Our Mini-Vacation

We're back from our abbreviated vacation - all rested and relaxed (well...rested anyway. Well.. actually...)

We were lucky to have had such nice weather and even luckier to have had such good company. The entire family (minus Jake) drove to Rhode Island on Thursday, where we pitched our tents in Jake's backyard and spent two nights before returning back home on Saturday morning. In between, we went to the beach a couple of times, did a lot of walking (for me, anyway) and managed to eat out a few of times. We also had a campfire, made from brush and branches which Jake had been gathering up throughout the summer.

Home Sweet Home - for two nights.

Through some mishap, which I can only blame on myself (unfortunately), I ended up without an air mattress on the first night. Instead, I spent the night on a doubled up sleeping bag, which separated me from the approximately forty-seven tree roots of various sizes, in the ground below.

This was quickly rectified the next day when we stopped at a local store where we bought a new air mattress. Due to it being the end of the season, the air mattress turned out to be on discount - thus making the entire trip worthwhile (that is, if the pleasant weather and pleasant company hadn't worked out.) As an even bigger bonus, the new air mattress conveniently freed up the sleeping bag so that I could use it properly on the next night - which turned out to be freezing.

Along with the beach-going and the walking and the eating, we also managed to play some mini-golf. This was largely for Sam's benefit. The theory is (or was), if the trip is fun enough for Sam, it will be easier for him to make the long car ride the next time. I'm not sure how well this theory will work out. Eighteen holes of mini-golf under the blazing hot sun, seemed a little much. I think we would have been fine with only the first nine holes.

Taken before the heat stroke had fully set in.

Somewhere during the second nine holes, it became obvious that the fun quotient was heading into negative territory. The first sign was that, rather than argue about it, people started to not care about the number of strokes that someone else had. From there, it rapidly devolved into a "God, just let this end" type of attitude.

But we made it through the game. And I think, someday, off in the distant future, we might look back on it and think that we actually had a good time.

The fire is dying down.

On Friday night, Jake made a fire in the backyard fire pit - a fire that was somewhere between a campfire and a bonfire. It was nice to sit around in the cool (soon too be freezing) evening air and relax in front of a warm fire.

As it got dark, a friend of Jake's brought out a ukulele, and we listened as Rachael and Jake took turns playing it, and as they and Helaina, sang a few songs - before little by little, we went back to the tents for a freezing night's semi-sleep.

We got up early on Saturday morning, took down the tents and somehow managed to stuff everything back into the car. We said our goodbyes to Jake - twice, as it turns out - we had to turn around when Jake let us know that we had forgotten something. And then, we headed home.

It was hard to leave Jake, but I guess it's better to leave when you've had a good visit and you're going to miss someone - as opposed to the alternative. At least, that's what I tell myself.

Back at home, we unpacked - enough to get everything out of the over-stuffed car. We'll worry about getting it all put away some other time, meaning sometime before the next trip - possibly in another year or two.

Since it was only noontime, Sam and I managed to run our usual Saturday errands. With both Helaina and Rachael around, we squeezed in a cook-out on Sunday and on Monday, Rachael and I managed to spend some time together. On Monday night we all went to the Creamy before Rachael headed back to the Big City on Tuesday.

Now, it's back to Life As Usual. The dust has settled and things have turned quiet again - nothing but the sounds of the clocks as they tick away on the shelf and on the wall - which I guess is kind of nice. After all, everybody needs some time to relax. Everybody needs some time to enjoy the quiet moments.

At least, that's what I tell myself.