One on one time with each one of my kiddos!?! What's that? It's almost non-existent for us, but I know how important it is for each of them... So, I decided I am going to try and take them each on a trip by themselves once a year. I'll start this when they turn 6. So, I started with Claire and we went on a Mother Daughter Retreat at Sky Ranch (long long drive that I'll probably never make again). We had such an amazing weekend though. It seemed super short, but hopefully Claire will remember the fun activities - let's see.... the things that stick out in my head are:
1.) Claire is so competitive! She volunteered to get up on stage and tell everyone why she was having so much fun with her mom on the trip. Her answer "The Zipline...."
She wanted to race to be the first in line at everything. She entered the crazy hair contest and was runner up. Matter of fact she entered every contest she could. She was runner up also for the hoola hoop contest. I had no idea she even knew how to use a hoola hoop! My mouth was on the floor because we don't even own one single hoola hoop. She fell asleep Saturday night brainstorming how she could win next years big hair contest. I actually won the "biggest bubble contest." I had no idea not everyone could blow big bubbles like I :) Claire hugged me and was very proud when I won. It was cute.
2.) She is very independent... this part I already knew but still makes me a little sad. Right when we got there the kids broke away from the mom's and went outside to the campfire while the mom's stayed in to chat. Now, Claire was the youngest one there. Most of the girls were between 8 and 12. While many of the girls were clinging to their moms not wanting to seperate to the campfire, here is what happened between Claire and I.
Claire: So, I get to go without you to eat smores at the campfire?
Me: Yes, is that ok?
Claire: YES!!!! (while swinging her arms as if she had just hit the jackpot...
oh, sigh for me....)
She has also been hounding me to go to camp at Sky Ranch this summer (knowing that it is 7 whole nights away from mommy and daddy). Let's see.... ummmmm, nope I'm not ready for that yet! :)
3.) When she gets tired she has a serious attitude. Everything and the whole world is against her. It's pretty funny! Since she goes to bed so early every night, it was a bit of a shock for her to go to bed at 10, 11 and 12 at night. At about 8:30every night it was "I'm mad at you" or "You're mean mommy" or "Why didn't I get to do that?" or "Why didn't they call us first to get in the buffet line?" All of this was really funny to me because I knew she was just tired. And the more I told her she was just tired the more attitude I got. Ok, so I am a bit of an instigator. :)
4.) Claire is a little dare devil. She went on the Zip Line, a Pendulum Swing, one of the ropes course poles that you crawl all the way up and then jump off of and she wasn't scared of any of them. I couldn't believe it. We went on the zipline first and she didn't even wait for me. She took off and swung down before the other 3 of us even left.
5.) She was a little young and didn't quite get the sentimental parts of it. We had speakers who talked about the struggles we go through as mom's and of course I cried at nearly every speaker. She thought I was just weird. We sat down at private table for dinner on Saturday night and there was a card we were suppose to read off questions to our daughters. The intent was to get our daughters to open up to us. Clearly it was intended for an older age group. Here is an excerpt from one of the questions:
Me: Claire, has there ever been a time when you felt left out of the crowd - where you didn't feel like you fit in?
Claire: What does that mean?
Me: Well, have you ever felt like you didn't belong or felt weird around friends or with certain people or in a certain situation - say at school?
Claire: UH HELLO, NO MOM - why would I ever feel like that? I always feel like I belong to everything (insert the attitude that I was talking about earlier).
I got such a kick out of that but it's true that Claire is so secure in herself and her surroundings and her environment. I hope this continues through her life, because I must say that I was never that secure in my surroundings. Especially when the friend I thought was my best friend as a young child really was not. It's tough and little girls can be so mean. I pray that she never treats anyone with a mean heart. This so badly I want for all of my girls. I know she will run into some of that and I do know from personal experience that these things only make you stronger. I am prepared to help all of my little chickies along. :)
