End of July

Our group camping trip last weekend was super sketch. I was invited by a friend who wanted a couple of families to come help celebrate her daughter’s fourth birthday. It ended up being a strange, disorganized camp site on someone’s horse ranch literally at the border with Mexico (it was across the street - about 50 feet away); with dogs that pooped and peed all over our camp site, tried to sleep in our cars and tents and begged for food; a filthy port-o-potty full of black widows; and despite our best efforts, no real way to keep the kids from socializing with the other five kids, nor ourselves from their parents. We spent our days dodging unmasked people frolicking in beach towns. The whole thing was pretty risky and ill advised. I am just going to cross my fingers for the next two weeks. Ugh. 

However, the good parts of it was the kids had an absolute blast playing with a large group of children their age - I’m sure they’ve really missed that. And after driving around aimlessly for a whole day we did end up at a lovely beach with low rolling waves and had a great time boogie boarding and swimming. So as much as it started horribly and was a bit of a mess, we did end up having a good time. 

Now we’re home for two weeks before our next adventure, this time to the Kern River. I’m working steadily each day on my virtual event and it’s slowly coming together. Each day I get up, make breakfast, get the kids dressed and teeth brushed, then go for my daily hike in the hills past the kids’ school, then get out the computer and get some solid work in for a couple of hours, then pretty much lie around and watch TV the rest of the day. The BF makes the kids lunch and dinner and takes them out for some kind of physical activity. If it’s hot we get in the pool. And that’s pretty much it. I wish I could get motivated to work on crafts or projects...but I’m just not. And with school starting soon I know my leisure time is counting down. But with the virtual event looming ahead of me I’m reluctant to commit to anything else.

The kids have been campaigning for a dog. Apparently our cranky middle aged kitty is not much of a pet for them - she sleeps all day and has zero interest in interacting with them. I’m not opposed to a dog...but I want to make sure I know what our lives are going to look like before committing to a high-maintenance animal like that. Is the BF going to go back to work and I’m stuck home schooling two kids and taking care of a dog all day by myself? Is the addition of a dog going to send our poor kitty into a tailspin of anxiety and misery? I’m skeptical.