Jodi and I are at my folks’ place today. The wee ones are fishing with Busia and Dziadzi (wish ’em luck!), while we chill, blog, do laundry, and assorted other everyday chores, kid-free.
We plan to have a kid-free visit with a couple of old friends, a kid-free lunch with another friend, maybe do some kid-free napping, then enjoy a kid-free supper with some couple-friends who, completely coinicidentally, are also kid-free.
I hope Bren catches a fish. Beyond that, I’m soaking the quiet.
Spent the day at Hardy Dam, and the kids learned a bit more about fishing and camping – namely that, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, you never know what you’re gonna get. Bren, Gabe and I went fishing with Dziadzi early in the morning and caught seven or so small walleye (8 to 13 1/2 inches; minimum to keep ’em is 15). I caught a 22-inch pike (minimum is 24 inches). So, no keepers, and Bren didn’t catch any at all!
Jodi and Busia went to town for groceries (our family changes the entire feeding dynamic at the camp site) and the kids decided to read (Bren = The Silmarillion; Gabe = The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen) or nap through a good part of the afternoon, so Dad and I read (East of Eden continues to be a masterpiece; Dad is reading Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising). When the ladies returned, we took the kids to the beach, but a steady breeze had blown a thick layer of pea-soup muck into the swimming area. The kids played in the sand, instead, and I went with Dad to install two more bunks in the houseboat.
Afterward, all of us set out to go fishing, only to be blown in off the lake by a rapidly advancing storm. We barely got the houseboat docked again before the rain began – the cabin catches a lot of wind! So we went into my folks’ fifth-wheel to eat supper and watch the Olympics. Oh, and we learned that smallmouth bass are quite good to eat – cousin Kyle had left one behind. Not really what we planned, but it all worked out. Amen.
On Monday, Emma got sick to her stomach, Gabe got stung by a wasp twice in the neck, I wrote several more pages of a novel, Brendan battled his cousins on the Wii, and Trevor approached Jodi out of the blue to admit, “Mommy? Sometimes I don’t listen to you …”
We still don’t know for sure what that was about.
Headed to Mom and Dad’s today to see the horses, mules and longhorns, then from there to the lake and campground. Probably won’t blog again ’til Thursday at the earliest. Take care out there.
No time to write (much) – still packing the mini-vanster. But the recent post in Jacqui’s Room got me to thinking about the time when we saw a young Gabriel looking at his index finger in wonder. He looked at Jodi and me in amazement and said, “You can point with your picking finger, too!”
We leave for Michigan early Friday morning. I worked later on both Monday and Tuesday, trying to get everything squared away before we leave for a week and a half. Even so, I brought work home tonight. Tomorrow is a day-long retreat, so no time to work then. Packing is not done – tomorrow night most likely. Up late, up early, drive all day to my sister’s place.
Too tired Saturday morning, but the kids will rise early to play with their cousins. We should be rested by mid-week, except that somewhere in there we drive to my folks’ house. Or rather, their campsite on a lake – that should be fun. And active. Then drive to Grand Rapids to see friends – we invariably eat too much and never sleep.
Up late, up early, drive all day home. Sleep at the office.
Archangel Stomp 