I miss the North Woods already.
We hadn't been up there since 2002. I love it there. My father has gone on vacation to northern Minnesota most years since he was 9 years old. He started taking his own family when I was 5. I have gone every few years since I was married. We went every year for a few years, but then we were busy moving and having another baby, and couldn't go. We probably won't be able to go again for a few years, so this was it for a while.
The older kids love it. They love walking to Grandma and Grandpa's cabin and playing on the beach and swimming when it's warm enough. It was warm enough two days, and divinely cool the other days.
We drove up through the horrible heat wave that gripped Missouri and parts of Arkansas and Iowa. It was 104 degrees when we stopped in Springfield, Missouri. I don't want to know what the heat index was!
And then we were finally there. Spending time with my parents. Spending time together. A whole glorious week with no work obligations, nothing in the way of relaxing, and it was wonderful. I went fishing twice, but the score was not in my favor (Rocks - 3 times caught by them. Fish - 1 worm eaten. Tracy - zero fish caught). I don't go fishing for fish though. I go fishing, because when we fish, my dad talks. He's generally a silent type, so it's a treat to sit with him and listen to him. K has decided that I bought a "bonding license" instead of a "fishing license". He's right.
K and I talked a lot. It's hard not to talk a lot when you spend over 2 days just getting somewhere. We had light fluffy conversations and deep difficult ones. I liked both.
And now we are home again. It's been a wonderful interlude in life, but "real life" must intrude again. I hope that we can manage to keep elements of vacation in our everyday life though.
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