October 25, 2025 - Saturday

Well, sleep last night was a little challenging. It really was freezing cold. By the time Ben came into the tent, I was shivering and told him I wanted to get the kids up and go home. But he convinced me to get another blanket on and keep trying. I did put another blanket on and was able to fall asleep. I woke up about a dozen times, shivering, worried about how the kids were doing, but ultimately slept ok. Around 6:30 all the girls woke up. Ben informed me that the breaker had tripped last night, so we hadn't had heat for the last few hours. Everyone needed to pee, and we did have the little potty tent right behind our tent, but we still had to unzip and sit out in the cold to pee, which was really hard for all of us! The girls decided to huddle together and put all of their blankets on top of all of them, while they played their tablets. I snuggled back into my sleeping bag and blankets and got another hour of sleep or so, until it felt like I needed to get up and get out of the tent. I was not eager to go sit by a small fire (Ben informed me I'd be in the second row) and freeze, but it was ok. It wasn't so bad once I got out there. 

Throughout the day, I felt incredibly frustrated with the Kramer's kids. Man, I can't tell you how many times I had to ask Joey to get out of our cooler or ask Evan to stop piling dirt into our grilled cheese makers. Evan burnt Clemi with a stick that he had caught on fire and was wandering around with. Joey smashed his scooter into Clem and knocked her down, causing her to faceplant on the asphalt, then ran his scooter over her while she was laying on the ground crying. She's all bloody and is going to have those scratches on her face for a while. Mateo followed Clem around everywhere and smeared dirty hands all over everything. I was getting super pissed by the afternoon and I know Noemi and James could hear it in my voice because finally they started calling the boys back to them when they came over to our food and drink area. I was frustrated enough that I really wanted to just leave or hide in the tent or something! But a bunch of people went their separate ways in the afternoon, so I got some time to relax, pack a little, and read my book. I decided as soon as I woke up that we weren't staying a second night, so we had to get packed up throughout the day. 

We stayed through dinner and into the evening, but Ruby and Millie got into a fight right around the time we were finishing our packing. Ruby punched Millie and Millie bit Ruby as hard as she could, breaking her skin. I don't know who started it or what the heck was going on, but once apologies were done, we were out of there. I just could not handle this day anymore! I made sure to hug Jenny and Ruby sent an additional video apologizing again. I'm sure they'll be fine, but I needed to get somewhere quiet and give my mind some stillness. So grateful to be home and to get everyone CLEAN!!!

After Clem's face got hurt (it really was pretty awful!), she hid in the tent for a while. These kiddos spent the 45 minutes making this tribute? shrine? memorial? thing for her and they were so proud of their hard work! This creation kicked off an ash-bomb making frenzy that lasted for the rest of the entire day. It was very dirty, but kept them very occupied!