He Said: The kids aren't used to "roughing it" in a back seat. I've had to resort to the tried and true "I'll turn this car around"...followed by the "SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP you ungrateful brats!" Good times...woke up early this morning, had breakfast with the kids, and played Sorry while Shannon slept.
Today was a bit of a mixed bag. We had a late start, then got turned around a bit. By the time we headed out, it was already in the 30s. Hit about 45 today. We ended up going to an indoor trampoline place, then picked up groceries for the week. I played a lot of board games with the kids, including Mara's first game of Chess. Other than that, pretty much uneventful. Hot, hot, hot.
She said: The beach at the man-made lake here (Lake Gregory I think) is public but it costs $5 to get in. We were there just before 9 and nobody was there and there were no signs about when they were open and it all seemed a little odd, so we tried to go to a different lake, but got lost and then.....well, Brad covered it. Around 4-ish when Brad went for groceries, he said there was a handful of people at the beach. I asked a store clerk later and found out that it's actually a nice family beach, it's just that people are working and it's only open 9-5. Is nobody else on vacation here? Weird. I wasn't expecting that the lakes around here would be private and unpopular, so it's not really matching the vision in my head about hanging out at the beach all day and reading a book while Brad played with the kids. So, now our choice of being in a cabin 1.5 to 2 hours away from all the tourist attractions is looking like a bad idea. Our kids wake up at 6, so even after an hour of cartoons and breakfast and getting ready and an hour and a half drive, we'll still get to most of the sights at opening time. We shoulda got a car with a DVD player. The iPad is a great distraction but it's just one more thing to fight over. Ugh.
When I look at the living room floor and see Ryan making patterns with the battleship pegs, Gillian finishing her Chapter book, and Brad teaching Mara chess this is good stuff. Brad is bored out of his mind - but I am at peace. My legs weren't tired, my back wasn't sore, I still had energy at 9:00 pm and we spent less than $100 (groceries not included).