Up North Prep

During the last week of June, Quinn wandered into our room in the middle of the night to complain about an earache. Since Q has a pretty high threshold for any form of pain, I made an appointment first thing the next morning to take her in. I suspected it was swimmers' ear and a quick trip to the doc confirmed we had a pretty significant case of it. We left with a prescription for antibiotic ear drops and a ban from swimming for 10 days. Basic math showed the ban ending right at the end of our trip up north for the 4th of July holiday. In the four days prior to the diagnosis/water ban, she had been swimming at least once every single day. So we were pretty much killing this parenting thing. Because Quinn has excellent control of her body, we did adjust the "no swimming ban" to a "no putting your head underwater ban."

As we watched the weather forecast fluctuate daily (hourly), we were a little worried as well. There was a lot of rain in the forecast for days on end. Nonetheless, we remained optimistic, packed all the bags, and pointed the car northward Monday evening with full intention that we would hit the lake - even if it was only between rain showers!

I worked from home Monday afternoon and was able to run the last couple loads of laundry through while I finished things up. Then the girls and I finished packing. Our plan was to empty the fridge by eating the remaining hodgepodge for dinner, go to Quinn's gymnastics, and head north. So imagine our surprise when we pulled into the parking lot for the gym to find the whole place dark. Apparently they were closed the week of the 4th ... and we should have read the fine print. So instead, we turned back home, grabbed our Yogi, threw the final things in the car, and headed out a bit earlier!

The kids were troopers in the car, but no matter what, it's a long drive and we pulled into Gma and Gpa's driveway around 10:45. We had stopped about an hour earlier for one final bathroom break so everyone was immediately settled into bed and we were soon to follow them. Because as expected, Declan was up bright and early the next morning. [Teenage Declan, we will delight in waking you up on vacations and weekends at 6am]

It was all worth it though, because as the sun shone on an absolutely perfect Tuesday, we were already in Rapids -- ready to see the cousins and hit the lake!