And I have to say, it was more of a half-family day out. The Football Fanatic was working all day, and anyway, she would rather gouge her own eyes out than spend a day with a bevy of siblings, and The Singer, amidst much hair-tossing and eye-rolling, announced that she was far to old to go 'messing about in water with a load of babies'.
Three kids then. Oh well, at least it made us look like a more normal family for once, and we could avoid all those pitying comments like 'Gosh, are they all yours? All girls as well? However do you cope?' and so on.
I feel the need to point out here that I don't DO water. Well, I do bathwater and washing-up water, but public water, pools and oceans and things - no thank you. I leave all that sort of thing to the Father of This Lot.
So, naturally I sat about at the side of the pool looking extremely elegant:
Oh.....alright.....I sat about at the side of the pool in jeans and a Tesco hoodie, but you get the idea.
And you'll NEVER guess who was there when I arrived:
That infernal woman gets everywhere. Deserts me for weeks on end, then turns up, bold as brass, wanting to pick up where we left off. Some people have no shame.
So, what with water slides, waves in the pool and the descent of a tropical rainstorm every fifteen minutes, a good time was had by all. Even the injury count was relatively low - a couple of decent scrapes on shin and forearm for The Noise, and that was about it. The packed lunch didn't last long. Actually the packed lunch didn't even make it, since it was consumed in its entirety oh, a good five minutes after we left the house this morning, but that's par for the course with this lot.
On the way home on the motorway in driving rain, they all fell asleep in the back of the car. And a little-happier-with-each-other-than-they-have-been-for-a-long-time Mother and Father of This Lot turned to each other and said
'Well, at least they enjoyed it'
which roughly translates as
'I would far rather have been doing something else, but having brought them into the world, it only seems right to provide them with a good time every now and then'
Quite like old times, really.
27 comments:
Now that must have been quite enjoyable in an obscure sort of way.
"Quite like old times" and referring to your family as "normal" seem to be rare statements on your blog!
Just popped over on your link to see who this RC is - and although I have seen her around loads, for some inexplicable reason I have failed to visit before now - and it is my loss! :-(
You are both fantastic writers.
"A-little-happier-with-each-other-than-they-have-been-for-a-long-time,"
Smiles. This is a step forward, is it not? ;-)
Also, I was quite impressed with your "biting your tongue" with the whole rabbit incident.
I don't do water parks, either.
Except when I have to!
Blessings, friend.--r
i don't do water well either....and the ocean? it's just too scary. i guess it's probably also due to the fact that i can't swim for scheisse LOL
anyways, seems like it was a good day out and you and the father seemed to tolerate each other. and boy, that r.c. gets around everywhere, doesn't she?
I must be living on the wrong part of the planet, because apparently wherever you live it was warm enough to go to a waterpark today. It snowed today at my house. No joke. I have the pictures to prove it.
I'm glad you had a nice time wearing nothing but jeans and a Tesco hoodie while I was wearing a parka. Thanks for the post. Grumble.
Well you had a lovely family outing for the sake of the girls. Pity SHE was there.
I don't do water either!
4.30am you must be knackered!!
I have enjoyed catching up ~ all your entries make me smile :)
AR xx
Waterparks (shudder), I remember those. You are a braver woman than me! Glad to hear you all survived to swim another day.
I would have hated to have RC present, but it seems you enjoyed the outing
You survived it. What's more you survived it in good humour, and with some smiles. This, I feel, is a very good thing.
At the moment I don't believe I will ever reach a 'happier-with-each-other-than-they-have-been-for-a-long-time' situation with HWNLR. But you give me a little hope.
x
I'm not keen on water parks either - showing all that flesh just makes me cringe! Have to say however, I went to a fantastic one a couple of years ago and Amy had a wonderful time. No doubt I'll have to do it again, sometime.
Crystal xx
You met up with RC - I'd love to meet her (and you of course)!
