May I?

Picture this if you can; a romantic glow from the campfire, quiet peaceful sounds of water lapping on the shore, frogs making frog noises, crickets chirping, millions of stars overhead, surrounded by a pine forest. A man sitting in a camp chair relaxing after a long day, his wife snuggled in his lap, feeling a little sassy and playful... Wife: "It's just us out here tonight...Wanna make out like teenagers in the woods?" Husband: "YES!!" Their lips meet.............................. and the young voice of their five year old daughter interrupts: "May I?"

I just don't have a good title today

This is a brief update because I know that I really need to sit down and spend some time updating my blog with pictures from our family camping trip and swimming lessons and the new arrangement of furniture in Caitlin's room, but I am just so tired lately. I can't seem to get enough sleep and even when I do fall asleep it is just to wake up frequently. I am happy to report that I have nearly worked out all of the childcare issues. I am still short two days (Next Monday and Tuesday) for this month and haven't yet made a decision on where she'll go for "after school care" but I've made progress and that is relieving. Caitlin had a lovely "good bye" snack with her friends on Monday and her "4's" teacher and I both had tears in our eyes. Transition is never easy and for me this one is particularly hard because it involves so many changes all at once. First she left the "school" that she's attended since she was two, then we went shopping for real school supplies because she starts (Oh my goodness!) Kindergarten in a few weeks and (hopefully) finally she lost her first tooth. My baby is growing up so fast that it scares me. Add to this the lack of sleep and what you have is a very emotional me. Ryan and Caitlin are gone again tonight on a campout with Ryan's sister and her husbands family, so maybe I'll get on the computer this evening and add some pictures. Or maybe I'll just go to bed at 7pm and try to catch up on some sleep.

Relativity

Well we've been having a frustrating few days since returning from vacation and I started to feel sorry for myself. Then I remembered a couple of forwarded emails that I have received recently with the titles along the lines of "Things that make you say HOLY CRAP!" I had to review those images to remind myself that although change is hard, it could be worse. Maybe finding childcare on virtually no notice is obnoxious, frustrating and difficult...And maybe my ice cream was freezer burned because I stopped eating it the last time I decided that I had to stop feeling sorry for myself, but at least I have the ability to go the store and buy new fresh yummy ice cream if I really want to. And my family is healthy, safe and not in immediate danger. And I have a large extended family who are close enough to be able to help us through this child care transition period. Everything is relative. Choosing a new daycare/after school care provider is making me want to pull my hair out, scream and cry all at the same time, but it could be worse. I could be riding a quad that just lost its rear wheels mid air! It's all about the relativity.

More on camping to come soon!

Well as Becky pointed out I need to post something about our recent camping trip. I will start by saying we had an AMAZING time! Pictures are coming soon and so will more details. I've been quite remiss in posting the last several days because we are suddenly scrambling to find new child care for our little angel, both for the rest of the month-which thanks to family- I think we have mostly worked out, and also for "after school care" beginning in September. Back to the camping trip... It was so fun! We went down Wednesday evening after work which gave us all day Thurs, Fri and Saturday and then 1/2 the day on Sunday. We (Ryan) taught Caitie how to float down the river in just her life jacket, then we bought big inner tubes from Les Schwab Tire Center so that we could float down the rapids, I read two books and we just relaxed and enjoyed being with family. I will definately go camping at that park again, the sites had grass *always a plus* and we could walk to the river from our site. We spent a great deal of time getting to know my Mother in Law's Teenage God-Daughters, and I think if Caitlin could have she would have adopted them as her new older sisters. They are truly sweet girls one who loves to read * just like me* and one who loves to play and joke around *just like Ryan and Caitie*. I think I had a glimpse of Caitie in about 7-8 years and I am ok with how she's gonna be:) Over all it was just what we needed as a family, a great, relaxing, fun trip.