First, my aunt remains in the dying process. She is only awake for a few moments at a time each day, which makes me so grateful I didn’t wait too long to go and see her. It seems like it will be soon now, but who knows? Lots of hugs go out to my mom, who is witnessing this holy and harrowing process.


We had a total day off yesterday and went to the water park. One of the regional parks has a nice one that’s not too far away. C had a blast. She was just the right age for the one we went to—she enjoyed the “baby pool” of course, with its lukewarm and yellowish water about which nothing more will be spoken. But she also enjoyed the wave pool, particularly the bell that signaled the beginning of the wave mechanism (uh, whatever floats your boat, kid).

Other highlights included watching Daddy slide down a long straight slide, nicknamed the Power Wedgie, and swimming in the more intermediate pool, which was two feet deep, the perfect depth, and which had two small slides (one was short and wide so the three of us could slide down together, the other was a short flume with a couple turns and twists). We found out that summer passes are available and quite affordable for all five of the regional park pools, and that includes admission to this water park. An idea for next summer. Speaking of next summer, someone had an adorable chubby little baby in a bikini in the baby pool, and it’s still blowing my mind that we’re going to have one of those this time next year.

Nothing quite drives home the parent thing more than going to a place like that. It’s not like going with one’s younger siblings, which is an experience I had many times growing up. No, we can’t ever really let ourselves go. Always one eye is on the kid, not only making sure her face stays above water, but looking for those subtle signs that she’s tired in spite of herself and really needs to stop and go home for her own good. And when we all get home and are dog tired, the buck stops with R and me to get stuff unpacked and swimsuits hung up. I don’t know why, but that whole thing makes me feel very Grown Up.


Tonight I celebrated Blog Meetup #5—R, C and I met with Songbird and the Princess, who are stopping through here on their girly vacation together. Songbird has a special place in my heart because she was my first commenter that I didn’t actually know personally. I have no idea how she even found my blog, but I’m glad she did. She has great glasses, and lovely hair. I say this because there’s been some discussion about hair dye over at her place, and I want to say publicly that some people color their hair and, well, you can really tell. But Songbird’s manages to look great and very natural (monochrome hair is a dead giveaway to a home bottle job, but hers has lots of different colors and highlights there). So, I give it a thumbs up!

As I expected, we found lots to talk about, even though I can think of so many things we could’ve talked about and didn’t even get a chance! knitting, for example. We had a good time over pizza and Ben and Jerry’s, and afterward sat around a fountain while the kids played in it. This was one of those flat fountains that has a series of jets that shoot thin streams of water straight up in the air. And of course, not 24 hours after R had said at the water park that C seemed to dislike getting water in her face more than other kids we witnessed, C got a face full of water while looking down into one of the jets—and grinned ear to ear. Darn kid we can never figure out. As for the Princess, she very methodically got every inch of her soaked. Well why the heck not? She’s on vacation.

As I watched ten-year-old Princess wring out her shirt, and shake water from her long brown locks, I remembered the Carrie Newcomer line from a song about her pre-teen daughter: “You’re all crushes and blushes and brushes with insight, but you still sleep with your bears half of the nights.” Ah, ten years old. Aaaaaa! Ten years old! Remember ten? You were like, teetering, 15 minutes away from puberty at any given time. But if you were lucky, you had a cool, wise mom like Songbird to encourage and support you through it.

Hope you and yours had a lovely weekend.