I live in a state of confusion. So, this little anecdote should come as no surprise. I was confused. I think I'm straightened out now, but one never knows. There are always twists and surprises for me in my day.
Our beach day was planned like so: I am driving to the beach with the little girls. Just me and them. Fenna is going to the same beach but riding with another exchange student and her host family. They will put in a longer day but since I have the little ones, I am driving separately and not going to stay as long. I'm bringing boogie boards and a skim board and lots of towels. We'll all hang out together and that's pretty much the plan. Easy and simple.
Yesterday, I posted on facebook in a private group of mom friends (from
all over the country but a few that are in So Cal) that I would be going
to the beach today. Yay! One friend responded "Which beach?" and I took
that to mean she was interested in where I was going. She's sort of
local.
Later in the day, after I'd completely forgotten about my facebook post and all responses, I got a text on my phone. The caller id just showed a number, but it was a local area code. I assumed it was the family of Fenna's friends, I think the mom's name is Rachel. She looks like a Rachel, that name really does fit her nicely. My text said "Hi This is Rachel. What time do you want to leave tomorrow?" See, her name must be Rachel. It said so in the text.
I replied "I will leave mid-morning and meet you there. Fenna wants to ride with you." She didn't reply via text again. She probably thought I was drunk.
Later, again, I'd moved on in my mind, my phone was ringing and caller ID showed the same number as before. Once again, I think it is the mom of the two teenage girls we are meeting up with at the beach. No, it's not. But, since I assumed incorrectly I carry on as if my friend is this other lady.
Have you ever had a phone conversation with someone and you completely thought it was a different person? Yeah... embarrassing!
Here I was talking with my friend who has a four month old baby and no teenagers and I thought I was talking to the woman who organized a big teen outing.
Rachel said very confusing things to me such as, "Which beach are you going to?", "What time do you want to leave?", "Should we meet up at your house and ride together?", "Are you bringing anything?" and other completely mind bending thoughts. The conversation was so bizarre until I heard her say "Luka (her baby) and I are excited to tag along". Whoa, I've been talking to my friend Rachel this whole time? Luka's mom? By this time in the conversation, I was way too embarrassed to admit that I thought she was someone else even though she's just the sort of person who would enjoy the humor of the situation. Plus, I was super happy that she was coming along! Yippee!
I admitted to Fenna and Keith that I had this crazy phone conversation which left me feeling stupid and they both got a good laugh at my expense. It really was funny. I couldn't help but laugh at myself by now. I asked Fenna to find out what her friends' mom's name is and text it to me so that I could discreetly find out; I wonder if her name is Rachel also or if I just decided "Rachel" was a good fit.
When I dropped Fenna off at her friend's house, Fenna ran up to the mama and said "What's your name?" and she replied "Lori". Fenna turns to me and yells "Her name is LORI!" Great, thanks for that, kiddo. I apologized for forgetting her first name, and she chuckled and said "Most people just call me 'Amber's mom'". Ahh, I understand that one!
The next day at the beach I was sitting with my friend Rachel and I confessed that I was confused during our phone conversation the day before. But, I wasn't drunk. Just confused. She laughed and said she thought maybe I was distracted by the kids and she didn't think I was drunk or stupid or confused. Much. It was all so very funny! I'm going to laugh about this for a good long time!
This whole incident could have been avoided if caller id would just give me the caller's name, number and whose mom it is. Life would be easier that way.
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beach. Show all posts
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Monday, September 12, 2011
We survived the Great SD Blackout
Fenna did it. I told her it sure is fun to have someone to blame for all the crazy things that go wrong around here. She just laughs.
On Thursday, we needed to go to San Diego to the pharmacy to pick up some medicines and then to a lab in La Jolla for a blood draw. Neither appointment was expected to take long at all, just quickies but they were very important. And, we had to be at the lab at 4pm but had to pick up the meds before going to the lab. Ok, we can do that (maybe). The timing was going to be tight with school letting out at 2:30 and mucking through after-school traffic always takes a while. There would be no time for Starbucks.
