Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Well, we made it home from our family reunion–my husband’s side–more or less intact. Less, maybe, because while everyone but my hubby got badly sunburned somewhere, my second girlie ended up with actual, honest-to-goodness heatstroke.

We got to Bear Lake on July 4th and promptly served our assigned meal, of which we had ridiculous quantities of leftovers (I keep forgetting, when planning, that my family and my husband’s family do not eat the same way). We took our big family picture and did some fireworks that night. On Tuesday the 5th we went to a nearby adventure park with a tube slide, a rope course, an impressive zipline, and a few other things; my son had to be dragged there (he was overtired) but loved the tube slide, while my older girls and I did the rope course and my hubby tried the slide and kept an eye on our timid 7-year-old. Wednesday was our day actually at Bear Lake, and that’s where the problems arose. My 12-year-old was out from 9:30 in the morning to about 5 in the evening; she packed a lunch and so was out in the sun all that time, with only a bottle of water (with a flavoring packet inside) and a can of soda to drink. I rented kayaks without realizing that my sister- and brother-in-law owned and brought two, and so my oldest and I brought them at least a mile by water so that they could be very sparsely used; they mostly sat there and cost me a hundred bucks, plus the headache of getting them back over land. My hubby stood too much the first part of the day and was crazy sore, and none of us reapplied sunscreen. So–lessons we learned:

1. (My son, especially) Always have someone else sunscreen your back.
2. Sunscreen might last for the time in between meals, but that’s its limit. If you eat a meal,
reapply.
3. Make sure you get both sides of your legs–thoroughly.
4. Seven-year-olds will happily play in the sand for hours rather than spend much time in a kayak.
5. My in-laws are pretty great.

Once we were all back, showered, and fed I got my 7-year-old into bed, we had shakes, and then we played games. My poor fried 12-year-old was shivering when she went to bed but woke up hot and threw up around 1 am; she went back to bed, but the next morning she full on passed out–fainted–THREE times, twice in my arms. She was given a priesthood blessing, I googled, and dehydration seemed the most likely culprit, and so she sipped water lying down and then sitting and stayed conscious after that. She and my youngest did both throw up on the way out of Bear Lake–it was a very windy canyon and they were overtired and done with life by then–but we stopped at my niece’s in Logan to rest and refill water bottles and cups that had been depleted to rinse the bucket out, and then stopped at Cox’s Honeyland, where my 12-year-old sat in the air-conditioned car and the rest of us browsed. When we finally got home we unpacked the car and then what bags were absolutely necessary, did only necessary things the rest of the day, ate leftovers from the family reunion, and went to bed early.

ALL of us.

Anyway. Last night I finally managed to finish Charise Mericle Harper’s Bad Sister, which was autobiographical and somewhat difficult for me to read. It was compelling, and being a parent gave me much more perspective, but as a youngest child I was frequently frustrated by young Charise’s behavior. (I can appreciate the face blindness put her in a more difficult emotional place, at least, but still.) Ultimately, however, lessons were learned and karma comes into play. I’ll be interested to see how my older girls like this one…