Monday, June 27, 2016

June 27 - 30, 2016, MN

Monday, June 27. I was the babysitter today and I'm pretty proud that I survived and am in good shape at the time of this writing, 7:30 in the evening. I made it through walking Charlotte to school, spending the morning at the park, picking Charlotte up, fixing lunch, story time, nap time, 15 minute respite for Rose, playing with Charlotte, snacks for all, outdoor play until dinner, some dinner prep, several accident clean ups, and now, a bit of me time.


Wednesday, June 29.  I babysat again yesterday, all was good until Charlotte had a meltdown after school, there was pushing, shoving, crying, and frustration going on while I was trying to keep my eyes on something in the oven and cleaning up potty accidents.  My experience under those conditions really sucks.  Life is good when everyone is getting along.  Thanks to Ben's gentle and effective parenting skills, he changed the moods and the evening was pleasant.

This morning, Tina (the Nanny) took Charlotte to school and the little ones to the library while I got things ready for this week's camping trip with Norah and Camille (Norah today, then doing a switcheroo tomorrow so Camille gets a turn).  

Last week, I realized that the battery on the camper wasn't keeping the lights charged and after checking it, the ground cable had broken and come off its connection.  I stopped at Interstate to have the connections checked and they got it straightened out for me.  I also stopped at Walmart to pick up a couple of fireplace logs - I'm finding they are the perfect and fast way to get a fire started and they keep it going well for 2-3 hours.

I picked Norah up at the library and we headed to the KOA in Maple Grove (I wanted to see if I liked this one better than the one I was at last week).  Norah was curious, mostly interested in having lunch and playing with the toys that I brought along.  And then she settled right in for a nap - good thing, because I was ready for one too.


After her nap, we went to the pool, and they sure don't bother to warm the water in these places - it was way too cool for my comfort.  We did manage to play long enough to satisfy her and then went back to start the next eating cycle, then a campfire and sang songs together and had s'mores.  I'm not a fan of those things - sure don't get the hype at all.



Thursday, June 30.  Norah did great last night once she fell asleep - that was the hard part, it was close to 10 when she finally gave it up.

The playground was the morning activity and then we went and met Tina at the grocery store to do the switch and Camille came back with me to the campground and the routine started all over - the same activities.  They were both interested in going in and out the door of the camper, loved the sink, did ok with the toilet, and it was all about food.  They both asked about each other now and then, but Camille asked about going home several times.