Fenna wasn't feeling well on Wednesday night, she looked like she was at the low point of her miserable cold. It was just after midnight when I suggested that instead of going to school from 7am - 2:30 feeling cruddy and sleep deprived and then heading out to San Diego again how about this idea: Stay home and sleep and eat some soup and sleep some more and then we'll go to San Diego. She didn't have to think very long about that one. I figured she would either miss Thursday at school or Friday. Either way, she needed to take care of her cold. She did just that, stayed home on Thursday to take care of her cold and it really helped a lot.
Since we were racing the clock, we loaded up the little kids and went to Gracie's school to take her out ten minutes early. That turned out to be a very good decision. We hit the road and made it to San Diego in an hour! Fenna opened the door to the pharmacy and rang the bell for service right at 3:35 exactly.
As soon as she pushed the button, the power went out. Poof! Fenna broke it!
Fenna picked up her prescription and we started across town to the lab. The traffic light that we had just gone through was now dead. Not even flashing red. So was the next one. Fenna, being funny, said "I hope I didn't do that!". Stoplight after stoplight was dead. The streets were becoming more and more clogged because of the four way stops. We were realizing the magnitude of the power outage the further we went. People were pouring out of buildings and everyone had a cell phone in hand. I couldn't get any cell service though. Traffic was going from clogged to pure mayhem. Emergency vehicles were trying to get through but every street was a sea of vehicles. I started to wonder if we were caught in a terrorist attack.
When we finally got to the lab, we found out that the hospital was closing down. Emergencies only. The lab was closed and the people working there were all sent home. People were all on their cell phones trying to get service, and talking together. We found out that they thought the power might be out all across the county. How can that be? San Diego County is huge! I asked if the power comes back on, would they like us to come back? They said no, they were calling the day over and it would be best if we just come back tomorrow. Ohhhh, no. My brain started spinning trying to figure out the logistics of a Friday trip.
The people in these San Diego medical offices never cease to amaze me with their friendliness. They were so nice! Gracie had to use the bathroom and a lady said she'd check first to make sure there was a light on in there, and there was. (Backup emergency lighting) This lady also gave Libby a little book and Libby was thrilled. They were very nice and apologized for cancelling the lab appointment. No apologies necessary, it's a freak thing that happened. At least we didn't have to pay for parking this time, the parking permit machine wasn't working.
Before we left the house, we had decided that our fun thing to do today would be to spend some time at the beach. The kids could play and we could put our feet in the water and watch the sunset over the Pacific. Luckily, the power outage didn't spoil our beach plans although it did make getting there quite a challenge due to the traffic. Instead of going further into San Diego, we called Katie and told her not to meet us and we went to Oceanside.
Finally, we arrived at the beach just after 6pm. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and sand. Fenna and I played lifeguards. The sea was angry. Waves were pounding into the shore and the water was loud. It even threw rocks at us. Libby didn't want anything to do with the angry ocean, but Charlie and Gracie were fearless and they didn't care if the water had a bad attitude; they ran in anyway. Luckily, I brought lifejackets for Libby and Charlie and I had a leash, er, child harness, for Charlie. We put the lifejacket and leash combo to good use!
We took lots of pictures. The kids were adorable and Fenna too, the waves were huge and the sunset was beautiful.
After twilight, we started to go for a walk down the pier, but the lights weren't coming on. Power was still out! We decided to head for home. My friend called, her husband works for the electric company, she said that the power will be out for hours if not a couple of days. She was concerned about Katie and Henry. I told her I would pass along her concerns. Katie called too, and I told her what my friend said and Katie decided to drive up to our place for the night.
Jokingly, I said "I'll race ya!". Darned if that didn't jinx me! We took the 76 home and it took forever! I didn't realize how many stoplights were on that road. But none of them were working. It took us 90 minutes to get from Oceanside to the 15. From there, it took us 15 minutes to get home. We got home after 9pm Katie beat us!
Murphy's Law continued to be the strongest force of the day. If something can go wrong, it will. All of the photos we took mysteriously disappeared off the camera!. How weird. Luckily, they were just beach pictures and we can go there again. It's good to learn that the photos are super easy to delete on this camera. Nobody knows how we managed to lose the photos but nobody is upset over it since they were just fun pictures of the beach. We'll have to do it over too.
Luckily, the power was back on in San Diego on Friday so Katie was able to get home. I called the lab and they didn't want us on Friday because the power outage caused chaos and they had to catch up from that. They suggested Saturday or Sunday. Sunday it is!
