Palm Springs...
Jul. 16th, 2002 01:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishI let my brother talk me into coming to his friend M's house out in Palm Springs for the weekend. I initially thought we all would have dried up and blown away going out to the desert in July, but it was actually fairly pleasant. M., who is an executive for a big hotel chain, bought this as a second home, and goes out there every weekend. Since Doug is his roommate/former SO, he lets him go out there when he is out of town and bring whomever he wants. The neighborhoods are interesting; most people have rocks for front yards, with the occasional cactus or ocotillo plant, yet there are those who have to try and keep the typical green American lawn. The water bills must kill them. Then again, this is Palm Springs, known for its quintessential water-wasting golf courses. Why these people would want to play 18 holes of golf in 110 degree heat is beyond me.
There was a pool and a hot tub (I never got to use it), which made it bearable. While you were wet, it was actually quite nice. I made sure to slather the kids up with 45 SPF sunscreen and watched them like a hawk while they were outside; they still haven't had swimming lessons yet. Doug had brought all kinds of DVDs to watch. He's a real Disney fanatic, and had just about every animated Disney movie available (so I'm a bit Disneyed out).
Doug and my dad had their own rooms, while all five of us slept in the largest bedroom. I didn't want Angus and Gareth up and tearing into someone else's stuff in another room where I couldn't hear them. Angus woke up at 6:30 the first morning; so much for sleeping in. Doug had got them some Lincoln Logs, Duplo-type blocks, and Tinker Toys to play with – that was really nice of him.
It's impossible to completely relax with three little kids around but we had a good time, for the most part. The only parts I didn't enjoy was buying a swimsuit and with all the mirrors in M's house (We don't have many in ours), I realized what I really look like in one. Rather potato-like. Ugh. I've got to start walking a couple of miles every day again.
The other thing was this: I am a horrible mom. How could I have let this happen? In spite of my seeming vigilance, Gareth fell in the pool when my attention wandered for a moment, and if Doug hadn't suddenly said "Someone's in the pool," I might have lost him. Doug told me later he thought he was hallucinating. Neither of us saw or heard him go in. Gareth was floating on his back, and I ran outside, grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him out. He was ok, though, he coughed up a little water, (I think he inhaled it when his face went under as I pulled him out) and kept saying "I fell in the pool, I fell in the pool.". Thank God he knew to float in his back! How did he know that? I'm signing them up for swimming lessons as soon as I can get the money together. John tells me to stop beating myself up because Gareth is okay and nothing serious happened, but God, I feel just awful.
There was a pool and a hot tub (I never got to use it), which made it bearable. While you were wet, it was actually quite nice. I made sure to slather the kids up with 45 SPF sunscreen and watched them like a hawk while they were outside; they still haven't had swimming lessons yet. Doug had brought all kinds of DVDs to watch. He's a real Disney fanatic, and had just about every animated Disney movie available (so I'm a bit Disneyed out).
Doug and my dad had their own rooms, while all five of us slept in the largest bedroom. I didn't want Angus and Gareth up and tearing into someone else's stuff in another room where I couldn't hear them. Angus woke up at 6:30 the first morning; so much for sleeping in. Doug had got them some Lincoln Logs, Duplo-type blocks, and Tinker Toys to play with – that was really nice of him.
It's impossible to completely relax with three little kids around but we had a good time, for the most part. The only parts I didn't enjoy was buying a swimsuit and with all the mirrors in M's house (We don't have many in ours), I realized what I really look like in one. Rather potato-like. Ugh. I've got to start walking a couple of miles every day again.
The other thing was this: I am a horrible mom. How could I have let this happen? In spite of my seeming vigilance, Gareth fell in the pool when my attention wandered for a moment, and if Doug hadn't suddenly said "Someone's in the pool," I might have lost him. Doug told me later he thought he was hallucinating. Neither of us saw or heard him go in. Gareth was floating on his back, and I ran outside, grabbed him by the wrist and hauled him out. He was ok, though, he coughed up a little water, (I think he inhaled it when his face went under as I pulled him out) and kept saying "I fell in the pool, I fell in the pool.". Thank God he knew to float in his back! How did he know that? I'm signing them up for swimming lessons as soon as I can get the money together. John tells me to stop beating myself up because Gareth is okay and nothing serious happened, but God, I feel just awful.
