we survived!
Jul. 4th, 2021 09:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseWe survived Baby's First Camping trip this weekend, although it was, in some ways, a bit of a doozy.
First, we had to run a few errands on the way and drop off keys with some friends so they could look in on Theoden while we were gone, give him his meds and all that, and while we were doing that L started getting fussy. I gave him some crackers, but then when we got to the friends' house he thought we were going in to see their kitties and got upset when we didn't take him out of his car seat. Then Google directed us north, which was odd, since we were quite sure we were meant to be going south, but given where we were we thought it was redirecting us around some bad traffic to a faster route to the 5. By the time we figured out that was not the case and that it was trying to direct us up north to catch a ferry we did not have reservations for, L was bawling and I had to pee, and we were closer to home than where we were meant to be anyway, so we just went home and gave him a real snack in his high chair, had a bit of a snack ourselves, hit the bathroom, reset, and got back out on the road.
Then Google kept trying to direct us back north to the ferry. Every three minutes. For, like, half an hour. "There is a faster route..." Not if you take into account that the ferry isn't always right there waiting to pick up a single car and rush to the other side, idiot! We could not convince it to stop telling us this. It was deeply annoying and the best thing I could do was stab the "No thanks" button as soon as it appeared so that The Boy didn't have to deal with it and we had to hear as little of the message as possible.
Eventually Google figured out it would take us longer to turn around and go back north to the ferry than to continue onward, so it shut up and we had some peace for a while... until we got close to our destination, where my dad had said we would encounter a QFC where we could pick up some food and call them to see if they needed anything. Except the QFC never appeared. It later turned out that he'd just assumed we would go by one of two available and functionally equal routes, but while we were trying to figure this out, we thought we hit a stick and dragged it for a bit. Then we got to the welcome center at the campground, and while we were in line... the driver of the car behind us came up and told us we had a flat tire. Great. That pinned all of The Boy's Saturday morning on getting the donut spare onto the car, driving to the nearest town with a Les Schwab, and buying new tires... oh, and practically the first thing my stepmom told me was that she'd hurt her back and wouldn't be able to pick up or carry L very much this weekend. This after my dad had promised me when I agreed to this trip that he and my stepmom would take L as much as possible (he said basically the whole time, but I knew that wouldn't be happening...) so that The Boy and I could actually rest. Ha. Oh, and then that night L woke The Boy up at 2am whining because he was cold, and then put The Boy's arm to sleep and the rest of him not so much to sleep for the rest of the night. So.
Anyway. After all of that (and me having a near panic-attack the first night because I was stressed and peopled out and uncertain about whether L was warm enough and and and and and...), we did have a pretty good time. Some of Dad and Stepmom's friends turned out to have a granddaughter the same age as L who they were missing and so took especial delight in spoiling and snuggling him sometimes when Dad and Stepmom weren't doing so, L got to go on a boat for the first time and didn't get scared at all (or test his life jacket, thankfully), tires were replaced with minimal fuss, and although neither of us got much alone time to relax except for an hour I spent in the tent with L while he was napping, we did still have fun. My younger stepbrother even dropped by for dinner, flying in to the local small airport on his plane, which was nice because it was the first time he's gotten to meet L. The second night I had The Boy sleep in the parents' RV, and although L woke up at 9:30 with a nightmare or something we had a pretty good sleep together in the big bed, and he let me sleep until 5 and then doze until 6:30, so that wasn't so bad.
L picked up some exciting new words over the weekend, too, namely "bed," "beer," and "butt monster," which mostly sounds like "buh mama" but which I am delighted by. I'm less delighted by "beer," which he's very clear about, given that he was excitedly pointing and shouting it at the grocery store on our way home and... come on, kid. We drink maybe one drink a night two or three nights a week, but you're gonna give everybody you meet, now, the impression that we're alcoholics. I'm fine with having the kid who shouts "Butt monster!" and "EEEWWWW!" because I feel like that gives people a realistic impression of me as a parent. "Beer," not so much. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
Tomorrow is L's birthday, and I've made a lemon cake with lemon curd filling, and will do up some cream cheese frosting for it tomorrow. The frosting will either be plain or pale green, I'm not sure yet. Will probably decide based on whether I like the color that it comes out as plain.
