A Beautiful Disaster

I took the kids on a "hike" up to Bridal Veil Falls a few weeks ago (it's really more like a walk). Here's how I envisioned that day going down in my head:

-Pack lunches with happy smiling kids who are excited to go.
-Let the girls ride their scooters and Kyler ride in the double jogging stroller (the double one in case Katelyn got tired so she could sit down).
-Have a nice peaceful walk up to the falls, enjoying the beauty all around. Again, with happy smiling kids.
-hang out at the falls, let the kids sit on the edge and dip their feet in a little if they want.
-Have a nice peaceful walk down to Nunns Park and let the kids happily play on the playground and eat our lunches.
-Walk back to car and leave feeling like the awesome-est mom ever.

Hahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahhahaahahahahaha!!!!!! Ya, it's pretty laughable.

So, here's how it really went down ...
(don't worry, there's a happy ending to it all. Just not the happy ending I had originally envisioned in my head.)

I excitedly told the kids what I had planned for them that day!!! :D YAY!!!!

...

Allyson was NOT impressed.
Long story short, I talked her into it.

I packed our lunches while the kids complained about not liking what I was packing.

I told the kids to GET THEIR SHOES and get in the car ... When we got to 800 North in Orem, Katelyn informed me that she didn't have any shoes.

Awe.some.

I DID NOT want to turn around and go home, so I opted to go the dollar store a couple blocks away and buy her a cheap pair of flip flops to get her through the day.

Ok, we're good. We're on our way. Remember, we're going to have fun.

I park at the Bridal Veil Falls parking lot and unload everyone and everything ... only to rediscover that our double jogger has NO storage space other than a small pouch for phones/keys.

Awe.some.

Mentally kicked myself a few times. I knew that!!! How could I forget?!

Let out huge sigh.

Oh, and I forgot to mention ... I brought our 9 week old puppy along too. You know, the puppy that's too small to ever possibly walk that entire way. The one I knew I'd have to hold ... along with all of our other stuff I brought now, since there's no storage underneath.

Awe.some.

I somehow managed to fit all but one thing into the seat next to Kyler. I put the one thing on my shoulder, held the dog in my free arm and pushed the stroller with the other. Good thing I wore my workout clothes - it was quite the hot day, and the circus show I was putting on while juggling a bag, a dog, pushing a stroller, and picking up all the things Kyler angrily threw over board because it was apparently invading his personal space gave me a sweaty workout reeeeeaaaal fast.

A few minutes into our "hike" up to the falls, Katelyn started complaining and saying she didn't want ride her scooter. She was tired and wanted to sit in the stroller.

A@#$$^@$%asdfkljwe4!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"No, sweetheart. I'm sorry. Mommy loves you, but balancing things on her head just isn't one of her talents."

... ya, let's pretend that's what really came out of my mouth at that point.

Shining mom moment.

While I was dealing with Katelyn, Allyson decided to continue riding ahead and fell hard on her scooter. She skinned her knee and was bleeding a little. She was screaming for a band-aid, but alas, amongst all the things I packed - band-aids were not one of them.

Luckily, I had an elderly couple there to silently judge me and mentally crown me "mother of the year" for not bringing any band-aids. Good thing I didn't discover Katelyn was missing her shoes while they were around. I think they might have speed dialed Social Services right then and there.

After they stood over me for a good 2-3 minutes burning holes into my clothes with their death stare, they opted to walk a little further down the trail and judge me from a distance. Staring. Until the very moment Allyson felt ok enough to get up and continue our "hike". Then they turned around and continued their "hike" up to the falls, too.

Breathe, Audrey. Quit worrying about what other people think. You waste waaaaay too much time doing that. You're going to have a fun time. Slap a smile back on your face and tell Katelyn what an awesome scooter rider she is, so you can manipulate her into wanting to ride it.

We eventually made it up to the falls. So pretty! Let's take a picture of all you kids and the puppy together. Make sure and smile so we can fool people into thinking that taking 3 kids under the age of 6 and a puppy up to Bridal Veil Falls by yourself is a breeze. Maybe it will spark a desire in them try it for themselves - hahaaa!! Suckers!

Ahhh, the moment where my kids will "sit on the edge and dip their feet in a little if they want."

...

Who am I kidding? I have a 4 year old who spent a year of her life bathing herself in toilet water every time I turned my back on her. Like that's gonna happen.

I spent our time at the falls stressing out over everything.

The fact that the dog kept trying to drink water out of a little sink hole that had a small opening where he could drink the water from the falls - even though he had a bowl of fresh water I had brought for him to drink from. What if he gets a disease? What if there's e-coli in the water from all the dirty diapered kids who dip their bottoms in it? Worms? Parasites? There's no way this water could be clean! And he hasn't had all of his shots yet!

Allyson kept wanting to hike up higher and higher. About every 60 seconds like clock work, she would yell out to me, "hey mom, look at me!!", while waving her arms in the air so I knew where she was. I'd tell her to come down and she would ... and then hike up a different spot and yell out to me again.

Most of my attention was focused on Kyler, since he's the smallest. He wanted to walk around in the water and kept getting mad anytime I tried to help him.

I tried to tell Katelyn to stay where the water isn't very deep and just get her feet wet. I look over at her and she's soaked almost from head to toe ... oh wait, spoke too soon. There she goes turning her head upside down so she can soak her hair and then flip her head up. Oh ... and now she's laying down in it.

At that moment I gave up. I stopped trying to control the situation and mold it into the perfect trip I had planned out in my head. I stopped worrying about dumb little things. And you know what ... it felt GOOD. I finally started to ENJOY myself.

So what if the dog drinks the water - I'm sure if he catches a disease, he can be cured. And really, if the water was that bad I'm sure they'd have signs up to warn everyone to stay out.

Allyson isn't 3 years old anymore. She's almost SE-VEN. I'm sure she'll survive climbing up the falls a little ways ... within reason, of course.

If Kyler doesn't want your help, let him be. If he falls, he's not going to die - and he most certainly won't drown in the 4 inches of water he's standing in with you right next to him.

And Katelyn ... just let her be Katelyn! The free spirited, care free, water loving, crazy girl that she is.

I then proceeded to take pictures of all the FUN. The dog drinking the not so diseased water. Katelyn running around getting soaking wet and yelling a line from a Disney movie ... "This is the best day EVER!!" ...

We eventually went down to Nunns Park and ate our lunches, and then went back to the car to head home.

Right as I was about to pull out onto the highway from the parking lot, I realized I never really "enjoyed the beauty all around". So I took a few pictures from the car.

Our day was perfect in it's own way - I just needed to chill out a little to realize it. Sure, we had some setbacks - that happens when you have small children.

Will I do it again? You betcha!