On Thursday, we needed to go to San Diego to the pharmacy to pick up some medicines and then to a lab in La Jolla for a blood draw. Neither appointment was expected to take long at all, just quickies but they were very important. And, we had to be at the lab at 4pm but had to pick up the meds before going to the lab. Ok, we can do that (maybe). The timing was going to be tight with school letting out at 2:30 and mucking through after-school traffic always takes a while. There would be no time for Starbucks.
Fenna wasn't feeling well on Wednesday night, she looked like she was at the low point of her miserable cold. It was just after midnight when I suggested that instead of going to school from 7am - 2:30 feeling cruddy and sleep deprived and then heading out to San Diego again how about this idea: Stay home and sleep and eat some soup and sleep some more and then we'll go to San Diego. She didn't have to think very long about that one. I figured she would either miss Thursday at school or Friday. Either way, she needed to take care of her cold. She did just that, stayed home on Thursday to take care of her cold and it really helped a lot.
Since we were racing the clock, we loaded up the little kids and went to Gracie's school to take her out ten minutes early. That turned out to be a very good decision. We hit the road and made it to San Diego in an hour! Fenna opened the door to the pharmacy and rang the bell for service right at 3:35 exactly.
As soon as she pushed the button, the power went out. Poof! Fenna broke it!
Fenna picked up her prescription and we started across town to the lab. The traffic light that we had just gone through was now dead. Not even flashing red. So was the next one. Fenna, being funny, said "I hope I didn't do that!". Stoplight after stoplight was dead. The streets were becoming more and more clogged because of the four way stops. We were realizing the magnitude of the power outage the further we went. People were pouring out of buildings and everyone had a cell phone in hand. I couldn't get any cell service though. Traffic was going from clogged to pure mayhem. Emergency vehicles were trying to get through but every street was a sea of vehicles. I started to wonder if we were caught in a terrorist attack.
When we finally got to the lab, we found out that the hospital was closing down. Emergencies only. The lab was closed and the people working there were all sent home. People were all on their cell phones trying to get service, and talking together. We found out that they thought the power might be out all across the county. How can that be? San Diego County is huge! I asked if the power comes back on, would they like us to come back? They said no, they were calling the day over and it would be best if we just come back tomorrow. Ohhhh, no. My brain started spinning trying to figure out the logistics of a Friday trip.
The people in these San Diego medical offices never cease to amaze me with their friendliness. They were so nice! Gracie had to use the bathroom and a lady said she'd check first to make sure there was a light on in there, and there was. (Backup emergency lighting) This lady also gave Libby a little book and Libby was thrilled. They were very nice and apologized for cancelling the lab appointment. No apologies necessary, it's a freak thing that happened. At least we didn't have to pay for parking this time, the parking permit machine wasn't working.
Before we left the house, we had decided that our fun thing to do today would be to spend some time at the beach. The kids could play and we could put our feet in the water and watch the sunset over the Pacific. Luckily, the power outage didn't spoil our beach plans although it did make getting there quite a challenge due to the traffic. Instead of going further into San Diego, we called Katie and told her not to meet us and we went to Oceanside.
Finally, we arrived at the beach just after 6pm. The kids had so much fun playing in the water and sand. Fenna and I played lifeguards. The sea was angry. Waves were pounding into the shore and the water was loud. It even threw rocks at us. Libby didn't want anything to do with the angry ocean, but Charlie and Gracie were fearless and they didn't care if the water had a bad attitude; they ran in anyway. Luckily, I brought lifejackets for Libby and Charlie and I had a leash, er, child harness, for Charlie. We put the lifejacket and leash combo to good use!
We took lots of pictures. The kids were adorable and Fenna too, the waves were huge and the sunset was beautiful.
After twilight, we started to go for a walk down the pier, but the lights weren't coming on. Power was still out! We decided to head for home. My friend called, her husband works for the electric company, she said that the power will be out for hours if not a couple of days. She was concerned about Katie and Henry. I told her I would pass along her concerns. Katie called too, and I told her what my friend said and Katie decided to drive up to our place for the night.
