Kelly had planned to take Christian and Bella bike riding today at Island Lake State Park. Our favorite swimming spot is in the same park. I suggested to them that they swim after their ride to cool off. They were thrilled about the idea. However, as it always happens, things kept coming up and their departure kept getting delayed. I could see the kids were getting increasingly anxious that their plans would be ruined. So, I offered to take them swimming before their ride and Kelly could come join us and take them biking whenever he finally had the time. They were so excited that they packed all their swim stuff, their biking stuff, and anything else they needed all by themselves long before I could get myself and Peter ready to go.
We ended up having a wonderful time at the lake. It was Peter's first time at a beach and he did what he always does - cling to me. However, he seemed to enjoy playing with the sand, occasionally taste testing the rocks (with the hand that wasn't firmly attached to my pants), and he allowed people to place his feet and hands into the water without too much complaint. It'll be so fun when he's older and can really play in the sand and in the water. Right now he's just so clingy. He cried if I even switched positions on the towel and forced him to let go of me for a second. It was (and is) exhausting. I hope it passes.
Kelly joined us after about 1.5 hours and took Christian biking...not Bella. When the kids had been loading their supplies for biking, they tried putting their shoes in Kelly's truck so they wouldn't get mixed with the swim stuff and would be available for riding, but it was locked. Kelly had told them to set their shoes by the door and he would put them in. Unfortunately, I knew nothing of this and so when I saw shoes in the kitchen, I pushed them back into the mudroom where I feel shoes belong. When Kelly came to get the shoes, he saw Christian's laying by the door, but didn't notice Bella's right next to them. So he took Christian's, but not Bella's shoes. Consequently, after swimming, she had no shoes to wear biking and he wouldn't let her go in flip flops. I tried to convince him to let her go, but he refused. So I had to take a crying Bella back home. I was 50% fuming at Kelly and his ridiculous insistence on letter-of-the-law obedience and 50% frustrated with me because I saw Bella's shoes and had the fleeting thought they should probably go in the truck with Christian's, but brushed it off figuring that the kids and Kelly had that part of things figured out. I could have saved the day if I'd heeded that nudge. Lesson learned again - follow those spiritual promptings.
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| Peter leaning on my leg. I couldn't get him to back up any farther for a picture without crying. |
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| We still have the ice cream sand toys we got in Berlin. Peter was interested enough to leave me and investigate. |
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| Brothers. So sweet. |
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