940 Saturdays

I read a little clip in the Reader's Digest a while back titled "940 Saturdays". It's the number of Saturdays you have with a child before they turn 18 and leave home. The article suggested that if you think of it with a number attached, that you will make more of an effort to make the most of every Saturday you have with your children. Most of our Saturdays this summer have been spent at Roaring Springs or at the pool. But this past Saturday, I went the extra mile.

I told the kids we were going to the Discovery Center, which made them very excited.  And then I secretly packed their swim suits and towels and told them I had a surprise activity for after the Discovery Center.  On our drive downtown, I reminded Scott about the 940 Saturdays article, and said, "These are the days that build memories that we'll always remember".

Of course, getting our whole family out the door takes time, so by the time we got downtown to the Discovery Center, it was nap time for Owen.  So Scott took the older 5 kids in to the Discovery Center, and I walked around Julia Davis park with Owen in the stroller till he fell asleep (he took 45 minutes to give in).  Then I joined everyone in the Discovery Center till Owen woke up (he only took a 40 minute nap) .  Then Owen got to explore a bit, then when he got cranky, I took him back out walking in the park for another hour till the kids were done with the Discovery Center.

By then it was almost 4, so we headed to Red Robin for some food. The kids were tired and hungry and grouchy by this time. They were all sitting around the restaurant table, trying to figure out what to eat. All of a sudden, I looked over to see Owen eating a red crayon (they always bring the kid's menus with crayons to color). I took it away and tried to fish the crayon bits out of his mouth. But, I wasn't fast enough, and he started to gag on the crayon bits. I instantly knew we were in trouble.

Owen has an extremely violent gag reflex (Scott says he got it from me). As soon as Owen starts to gag on something, he throws up. And not just a little throw up, he throws up the entire contents of his stomach. He does it all the time. I really need to get him into a doctor to get him checked, because it really is not normal and I'm really getting tired of cleaning up vomit (he does it at least once a day). So...he started to gag and I immediately cupped my hands in front of his mouth, hoping to contain what I knew was coming. And then he projectile vomited all over the table and himself (my hands didn't even come close to containing it).

It was awesome--right in the middle of the restaurant. A bus boy brought me some washcloths to get it cleaned up. Our waitress handled it very well. I assured her that he wasn't sick, he just had gagged on crayon, and she said, "Oh, it's fine. I have lots of brothers and sisters and they have lots of little kids, and a little baby puke is no big deal". So...after we got all the throw up cleaned up, we got our food and had a fairly pleasant meal. Then we headed back to the car and started driving to our "surprise activity". The kids were all trying to guess where we were going, and as we started following the river, they figured out that we were headed to Lucky Peak. They LOVE Lucky Peak.

The kids changed in the bathrooms, then instantly headed down to the beach.  Owen wasn't so sure about it.  He hung back at the top of the beach with Scott till he was sure it was safe to come on down.

The other kids plunged into the freezing cold water...

Owen finally came down to join the kids at the water.

Owen wasn't too fond of the cold water, but he LOVED digging in the sand.

Sara wasn't very happy with Owen's help with her sand castle.

Mostly Owen just liked walking around looking cute and letting me take his picture.

Aaron loved playing in the sand and the water.

That's some awesome hair, Aaron!

Josh spent most of his time trying to catch little critters. He found quite a few snails, but no fish. If you look really close in the first picture, you can see his green swim trunks clear on the other side of the lake--apparently that's where all the cool critters hang out.

The older three kids decided to try to make it out to the fountain. Keep in mind, the water they pump out of that fountain is from the bottom of the reservoir and not too long ago was snow in the mountains, so it is COLD. And the spray doesn't feel so great in your face. Savannah took Nate's life jacket with her to try and shield her face.

The second time Savannah headed out there, she used Aaron's bucket (Scott and I tried very hard not to laugh at her).

Aaron and Nate had fun chasing each other around and playing.  These two are such great friends.

Generally, everyone just had a great time.

Yep, that's the guy I married!

Everyone had a great time...until they didn't. Tired started to set in and things fell apart very fast. Sara got mad because Aaron knocked down her sand castle. So, Nate went and knocked in Aaron's hole he was digging. This made Aaron mad (and yes, he did hit Nate with that bucket)....

So then Nate got in trouble for ruining Aaron's hole, and Scott put him in timeout lying in the sand. And when Owen went over to see Nate, Nate hit Owen, making Owen cry.

So then Nate got in trouble again, which made him cry.

It was awesome--everyone was falling apart. Scott and I kind of looked at each other and smiled because, "these are the days that build memories that we'll always remember". We decided it was time to go, and amazingly everyone suddenly got happy, so we let them stay another half hour.

It really was a wonderful day--even with the throwing up in the restaurant and the melt downs on the beach.  With 6 kids, there is always a fairly high level of chaos that follows you even to the most happiest activities.  But the kids are growing up before my eyes, and I feel almost desperate to build family memories while we can.  I know that someday, when all the kids are grown, I will long for the chaos of my little ones surrounding me.  So for now, I'm trying to make the most of every single one of those 940 Saturdays.