Jokingly, I said "I'll race ya!". Darned if that didn't jinx me! We took the 76 home and it took forever! I didn't realize how many stoplights were on that road. But none of them were working. It took us 90 minutes to get from Oceanside to the 15. From there, it took us 15 minutes to get home. We got home after 9pm Katie beat us!
Murphy's Law continued to be the strongest force of the day. If something can go wrong, it will. All of the photos we took mysteriously disappeared off the camera!
Luckily, the power was back on in San Diego on Friday so Katie was able to get home. I called the lab and they didn't want us on Friday because the power outage caused chaos and they had to catch up from that. They suggested Saturday or Sunday. Sunday it is!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
A Day at the Beach
I took all six kids to the beach yesterday. Six is misleading, one is just a tiny baby and two are all grown up now, but they all say "Mom, mom, mom, mom..." Maybe "six" isn't the misleading part, "kids" might be. Syntax aside, I took them all to the beach yesterday to relax and have fun after a couple of days of hard work.
Katie came home on Sunday for one of her friend's baby shower. She took Gracie back to San Diego with her to help the poor child get over a serious case of boredom. When Gracie is bored, we all suffer. I said I'd pick her up on Tuesday, so she got a two-night slumber party with her big sis!
Lexie had Monday and Tuesday off, so I was "off-duty" for watching Charlie. I figured I'd better make good use of the time I had with only one child to look after, Libby.
I took the rug doctor out and shampooed the carpets and seats in the van, I washed down the outdoor toys and the patio, cleaned the coolers and put them in the garage, took the trash to the curb (but I forgot one, whoops, it's gonna stink like crazy waiting a whole week for another garbage day in this heat), and I moved the furniture in Fenna's room to the middle and painted the whole room. Plus, I conquered a mountain of laundry and a kitchen full of dishes and cleaned the floors.
Painting took a lot longer than I thought. I thought it wouldn't take long to tape, but that always takes forever to get done. By the time I was ready to paint, I was exhausted from all the work I did but had to paint just so it would be done. This room needed a fresh coat of paint before we moved in, the walls were dull. I painted the other bedrooms last summer and I really wanted to get this one done too. I started painted at 8pm, in the dark, while drinking a beer. I finished at 2am. Tuesday morning I went in to look at it in the daylight and sure enough, it looks like I painted in the dark while drinking a beer. We'll just hang lots of pictures.
After working so hard on Sunday evening and all day Monday, Tuesday was my "day off". I needed to go get Gracie in San Diego. I woke up sore and wishing I could just lay around in my pajamas all day. My knees hurt and one was a little swollen. I'm just not as young and agile as I used to be. I think climbing over all the furniture and up and down the ladder was hard on these old bones. Old age can be repressed with ibuprophen and coffee! Yes!
Lexie wanted to come along with Charlie and have some fun too. Good idea, we packed up the kids and the beach towels and off we went. Yay! A day at the beach! It was 103 degrees when we left, wow, too hot to stay home.
The beach parking lot was packed solid, with a parking shark in every row. Katie and I both needed to park and it wasn't going to happen, so we drove across the street to the bay side. Katie didn't want to go there, but I told her I didn't want to drive up and down the beach any more, so we went across the street to Bonita Cove. Plenty of parking and not any more crowded than the beach. I like the bay for the kids anyway because there aren't any tides, the water is nice. Bonita Cove also had restrooms, showers, and a whole bunch of play equipment. We didn't end up letting the kids on any of the playground structures though because we went right to the water's edge.
We parked next to each other and turned Gracie loose. She had the biggest hugs for me! So sweet! She hugged Libby and Charlie with all her might too. That was it, mushy stuff was over, back to normal. It was just like she was never gone.
We found a shady spot on the grass right next to the sand, and we were still close to the water. It was perfect. Lexie put a good amount of sunscreen on Charlie and then he was free to run in the sand and sun. I put sunscreen on Libby before we left the house to let it soak in so that sand wouldn't stick to her, she doesn't like that.
Gracie ran right out to the water to splash around and the two little ones wanted to go too. I let Libby go on her own and I took Charlie to the water's edge. They were all thrilled! Lexie and Katie were visiting, setting up "camp" and putting on sunscreen too.
