Diary of an Exhausted Mommy

The crew en route

Traveling will never be quite the same!

River Day 1

Oh my goodness, I am tired.  We loaded the car and drove to the river cabin today.  As many of you know traveling with kids is a lot like moving.  By the time we got there I was already exhausted.  Of course none of this fazed the kids so I began the task of unpacking and entertaining the troops.


 First I filled a bucket with little water balloons and let the kids throw them on the pavement (not at each other- I am not that adventurous).  I have to say that the water balloons were a total hit!  Cheap, quick to set up, and tons of entertainment.  The kids threw them into the sidewalk and happily yelled, "SCORE" every time one burst.  Up next was bubbles, a boat ride, swimming, snow cones, dinner, and bath time.  I am dead!  Glad I can share this trip bit by bit because I will need all the motivation I can get.  Tonight I am going to pass out... tomorrow we conquer fishing and soft pretzels.

River Day 2
I have never made bread and am not much of a baker so I figured I'd start easy with a soft pretzel recipe.  Since this is a week of many firsts why not take on another right?  I found this recipe from Alton Brown's show called Good Eats on Food Network- (go to Alton's Pretzel Recipe for the full recipe).  Of course I have promised to share the good, the bad, and the ugly so here is the pretzel pic...

Okay, so they don't exactly look like pretzels, but I swear they tasted amazing.  In my defense I did let the kids help out shaping them.  I really liked the recipe because it called for you to boil the pretzels first for 30 seconds in water and then bake them with an egg yolk wash.  The result as you can see was not pretty, but super tasty!  I'll get it down next time.  Here are some step by step pics...

After pretzels we were on to fishing (another first).  Thank goodness my babysitter had some idea what she was doing and she rigged the kids lines with bobbers and hooks.  Since this was not exactly high tech fishing we used cut up hot dogs as bait.  Here are my little fishing pros hard at work waiting....

and waiting...

until finally we felt a tug and reeled it in...

Yes, we caught a snapping turtle with a hot dog.  Not exactly dinner, but you should have seen Jake's face.  It was priceless and he still tells everyone he caught a turtle.  Up next was a boat ride and some good old fashioned swimming with my favorite people.

After all that swimming I was ready to relax and so were the kiddos.  We popped some popcorn, watched a movie, cuddled up, and called it a night!


River Day 3
More of the same.  Swimming, boating, and resting.

River Day 4
Time to pack up and head back home.  I have to say I am relieved to head home.  It was fun but I am missing my hubby and his help.