Track-Out Fun. . . Sort Of

The kids have all been tracked out for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and I am really starting to get worn out. I've tried to do several fun things every week, with varying degrees of success, but I think they've enjoyed themselves. We've ridden bikes at one park (Rolesville Main St.), ridden scooters at another (Anderson Point), had a family picnic (Miller Park), ridden the train and the carousel after another picnic (Pullen Park), and gone to the children's museum (Marbles), plus had several play dates.


Actually, we were doing pretty well until yesterday. I took the kids to Durham Life and Science museum, which is usually tons of fun. Unfortunately, within a 1/2 hour of our arrival, Kelcey decided to go into a water-pumping section of the playground with her shoes and socks on, and then, when they got soaking wet, she decided to go barefoot, and then, as she was running around, she tripped (my girls are really clutzy for some reason), and cut her toe.

Of course, I could have done a better job of being sympathetic, but I was so irritated that she got into the water / took off her socks and shoes without permission, that I just cleaned her up as best as I could and made her put her wet shoe right back on.  I mean, what else was she going to wear, right? So, the poor girl is walking around for hours with a hurt toe, in a wet sneaker, and a mother that doesn't want to hear any whining.

I felt really awful when we got home and I took her shoes to wash them, and I realized that she had bled through the fabric, all over the toe section! And when I really cleaned her up, putting on the correct bandages, etc., I realized that it was a fairly deep cut, and she was probably in a lot of pain, and not just being a drama queen. Yet another check-mark in my "best-mom-ever" book. Sigh.

Another reason that yesterday's trip wasn't the most stellar of our outings is that the museum is absolutely huge, and we only had a limited amount of time. It's got a building with inside exhibits, and an outside part with lots of different sections, and to do both either takes one r-e-a-l-l-y long day, or a couple of mornings/afternoons in a row. Well, I didn't have a whole day, nor was I going to spend two half days in a row there. All I had was one afternoon, and that was it. So the kids had to choose what they wanted to do, and we didn't even get to do everything on the list. As you can imagine, it was meltdown city at 5:00 when the announcement came that they were closing.

Then, when we stopped at the bathroom on our way to the car, I realized that Ben had had a total blowout in his diaper, the kind with little bits that won't come off with just wipes—you really have to just wash the kid off.  Thankfully, we were the only ones in the bathroom by that time, so I was able to sit Ben down in a sink and wash him with soap and water. After I got him totally cleaned up (and the sink, and the changing area) it was 20 minutes later, and we had a janitor waiting impatiently for us to exit. It was a little embarrassing to have Ben in nothing but a diaper and t-shirt (his jeans were not salvageable) as we walked to the car, but since were the last people in the place, there weren't too many witnesses.

We're going to the zoo on Wednesday.  Heaven help us.