This has been a fun week! My friend Suzanne and her husband rented a large an enormous house in the Catskill Mountains for a week and invited many of their friends to join them. The Big Giraffe, little giraffes, and I all packed our bags and headed down to their place. After several attempts to find the tape recording of a preschool class that I was sure was hidden under my seat (because there is just no way my two sweet cherubs could have made all that racket), interspersed with serious contemplation about sticking my head out the window for half hour increments, we made it there in one piece (per person).
The house was fantastic. It had a heated pool as well as a hot tub. During the weekend, all twenty of us lounged around the pool while Suzanne's BIL and friend grilled lunch and dinner for everyone. Lest you get the wrong idea when I say "grilled," I don't just mean burgers and hot dogs. Our dinner on Sunday night was a Mexican fiesta, including chicken and mushroom fajitas, and homemade guacamole. There were a couple of other families in and out during the week, but the boys also reveled in a lot of adult attention. After they were in bed, the evenings were filled with a variety of spontaneous but enjoyable activities, including groups of people playing board games and lengthy chats in the hot tub, including a memorable discussion with an ob/gyn friend about...um...interesting gyn topics.
As the week went on, the population of the house dwindled. The Big Giraffe and Suzanne's husband undertook much of the cooking, concocting grilled shrimp and scallops and roasted pork loin interspersed with the standard burger and hot dog fair and of course veggie burgers. They may not have had the flair of Suzanne's BIL, but the eating remained tasty.
A far smaller group of us passed an evening watching Heathers. When we found that the extras on the DVD included the script for the original "darker" ending, we each took on a role or two and gave it a reading. Yes, original ending really was darker than what they filmed. That is one messed up movie!
Although we did spend the first few days lounging around and in the pool, we enjoyed a variety of outings during the week. We visited a somewhat sketchy but clean zoo where we were allowed to hold some of the small animals, traversed the main street of a couple of quaint little towns, hiked a historic trail to see a famous series of carved rocks, and toured a farm where sheep's milk yogurt and cheese are made. We also saw a sheep in labor.
On the last day we went to what has been rated one of the safest water parks in the country. I believe they earned that rating because there is an enormous amount of space between the turns on the water slides. Seriously, the staff waited until an inner tub was all the way down the slide and out of the water before letting the next person take the plunge. It was nice, but on the other hand it took a long time. Fortunately, the park was was not crowded. The safety of the rides reaped another dividend. My younger son (YS) who just turned two was allowed to go on almost all the rides as long as he sat in my lap. While I was initially taken aback by this, not only did he do well, but he loved it. Just like the zoo, the rules seemed a little more lax but everything ended up being just fine.
The house itself was in a very remote area. We didn't even get cell phone reception much less internet access. Oh the horror! After struggling with a few days of internet detox, Suzanne and I went to the parking lot of a cafe with wi-fi after it closed. We would have gladly paid for the access had there been a way to slip some money under the door. Being ultimate geeks (stop smirking, Big Giraffe), the two of us sat in my dark car and whipped out our computers. In the process we scared away some youth who were also hanging out in this dark parking lot. I'm sure they couldn't figure what the heck we were doing. The Big Giraffe and Suzanne's hubby were convinced we were going to get arrested for suspicious activity. The Big Giraffe said that he was glad we had my car with us instead of his. He did promise to bail me out of jail if needed. Fortunately, our internet experience was uneventful.
Because I have completely lost my mind, my triathlon training buddy and I signed up a while ago for a triathlon for tomorrow. Yes, I just got back yesterday. Being aware of the triathlon kept me from eating as much junk as I normally would have. Thank goodness for veggie burgers! That awareness also forced me to workout while on vacation, which was a good thing because I always felt better after exercising. The heated pool made swimming far more comfortable, and running got easier when the town repaved the street in front of the house during the middle of the week. On the other hand, I don't expect the swim tomorrow to be as comfortable as the pool. It will be my first triathlon in a river. In fact, tomorrow will be my first swim ever in a river. Hopefully there won't be any floaters.
A. Elliot's Lesson Learned: It is possible to survive and even enjoy a week mostly without internet access.
Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 4.5 year old and a 2 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
For those of us who didn't get an instruction manual with our babies and for whom parenting hasn't always gone as planned. On a more serious note this blog is about supporting a woman's ability to make her own choices about parenting including the choice, for whatever reason, to bottle feed her babies formula.
That sounds like it was a great time.
It is quite difficult to survive that long without Internet, isn't it?