Snow daze

Last weekend was my much anticipated weekend in Lake Arrowhead with two other families - eight kids in total. Unfortunately the oldest boy of the family of six got sick the first night and so the family went home; we got another family with two kids to come up the next day. I knocked wood that whatever made the boy sick would not touch any of us and that it was just a fluke. 

There was no snow, so we were mostly just cold and a little bored the first of our three days up in the mountains. We walked around, cooked, ate...walked around...went to a shitty arcade in which Bobby played a bunch of broken games and we let Theo think he was playing games...walked around.

Our final night my luck ran out and I woke up sick in the middle of the night. I was on my 10th frantic trip to the bathroom when, as the dawn’s cold fingers crept into the cabin, I heard the patter of six children jumping out of bed and joyously exclaiming, “Snow! Snow!!!” 

“Fuck!!!” I thought, as ungodly amounts of foul liquid spilled from my anus.

The BF and I got the kids bundled up and then I collapsed back into bed while he took over. Ah, the ecstatic sound of six California kids enjoying their first snowfall...it was almost enough to cover the sound of my retching from the one (of course) centrally located bathroom. 

I was miserable, but like a good mommy, still delighted the kids were having fun. And yes, these are precisely the moments you thank god there’s another adult present. Being sick as a single parent is a fucking nightmare. I don’t know how I would have managed the day - especially the packing up and long drive down the mountain home, in that state, by myself. But hey, I’m sure I would have just muscled through, as you do!

I learned a lot on my first family trip to share a cabin with other families. On a trip such as this, where you’re off your schedule and there’s no structure and too much excitement and strange food and chaos, your small children may experience any of the following:

Pants wetting

Pants pooping

Unexplained fits and tears

Over-explained fits and tears

Focused whining and complaining

Unfocused whining and complaining

Night terrors

Unbrushed teeth

Toy hoarding

Cruelty to younger sibling(s)

Irrationality (more than usual)

You may experience:

Dizziness

Vomiting

Anal leakage

Aren’t family trips the best?!? Actually, we had a really good time and I would totally do it again. As of this date, I’m the only one who got sick. Lucky me!