We packed up in the morning while I was a bit in a daze. Rochester was tons of fun, but I am tired! It was hot and we did a lot of visiting and driving, and it wore me out! I just don’t have a ton of stamina while pregnant! Lover heated up breakfast burritos from Walmart (not nearly as good as his, like not even in the same ballpark) and we munched on those while watching cartoons. We had asked for a late checkout, but they weren’t able to accommodate us. So our plan was to head to the local arboretum and explore there while Lover finished up his work day. We stepped outside to find that it was raining cats and dogs! Haha. New plan necessary. We drove about twenty minutes to a Super Walmart and the kids and I did a bunch of shopping while Lover worked. We needed random things like defogger, toothpaste, a birthday gift for Lucy (a friend) and I also looked for anything that could work for maternity clothes. My clothing sitch is getting dicey! 🙂 I’ve basically been rotating the same four outfits for the last couple of weeks, because nothing else is comfortable enough nor cool enough. Oh well! We explored lots of aisles and had fun wasting time while we waited for Lover’s call to be over. Then I drove us to Knoxville TN while Lover finished working from the passenger seat. Isn’t technology amazing?
We had a little more time to kill, so we found a park where the playground was roped off, but the splash park was open! Not sure how that makes sense, but no one was complaining. We got the kids into swimsuits and they had a blast playing and cooling off. I sat in the shade of the pavilion and read for a bit, since there was no wifi for me to get work done! We had a few moments where I needed to help the kids through some sticky communication issues. Parenting older kids is so interesting. It’s less about black and white, and more about teaching them to communicate correctly and effectively, how to express their needs or desires well, and also think of others. It’s all so fascinating and we don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re doing our best!
Then Lover was done with work, and our hosts were ready for us, so we drove a few more minutes down the road and found their house! Betsy had a big dinner prepared for us, and we relaxed on their veranda and enjoyed a good meal and conversation. Fun with friends!