outings

You don't know stress and exhaustion until you have singlehandedly taken 2 small boys out for the day, on your own, with no backup! I am in the midst of that exhaustion as I type this....scratch that....as I forcibly push my fingers onto the keys of my keyboard. I went out with a friend of mine today, along with her 2 little boys who are the same age as mine. We thought it would be fun for us to take the boys bowling. All 4 of them. With just the 2 of us. Fun. Riiiiight. Though, I will admit, we did have a good time between the yelling for the kids to get out of other peoples alleys, to not play with the balls, to get away from the ball carousel thing, to not dump all of their juice all over the floor, to not eat the cookie they just dropped on the floor, to not throw their bowling balls into the air...etc. We did manage to have half of one conversation before it was interrupted with some sort of child emergency. It was a good time, and I like getting together with those guys. And, the boys had fun....so who cares about all of the rest of it.
We then took the boys to McDonalds to have some food, and wear off some of their energy in the germ infested cesspool of a play area. They loved it! They played for well over an hour, and my friend and I actually were able to talk!! Of course, my kids were doused with Purell the instant we left that nasty pit of disease.....cuz seriously, GROSS!!
From there, we headed off to Hell-on-Earth (aka. walmart) where I nearly completely lost my mind! I am not saying that it isn't a total blast to chase after one kid, while the other one hides in racks of clothing. Or to have to yell at your kid to come beside you, whilst all of the other parents within earshot have their judging eyes out, drilling their way into your psyche. I don't care who you are, you can't tell me that you haven't had to yell for your kid at least once in a busy store...so put your judging eyes back into their sockets, and mind your own freaking business!!!. (yep, it was one of "those" days) My friend and I parted ways in Walmart, as we decided it was easier to wrangle just our own 2 kids, as opposed to the 4 of them in a group (or herd, as is more appropriate to call them).
My day has mellowed since I left that dump of a hell-hole...but the exhaustion that came with my outing today is still quite present. Right now I would love to turn on my fireplace, curl up in my favorite overstuffed arm chair, have a huge steaming cup of hot chocolate (spiked to death with malibu...thanks Andy!!!) and watch a good movie. But alas, the basis of my exhaustion is still pumped full of piss and vinegar, in the other room, playing wii. So I guess my nice relaxing dream night will have to wait for another.....16 years....give or take.