Well, it’s Sunday again. I know I’m in the vast minority here, but I kind of hate weekends. Especially super unstructured ones. On one hand, I definitely enjoy not needing to go anywhere and do anything on the weekend. But when we don’t have plans, our weekends are filled with stress and negativity. The four of us just can’t seem to handle full days together without something going wrong. Usually, almost always, it’s because one particular child just can’t handle something and starts throwing fits which lead into more fits and everyone being upset for one reason or another.
I usually do a lot of work on weekends, not exactly because I want to, but it’s just the best time to put in the hours with fewer interruptions. But while I’m working I feel constant guilt since Greg is usually doing some weekly housecleaning and just dealing with all things parenting. Yes, I get those duties the five other days of the week, but it still doesn’t stop me from being flooded with guilt for not helping out. At any rate, the only weekends I really enjoy are the ones where I have plans to go off and do something on my own. Which still brings other forms of guilt. There’s no escaping.
Anyway, weekend vent over. It’s been a pretty full week. I think I’m happy with how I spent it. A good mix of fun activities, down time at home, and enough sewing hours to feel satisfied. I’m definitely still feeling the melancholy of summer coming to an end and not having done enough. But I’m also starting to really look forward to structure and schedules and TIME ALONE. The first few days are sure to be hard for all of us, but fall will be great. I’m really looking forward to it.
On Monday, we went to the State Fair. The weather was cloudy and cool, which was amazing! We were basically the first people in the park.
After biding our time and looking through the animal barns, we met up with the rest of the family and headed to the WI Products building to find some breakfast. We usually get a big bag of apple cider donuts to share, but this year everyone was hungry for a little more! Caden insisted on a giant hamburger, my dad had a ribeye sandwich, Timmy and I had grilled cheese, my mom had a baked potato, and we all had donuts.
My favorite part of the fair is having an excuse to eat all kinds of crazy and fun foods. Not that grilled cheese is crazy or fun, but it was a good start to the day!
The boys had a chance to try out these trampoline bungee thingys that they always admire. Caden was having a great time doing backwards flips!
Shepard was too hesitant to try a flip without the girl specifically telling him he could. But he had a great time bouncing around!
Hudson slept through most of his first fair visit!
Next, we watched the pig races and then hunted down our next food mission: The Pickle Barrel for a cone of pickles and bag of Vienna beef sticks. Why do they not sell Vienna beef sticks in the store?? They are so good! This building with all the little booths of things for sale used to be my favorite place as a kid. I’ve given up on looking through it with kids in tow. But I did do a quick run through to try and find some dip and salsa samples!
Greg and the boys got stuck in the kite and drone booth and ended up buying microdrones. I’m pretty sure they lasted maybe three days before they both broke completely… But I guess fun while it lasted!
The milk drinkers. Actually, Caden doesn’t normally drink milk at all, but he wanted to try it.
Next mission was a buffalo mac and cheese quesadilla for Timmy, a triple stack slider Sporkie winner for Brittany, and we got some basic chicken tenders for the boys to try and fill them up with “good” food before moving on to all the desserts they wanted.
I went in search of Ranch-o Tots for my lunch. It’s just tater tots with ranch, bacon, and chives. They were good, but also filled me up too much to try any of the other things I was hoping for!
Hudson woke up!
Wondering what’s going on.
Grandma time. Though I think I held him even longer. Little babies are the best! At least when they’re not crying and hungry. 🙂
They told me they were reading breaking Packer news.
Cream puff time. I’m not really a huge fan, but my parents pre-order them for a cheaper price and I usually get one to split with Greg. Except Greg was putting up some sort of silent protest and not eating anything, so I shared with Shepard.
The happy little family! I’m glad we got to spend the day with them. And that we’ll probably get to spend the day with them every year at the fair! Timmy definitely shares my food enthusiasm for the day. He had a ton! It’s much more fun when everyone is so excited about it.
He loves these things.
There was a whole category of pigs made out of food. I couldn’t believe this one didn’t win, it was so cute!
This was Greg pretty much the whole day. I’m not really sure why he even came. He doesn’t get fair day. Or the excitement of doing pretty much anything outside of the house.
Anyway, it was overall a pretty good day. The weather was intermittently hot in the sun and then cooled off with a fresh breeze. Shepard was a little whiny and obnoxious, but he did better than he’s done in the past. We left around 3:30. Each year we last a little tiny bit longer.
Tuesday was a work day/recovery day. I’m pretty sure we went for a walk, or possibly the dog park. And that’s about all I remember of it!
Wednesday we had a lot of errands to run. I wish the boys understood how many errands I’ve been cutting out of my life this summer to make it easier on them. They still complain like it’s the end of the world when I say we have to go to a store. Especially a store allllll the way in Madison! So we had to keep the day filled with treats to keep them behaved and moving. We had to start with cake pops at Target.
