First, Mike acts the same way my dad does right before vacation.  Grumpy and mad because things arn’t happening as fast as he would like. The only differance is as soon as my dad gets on the road he actually enjoys the vacation. I think Mike’s problem is he doesn’t like the beach thing.  Next time we go camping we will go to the mountains close by with no lake and lots of hiking and bike riding. I think that is his idea of fun camping. Me on the other hand grew up in the water and therefore can’t get enough of it.

I had a great time and would love to go to pineview every year if my hubby liked it as well. I guess we will have to compromise and venture out to other things. We also went to the dinosaur museum in Ogden. It was like the zoo except with dinosaurs instead of animals. The dinosaurs were fake but they had good sound effects. We were able to pretend we were in Jurassic Park!  We also went to see the Monks at a little church. They chant seven times a day starting at 3:30 am. They also sell honey that they make and Jam that their other monk friends make from another state.  We bought some jam we ate it within the next week. It was good.

I also found out that I love to cook even when camping! That was nice because my mom hates to cook while camping and I thought I might be like her. I also didn’t throw up once while on this trip! It was a nice break. Although right when I got back I started up again. aarrggg.

We did not spend as much time on the beach as Mike would make you believe, instead we had a nice balance.

It was fun.

Firstly, Johanna would kill me if I didn’t mention that I was grumpy from the start. That’s mostly my fault, but I think we both contributed to the rocky start. My idea of camping and packing the car is vastly different from hers, and as I rushed about that morning, it became clear to me that this was going to be an experience in compromise. We finally got everything packed in Mom and Dad’s Jeep (BARELY) and set off for the campsite.

Upon arriving, I set up the tent while the kids competed to see who could ask “Whe are we going to the beach?!?’ the loudest. When we finally got to the beach, we discovered that while Aiden loves to scream bloody murder every time he dives into the water – out of sheer excitement, James loves to scream bloody murder every time the water chases him – out of sheer terror. Yes, James suffers from hydrophobia, and here we were at the lake. Great.

Can you see where this is going? My Dad told me years ago that vacations are for the kids, not the parents. He couldn’t have been more right. The kids enjoyed themselves tremendously. I was stretched more than I would like to admit, but in the end I think I finally calmed down enough to have a little bit of a good time out there.

Without making this narrative any more boring, here are some selected highlights:

• The air mattress we borrowed from Mom and Dad comes with a pump that hooks up to the car cigarette lighter. But the pump was missing the electric cable…so I ended up filling it with lung power anyway. Twice.
• The kids LOVED learning how to play “Kick the Can” – and I am glad. It was one of my favorite games as a kid.
• Johanna can toast marshmallows so that the bottom is still white, and the top has mushroomed like an atomic explosion.
• Aiden likes to stand in the middle of the road at night.
• James likes to eat fruit snacks that have been left in a hot car to melt into liquid-sugar. When he does this, everything within reach is covered in a sticky film.
• Johanna is better at keeping a fire going than the only Eagle Scout on the trip. This is embarassing.
• James is really close to being potty trained. So is Aiden. One day he got into the tent to change, and started screaming. I opened the tent only to find him running in circles peeing all over the place because “he couldn’t hold it anymore!” I threw him into a bush outside the tent and screamed “go there!” but the damage was done. Johanna says it’s a good thing urine evaporates.
• If you sleep next to a really stinky outhouse, and already smell like two days worth of camping, a tent that was peed in doesn’t have any noticeable odor.
• Johanna knows how to cook amazingly good meals, even when camping. But she does forget things once in a while – like ketchup and mustard for the hot dogs.

A whole lot more happened, like when Johanna’s brother’s boat broke 5 minutes before they had promised to take the kids out onto the lake. Or when I showed Aiden and his cousins how to clean out a dutch oven using nothing but dirt and water (yes, it really works, too!)

I think it’s safe to say that the next time I have vacation saved up from work, I will take four days for a trip with the kids, and another four to recover from the trip with the kids.

It started out with the post Johanna made about James’ pronouncement that Aiden needed to “fix his attitude.” That was really cute, I will admit it. A phrase like that is almost too big for him, but I say it so often to both of the kids it was sure to come up sooner or later. That one was alright.

Just a day later, I got a call at work, and was told that Aiden had built a computer! It consisted of a large overturned clothes bucket, a pillow for the monitor, a Lego keyboard, and a toy stethoscope as a power cable. He was very excited to show me the Mythbusters game that you could play on it, but wanted me to hurry home because it was broken, and it was up to me to fix the problem. I will upload a picture of the computer later tonight, but needless to say we had a bit of fun that evening, and he continues to move his computer from room to room so he can play with it whenever he gets tired of his little brother.

Another time I was struggling to get out of bed in the morning, because I could hear the kids in the hallway and figured I needed to get the day started. For the past couple of weeks, I have been on a mission to get James to stop sucking his fingers (it’s not exactly the nicest thing when he grabs your arm and his hand is dripping with drool!) That morning, the first thing I could actually make out was Aiden saying “James, no fingers! Never, ever put your fingers in your mouth again!” Johanna told me that telling a child “never” was never a good idea. I didn’t quite know what to make of this, it was borderline cute…but I don’t want Aiden starting to think he can be policeman.

The most recent, though, came when we were getting ready to go to Game Night at my uncle Vic’s house. We were in a rush to get out the door, and what do you know, Aiden couldn’t find his shoes. Or maybe it was James wanting one last drink of water. I honestly can’t remember, but I was a little put out about it and accused someone of something, only to be proven wrong seconds after I had said it. Immediately, Johanna told Aiden and James “Ignore Daddy right now, he needs to fix his attitude.”

I guess I have a long way to go before I get my bearings in this parenting thing.

We went to the store today and Aiden was not being a good boy, so I told him he had to go to his room when he got home. He wasn’t happy about that but he went. A little while later Aiden yelled to me, “when can I come out” I yelled back why don’t you clean your room while you are in there. He says NO.

Now here is the cute part. James was in the kitchen with me doing his thing while all this is going down. Right after Aiden yells no to me James yells to Aiden, “Fix your attitude” in the most perfect English I have ever heard him speak. It was so funny.

A side note, when Aiden has his attitude going on Mike always tells him,” fix your attitude!”