I actually made some note while we were leaving because it was such a funny departure and I knew we'd be sleep deprived by morning and completely forget it. I mean...
6:30 PM, false start, Brian couldn't find the car registration in the glove box (though I told him it was there.) I go back to look in the office for it, he finds it in the glove box in an envelope titled "important documents"
6:40 PM, on the road!
6:47 PM, Aria screaming
6:57 PM, Roland needs to go pee (really??) Introduction of the pee-cup. Many, many laughs about this in another post, or in person
7:00 PM, just outside Nashville city limits, start slow feeding kids snacks
7:20 PM, pop in a random CD for sanity sake
7:27 PM, singing Modest Mouse and Jane's Addiction to the kids, LOUD
8:00 PM, Movie time! Commence peace...
Somewhere later after the kids are asleep and Brian is situated with food, coffee and headphones I awake to what sounds like rocks being hurled at the windshield. We've hit an unexpected torrential down pour. Awesome. It's 12:45 AM, we're in the middle of...Kentucky? Illinois? Wherever it is all we can see are the semi-trucks tail lights a few paces in front of us...and then Roland wakes up and to complicate things we somehow completely throw off the defrost and before you know it are driving in the dark in a down pour - blind. So to avoid certain death I quickly soaked a rang in the ice water of the cooler and spent the next half hour with Brian wiping down the windshield from the inside so we could see. Now, what could be crazier than this? Add intensely blinding lightening every 30 or so seconds so your eyes are burning from the light. Needless to say, that kept us awake for quite some time.
By the time the sun was coming up we were mid-way through Wisconsin and talking about breakfast at Lisa's house. I'm not sure how we did it, but we did it. Brian is a driving machine.
So you see? We had adventures before we even MADE IT to the cabin.
A shift, some thoughts captured real time from our vacation. "Sometimes I am just amazed at the things Brian and I do, but so rarely in the moment do I realize it. It comes much later, when we are either in the midst or looking back. Like spontaneously driving a thousand miles for a weekend retreat to the cabin in Bay Lake, MN. And it works, for us anyway."
"Roland, Aria and I are sitting in the living room watching the weather channel because it is unseasonably cold. The high is 55 degrees, the low tonight will be in the 40s. Roland is playing wonderfully, really wonderfully, with all his trucks on the floor. Aria is slowly cruising along behind him. She has already taken some really great series of steps, walking little bits here and there. Brian is napping, finally, for the first time since yesterday afternoon. Aria was napping with him, and while they were down Roland and I went exploring . He even got to ride in the front seat, with the seat belt on of course. We drove slowly down to the Woodlawn Beach general store to pick up some lighter fluid. Along the way we encountered a good number of deer crossing the road from forest to forest. We stopped, put it in park and climbed up the sun roof to see them better. They were really fascinated with Roland’s voice. We found another pair of deer eating in the clearing only we spooked them by accidentally hitting the horn. We checked on Charlie the donkey and his family, all tucked away out of the wind. From there we went on a nature walk, but it was more of a mushroom hunt. So many mushrooms! Big, tall, small, flat, raised, soft, sticky, clusters, solos, red ones, orange ones, pink ones, yellow ones. MUSHROOMS!"
"Today I would catch quick glimpses of Roland as he speed after his cousins. Just little blurs of laughter and bright colors, punctuated with shrieks and shrills. We fed the donkeys, Charlie, his partner Sally, and their daughter Lily, carrots, wild apples and grass. Charlie went after Aria’s shoe – silly donkey! Pretty ironic that I was nipped by our miniature horse named Charlie as a child. I advise against that name should anyone be thinking about a hoofed animal. It was great watching the kids slowly make their way back to the cabin for snacks and rest. We took naps, ate great meals, ambled about in the kayak and canoed. Laird took everyone for a sunset boat cruise, Aria’s first, and like her brother, and her cousins, and so many other kids before her, she fell sound asleep. Who can resist the lull of a boat motor and the serenes of the lake at dusk? No one!"
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