After a ridiculously fun Sunday at the lake, Monday was supposed to be back to work for me. But when Michelle and Jason suggested we all return to the lake on Monday, my first instinct was to clutch my pearls and say absolutely not. I had a lot of work to do, a personal training appointment, and our cleaning lady was supposed to come. The house was in shambles- not ready to be cleaned. But originally, when I planned the summer, I had set this week aside for family fun. I took several days off. I figured after 3 weeks of programming, the boys would be ready for some down time and family fun.
So instead of working all day (which I desperately needed to do), the boys and I headed back to the lake!
We spent the first part of the day at the lake- more jumping off the boat for all of us. The water was so nice. Jason and his son Sawyer were such good sports and wrestled with the boys the whole time we were on the water. Augustus wants to wrestle 95% of his life, so he was thrilled to have people to repeatedly toss him into the lake (and let him toss them in as well).
We could have stayed all day- it was so fun, but I knew if the evening was going to work that the boys needed to have plenty of rest time. We got home around 2pm and the boys relaxed in front of screens. I worked for about 2 hours and then we had dinner and got ready for the baseball game.
A July 3rd Miracle
Let’s just be clear, when you get 15 people together (4 families, 7 children- 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8 years old), someone is always bound to get sick at the last minute or have to bail. The fact that everyone was even available in the first place was a surprise. Anna and Jake (with Paul and Jo) were seated when we arrived. After we got there, Ryan and Jamie and Odin came. And then Sarah, Grayson, Oliver and Elliot came down. It was genuinely exciting to have everyone arrive and fill in our entire first row of seats.
When we arrived, it was approximately 900 degrees and the plastic seats were literally radiating heat. It was 6pm, so I was hopeful that it would start to cool down, but it was intense when we first sat down. The game hadn’t even started when Xander said he wanted a snack and Augustus said he wanted to go to the playground and I was like, “oh buddy, it’s gonna be a long night.” But once we got some ice cream we all settled in and it was hot, but we were managing.
Around the second inning, the sky got dark and the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. Uh oh. It started sprinkling and honestly, it was a relief from the heat. When the sprinkle turned into giant fat blobs of water, most of the stadium ran for cover. But the Saints stadium has very little cover. I don’t know why we joined the crowd, but by the time we got up there, it was a mob scene and it wasn’t possible to get under the cover. Xander was beside himself and demanding we leave. A nice woman offered to let him stand under her blanket, at which point, I was like, “duh”. I had brought a picnic blanket (with plastic backing, it was essentially a tarp) so we went back to our seats and huddled underneath the blanket and it worked great and was also sort of a magical moment.
As quickly as the rain had begun, 10 minutes later, it stopped. Just like that. The crew was busy drying off the field and the weather was gorgeous and a giant rainbow came out. The game resumed and life was good and the weather was no longer suffocatingly hot.
The rain had stopped, but the sky was filled with an intense amount of lightning. The lifeguard in me was very concerned and really wanted to evacuate. But I reasoned that the Saints were not going to put the players or the crowd of people in danger. I trusted that they had good radar telling them that the lightning was far enough away to not be dangerous. But it was a show in itself.
The boys ate hot dogs, and watched the game. I took Gussie to the playground for a while. Xander went from angsty, to totally into the game. It was wonderful. When the game ended, everyone went onto the field, which is what the boys had been asking about since we arrived. We spread out blankets and hung out to wait for the fireworks.
The 7 young children sat together happily, chatting and laughing. No one melted down. No one needed to be redirected. No one whined. No one fought with each other. No one needed to potty at an inopportune time. Literal perfect behavior, happy, pleasant, just hanging out, sitting nicely. The adults sat together having beers and chatting happily. The weather was perfect. There were no bugs. This was the scene that EVERY parent dreams of when you plan family fun. It is a scene you see on a movie and think, “yeah right!” It was a miracle. It was glorious. It was rare and beautiful and for the rest of my life, I will plan family fun with that night in mind.
The fireworks were directly over the field. They were spectacular and gorgeous and loud and the kids were mesmerized. It was magic. When it ended at 10:40, all of the kids (let me just repeat, these were 3-8 year olds) were still happy and well behaved. We had found rockstar parking just a very short walk away and so said our goodbyes and got in the van, and the kids were in bed by 11:30 (4 hours later than their usual bedtime). Perfection.
Fourth of July was on Tuesday and we had 2 tired boys. Both Nate and I were supposed to be off, but both of us needed to work. He went into the office for a while and I worked like a crazy woman. The boys had a lot of screen time on Tuesday, and went to bed EARLY (Gussie at 6:30, Xander at 7).
Wednesday was another intense day of writing and working on the magazine for me. Nate took the boys to the Science Museum and had so much fun. I was jealous they got to have a family fun day and I had to miss out, but I was also grateful for a long day to make major progress on this project.
On Thursday the boys spent the day with Grandma Debbie. They were at the Shoreview Community Center basically the entire day. They played inside, outside, swam, ate pizza, swam some more. What a day!
Friday was the due date that I have been working towards for MONTHS. When I was hired, my boss told me he wanted a camp alumni magazine. Ok, cool. Not qualified for that at all. We published the first one in January. We’re not even calling it the first edition- we’re calling it the pilot. I learned a lot. I let the marketing department take the lead and it was good. It turned out a little more like a brochure than a magazine, but it went to 18,000 people and it was good enough to move on to the next round.
This time around, I asked if I could be the writer (last time we had a contract writer). My boss said yes and over the past 4 months, I’ve done about 35 interviews (of those interviews 29 people have cried- I’m calling myself the Oprah of the Y). Each of the 8 overnight camps gets a feature article. I had planned to dance in the streets and yell from the rooftops on Friday night… but at the last minute, I decided that one of my articles was boring. I needed a few more interviews and I wanted to start over. My boss was supportive- he wants interesting stories. So everything else- stories, dozens of photos, every photo caption, even the page numbers- I submitted all of it. No dancing and yelling, but I was satisfied and happy I decided to redo the article.
The boys played with Sam and Abby in the morning and then Grandma Debbie came over and took the boys to the park and entertained them while I worked in the afternoon.
Saturday morning was relaxed and slow- the boys took it easy and I went to brunch with a friend. When I got home, Xander and I went for a run. We swam. We played some board games as a family. We did some family clean up. We had snack dinner on the couch with movie night!
2 weeks ago, Grandma Debbie gave Xander a journal. He decided that he needed an office to go with it. So he moved some things around in the spare room and took over the desk. The next day, he said, “I should probably just sleep in there, that way, when I wake up, I can go right to work.” I’m not sure when this child got a job, or what the nature of his work is, but I said, ok, let’s try it. Well Xander has gotten very excited about the idea of his own room. Nate and I are still on the fence about it, but we said we could try it out this summer. On Saturday, we moved a few of Xander’s things downstairs and he was very proud of his decorating.
Sunday has been another good day- I finished the final 2 interviews I needed for the magazine today. I went with Danny and Heather for another open water swim, followed by a 7 mile bike ride (you always have to be careful when agreeing to do “fun” things with them, because they are super human and think nothing of swimming .25 miles and then biking). But it was a really fun morning. Nate did a lot of yard work today and the yard looks amazing. The boys and I swam. We played more family board games. The weather was gorgeous and it was such a relaxing day.
We have a very regular schedule ahead this week and I am crossing my fingers that it will stay that way…