Sunday August 5

It was cold overnight, but we had the heater running and the blankets are very warm. Still, none of us slept very well for some reason. Se we had a slow morning. There was finally some sunshine, so the kids went outside to play on the very nice playground (with a large treehouse), while David did some work on his laptop.

Finally got out a little after 11, and headed to the Rotorua Museum, which is in an enormous mansion that once served as a Bath House, a place were people came for “The Cure” of the hot springs therapeutic water. The museum was lovely, but my family was not. David kept getting angry at Sofia, who was being really difficult, and Micah kept bouncing which made everyone fly off the handle, and Sam was in a mood. So it was just miserable.

So I did what any sane woman would do: I sat down and started to cry. Just a little. Enough to get first Micah and then David to chill out!

I sent the three boys off to work on the museum-provided scavenger hunt sheets; I told the boys to consider it Mandatory Homework, and I told David to use patience, and to not engage when Micah tried to argue. I think that all worked; the three of them kept very busy for the next several hours, exploring and looking and hopefully learning.

I took Miss Difficult to the coffee shop (they even had a gluten-free cookie!), and then a quick spin through the museum. I did not get to see as much as I would have on my own, but I did see enough. Eventually she and I went outside to enjoy the air. She picked lots of grass and had me make a pile “not on floor; on bench”. When it got too cold (I did not have my sweater with me) we went back in for restrooms and to find the boys.

When we were done with the museum, we piled back into the camper to head into downtown Rotorua and do some shopping. But as we were loading in, David accidentally slammed the door on Sam’s finger :( Poor boy. He was really crying a lot. We got him calmed down, put “ice” (actually a frozen kosher pepperoni) on it, and then we went to the pharmacy (at the hospital) to get tape to keep it stiff. We can’t tell if it’s broken; it might be, but we’ll keep taping it, which is about all you can do. He was in pain for a while, but tonight he was a little better (except when touching it).

Ok, so that was a fail. We were going to snack in the car, but by then we needed something more substantial, so we stopped for a light late lunch instead. Then some shopping - both boys got bone necklaces, Sam’s in a hook shape like David has and Micah’s in the shape of a tiki.

We got back to the campground around 5:30. Sofia and Micah were tired and hungry, so I gave them the leftover pasta from the other day (rice pasta for Sofia) and put them to bed (actually, Micah watched a movie on the laptop while Sofia fell asleep next to him).

David, Sam and I went swimming, and I did laundry again. It’s nearly 9pm now, all the kids are asleep, and I’ll be asleep as soon as I finish posting this. Tired and stressful day. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. We plan to have some adventures.