Don't Call It A Vacation.

I have been staring at this monitor for the past few minutes trying to come up with a good opening for this entry.  Sadly, that opening refuses to come, so here we are.  Let's play catch-up - now with more bullets!

* Spent Friday night camping out at the local KOA with my cousins.  The boys had never been camping before (gasp!).  We realized how far we have fallen from former days when we swore we would, like, totally take our kids? Camping? ALL the time.  (We opened the tent box to pack the car.  The tent that we got as a wedding gift.  7 years ago.)  For the most part, though, it was a non-issue.  Except for, you know, the fact that Milo is teething and woke up every hour or so to scream with wild abandon. (Other people at the KOA: We're really sorry about the baby who was screaming at intervals through the night. If it makes you like us better, we'll pretend he isn't ours.)

* Saturday and Sunday were promised to Big Daddy's Mama.  The lady does not disappoint -- Gumbo, low country boil, and homemade guacamole.  We ate ourselves silly, played Yahtzee, watched the fireworks at Fairfax High, and stayed up way too late.

* Monday and Tuesday the boys and I headed up to Rehoboth Beach to meet up with the cuzzes once again.  In all the time I have lived out here (10 years now) I have never gone up to the Deleware beaches.  Can I just say: Wow.  The beach was beautiful, calm, and pretty much perfect. The weather was awesome.  Other than the part where I got a speeding ticket on the way home, which sucked mightily, it was a fantastic adventure.

I have photos from the beach to share. Soon, I promise.  I have no photos from the camping because - hello! remember me? The one with the screaming infant? yeah. No photos were taken at the camping.  Ditto for the actual 4th festivities, but I think we just left the camera in the car.  (See? I'm so tired, I can't even come up with clever excuses anymore.  This is the universe's way of telling me to GO TO SLEEP.)

And now that I just pulled the last berry pie out of the oven -- (Not a euphemism - I really am just baking berry pies. Just because.) -- I can finally head to my comfy bed and prepare to face another day. 

But lest I forget to scream it to the world from the top of someplace very high (bonus points if you know the quote! You probably have boys, too!) I must take the moment to say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BIG DADDY!  You survived another year of life, and managed to resist the urge to throw me out a window any of the many times I probably would have deserved it.  I love you. (Too, too much.) and I have no right to be so lucky.