Vacation

Well, we’ve been home for a week and I have yet to report on our vacationing experience to the lake side cabin in Maine.

Here I will try to relate the main events without spending hours upon hours to do it. I do have other things to do around here after all. Hmmm…ok,

So we left on a Thursday afternoon around 4:40pm. By the time we were loaded in the van I had declared to Brandon at least twice that I had decided we didn’t really need to go anywhere! I’m sure some of you can relate to that feeling when trying to pack up everyone to go somewhere. Is it really going to be worth it in the end? Well, this time it was I think.

It did take us almost 4 ½ hours to get there, but that was because we had to stop for gas, stop to eat at McDonald’s , and stop at Wal-mart to pick up some needed items like baby wipes and children’s medications. You see, every time we go on vacation, the kids get sick, so I don’t like going anywhere without my trusty bottles of Children’s Tylenol, Motrin, and Triaminic. So, that added about and hour and a half to our trip. We arrived around 9pm and the children quickly went to bed and then so did we.

Friday, Brandon kept the boys at the cabin and Diane and I took Rachel and went yard saling. That was great fun! Lewiston is a great place to hit lots of yard sales. I’ve been there several times and always there are quite a few. I think we went to around twenty and that was a relatively slow Friday compared to other times I’ve been. I found some great buys including a toddler bed for Rachel when the new baby comes along, and some Nerf weapons for the boys to play with. Some new trikes and some key Tupperware pieces and a bloomin onion maker rounded out my purchases and we came home after lunch. Diane’s mom came along also and treated us to Arby’s for lunch. I think that’s one of my favorite fast food places of all and I had a terrible time deciding what to eat for my one meal that I would have there.

When we arrived back home, we swam a little and then ordered pizza for dinner. That was one of the best things about the time- easy meals. We had pizza, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, hot dogs…not all especially nutritious, but the kids liked it and it was easy. We also did lots of poptarts for breakfasts and that was a big hit too.

Saturday, we pretty much just played in the water and the boys watched some movies. It was overcast and kept drizzling on the kids in the water. One of the boys, I think James at one point was standing in waist deep water and looked up at the rain and yelled, “Mama! Mama! I’m getting wet!” Well, yes, but whoopty do!

That evening after dinner we had planned to have smores over a campfire, but it really rained hard, so we postponed that adventure to Monday evening. We went to bed with the rain coming down and managed to find a couple of leaks in the roof, but thankfully, not over the beds.
Sunday, Brandon went to Elim to preach and the rest of us stayed behind to play in the water some more. There are no showers at the camp, so Brandon went to the R’s place and took a shower and the rest of us just decided not to impose our stink on others. Brandon came back for lunch and we had hamburgers. After lunch, the little ones took a nap, Brandon left and the two older boys watched another movie. We all played in the water again that afternoon.

Monday, was the best day of all- it was sunny and the children played in the water quite a bit and Rachel actually got a little sunburn, but not too bad. We noticed it before it got to the point of being uncomfortable. So, water, movies, water, food, and then in the evening we did do the smores. Jonathon really caught on and did a good job of roasting his marshmellow and even made a smore with two of them. James had a hard time roasting them, but was happy to eat the smores all together. He called them sandwiches. Jeff just wanted to eat the chocolate and the crackers and the marshmellows. Once he actually got his marshmellow on the stick and toasted, but then it was to perfect to eat and he swung it around and played with it. Rachel, just ate what ever she could get her hands on, though it was obvious that she prefered the chocolate and crackers to the marshmellows.

The kids went to bed that evening and then Tuesday morning we got up and started cleaning and packing up to go. We had thought of may be staying until Wednesday, but I wanted to leave while the kids were still having a good time and Tuesday morning they started getting fussy. We managed to get loaded up before lunch and so ate at a Burger King and then headed home. It was perfect timing because all the kids slept in the car with Jeff and James sleeping for almost the entire 3 hours! We got home around 4pm and I was able to get quite a bit of the stuff unpacked and put away before bedtime that evening.

So, all in all it was relaxing, the kids had fun and I didn’t come home completely exhausted! AND NO ONE GOT SICK!!!!! Whooooohooooo!!!!!!!!!! I think that was the best part.

Now, as a PS- I’ll mention what Jonathon said yesterday:

“Mama, I want to die! Can I please die?”
“Jonathon, no, you can’t die, but why do you want to die?”
“Because I want to see what Heaven is like.”

Hmmmm…..don’t we all.