We didn’t go on any adventure today. It was a tough day for the kids around school work and they took quite a while to get all the work done, so by time they were done it was 3pm and we decided to just go into town, do some shopping, eat and go to bed earlier than our current usual.
Bia started her morning as usual, got on her call, started doing work and it looked like it was going to be a normal day, but at some point things changed. The teacher ended the call and had her do work on her own, and she started complaining that they are going too fast, and they are giving her too much work, and this or that. It just went downhill from there, lots of complaining, not enough doing school work. It just dragged.
Bia started her morning as usual, got on her call, started doing work and it looked like it was going to be a normal day, but at some point things changed. The teacher ended the call and had her do work on her own, and she started complaining that they are going too fast, and they are giving her too much work, and this or that. It just went downhill from there, lots of complaining, not enough doing school work. It just dragged.
I went for a run late morning, when things were somewhat under control, and Carol was making lunch, so she helped the girls while I was out. It was a really nice run. The area here is so beautiful. We are surrounded by mountains, so the views are amazing. That’s the kind of run I like, it is relaxing and you can soak in the entire experience.
Bella was doing her work as usual, started later, took her time, took her own breaks, but didn’t complain at all, just took her time. She was done before Bia, but it was after 2pm. Bella didn’t complain about anything, but she likes to take breaks and she gets distracted by other kids pinging her on the google hangout chat.
Bia decided to go for a walk around 2pm, to calm down, so she went check out the playground. She came back within 5 minutes saying she was going to be there a bit longer, and walk around more, I could tell she wanted to play, so I told her to be back soon, and that she could play as long as she wanted once she was done with school. She did come back within 10 minutes, and was feeling better, so just asked me to help her finish her work. She had a completely different attitude and just got her work done from there, around 3pm.
This whole thing was frustrating for us, kids complaining and not doing work (mainly Bia), us wanting to go check out new areas of Yellowstone, and nothing really getting done. But, we took a step back to figure out how we handle this.
First thing is that we’ve been waking them up early, especially Bia, yet we’ve been doing to bed later than our normal during school days at home. At home, we have them in bed between 8 and 9pm, and they are worked up around 7am. Here, I’ve been waking Bia up at 6:45, but we’ve been going to bed around 10pm or later, depending on the adventure we did for the day. Not to mention that some days we do a lot of activities, like 2 hour hikes, and they are very tired. I think this all just piled up, so we decided we’d take it easier today, have an early dinner and make sure the kids were in bed by 9. They also setup their own devices to use the sleep timer, which tells them when they need to go to bed, to have at least 9 hours of sleep, based on the time they need to wake up. They both have theirs setup, so we’ll see how it works tomorrow.
The other thing we need to realize is that if we hit that wall, there’s very little benefit in trying to push through too hard, because things just escalate, and no quality works gets done anyway. We will need to just step back, try to push a little, and if needed, just let them have a 15 minute break (longer if needed), then get back to it. If we have to change the plans for the day, then so be it. Having them caught up in school, and not frustrated with school, or the trip, or what not is very important so we can continue the trip and have everyone here content.
I tried to catch up on work stuff while we were all working through things, but didn’t get too far as they needed attention a lot. I did get a post out, and got a few things done, bills taken care of, etc.
Carol worked on lunch, and organizing in here, did some video work, and tried to take a nap.
We left to town, West Yellowstone, around 3:30. I wanted to buy an adapter for the portable tire pump I brought, so I could inflate the trailer tires as the cold has them at 47, and I want them at 50, per the sticker on the trailer. So we stopped at 2 hardware stores first. This is a very small town, so choices are limited. I didn’t find what I was looking for. I have an adapter from 110 to 12V, which came with our Coleman cooler that runs on 12V, and has this adapter so you can run it on your vehicle’s cigarette lighter, or if you use the adapter, you can run on a regular outlet. But, I think the amperage on the adapter is not high enough to run the pump, because when I tried the pump didn’t even turn on, just the little light that comes with it did. I then tested it in the car, and the pump worked with the cigarette lighter there. Anyway, I didn’t find what I needed, so we moved on.
Carol wanted to walk around the stores, the girls did too, and I just wanted to sit quiet and relax, so I stopped at a place for a beer while they shopped. I moved to a little pizza place that had outside seating as soon as they opened at 4:30, and just waited for them there. It was nice. I was outside on the sidewalk, having a beer, feeling the breeze, watching people walk buy from far enough, and enjoyed my beer and quiet time. Good time to do a bit of email catch up, etc.
They came back within 30 minutes of that. The girls were wearing super cool long sleep shirts with hoodies, they were printed on the fly with what each of them chose. They said Yellowstone on the sleeve, and had a cool image in the front, a bear or a wolf, etc. They were very excited about their new shirts. Carol got one too but I didn’t see it as she was not wearing it. We decided to just have dinner there, get it done early, so we could return and go to bed early. Dinner was good.
Bella was a little upset that her Italian soda drink was not what she was expecting. I also thought it was that can or bottle one, but when it came, it came in a Sunday cup, with whipped cream on top, and it was a bit thick, no much bubbly. She did not like it at all. Eventually she just got a Sprite. Bella’s shirt also had a big line where the sewing was coming undone, so Carol went to the store to exchange it and they made her a new one.
After dinner, Carol wanted to get some groceries, so I took the girls to a nearby park while Carol went to the store. They were having fun at the park, running around, going to the swing, monkey bars, and just doing some present game I could not understand. But, they burned some energy and had a good time.
Carol met us there, we let them play a little longer, and went home. We discussed the plan for tomorrow, and all went to bed early. We learned a few things today, and will adapt our future plans accordingly so we give the girls more leeway to get their work done, and also make sure they are resting enough.