Last Monday was my 44th birthday. I don’t really have high expectations for my birthday – I’m good with any small recognition that it’s “my day.” The weekend started off with Aliya and I heading to camp by ourselves. Norah had a birthday party to go to on Saturday so she and Adlani stayed home with Ben Friday night. It was so quiet and peaceful at camp, just what I needed. Aliya is pretty low maintenance (most of the time) so it was very relaxing. She slept until 11 on Saturday morning and I read and crocheted until I actually felt a little bored. I can’t remember the last time I felt bored. Saturday evening the rest of the clan showed up, and it was instant chaos and noise – AAAAHHHHH!!!
Sunday afternoon our friends from Texas came to visit and the kids had a great time playing in the water. Their kids are in the same grades as ours, so everyone has someone to pal around with. Aliya asked if their oldest daughter could stay overnight, and after much discussion about the fact that her parents would be many miles away and there was no going home in the middle of the night, she assured us that she would be fine. You can probably already see where this is going.
We had a big day planned the next day – a visit to the Mystic Aquarium, so the girls agreed that they would go to bed by 9:30. That stretched a little, but all seemed quiet by 10:30 and I eventually fell asleep around 11:30. I’ve been trying to go to bed earlier (and I’m doing much better compared to a bedtime of 2-2:30 a.m.), but it’s so nice when everyone is asleep that I end up staying awake just to enjoy the peace. At 1 a.m. I woke up to a sobbing 10-year-old standing next to me. Oh no.
I felt so bad because 1) I hadn’t heard her crying before she got all whipped up, and 2) there was nothing I could do about it. I was at camp, alone with 4 kids. I would have had to pack up clothes and whatever else we needed for the next day, get 4 kids into the car, drive an hour and a half to Mystic, and get a hotel room for the rest of the night. There was just no way to make that happen. She was upset that she had woken me on top of being homesick, and she knew that I couldn’t get her back to her parents right then. She came up with the plan that if I promised to leave the house at 5 a.m. and drive to Mystic, she thought she could make it through the night. At that point I would have agreed to just about anything.
Silly me, I thought if I got her back to sleep there was no way she’d wake up at 5 a.m. I thought about taking the clock out of her room but I didn’t want her to see me sneaking in there. I waited until around 2 a.m. to make sure that she was ok, and then I passed out. She made it until 5:28. Oy. I couldn’t break my promise and have the kid end up with lifelong trust issues, so I got up and started getting ready. I stalled as long as I could but we still had everyone in the car before 6:30. This wasn’t how I planned to start my birthday, but what can you do?
We had a great time at the Mystic Aquarium – the highlight for me was watching the beluga whales interact with the kids through the glass. Adlani volunteered during the sea lion show, so that was pretty exciting. The kids loved touching the rays, and I loved taking photos of the pond – lots of frogs, turtles, and lily pads. (More photos here.)
I was pretty tired by the time we got back in the car, and I think the kids were too. Norah was a total PITA on the way home, and we still had to go back to camp, pack up, and drive home. We finally got home around 7 p.m. and I crawled into bed and passed out. I woke up later to eat leftovers, and we never got around to eating my birthday pie from Mad Willies. Next year I’m heading to a deserted island for my birthday. You’re welcome to join me if you’re over 35, female, low-maintenance, and promise not to wake me up in the middle of the night.
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This video is of the same whale that was responding to the kids. It really makes me think that she was reacting to the kids excitement (open mouths – laughing and screaming) because her reaction to the music is completely different. Very cool.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS_6-IwMPjM?rel=0]