Whidbey

This is a story from June, 19, 2008. Read and enjoy....I did.

I must always start these by saying that I dearly love my children. They are precious, caring and generally well behaved. That being said....there is usually a story to follow.

This whole story also needs to be prefaced with the information that my husband's parents showed up unannounced on Saturday, June 7th, 2008 for 4 days. This is their way of being funny? Luckily I love them and they are easy guests because I was NOT ready for company. Tuesday, June 10th was the in-laws departure date, the last day of school which included a class “Good Bye” picnic AND the day before we were to leave on a long weekend to Whidbey Island. Needless to say, I was not as prepared for our trip as I normally would have been. And my husband, in front of his parents, announced that he was going to play golf on Tuesday from the time he got off work until about 8:30. I think I said something like, "Not if you want to stay married to me." Yes, it was something sensitive like that. I can't believe he even thought that would be OK. He decided to cancel golf. Smart.

On Tuesday morning Bob was already gone to work so I got up, dressed the kids, Fed them and took Sophia to school. When I got home I went immediately into planning mode. Meals, clothes, bedding, reading material, toys, entertainment for the car, food for the car, pack for everyone including the dog and then finally myself. While doing all of this I thought, "I can't go to the picnic at Sophia's school, I have too much to do." So I ran over to the school to tell Sophia that I couldn't have lunch with her. LOTS of tears followed that could only be stopped by caving to her desire of having us there. Fine, fine, fine....we'll be there. Of course I had to stop mid way through planning and packing to take the in-laws to the airport. Thanks for coming. Love you, we’ll miss you…..gotta go.

On the way back I stopped at Mac Hot Donalds as Kees our two year old calls it. Gross but it was our only option. I do have to say my salad was fairly good and not doused in fat. We got to the school a half hour late but we were there. Sophia barely acknowledged the fact that we were in the room. So much for the earlier water works. We stayed for a bit but man I was behind the 8 ball and needed to get packing. Buh bye....

Pack pack, pack pick up Sophia pack pack, daddy gets home, leave, shop, shop, shop keep shopping. Crap we need a lot of stuff. Get mostly done and crash into bed at midnight.

Get up at the crack of dawn and load the car. I still have to pack the food because it can't sit in the cooler forever. I start loading the car and battle with our local crow. He tries to steal any uncovered food and I try to kill him. It’s a game. OK I don’t really try to kill him but, well, you know. He even went into the van and tried to take a whole bunch of bananas, little sneaky bastard.

Miraculously I am packed the kids are in the car and we are on the road by 11:30. We aren't even out of the 'hood before they are bored and hungry. Whatever! We stop 2 hours in at grandma's for lunch and a swim in the hot tub. Great break. We get back in and head to Seattle to my friend Colleen's house. We unload the essentials while the kids play. They play with her only child's toys and watch her only child's TV. The husband comes home. He and the son are in disbelief, wide eyed disbelief. My kids have taken out every toy in the joint and my daughter, who is acting like an only child, is trying to control everyone AND the TV. As you can imagine it's going over like a lead balloon with this kid. He says, "I am the owner and the owner gets to decide what to do." Ohhh, them’s fightin' words. My girlfriend and I just LOVE the way our kids are treating each other and pray they will figure out a way to get along for the next 5 days. Come on guys. The kids all get in bed at 10 and we stay up until almost 1 am. We needed some quiet time for goodness sake. It is nice but we are tired.

The next morning we get up, clean up (my kids have the lion's share of this job since they destroyed the place) and load up. The car looks like the Clampett's. There is stuff strapped both behind and on top of the car. Hooray....we're ready. We drive to the ferry, get on and the kids are glued to the video machine so they won't get out and check out the scenery. Kids these days..... Whatever, they're quiet and really, isn't that what matters?

We get to the cabin and everyone climbs out. The kids pick up where they left off at the house.....fighting. At least they are fighting in a beautiful place. The view from this place is unreal. Seriously, it's as beautiful as any view I've ever seen. Breathe taking. You can see a hundred miles in all directions. There are two nesting pairs of Bald Eagles that perch 50 feet from the back door. Ships go by on regular intervals. Airplanes fly BELOW our point of view. And there are mountains in every direction. I ponder, why do any of us ever leave the northwest even for vacation?

We unpack and nest our selves. This process takes 4 or 5 hours. We continue to step in between my oldest and her son. Come on guys.... give us a break. Colleen makes dinner; I bathe the kids and get their PJs on. They eat dinner (kind of) and then we put them in front of a show. Feeeyoueee, it's finally quiet.

What seems like 10 minutes goes by and the show is over. Crap, we're back on duty. The kids go outside to play baseball, all except Kees who is comatose on the couch. Her son is wild about baseball; my kids have never played....EVER! I have to explain what will happen if you get hit with the bat and that you HAVE to give the batter LOTS of room. Matthew pitches, Coulter bats and Sophia catches....for 5 minutes until Sophia gets hit in the face with the bat. Game over, ice on the face. It was on the back swing so it isn't nearly as serious as it could have been. Thank God. It's time for bed.

They are all way over tired and need to go to bed. We go to brush teeth. All is fine until Coulter falls off the toilet, lands on his butt and whacks his head HARD on the bath tub. Did I mention they are tired? Tears tears tears...Let's go to bed. We get up stairs and play musical beds and they dig in the toy chest for a toy to play with for 5 minutes before lights out. Sophia hits her elbow on the lid of the trunk which slams on Coulter's hand. I pick him up while yelling, "God Damn It!!!!" And I sit down hard on the bed which collapses on my foot. Colleen's son says, "Wow, you don't know your own strength!" Ahhh, I don't think "strength" is the operative word if you get my drift. My mid drift that is. I calm down, the kids calm down. They finally go to bed. Colleen and I get a richly deserved glass of wine, plop our selves on the deck and dream of tomorrow, tomorrow, when the daddies come. It is so their turn.