Blessed

The kids and I made our annual pilgrimage to Willmar for the 4th of July weekend and it went pretty well, just a few bumps in the road. Akila was in quite a mood the final day, and the above picture was taken then. She was intentionally trying to look mad.

We were there Saturday to Monday, 2 nights. The second day, in the afternoon, Akila migrated over a few yards and ended up hanging out with a different family on their boats for a few hours. It was a nice break. But it backfired. I had warned everyone, Peter and Snooky (who my kids call Grandma and Grandpa), and my friends, Joanna, Matt and their kids, not to mention that there were fireworks that night. What my kids don't know won't hurt them, right?

Well, I forgot to tell the family 3 houses down. I should take out an add next year. Someone in the family invited Akila to return at 10 to watch fireworks. Oh no. It did not go over well. I was getting the kids to bed later than usual, but Akila would have nothing to do with it, as she had to go watch the fireworks with the neighbors. She got very mean about it.


I then realized that the family wasn't just watching fireworks in their yard, they were all getting on their pontoon to go out in the middle of the lake. It was packed, thank goodness. We had a reason why she could not go. She still insisted and we ended up going over their so they could confirm for her that it would not work (I was going to whisper for them to tell her no, but they did without my help). She had probably exhibited a tiny bit of rudeness during the day that they probably talked about at supper. Lovely.

So, Akila of course did not take no very well. She nearly pushed me off the dock. I got her off the dock, and during the 3 yard walk back to where we were staying, she called this lovely family the N word, the B word, and a few other words. I don't think they heard any of it, as they were getting on their pontoon and it was loud. But they probably saw her hitting me the whole way home. By the time we walked through the yards, she was in full sobbing mode. I tried to get her to sit down with me to watch the fireworks, but thankfully, the mosquitoes were out of control.

We moved inside, and watched them for a little while. These are fireworks that various people around the lake are setting off themselves. In the middle of the lake, you would be able to see the fancy ones in Spicer, but not from our house. She kept on thinking that we were seeing the finale, and I had to explain that there would be no grand finale, and she could watch for 5 more minutes. This didn't work well, but I finally got her to bed.

All in all, it was a super weekend. Peter and Snooky are awesome grandparents!!! Peter has the kids help him do things and is always teaching them how something works. Hezekiah eats it up. Hezekiah is the type of kid who will explain something for 30 minutes to the point where I can't listen anymore. So he hears everything and absorbs information. He loves Peter! Peter is patient, and brings all 4 kids fishing on the pontoon.

I hate fishing. I think it is boring, and I can't stand it with kids and hooks flying everywhere. When we were out on the pontoon, we were trolling, and Akila was convinced that we needed to stop to be able to catch fish. Peter explained that we needed to be trolling (plus, it was crazy windy and we were blowing on to shore), but she was mad. She kept swearing and calling him names, and the best thing, is that he could hardly hear any of it. He wears hearing aides and has a hard time hearing. I was telling Snooky about how Akila was acting, and asked Peter about it. He said he thought she was saying some mean things but he couldn't hear her and he just laughed. The patience of a saint.

Within the first 30 minutes, Snooky told me she had read some of my blog and since I didn't have a mother anymore, she felt that she needed to get on my case about taking care of myself. Isn't that the best? It is really nice to be cared for by a family like this. It does make me really miss my parents and reminds me how blessed I am to have people in our lives who love us and our kids. Thanks Peter and Snooky, you are a blessing to my family.

(This last picture is from Imani's birthday dinner at a mexican restaurant. I thought it was cute so I included it.)