Charlie, or Mr. Daredevil, was super happy to be in the water. He was shoving his face into it all the way down to the sand and coming up smiling. He "kisses" whatever he loves, and he apparently loves the beach. And he kept crawling/walking out into the water a little farther. I'd pull him back and off he'd go again. The layer of sunscreen made him very slippery, it was like trying to catch a 25 pound fish!
In the meantime, Gracie was farther into the water splashing and squealing and giggling and having a good time. The water has such a slow slope that she had to go out a few yards to get where it was a little deeper and could get her legs under the water.
Libby was staying close to me, but Charlie was splashing too much for her tastes. She decided to venture closer to Gracie and I hollered at her to stay close. Now that I think about it, what does "Libby! Stay close!" mean to a two year old? She probably had no idea what I meant. Abstract commands aren't interpreted well by toddlers.
That's when it happened, while I was taking pictures with one hand and controlling wet, slippery, happy Charlie with the other and trying not to get wet. That's when Libby got away from me and tried to catch up with her sister. She was in water up to her hips and I saw her fall forward, just like she did in the driveway earlier in the day, she lost her footing and fell forward with her hands straight out to catch herself.
Libby was face down in the water with her arms out to the sides and her legs dangling; she couln't stand up. She couldn't turn over; she just flailed in a panic.
I panicked too.
I shoved my camera in my hip pocket, scooped up Charlie with a sudden disregard for getting my clothes wet, I planted him on my hip and ran out to scoop up Libby. I took about three big strides and bent over to scoop her up with my free arm. She was sputtering and coughing so I think she got water in her mouth and nose, but I got to her quick enough that she didn't get any in her lungs. I have no idea why, but I was screaming to her and I was screaming "Gracie!". Didn't make sense but in the moment that's what I did.
Gracie was confused. I was screaming her name and her sister was "swimming". She is such a good big sister, she clapped and cheered for Libby and told her "I'm so proud of you! You put your face in da water!" I like her optimistic viewpoint so very much!
I was soaking wet up to my middle (how did the water level at Libby's hips become the water level at my hips?) and I had one dripping wet kid on each hip. I waded back to the shore and told Gracie to come too. We all went up to our little towel camp where Katie, Lexie and Henry were visiting. Lexie looked over her shoulder at us approaching and I heard her say, "Oh my God. Mom is soaking wet!"
I laid Libby down and she was shivering, so I covered her and let her recuperate from her ordeal. Told the older girls what happened and they didn't see it at all. It happened so fast, it doesn't take much to miss a kid slipping under the water, and it's a quiet catastrophe. I'm glad I didn't let Libby go to the water with her sister while I stayed nearby on our spot; I may have been tempted to do exactly that thinking she wouldn't be brave enough to go in past her knees. I am surprised she went out into the water, but with Charlie and Gracie so brave in the water she was being brave too.
Libby and I rested on the towel, I moved a towel out of the shade and into the sun so I could try to dry off. I wore khaki shorts and a yellow shirt. I suddenly wondered if my clothes were see-through when wet! Yikes! Luckily, they weren't but I didn't bring any extra clothes for myself so I just had to air-dry. My camera had to air dry too! It was wet, but not dripping soaking wet. It still seemed to work ok for a few minutes and then it just died. It works again now, a day later, the battery was wet and needed to dry and recharge. Whew!
Libby wouldn't go near the water again after that and I didn't push her. I did take her back out and waded in ankle deep water just holding her. Charlie went back out with Lexie and Katie took Henry. We stayed and played at the beach long enough for me to dry off and Charlie to completely wear himself out. Lexie looked exhausted too. Not Gracie, she was still full of energy as always! Henry too!
I brought dry clothes for the little girls and Charlie. We changed them all and headed to Ikea. I wanted to do some fun shopping too. Katie, Lexie and I were so cute pushing our strollers into Ikea! I wish my camera would have worked to capture us in our little family stroller parade. Gracie ditched us at the ball pit, and then we went shopping. The child care area gives you one hour to shop, so we made our way through the store as quickly as three stroller pushing mommies could go. Afterward, we walked across the parking lot to Costco for a cheap meal.
Lexie was too tired to do anything else, actually we all were. We said our goodbyes to Katie and Henry, buckled up the kids and headed north. All four of my passengers were asleep right after I got on the freeway. I had alone time! Sort of. I did get to listen to the radio instead of Disney music. Traffic was great, but I wouldn't have minded if I got stuck in a traffic jam just because it was a nice quiet drive after a wonderful day.
