...a little wave: vacation post #4

wow, we still have a lot of summer vacation pics/posts to get through! lately it's felt like the days are flying by, helped in part by bebe's return to five am wake-ups (and a few sub-five am wake ups) making us all deliriously tired at the end of the day. the work day passes, then i'm home for some play time, clean-up, some dinner, and then usually a little reading in bed before lights out. there just hasn't been much room or energy for much else. but it's felt good to spend the days this way so don't think this is just my usual complaining about lack of time to do things, etc. i actually feel okay with the way things have been going.

part of that has involved letting go of my own self-imposed responsibilities to just focus on keeping the family ship upright. i have lots of creative tendencies and tend to get frustrated by my need for sleep. i'd like, or rather feel compelled, to start and work on various projects like playing music, working on photography, writing, blogs, etc. this makes for some tough nights for me as i usually can't get going on anything until after bebe's bed time, and by then i'm pretty tired. i've even been too tired to play video games lately. I'VE EVEN BEEN TOO TIRED TO PLAY VIDEO GAMES LATELY.

however, the lack of time or energy to focus on these things hasn't seemed to bother me. and by not stressing over how "behind" i feel i am on any of them (like this writing blog i keep meaning to start- and yes, that was set up in JULY of 2008) it's helped to renew my energy a little bit. and it's felt nice to know that the only thing i have to worry about when i get home at night is tossing my laughing daughter in the air and doing some chores. it's been a nice break. i've still got a lot of stuff i'm working on, but it doesn't feel like such an imperative that i get to any of it. EXCEPT FOR THE VIDEO GAMES.

anyway, there have been a ton of vacation pics sitting in the queue for a while and i'm going to get those up and get moving on to the next thing. as the summer winds down, things are heating up for us. we have an awesome, beautiful, happy, curious, smart, expressive, and vocal two year-old, and we're slowly (or rapidly, some days) nearing the due date for our next addition. there are still some moments i feel panicked about the plethora of back burners i have going, but i'm feeling the pressure less and less, and i think that's exactly what's going to help me get to them all. and i'm going to start with this next post:

this visit marked a return to ramona love for beebs. she's gone from being curious, to loving, to being deathly scared of, to being wary but curious of, and full on back to hugging, kissing, and loving. i'm sure that sentence wasn't even close to being grammatical, never mind grammatically correct. but i'm not re-reading it. moving on.

we went to what has turned into our go-to playground at mems' and teed's house. it's pretty big, there's lots to explore, and it's not often crowded.

helllloooooo beeeeeeebeeeeeeee!

she crawls into sight

then turns tail and disappears!

i think i spot her going up

only to catch her coming down somewhere else!

she goes in one hole

and pops out the other side.

we take turns on this big slide:

first i catch her

then she catches me!

doing some structure inspection:

"looks sound."

hey beebs! we've got some more time on our hands- wanna check out another playground?

"yeah!"

so we got back in the car and headed back towards mems' and teed's house to a playground mommy and i had discovered while driving around earlier in the week:

there were some cool new things to check out. bebe isn't sure why this thing has so many hugs and kisses on it.

and she had fun in the observation bubble

and climbing through the tunnel

and going down the slide

and climbing up this big-kid ladder! bebe can really put a new playground through its paces!

afterwards it's important to find some shade and rest a little.

kicking back and relaxing, beebs?

"only in body, daddy. in mind, i'm very busy."

thinking about what to play on next? or maybe what we'll eat for lunch?

"actually, daddy, i was considering the cave metaphor. y'know, from plato's republic?"

yeah, i'm familiar with it. i studied it in greek philosophy 101. IN COLLEGE. what you got?

"well, excuuuuse me. but i'm only two, mister big shot college grad."

yeah, and you can't read. so how is it that you know about the cave metaphor?

"uh... um... how about you crawl in here with me and i'll throw out some snuggles..."

hey look! i'm on tv!

"dude. you are so embarrassing sometimes!"

"at least we're the only ones here."

at least i don't pee and poop in my pants.

"that's reeeeaaaaal mature. whatever."

whatever this- NECK TICKLES!!!

hey, wanna go meet mems for lunch?

bebe's meal was mostly french fries and pickles, with water. everything a growing body needs. probably to stop growing. she's going to be two-and-a-half feet tall forever and it's all my fault.