Long weekends can be a blessing and a curse. They're a blessing when they allow you time to relax, make a dent in an overly long to-do list and spend time together as a family.
They become a curse when it becomes a family chore to tackle to-do list items that would better be handled by one person, resulting in spending more money than you planned and feeling a stronger need than ever to relax.
Friday started as a blessing. Waking at 7:55, I was the first one up. The kids soon followed, and eventually woke up Jeff. We all ate breakfast, then headed out the door to visit Auntie Barbie so that AJ's "Grandpa hair" could be trimmed and tamed.
Everything was going smoothly: haircut done, quick stop at my office to pick up a notebook I'd forgotten, lunch and Playland fun at McDonalds. I suggested on the way home we could stop at Batteries Plus to get a new battery for my garage door opener and then we could stop at Beachcomber Hot Tubs, which is just a few blocks away, to pick up one of the chemicals we need to balance the water.
And that's when everything somehow unraveled. Jeff reminded me that we needed a new battery for the Explorer, which we could also get at Batteries Plus, so I suggested he go into the store and I would wait in the car with the kids. The next thing I knew an employee was accompanying Jeff out of the store and pulling a cart of tools as Jeff raised the hood.
Many, many, many minutes passed.
By now a second employee had replaced the first as they struggled to get at the battery, which apparently was firmly corroded in place. Ironically, the tool they needed to get it out was suffering from a dead battery.
Many, many, many more minutes passed.
By now I'd helped both kids decorate their Mr. Potato Head Halloween Happy Meal pails with the eyes, noses and arms stickers that had come with them. Finally it was decided that Jeff would return later in the afternoon - by himself - to let them remove and replace the battery.
As we made our way to Beachcomber, I casually asked Jeff if he'd remembered to get batteries for my garage door opener. Yes, he assured me, tossing his garage door opener at me.
No. His garage door opener wasn't the one needing new batteries. His garage door opener was the one I'd sent in with him so that he'd know what kind of batteries were needed for my garage door opener, which was at home in the car we weren't currently driving.
We reached Beachcomber. By now the kids were absolutely stir crazy, as was I. So this time, Jeff stayed in the car and I headed inside with the kids. Beachcomber used to be a client of mine, so the manager has gushed over my kids since they were infants.
Thankfully we were the only customers in the store. As I searched for the needed product, I could hear Sydney repeatedly exclaiming as she ran from tub to tub, "We have a hot tub like this one."
This was followed by AJ discovering, "Hey, this hot tub has water in it."
No - they didn't fall in. It didn't get that bad. But as I was at last checking out, I could hear AJ exclaim, "I caught one!"
They'd each found a handheld skimmer and were now standing on the step of the filled hot tub, scooping them through the water. I ordered them down. We finally made it out of the store. Visions of soaking in our hot tub later in the evening kept me from banging my head against the car window as I at last got the kids strapped in.
We headed home. Later in the day, Jeff returned with not only the car battery successfully installed, but also a new battery in my garage door opener. The salesman at Batteries Plus felt so bad about how long it'd taken them to install the battery, that he gave us the two small batteries for our openers at no charge.
We ended up not soaking in the hot tub until Saturday night. It was then that Jeff broke it to me that I'd bought the wrong chemicals. Instead of a bottle of Care Free, I'd grabbed Care Free Boost. I'll need to go back. I'll make sure to do it when I'm by myself.
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