I love water but only when I'mlounging on a lilo in a near deserted pool with a refreshing alcoholic drink in my hand, my sunglasses on and the weather a nice 80+ degrees!
Glad you had a good day out.
PS MWM and I sometimes stay up until 5 a.m. then have a hangover the following day! :(
Dear Friend,
Thank you for this delightful and characteristically honest post about your family life.
I enjoyed it thoroughly.
Your comment about your marriage reminded me of a concept that I taught as one-half of a presenting couple at Marriage Encounter.
Every relationship goes through three recurring stages: romance, disillusionment, and joy. The secret is to hang in there during the disillusionment stages, for the reward will always be a season of Joy.
I applaud you for your commitment to your marriage and family.
With love,
Jlo
Great to catch up on your stuff today :-) The hoover instead of milk thing made me laugh out loud - is it code? If you ask for cheese will you get the washing machine? Try it and let us know!
Hi lovely. Big brownie points for undertaking such an outing. I have to be honest and admit I avoid such places at all costs. I convince myself that this is permissible because I spend so much of my time fitting in around their hobbies.
I have to tell you that it was just as well you put the link in about Stella. I was set to get in the car and give this shameless floozie a punch on the snout. I can only imagine the frustrations and tears you must have gone through over the years. Again, I take my hat off to you xxxx
MMoF
What a relief to read that I'm not the only one who is not keen on vast expanses of water. I felt very guilty having to push my husband into taking our sons swimming when they were younger and, more often than not, staying out of the water myself.
It sounds as if you had a good family outing. I have to make the most of any outings we have, as a family, now, as my sons are all grown up. We still manage occasionally, to go out for a meal, though, which is good.
I don't do water either, nasty things swimming pools, you never know who or what has been in it before you.
I vote school disco above water park!!!
Because of childhood ear/surgery issues (tubes, etc.) I was unable and eventually super unwilling to learn to swim. I'll go out on a boat, but I won't "stick my toe in". We drove through the Upper Penninsula this past summer and we stopped at Lake Superior and I would not leave the dock!
Glad you all had a family day, though, because it's just worth it sometimes!
Oh you brave person - surviving it so well too. Thank you for giving us all the "You make my Day" Award. I'm going to give it to everybody too, because Blogging friends are just the best. Love M x
well done for sitting out at the water park! and glad that you were able to experience old times; may our histories be useful guides to our futures!
Oh I think it would be fun if we got our families together...with my 6 and your 5 we could have such fun. Honestly, I don't think 6 is a lot of kids (guess that is why we are adopting more! Well, that and because God asked us too ;-)
Glad you were able to have some fun, even if it was only toe dipping.
cheers;
Kimmie
mama to 6
one homemade and 5 adopted
Oh, goodie! I am SO glad you and FOTL are at a detente (BTW, loved the hoover experience!). And I'm with you on the water park thing. They're a close second to Chuck-E-Cheese (do you have that chain in the UK?), and in a dead heat with Build-A-Bear Workshops as places I loathe, but must occasionally gut my way through with the girl-children...
Great blog & post! I had 7 daughters in a row..2 boys & Jacinta the icing on the cake! God bless you & your lovely family!
I was sure I had gotten rid of that suit? Makes me look quite hippy in my opinion. If a body was ever made for jeans and a hoodie it would be me.
Loved the story and am happy for the brief cease fire with FOTL. Might this state of events continue?
(and to prove my bold as brass tactics, yours is the only blog I'm visiting half way through a hellacious work run. I am shameless,aren't I?)
I'm with you pool/ocean side sipping not swimming .. I dont like deep water .. dont like muddy lakes .. and I dont like pools w/kidlettes splashing .. we could sit and sun .. as long as we have some shade .. I would like that ..
BTW does RG stand for Rabid Cat?
Sounds like a good day! I'm sure you looked just as gorgeous in your jeans and hoodie than the picture!
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