Once I got home, I realized how exhausted I was. I was suddenly completely worn out! After working so hard for two days and then taking all six kids to the beach and shopping all day, my old bones were barking at me. Going to the beach to relax and unwind was a lot harder than it sounded!
By the way, cleaning the van one day and then taking the kids through a fast-food drive up and then to the beach the next day is totally backward. Totally.
Katie came home on Sunday for one of her friend's baby shower. She took Gracie back to San Diego with her to help the poor child get over a serious case of boredom. When Gracie is bored, we all suffer. I said I'd pick her up on Tuesday, so she got a two-night slumber party with her big sis!
Lexie had Monday and Tuesday off, so I was "off-duty" for watching Charlie. I figured I'd better make good use of the time I had with only one child to look after, Libby.
I took the rug doctor out and shampooed the carpets and seats in the van, I washed down the outdoor toys and the patio, cleaned the coolers and put them in the garage, took the trash to the curb (but I forgot one, whoops, it's gonna stink like crazy waiting a whole week for another garbage day in this heat), and I moved the furniture in Fenna's room to the middle and painted the whole room. Plus, I conquered a mountain of laundry and a kitchen full of dishes and cleaned the floors.
Painting took a lot longer than I thought. I thought it wouldn't take long to tape, but that always takes forever to get done. By the time I was ready to paint, I was exhausted from all the work I did but had to paint just so it would be done. This room needed a fresh coat of paint before we moved in, the walls were dull. I painted the other bedrooms last summer and I really wanted to get this one done too. I started painted at 8pm, in the dark, while drinking a beer. I finished at 2am. Tuesday morning I went in to look at it in the daylight and sure enough, it looks like I painted in the dark while drinking a beer. We'll just hang lots of pictures.
After working so hard on Sunday evening and all day Monday, Tuesday was my "day off". I needed to go get Gracie in San Diego. I woke up sore and wishing I could just lay around in my pajamas all day. My knees hurt and one was a little swollen. I'm just not as young and agile as I used to be. I think climbing over all the furniture and up and down the ladder was hard on these old bones. Old age can be repressed with ibuprophen and coffee! Yes!
Lexie wanted to come along with Charlie and have some fun too. Good idea, we packed up the kids and the beach towels and off we went. Yay! A day at the beach! It was 103 degrees when we left, wow, too hot to stay home.
The beach parking lot was packed solid, with a parking shark in every row. Katie and I both needed to park and it wasn't going to happen, so we drove across the street to the bay side. Katie didn't want to go there, but I told her I didn't want to drive up and down the beach any more, so we went across the street to Bonita Cove. Plenty of parking and not any more crowded than the beach. I like the bay for the kids anyway because there aren't any tides, the water is nice. Bonita Cove also had restrooms, showers, and a whole bunch of play equipment. We didn't end up letting the kids on any of the playground structures though because we went right to the water's edge.
We parked next to each other and turned Gracie loose. She had the biggest hugs for me! So sweet! She hugged Libby and Charlie with all her might too. That was it, mushy stuff was over, back to normal. It was just like she was never gone.
We found a shady spot on the grass right next to the sand, and we were still close to the water. It was perfect. Lexie put a good amount of sunscreen on Charlie and then he was free to run in the sand and sun. I put sunscreen on Libby before we left the house to let it soak in so that sand wouldn't stick to her, she doesn't like that.
Gracie ran right out to the water to splash around and the two little ones wanted to go too. I let Libby go on her own and I took Charlie to the water's edge. They were all thrilled! Lexie and Katie were visiting, setting up "camp" and putting on sunscreen too.
Charlie, or Mr. Daredevil, was super happy to be in the water. He was shoving his face into it all the way down to the sand and coming up smiling. He "kisses" whatever he loves, and he apparently loves the beach. And he kept crawling/walking out into the water a little farther. I'd pull him back and off he'd go again. The layer of sunscreen made him very slippery, it was like trying to catch a 25 pound fish!
In the meantime, Gracie was farther into the water splashing and squealing and giggling and having a good time. The water has such a slow slope that she had to go out a few yards to get where it was a little deeper and could get her legs under the water.
