This last week has been a rough one for me.  Let me go back…

Last weekend - Labor Day weekend - DH’s 2 older children came for a visit.  We don’t see them that often and I was looking forward to their visit.  The oldest, Sara, came with her long-time boyfriend (Andrew) and her daughter, Vanessa, who is 5.  Second daughter, Kristen, came with her boyfriend of about 9 months (Phil), whom I had never met.  The kids arrived on Saturday night and we stayed up late visiting.  Kyle was p at his usual time Sunday morning, so I got him some breakfast and put on a cartoon and snuggled with him on the couch a bit.  He wanted to play with Robotcha or on the computer and I had to keep reminding him that we had a bunch of people in the house and everyone was sleeping.  Soon Erika and Vanessa were up so I got them breakfast, too.  As the rest got up we had brunch and I had arranged a babysitter so the adults could go out to dinner.   Helen arrived at 3:15 and we first set out to our favorite watering hole for bloody mary’s - the kids like them, too.  After a few we went to our favorite restuarant - now the kids favorite restaurant, too.  We had great appetizers, good conversation and an exceptional meal.  We decided to head to a third place closer to home for an after-dinner drink.  When we were said and done it was 8:00 p.m.  We laughed that we were done for the night at 8 p.m. - but if we got hom by 8:15 we only  had to pay the sitter for 5 hours, so we shagged home.  After sitting for a bit, I got very tired, very fast.   I snuck down to Erika’s room at 9:30 and slept with her.  DH got up with the kids the next day.  Erika and Vanessa were in and out of her room a few times in the morning and I tried to sleep through it.  Finally, I got up - only to discover it was 9:30.  I showered and got ready for the day.  Everybody else got up and DH and the guys went and took the docks and boat lift out before lunch.  When they came back in we grilled out.  After visiting a few more hours, the kids packed up and left. 

That night - Monday night - I got very ill.  I’m not sure if I had the flu or a bad cold because I had symptoms of both.  At 4 a.m. I asked DH if he could take the kids to school for me.  He worked from the home office on Tuesday and took the kids to school and got them off the bus.  Kyle’s teacher emailed and called to report that he was having a good day….no major problems.  The second day, DH took the kids to school and picked them up from the bus.  I basically slept all day, got up long enough to try to eat something, watch a little TV, and back to bed so I could be up when the kids came home from school.  This went on all week.  By the 3rd day Kyle did not want to go to school.  No real reason….he just had already been to 1st grade twice - why did he need to go again?  It’s going to be a long year.  And Erika?  She is having such a hard time making friends in this group.  My heart aches for her because she “can’t find” a friend at school.  I don’t know if I should try to intervene or not. 

So - the kids survived the first week of school….and I think I am on the mend.  I still have a nasty cold, but it’s getting better.

I worked today and it was pretty quiet.  You can sure tell the tourist season is over here.  There will be a busy weekend or 2 yet this fall, but it is much quieter all over.