We finally convinced them to leave the poor thing alone so we could canoe back to our pickup and roast some hot dogs.
While we were waiting for the coals to warm up we fished some more. Poor Jason, every time we go fishing he feels so bad for the kids because we very rarely catch anything. Such was the case on this day as well. So it was a good thing we brought hot dogs along, as we would have definitely starved if we had intended to eat the fish we'd caught.
Our friends Danny and Linn stopped by to chat while we ate our hot dogs, and then we fished some more. Or rather, we put bait on the fishing poles, cast them out, and let them sit there while we munched and watched the kids chuck rocks into the lake. Braden is a very impatient fisherman, and always reels in his line only minutes after it's been cast out. He did a great job of catching plants though!
We finally decided to pack it in, and asked Braden to reel in the fishing lines. He reeled his in first and got so excited because the line felt heavy, but he'd just caught another plant. Then he reeled in his sister's and got excited again because the line felt heavy. We knew that it was just another plant, but why ruin his fun right? Then we saw the end of his line. What the heck is that thing??!! It looked like a bloated fish, or a rock, or something. Then Jason yells out: "Holy cow Braden! You caught a TURTLE!" Sure enough, attached at the end of his line was a good sized painted turtle. Poor little thing had swallowed the hook, so Jason cut the line, and after admiring him for a bit we let him go. The kids really enjoyed watching him swim away from us as fast as his little legs could carry him.
That turtle was lucky we'd already eaten. :)
Now, I don't know how all of your family outings work, but ours usually end up to be a little bit of fun mixed in with a lot of whining and complaining. Ah, the memories.
It takes a little over a half hour to get to the park and the kids kept asking the ever-popular, "Are we there yet?" and "When are we gonna get there?" types of questions. I just LOVE those, don't you? Then we get there, get the canoe unloaded and they decide they want to fish first. So we fish. Then they don't want to fish, they want to canoe. So we get ready to canoe. But they whine about Jason taking along his fishing pole because they "just wanna canoe!" Too bad, Jason takes it anyway. Then Lauren is screaming every time the fishing pole comes close to her. And I mean screaming! (I never should have told her the story about the time that my sister Meghan hooked me in the cheek with her fishing pole when we were little. She was casting and the hook caught my cheek. The bad part was she kept tugging at it not knowing it was attached to me....or maybe she did know....hmmmm.) So Lauren is screaming, I'm yelling at her to knock it off, Jason's trying to explain to her that in all his years of fishing he has never hooked anyone, and Braden is trying to look into the lake, thereby rocking the canoe, and making Lauren (and I) scream more. <sigh> Finally Jason says he's just going to keep fishing until she gets used to it. What a great family outing. So, we fish and canoe, fish and canoe, fish and canoe. And we finally start to have a little fun even though we have barely even seen a fish, much less caught one. Then Braden decides he needs to pee.
We tried to get him to just pee off the canoe (yuck, I know, but we were in the middle of the lake!), but he wouldn't because he didn't want anyone to see his "buttocks." (Now that he knows that word he likes to say it because he thinks he's getting away with saying 'butt' which is a word we don't allow the kids to say. It's reserved for us when we need to drive home the point that punishment is near if they don't shape up!) So, we rowed over to the shore and the kids and I jumped out and ran to the "bathroom." Jason then proceeded to row back out to the other side of the lake to fish while we were using the facilities. I remember looking back at him and thinking that he looked so peaceful out there by himself. Meanwhile I'm stuck in a campground "bathroom" with two kids who are more interested in conversing with each other than getting their business done.
We continued to canoe some more, and even rowed over to the little swimming beach and walked around for awhile. The kids had fun wading into the lake with Jason while I watched and took pictures from the shore. Lauren waded right in, but Braden was not a fan of the "goo" that he had to wade through to get to the clear water. (The "goo" being mostly mossy stuff, but I couldn't blame him considering I was staying ashore too.) The highlight of the beach area was the little frog we found and played with. . .until it went belly up. Literally, belly up. I thought the kids had killed it for sure, so we told Lauren to just put it on the beach and for them to leave it alone. The stupid little thing should have just continued to play dead, but it started hopping away with my kids hot on its heels. We finally convinced them to leave the poor thing alone so we could canoe back to our pickup and roast some hot dogs.
While we were waiting for the coals to warm up we fished some more. Poor Jason, every time we go fishing he feels so bad for the kids because we very rarely catch anything. Such was the case on this day as well. So it was a good thing we brought hot dogs along, as we would have definitely starved if we had intended to eat the fish we'd caught.
Our friends Danny and Linn stopped by to chat while we ate our hot dogs, and then we fished some more. Or rather, we put bait on the fishing poles, cast them out, and let them sit there while we munched and watched the kids chuck rocks into the lake. Braden is a very impatient fisherman, and always reels in his line only minutes after it's been cast out. He did a great job of catching plants though!
We finally decided to pack it in, and asked Braden to reel in the fishing lines. He reeled his in first and got so excited because the line felt heavy, but he'd just caught another plant. Then he reeled in his sister's and got excited again because the line felt heavy. We knew that it was just another plant, but why ruin his fun right? Then we saw the end of his line. What the heck is that thing??!! It looked like a bloated fish, or a rock, or something. Then Jason yells out: "Holy cow Braden! You caught a TURTLE!" Sure enough, attached at the end of his line was a good sized painted turtle. Poor little thing had swallowed the hook, so Jason cut the line, and after admiring him for a bit we let him go. The kids really enjoyed watching him swim away from us as fast as his little legs could carry him.
That turtle was lucky we'd already eaten. :)
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