Serenity, Now

Vacation. A little weekend trip. The very sound of it seems inviting. Unless you happen to take your new travel trailer on her maiden voyage on the hottest weekend of the entire year. It was hot, I tell ya. The Bigs did ride their bikes a lot, we transported the Babiest around in the stroller a lot, and we sat inside the camper. A lot. I guess I don't need to tell you how small a seemingly pleasant-sized 8x31 foot trailer feels when it's 106 degrees outside. Inside the Bigs are sent to "their room" with their Nintendos, which worked out really well since that is second to eating as their most treasured life event. D sends himself to "his room" for a well-deserved nap.

Now, the Babiest doesn't like videogames (yet) and he especially doesn't like naps. So what does he do? He runs. A lot. Back and forth inside the camper, along the aisle, he runs. But he's not alone in this enjoyable adventure. He has his not-so-bright dog joining him on his jog. So picture a toddler and a 40 pound dog racing back and forth, giggling, shrieking, and falling down laughing. Add to that the beep, beep from the games, zzzzzz from the nap, and the drone of the air conditioner, which growled at us constantly for traveling on the hottest weekend of the year. Yep, really small.

Now I feeled compelled to say it was one of the best trips I've ever had. The kids were a joy, D was relaxed, and it was so nice to be able to camp again. I really missed it throughout the years. Getting back to it was the best thing we've done in quite a while. It's even better with kids, too.

This was such a pretty little scene. I couldn't resist taking a picture. That's someone else's boat, and the bathhouse. Pretty, and functional.

We took a few walks too. It was nice and calming. I had to take the picture from behind. Otherwise you'd think I put my kids through the paper shredder. We had a ferocious biking accident, a nasty fall, and some general incidents. I darn near went through my entire first aid kit. I'm now putting together a more substantial first aid kit for the next trip. I'm thinking I'll use one of those shiny metal pickup truck tool boxes that stretch the entire width of the truck bed. That should do us through a couple of days. For long trips I can stop for replenishments along the way.

This was not even remotely the prettiest sunset I've ever seen, but the Babiest shrieked so much when he saw it on the water I simply had to take a picture for him. I wish I had the video camera with me, or a camera that recorded sound so you can hear his excitement. It makes me smile just remembering it.