Things I Love.....

1. Our new campsite. Thursday we left for our last camping trip of the year. School starts again in 2 weeks and the days after that are cooler and hectic with soccer and what have you. So the boy took his last 2 vacation days and we had a long weekend out in the woods. Someone reserved our last site, and the one next to it waaaaaaay back in January, so we had to pick a new one. I remembered some nice ones across the street that I had seen when we were there a few weeks ago, and we reserved those. (we had a site, and B had his own site) I actually liked these sites better. The one we had was roomy and had great tree coverage. The only bad part was the neighbors on the other side who moved in the second night. Little too close for comfort, but that's ok. It was camping.


2. Stick-to-itve-ness. My poor daughter, felt like crap all weekend long. She fell asleep in the car on the 40 minute ride to the campground and right there I should've suspected something was up. Her throat hurt. She was exhausted. Her head was stuffy and on Friday her face was all red and flushed. She didn't care. She spent a LOT of our trip sleeping. In her sleeping bag. In B's hammock, on a toy at the playground that she was sitting on, and yesterday afternoon she slept on the beach. She is much better today, but her throat is still sore and I think tomorrow I am taking her to the dr's. But if you ask her, she had a great time! Loved learning how to play horseshoes, loved going to the beach and watching meteorites, and loved spending the weekend camping. She's a trooper in the true sense of the word.
3. Playing in the sand. I love the beach. I miss the beach. I've discovered over the past 5 years, that beaches at lake are just as good as the beach at the ocean. Except that the sand isn't the same.. and the lakes aren't so crowded. You can make a sand castle at the lake just as easy as you can at the ocean. Ms. Thang and I made sand castles on Friday while the boys were out swimming in the lake. This sorry looking thing was mine. The lake at our campground is full of freshwater muscles. I walked along the shore and collected empty muscle and snail shells and driftwood to decorate my castle. Not half bad if I do say so myself.
4. Bravery. Mr. Man hates boats. He won't go in a boat. He won't go in a canoe at summer rec. because he is afraid they will tip over. I remind him how he used to go in boats when he was little and never had a problem. He doesn't care. Yesterday B asked him if he wanted to go out in a canoe fishing. I almost fell over when he said yes. Out he went, into the waves and against the wind (which was awful yesterday) and across the lake. For two hours they rowed around the lake, without one nibble on the lines, and had a great time. Such a good time, that he told me today on the way home we should buy a canoe or a kayak. Our relationship is rocky at best right now. Puberty is a hard thing, and a lot of days I'm the target of his hormonal imbalances. But he faced his fears and I'm awful proud of him.
5. My boy. Today is the 11th anniversary of our wedding. On Wednesday he put his arms around my shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. He told me that he had a gift for me, but he thought in light of our camping trip he'd like to give it to me early. We don't usually exchange gifts for our anniversary, and go out for dinner alone instead, so this surprised me. I said it would be OK and he told me to close his eyes. He came back with a fabulous gift. A Red Sox stadium blanket. See, the forecast for the weekend was calling for unseasonably cool temps. Not typical August weather, but chilly days and cold nights. In the low 40's cold. He knows how much I hate to be cold, and thought I might like to bring my blanket camping for those colder than cold nights. He was right. I slept with it in my sleeping bag last night and was toasty warm, even with temps in the upper 30's. I love my blanket. I love the way he looks at me like we're still dating and he can't get over how he's falling in love with me. I love to hear him laugh while he plays with the kids, doing things that aren't always fun for him, but he does them anyhow. I love how thoughtful and considerate he is, and how he puts up with my crap time and time again without too much complaint. I love the quirky photos he takes of bugs, and frogs and ducks waddling across the beach. I love him more today than I did 11 years ago when I married him, which amazes me each and every day. It's a stronger, deeper, more mature kind of love, and some days it just envelops me. Like a warm blanket.