Libby was staying close to me, but Charlie was splashing too much for her tastes. She decided to venture closer to Gracie and I hollered at her to stay close. Now that I think about it, what does "Libby! Stay close!" mean to a two year old? She probably had no idea what I meant. Abstract commands aren't interpreted well by toddlers.
That's when it happened, while I was taking pictures with one hand and controlling wet, slippery, happy Charlie with the other and trying not to get wet. That's when Libby got away from me and tried to catch up with her sister. She was in water up to her hips and I saw her fall forward, just like she did in the driveway earlier in the day, she lost her footing and fell forward with her hands straight out to catch herself.
Libby was face down in the water with her arms out to the sides and her legs dangling; she couln't stand up. She couldn't turn over; she just flailed in a panic.
I panicked too.
I shoved my camera in my hip pocket, scooped up Charlie with a sudden disregard for getting my clothes wet, I planted him on my hip and ran out to scoop up Libby. I took about three big strides and bent over to scoop her up with my free arm. She was sputtering and coughing so I think she got water in her mouth and nose, but I got to her quick enough that she didn't get any in her lungs. I have no idea why, but I was screaming to her and I was screaming "Gracie!". Didn't make sense but in the moment that's what I did.
Gracie was confused. I was screaming her name and her sister was "swimming". She is such a good big sister, she clapped and cheered for Libby and told her "I'm so proud of you! You put your face in da water!" I like her optimistic viewpoint so very much!
I was soaking wet up to my middle (how did the water level at Libby's hips become the water level at my hips?) and I had one dripping wet kid on each hip. I waded back to the shore and told Gracie to come too. We all went up to our little towel camp where Katie, Lexie and Henry were visiting. Lexie looked over her shoulder at us approaching and I heard her say, "Oh my God. Mom is soaking wet!"
I laid Libby down and she was shivering, so I covered her and let her recuperate from her ordeal. Told the older girls what happened and they didn't see it at all. It happened so fast, it doesn't take much to miss a kid slipping under the water, and it's a quiet catastrophe. I'm glad I didn't let Libby go to the water with her sister while I stayed nearby on our spot; I may have been tempted to do exactly that thinking she wouldn't be brave enough to go in past her knees. I am surprised she went out into the water, but with Charlie and Gracie so brave in the water she was being brave too.
Libby and I rested on the towel, I moved a towel out of the shade and into the sun so I could try to dry off. I wore khaki shorts and a yellow shirt. I suddenly wondered if my clothes were see-through when wet! Yikes! Luckily, they weren't but I didn't bring any extra clothes for myself so I just had to air-dry. My camera had to air dry too! It was wet, but not dripping soaking wet. It still seemed to work ok for a few minutes and then it just died. It works again now, a day later, the battery was wet and needed to dry and recharge. Whew!
Libby wouldn't go near the water again after that and I didn't push her. I did take her back out and waded in ankle deep water just holding her. Charlie went back out with Lexie and Katie took Henry. We stayed and played at the beach long enough for me to dry off and Charlie to completely wear himself out. Lexie looked exhausted too. Not Gracie, she was still full of energy as always! Henry too!
I brought dry clothes for the little girls and Charlie. We changed them all and headed to Ikea. I wanted to do some fun shopping too. Katie, Lexie and I were so cute pushing our strollers into Ikea! I wish my camera would have worked to capture us in our little family stroller parade. Gracie ditched us at the ball pit, and then we went shopping. The child care area gives you one hour to shop, so we made our way through the store as quickly as three stroller pushing mommies could go. Afterward, we walked across the parking lot to Costco for a cheap meal.
Lexie was too tired to do anything else, actually we all were. We said our goodbyes to Katie and Henry, buckled up the kids and headed north. All four of my passengers were asleep right after I got on the freeway. I had alone time! Sort of. I did get to listen to the radio instead of Disney music. Traffic was great, but I wouldn't have minded if I got stuck in a traffic jam just because it was a nice quiet drive after a wonderful day.
Once I got home, I realized how exhausted I was. I was suddenly completely worn out! After working so hard for two days and then taking all six kids to the beach and shopping all day, my old bones were barking at me. Going to the beach to relax and unwind was a lot harder than it sounded!
