I really shouldn’t be writing this right now. Currently Ruthie is in slumberland and Thomas is gazing happily at his own reflection, so I should be running around like a mad woman getting ready for our vacation. It’s no small task to pack for a five day camping trip with two small children. Fortunately it’s “car camping,†so we’re packing up just about our entire household… including the backyard hammock!
Normally I would say, What’s the point? Why go through the trouble to take your nice, indoor, plumbed, kitchen with a lovely fan and take it outdoors where there is no running water and no fan to cool your glistening skin? Ahhh… but there’s a perk! We are attending a secret music festival on one of the San Juan Islands. I say secret because if all of you realized how cool this music festival was you would want to come, too, then it would just be too big and not be very cool anymore.
Sorry, but that’s the way it is. You’re not invited.
The other night Bryan and I took the kids to a café in West Seattle where we met a friend and her kids. This café had live music and served the most amazing mocha I’ve ever had in my whole life. Or maybe I was just dying for some chocolate. At any rate, this café was very “kid friendly†and had games and coloring books on a little kid-sized table.
Once it got later and the place cleared out a bit we let Ruthie run around. I love watching her run. She reminds me of the bouncing head of an electric typewriter, running stiffly and quickly and bouncy while giggling like popping bubbles. She was, of course, barefoot. I never bother with socks anymore because who has the time to look for all the clothing that gets flung around? The shoes are bad enough to find.
I look forward to our vacation so I can see her running around like a busy typewriter, giggling, and growling ROAR at me from behind a chair. “Roar, mama! Roar!†And then, of course, I have to chase her around a tree and pretend to scare her. This will be a great weekend for her to be free, to be adventurous, and to be truly tuckered out.
So now I will stop writing and continue packing.