We managed Target, Costco, Stanton Optical, Chipotle, Hobby Lobby, and Woodman’s! It was exhausting, for sure!! But we made it. They’re still not quite sold on Chipotle because they like their particular meat sauces, neither of which a taco/burrito restaurant carries. But Caden discovered he loves Tabasco (I hate it, so never buy it) and Shepard loved their hot salsa and chips.
Thursday was another down day. I spent most of my day researching hotels in Door County. I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and finally brought it up with Greg. I asked for two nights away, by myself, for my birthday this year. Summer just sucks the life out of me sometimes and I wanted something to look forward to. September is also just insane and really draining on me. So after hours of research, I finally booked a hotel for myself right in the middle of September. Still a few weeks before my birthday, but I think it’ll be perfect timing. I am SO EXCITED about this little getaway!!
Thursday night I had dinner out with two of my friends. It was short and sweet, but still nice to get out of the house with friends. I fear I’ve neglected most of my friendships to the point of losing them this summer. It’s so hard to keep in touch without solid reasons to see each other every day. At least a few of us have made the effort to get together every month.
Friday was our long day because Greg had a work event in Chicago. I wanted to fit in something extra special to try and break up the day and make it more enjoyable.
I asked the boys what they wanted to do before school started. They said go on a hike, go to Rockin’ Jump, and go to the Milwaukee Zoo with Hudson. So we looked at Groupon deals and decided to check out Sky Zone, which opened earlier this year. They looked like they had a few extra things that Rockin’ Jump didn’t have, including a warrior skills course. Looked like the perfect place to go.
While it was a pretty cool place, I think the boys had a lot more frustrations than fun. Everything was geared toward kids maybe middle and high school age. And there were a lot of those aged kids there. Shepard has amazing arm strength and body control and was able to complete a lot more of the challenges than Caden, which really upset him. Caden really wanted to play dodgeball, but older kids were pummelling him with balls every time he got on the court, before he even had a chance to position himself. Then they’d yell for him to get off, so he was understandably upset about that too. The one guy manning the warrior course let tons of kids just go whenever they felt like it, but EVERY TIME one of my kids started to cross he’d yell at them that they couldn’t go yet. Then he’d turn his attention elsewhere and a kid would butt in front of the boys and go. I never saw a single other kid get yelled at. After one particular kid butted in front of them for the third time, with his dad just happily watching on, I went over and got in his face and yelled at him. My Mama Bear side doesn’t often come out – not like that – but I was getting pretty frustrated and upset with the whole situation too. Shepard really wanted to do the stick fighting thing (top left picture), but every time he tried to climb up an older kid would shove him down before he could even get to the top. He never had a fair chance to even begin the challenge, and this other mom kept yelling at him to let her son have a turn, while the other boys on the stands had been there practically the entire time we were there! The boys were genuinely trying their hardest and behaving really well, but they kept getting taken advantage of, or just weren’t strong enough/skilled enough/old enough to complete most of the things there. It was hard to watch them try to deal with it all. 🙁
Anyway, they did have some fun! After our first hour, a huge chunk of the kids left on a bus. Once it was a lot less crowded they were able to do more things. Or at least try more things without the pressure of 13 year old kids trying to shove past them. I’m not sure we’d go here again. But at least we tried it. Afterward we had lunch and came back home where they spent a few hours playing with Leverett. Who has gotten over his fear of Annie and has spent many, many hours over here in the last three days.
We went to the pool’s beach party Friday night. It was pretty chilly out! There weren’t a ton of people there, but the boys had fun swimming for an hour and a half. Then insisted on getting ice cream treats. I couldn’t bring myself to swim. Way too cold!
And finally, trying to get ready for bed. The boys and Annie were SO HYPER. But they were also cute, so I had to take some pictures. 🙂
Caden read a book to Shepard to end the night. I was pretty dang exhausted after all of that! I planned on working that night, but just watched half of a movie instead. Single parenting is a lot of work! It was a fun day, though.
And Saturday I worked! Twelve hours. We went on a short walk to play at the new school playground. And that was my day!
THIS WEEK
This upcoming week is our busiest of August. Lots of things going on! My best friend Dianne and her husband Jack are going to be in WI visiting her dad. So we’re hoping to squeeze in 2-3 little meetups on Monday and Tuesday. I’m thinking on Monday we might also visit the Pope Farms Conservatory to see the sunflower fields. Tuesday night is obedience class. (Just three left!) Wednesday night we’re going to the Dodge County Fair with Steve and Cindy. Thursday we have Caden’s last therapy session and then I’m getting drinks with a friend. And Friday Greg is back in Chicago, so we’ll have to plan another fun day. It’s also Shepard’s half birthday, which we try to always make extra special. Saturday we’re going to a dog swimming event with Annie. And Sunday is my brother’s 30th birthday party. Busy busy!
I want to get some work done this week, but I want to put everything else first. The clock is ticking! Hopefully we can make a lot of good memories this week.
That’s it for my weekly recap!
