Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Dateline: Sleepy Hollow

Dateline: Sleepy Hollow.

Because we postponed our departure until after C. Peevie's first championship game, we didn't arrive in South Haven until after 7 p.m. After unpacking the car and visiting with the cousins, we all finally crashed sometime after 11 p.m.

And then began the first perfect day of vacation:

Sleeping in until 10 a.m. while Aunt Jenny flipped pancakes for the kids.

Playing on the playground: Pushing kids on the rickety merry-go-round that groaned loud, metallic groans when the weight was not evenly distributed. Dun-dunning the Indiana Jones theme music while kids hung on the sliding bar and swung themselves across the pit of snapping alligators waiting hungrily below. Scorching our bottoms on the sizzling hot metal slide.

Playing on the beach and exploring the tiny creek that empties into the lake. "Mom," M. Peevie exclaimed, looking out at Lake Michigan, "it looks like the ocean!" And she was not wrong--the lake stretched out infinitely, it seemed; and the waves valiantly imitated ocean waves, surging and crashing with enough force to make moms worry when little blonde heads dipped down for more than a second.

Swimming in the warm-but-not-too-warm pool for hours. Teaching M. Peevie to dive. Teaching A. Peevie to tread water.

Nap. Ahhhh, nap.

Grocery shopping. Because, you know, after all that playing, people got to eat.

Dinner with the whole family. Cooked by someone else. Cleaned up by someone else.

(Slight guilt trip over not helping to clean up the dinner dishes.)

More playing: Baseball on the lawn, complete with white rubber bases set 15 feet apart; Spongebob video games, and movie trivia.

Kids to bed by 10. Blogging time for me.

Could there be a more perfect vacation day? What's a perfect vacation day for you?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

And that crazy little coach thinks little league is more important than all this? I guess that's where the term "dumb jock" stems from.
-KTBZ

Anonymous said...

I don't really get summer vacation, but yesterday was a most splendid summer day for me. Put in a very short work day, went to a new yoga class that was like dying and going to heaven for a bit. And then heading home to enjoy an entire (but very small, mind you) carton of Cherry Garcia frozen yogurt. As it turns out, someone in the production line slipped and, I think, dropped in a lot of extra chocolate and cherries in my carton. Yum!

And today, after 27 years in Chicago, for the first time ever, I wandered into the Blommer Chocolate Factory on West Kinzie street and asked the security guard, "Can I have a piece of chocolate?" And music to my ears: "Yes, just go inside that door to our store and you can get free samples." I tried three kinds...had to compare, you know, then thanked the guard (who was wearing one of those Lucy and Ethel white paper sanitation caps that they wore on the chocolate factory line--even though he didn't wasn't near chocolates, just manning the security /reception desk), hopped on my bicycle, and rode home. What a perfect summer day! Thanks for asking. Love, from SLD, a.k.a. Bucky

Unknown said...

Now, KT, be fair. That's not what what LLC is saying. He was only referring to the championship game--and I do feel him on that point. I've got a little bit of dumb jock in me, too.

But the lazy, playing days of vacation are not just great, beautiful, and fun--but I think they are necessary for mental and emotional health and family bonding. I'm so grateful to have these days, because not everyone gets them.

Unknown said...

Bucky--yoga was like dying and going to heaven? Seriously? I must look into it.

We smelled Blommer as we drove out of town on Sunday night, and A. Peevie says, "Yuk! What's that horrible smell!" He could not believe it was a chocolate factory, but we promised him that's exactly what he was sniffing.

I think he was a little disillusioned.

Anonymous said...

I must take little A. with me to the Blommer Chocolate Factory. I mean, doesn't that sound like a great kid movie title? Just standing on the corner...I felt like a little kid when i looked up over the counter and asked, "Can I have a piece of chocolate?"

Go to yoga with me on a Tuesday night, 8 p.m. Half the time, we got to lie comfortably with eyes closed (SWEET), although part of the time, i was sweating hard, holding in position.

There is this little thing at the end where she prays to somebody /soul /thing, and reads something from a book about the spirit within me... but I was kind of dozing by that time. --Bucky

jeanie said...

Perfect vacation--when I was your age? Or my kids were your kids ages, you ask?

Well sitting on a beach on some Caribbean island, sipping a Pina Colada, reading a really, really good book, and NO kids.

I know, I feel guilty admitting that, but it is true.

Now I love having my kids on vacation with me... I beg them to go on vacation with me. My, how things change.

I am so GLAD you are back -- is there a Green Room in South Haven?