Welcome to Total Drama Island!

Never a dull moment here, huh? Well, it's actually been a mostly ok week. Monday I drove all the way back up to Maine with the kids, to go visit friends on the beach in Biddeford. They all had a blast - the three kids in that family are each about 2 years youger than each of mine, yet all three "pairs" are good friends. My friend, the mom, was working so was on the phone most of the time, but I had a nice time with her mother and grandmother, and I did get a little time to chat with her. The ride was long, but easy. And I still got home in time to go out for dinner with just my husband!

Tuesday, E met us at the pool, and I had my acupuncture appointment. This time, we started working on the sciatica, and OH MY, did I ache afterwards! I'm starting to feel better today, and can already see a little difference, so I guess I am looking forward to the next appointment.

So Tuesday was a full day at the pool, and Wednesday, we got back to the pool at 10:30, along with my neighbor and her daughter, who is turning 3 this week. Also a fun time; Miss Sofia is quite a little fish, and now can swim and put her head under water and blow bubbles, and Micah is practicing so he can take the deep-end test next summer.

Left the pool at 2:30, dropped Sam at his therapy appointment, and took Sofia to her last gymnastics class. In the smaller room, she doesn't even need any help, which really cemented my decision to switch to a "My Gym" for this year, which is geared to younger kids.

After we picked up Sam, we went to visit our friends the W's - the two kids just returned from a whole summer at camp, and Sam was very excited to see his buddy. The mom is my friend, Dad is still working at camp for a few more days, so we took the kids out for pizza. Place in Framingham has gluten-free pizza, and their regular pizza is very tasty!

So all about the drama: Tuesday, I found out from my mother that my uncle decided to plan a last-minute birthday party for himself THIS Saturday, and that my grandmother was flying up Wednesday to surprise him. Well, we already have a lot of plans and commitments for this weekend, so no way we could drive 3.5 hours each way to Stamford. But I asked my aunt if I could come down today with the kids, thinking that I could spend the day with my grandma and then see my aunt and uncle when they got home from work.

All well, and my uncle even called last night to see what kind of fish we would eat. Then he called at 7:30 this morning and told me not to come. He's just too busy. And he didn't even mention Grandma, who was supposed to be surprising him yesterday, so I wondered if she was even there.

Several hours and phone calls later, it's after noon, and obviously I'm not driving to Stamford. I've come to realize that is EXPONENTIALLY longer to drive FROM anywhere to my house than is it to drive to any of my relatives' homes with three small children.

Whatever. I love my friends, I love my community, and I'm glad I'm not under the constant pressure of being too near family all the time. If I get to be The Blacksheep for that, so be it.

But my grandmother is 97, and I can't bring all my children down to see her in Florida because they are too much to handle in her house, and because flying 3 kids to Florida is logistically difficult, so I try to see her whenever she comes north, even if it means driving several hours to one of my uncles' homes. Unfortunately, my children and I are generally NOT welcome except under the most controlled circumstances.

OK.

So E is coming over soon, and we will take the three lovely children for an outing somewhere, and enjoy summer in Massachusetts, and plan to see my friend D and her gang in Sharon tomorrow for swimming in the lake and Shabbat dinner. And friendship, which is way better than stress!