Sunday March 24, 2024
I woke up at 5 AM and went to let Little Bit out to use the bathroom. On the mat in front of the door, I stepped in dog poop. Little Bit still had diarrhea. I threw the mat outside, let Bits out and wiped off my foot in the snow. I went in the house and washed my foot again in the bathtub. I went back out to the pop-up camper and let Bits back in. I was glad he had gone in front of the door rather than on the bed. I wrote my blog and talked to Christopher on the phone. Little Bit seemed to be doing ok now. I let him out again to make sure but he didn’t have to go. I let him back in and went back to sleep from 7:30 AM to 10 AM. I was glad I’d gotten extra sleep since I went to bed so late. Angel slept late too and woke up when I did. We got dressed and went into the house. Everyone was up and about except for Shawn. I made tea, did laundry and talked with Bri. I offered to clean to and organize their bedroom. I told Bri we could do it together and it would be fun. She was hesitant at first but after a while she agreed to it. Shawn had gotten up and we went in there and got started. We folded all the clean laundry and put it away. I organized the drawers in Shawn’s dresser and Bri vacuumed. It only took a couple of hours and the bedroom looked much better when we finished. I am really enjoying helping them out. It’s been a lot for Bri to work full time and take care of the house all by herself while Shawn is recovering from his broken ankle. I’m glad I was able to come and help them get caught up.
That afternoon, I was meeting with my friend Andrea to take the kids swimming at an indoor pool. Andrea is the grandmother of Angels half brother Tayson. I helped raise Tayson for 2 years when I was married to Angel’s biological father. Tayson is my ex’s son and we got custody of him when he was 3 years old. Taysons mom was having some struggles at the time and wasn’t able to take care of him. Andrea is Tayson’s maternal grandma (his mom’s mom) and we first became friends when she would visit Tayson. After my ex and I split up, Taysons mom was able to resolve her issues and get Tayson back. She had been doing great and is now married, has 3 more kids of her own as well as a few step kids. I keep in touch with her and Andrea and usually visit them when I come to Utah. Over the years I’ve enjoyed seeing Tayson grow and am grateful for the privilege, tomorrow he is turning 14 years old.
When Bri and I finished cleaning the bedroom, we packed up the kids swimsuits and towels and I got ready to head out to meet up with Andrea. My 12 year old granddaughter came out of her cave in the basement and wanted to go with us. I was glad she was going, I hadn’t gotten to spend much time with her while I’ve been here and it would be good for her to get out of the house. The kids and I loaded up in the van and headed out. The first place I went to was auto zone to buy antifreeze and I filled up the radiator overflow tank to the full line. It had definitely been low on fluid and I was glad I remembered to fill it up. We drove through a blizzard of sleet on the way there but the roads stayed clear. The van ran perfectly and the heater worked the whole time.
We arrived at the pool at the same time as Andrea. She had her mother DellaMae with her, as well as Tayson and his younger half sister London. London is 5 and has a different father than Tayson and Angel. Tayson and her have the same mom and they live together. Taysons mom didn’t join us today because she needed to finish up some schoolwork. She is studying to be a social worker. It was good to see everyone and I gave them all a hug. Tayson is getting big and has grown since I last saw him in August. It had been a few years since I’d seen DellaMae, she is in her 80’s and still going strong. We all went in the dressing rooms to change into our bathing suits before heading out to the pool area. The indoor pool area had a shallow little kid play area with a pirate ship with a slide and waterfalls. For the bigger kids and adults, there was a lazy river, a big curly slide and a separate pool just for swimming. DellaMae swam in the separate pool with a friend of hers. All the kids except Sam scattered to go swim and go down the slide. Sam was nervous about going in the little kid area even though he had his life jacket on. I held his hand and walked him around in the shallow water until he felt comfortable and started running around on his own. I got in the hot tub a while, then sat on the side of the pool with Andrea and talked with her while we watched the kids. She’d had surgery on her heel a few weeks ago and could not get in the water. Angel came over and wanted me to go down the big slide with her. I went down with her one time and went back to talking with Andrea and keeping an eye on Sam. It was great catching up with her and learning about what’s been happening in her life.
The kids swam for an hour and a half until the pool closed. Then we all went to DellaMae’s house to hang out and eat snacks. DellaMae had bought a bunch of fruits and vegetables for us all the eat, which was very thoughtful of her. We all ate and the kids played while us adults talked in the kitchen. I was great talking with DellaMae and Andrea, they are such wonderful people. We had great conversation and got caught up on each others lives.
It was getting late and I wanted to get home before dark, so we said our goodbyes and got in the van. When I started it up, there was smoke coming from the radiator. The temperature gauge was reading cold. I got out and checked under the hood and looked ok. The radiator overfill still was at the fill line, the fan was working and I didn’t see any leaks. I called my son Scott to see what he thought was going on. He had me turn it off and looked up what it might be. He thought maybe the radiator has just gotten wet. He had me turn the van back on and this time it didn’t smoke. I told him I would head back to Shawn’s and keep an eye on the temperature gauge.
The drive back was uneventful. The temperature gauge stayed right where it was supposed to be and there were no storms. I talked with Shawn and Bri for a while and called Christopher. Then Angel and I brushed our teeth and went to bed in the pop-up camper. I turned on the heater and it warmed up in there right away. I read to her the first 3 chapters of The National Park Mystery Series book 3 and we went to sleep at around 9 PM.
thank you for reading my blog, and being a part of my life. I dearly appreciate you.
Love,
Victoria
P. S. This blog post was inspired by the Holy Spirit.