First, we had to run a few errands on the way and drop off keys with some friends so they could look in on Theoden while we were gone, give him his meds and all that, and while we were doing that L started getting fussy. I gave him some crackers, but then when we got to the friends' house he thought we were going in to see their kitties and got upset when we didn't take him out of his car seat. Then Google directed us north, which was odd, since we were quite sure we were meant to be going south, but given where we were we thought it was redirecting us around some bad traffic to a faster route to the 5. By the time we figured out that was not the case and that it was trying to direct us up north to catch a ferry we did not have reservations for, L was bawling and I had to pee, and we were closer to home than where we were meant to be anyway, so we just went home and gave him a real snack in his high chair, had a bit of a snack ourselves, hit the bathroom, reset, and got back out on the road.
Then Google kept trying to direct us back north to the ferry. Every three minutes. For, like, half an hour. "There is a faster route..." Not if you take into account that the ferry isn't always right there waiting to pick up a single car and rush to the other side, idiot! We could not convince it to stop telling us this. It was deeply annoying and the best thing I could do was stab the "No thanks" button as soon as it appeared so that The Boy didn't have to deal with it and we had to hear as little of the message as possible.
Eventually Google figured out it would take us longer to turn around and go back north to the ferry than to continue onward, so it shut up and we had some peace for a while... until we got close to our destination, where my dad had said we would encounter a QFC where we could pick up some food and call them to see if they needed anything. Except the QFC never appeared. It later turned out that he'd just assumed we would go by one of two available and functionally equal routes, but while we were trying to figure this out, we thought we hit a stick and dragged it for a bit. Then we got to the welcome center at the campground, and while we were in line... the driver of the car behind us came up and told us we had a flat tire. Great. That pinned all of The Boy's Saturday morning on getting the donut spare onto the car, driving to the nearest town with a Les Schwab, and buying new tires... oh, and practically the first thing my stepmom told me was that she'd hurt her back and wouldn't be able to pick up or carry L very much this weekend. This after my dad had promised me when I agreed to this trip that he and my stepmom would take L as much as possible (he said basically the whole time, but I knew that wouldn't be happening...) so that The Boy and I could actually rest. Ha. Oh, and then that night L woke The Boy up at 2am whining because he was cold, and then put The Boy's arm to sleep and the rest of him not so much to sleep for the rest of the night. So.
Anyway. After all of that (and me having a near panic-attack the first night because I was stressed and peopled out and uncertain about whether L was warm enough and and and and and...), we did have a pretty good time. Some of Dad and Stepmom's friends turned out to have a granddaughter the same age as L who they were missing and so took especial delight in spoiling and snuggling him sometimes when Dad and Stepmom weren't doing so, L got to go on a boat for the first time and didn't get scared at all (or test his life jacket, thankfully), tires were replaced with minimal fuss, and although neither of us got much alone time to relax except for an hour I spent in the tent with L while he was napping, we did still have fun. My younger stepbrother even dropped by for dinner, flying in to the local small airport on his plane, which was nice because it was the first time he's gotten to meet L. The second night I had The Boy sleep in the parents' RV, and although L woke up at 9:30 with a nightmare or something we had a pretty good sleep together in the big bed, and he let me sleep until 5 and then doze until 6:30, so that wasn't so bad.
L picked up some exciting new words over the weekend, too, namely "bed," "beer," and "butt monster," which mostly sounds like "buh mama" but which I am delighted by. I'm less delighted by "beer," which he's very clear about, given that he was excitedly pointing and shouting it at the grocery store on our way home and... come on, kid. We drink maybe one drink a night two or three nights a week, but you're gonna give everybody you meet, now, the impression that we're alcoholics. I'm fine with having the kid who shouts "Butt monster!" and "EEEWWWW!" because I feel like that gives people a realistic impression of me as a parent. "Beer," not so much. Oh well. Can't win 'em all.
Tomorrow is L's birthday, and I've made a lemon cake with lemon curd filling, and will do up some cream cheese frosting for it tomorrow. The frosting will either be plain or pale green, I'm not sure yet. Will probably decide based on whether I like the color that it comes out as plain.
no subject
Date: 2021-07-05 09:35 am (UTC)Iām glad your camping trip was mostly positive ^_^
no subject
Date: 2021-07-05 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-05 06:07 pm (UTC)Wishing L an incredibly happy birthday because he's got one kick-ass mom. š š
no subject
Date: 2021-07-05 07:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-06 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-07-08 05:03 am (UTC)