How do you know when you need a vacation?? (I don't mean need, I mean NEED a vacation, and not the weekend get-away type, but the "I'm leavin' and I don't know when I'm comin' back" type). Well there are the usual signs like persistant fatigue, low motivation to work, short fuse etc. etc. Then, there are the "evacuate the premise immediately" signs, and they might resemble the following:
1. So tired you stutter through your kids names and eventually settle with, "Hey you!"
2. The only thing you remember hearing yourself say all day is, "I've had it up to here!"
3. "Up to here" can't get any higher.
4. You have a glass of wine or beer with every meal, even PB & J.
5. You find yourself gazing at your wedding picture, trying to remember what your husband looks like.
Needless to say, last week, we evacuated the premises.
And seven hours later we found ourselves at Grand Lake, CO. Exhale. Aaahhhh....
Steve and I agree that the best way to "recharge the batteries" is to be out in nature.
So, that's just what we did. A few days of hiking, fishing, discovering, sight-seeing and just being in the beauty was magnificently medicinal, breathing life back into our souls into our sanity.
Perhaps the most rewarding, for me, was rediscovering the wonder and unique beauty of each one of my children. On vacation, I get to catch all of the crazy, silly, endearing things that they think, say and do, not being overshadowed by heaps of laundry, bills, dishes and disasters all waiting to be conquered.
In fact, we were so taken with their enthusiasm and spunk, that we decided to give each of the boys an Indian name on the trip. A name that they had to earn. They are as follow:
George (the first to earn it, go figure): Light of the water.
George and the lake were like two magnetic forces that could not be separated. The first time he fell in, it was a "mysterious rock" that came up and pushed him in, head first, clothes and all. I haven't kept an extra set of clothes in the car for him since he was a baby and needed "emergency blow-out attire."
Henry: Screaming Eagle.
I would put Henry's high-pitched shrilling scream of discontent up against any other three year old girl. It was a long seven hours of survival in the back seat of the Denali with two big brothers. At this point I would be ok with fists en lieu of screaming.
Andrew: Fears No Rock.
The kid is like an antelope. On an afternoon hike he scaled vertical rock faces with ease, and leaped down rocky slopes without pause. (Definitely not my genetics. I give that one to Steve.) At the top of the face he shouts down to us "Nailed it!" (Humble pie was served for supper that night.)
On a fly-fishing adventure with dad, Ben announced that there was a hole in his waders and it let ice-cold water into his left boot. But, he endured the frigid conditions just long enough to catch the biggest rainbow trout in the stream. (Indian names cannot be earned without a wee bit o' drama.)
Charles: Snuggle Bear, Cuddle Bear
It was a right bit chilly in the mountains, even for our little cub, so someone was always sugglin' and cuddlin' with Charles. We couldn't resist!
A few more clips of the trip...
CANOEING ON THE LAKE...
A friendly neighbor let us borrow his 80,000 pound canoe. Whew!
THE ALPINE SLIDE IN WINTER PARK....
and it's full speed ahead coming down!
Everyone went crazy on the bungie-trampoline, even dad, the flip-master....
S'MORES PLEASE!!...
HIKING (with the moose!) AT ADAM'S FALLS...
DRIVING AND SIGHTSEEING IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK...
Did I really think I was going to get a portrait pic with chilling 30 mph gusts pouncing off of their sweet cheeks? Well, one must try.
SOMETHING WE DID VERY LITTLE OF...
WHAT WE DID THE MOST OF...
Delight!
I am dying at the beer or wine with PB & J comment.
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