By the way, cleaning the van one day and then taking the kids through a fast-food drive up and then to the beach the next day is totally backward. Totally.
Friday, May 6, 2011
Road Rage - Jogger Style
Yesterday it was 100o outside and way too hot to play at the park. Lexie suggested we load up the runts and go to the beach. Great idea! So, we did.
The traffic was easy and there were plenty of parking spaces on the street, so we decided to try our luck and see if we could park on the lower street right by the beach instead of having to walk down the pier. The lower street is a skinny two-way street with a sidewalk on the beach side, and then the sand, of course. Speed limit is 15.
I was tootling along at 15 mph and the sidewalk had a few people on it, a guy on a goofy looking bike was in the oncoming lane and a guy was jogging in my lane coming toward us. I didn't give him a second thought because 1. he looked agile enough to move out of my lane and onto the sidewalk like the other pedestrians 2. he was an adult and I assumed had the brains of one and 3. I'm going really slow and he has plenty of time to get out of my way.
But, that's not how it went. He must have thought I should move over into the oncoming lane (nobody was coming so I suppose I could have, but the goofy bike guy was in that lane). I kept going at top-speed, 15. And the guy didn't move over. Instead he fist-punched my side mirror on the passenger side! Yeah, he did!
I stopped and hopped out, ran around to the passenger side to see the damage and the guy starts yelling at me! He was mad at me? He punches my mini-van full of mini-people and he's mad at me? What? Then I thought, "Oh God, what if he punches me now?" I quickly ran back around and hopped in the van. He seemed to be fine and the van was fine, Mr. Raging Fists turned around and jogged away still yelling.
He knocked the mirror right out of the mirror holder and the whole unit was folded in to the door. They do fold in, its a pretty common feature on big vehicles, but it takes a good solid push to fold it in. The mirror was hanging by the wires that allow me to adjust it with the button on my dash. That goodness or it would have fallen to the street and broke.
We did get lucky and got to park right there at the edge of the beach. I popped the mirror back together and it's good as new. Lexie was shaken a bit because it was all on her side of the van. I was just hoping the crazy jogger didn't jog back and see our parked vehicle unattended. It was fine when we got back to it.
Next time I see a jogger in my lane who has plenty of room to move over into the pedestrian space, I will not assume that he will. Lesson learned. Silly me.
The traffic was easy and there were plenty of parking spaces on the street, so we decided to try our luck and see if we could park on the lower street right by the beach instead of having to walk down the pier. The lower street is a skinny two-way street with a sidewalk on the beach side, and then the sand, of course. Speed limit is 15.
I was tootling along at 15 mph and the sidewalk had a few people on it, a guy on a goofy looking bike was in the oncoming lane and a guy was jogging in my lane coming toward us. I didn't give him a second thought because 1. he looked agile enough to move out of my lane and onto the sidewalk like the other pedestrians 2. he was an adult and I assumed had the brains of one and 3. I'm going really slow and he has plenty of time to get out of my way.
But, that's not how it went. He must have thought I should move over into the oncoming lane (nobody was coming so I suppose I could have, but the goofy bike guy was in that lane). I kept going at top-speed, 15. And the guy didn't move over. Instead he fist-punched my side mirror on the passenger side! Yeah, he did!
I stopped and hopped out, ran around to the passenger side to see the damage and the guy starts yelling at me! He was mad at me? He punches my mini-van full of mini-people and he's mad at me? What? Then I thought, "Oh God, what if he punches me now?" I quickly ran back around and hopped in the van. He seemed to be fine and the van was fine, Mr. Raging Fists turned around and jogged away still yelling.
He knocked the mirror right out of the mirror holder and the whole unit was folded in to the door. They do fold in, its a pretty common feature on big vehicles, but it takes a good solid push to fold it in. The mirror was hanging by the wires that allow me to adjust it with the button on my dash. That goodness or it would have fallen to the street and broke.
We did get lucky and got to park right there at the edge of the beach. I popped the mirror back together and it's good as new. Lexie was shaken a bit because it was all on her side of the van. I was just hoping the crazy jogger didn't jog back and see our parked vehicle unattended. It was fine when we got back to it.
Next time I see a jogger in my lane who has plenty of room to move over into the pedestrian space, I will not assume that he will. Lesson learned. Silly me.
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