A Battle of Wills - Day 5

Friday began well... I beat Erin up by quite a little bit. It gave me a good opportunity to do some packing and cleaning in preparation for the trip up north for our Father's Day Camp Out with the fam. (Note: this would be the reunion with Mom & Dad that Erin has been waiting for all week long.)

Erin finally got up around 11am. I had arranged for us to meet a couple of friends for lunch on the way out of town (for sometime after 11:30). So, my thought for Erin was - get up, get dressed, comb her hair, hop in the car. However, she wanted to eat breakfast. I informed her that we would be leaving shortly for lunch. I asked her to get dressed so we could go, but she refused. She was willing to bargain - clothes for breakfast, but I refused. I was confused by her stubbornness at this point, because she's wanted to go home all week... at that point, we were simply waiting on her to get dressed. One time she said, "Aunt Krista... how would YOU feel if your parents told you you'd be gone THREE nights, and you ended up being gone FOUR nights?!" I said, "so, you're telling me you're being PUNISHED by spending extra time with me?" Regardless, I was incredibly frustrated and expected to just sit across the room and stare at her until she finally gave in to get dressed. Realizing that probably wasn't the best method, I finally "helped" her out of her pajamas and into her clothes. She surprisingly didn't fight me once I got started, so before long we were dressed and in the car.

We joined my friends Matt & Jason for lunch (Erin warmed up nicely for that), hit the grocery store, ran back by the house (to pick up our Father's Day crafts we had forgotten), stopped by the gas station and FINALLY hit the road.

We STILL beat Sarah & David to the campground (shocker) but were finally reunited with the entire family (save John who wasn't feeling well). We had an enjoyable weekend, though Erin and I probably kept more distance between us than on a normal family camp out!! :) I think we both had fun... but were both anxious to rejoin our regularly scheduled lives.

What I learned: Nieces are great, but it's nice to be able to turn them back in. I've been assured (by my sister-in-law) that it's different when you "grow into" parenting a five year old. I guess I'll just take her word on that, and maybe one day I'll be able to judge the veracity of that statement for myself. :)