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| Vacation 2010: Katie, Jonathan, and cousin Elizabeth at Hartwick Pines State Park |
Vacations can be tricky things, I've learned. We plan and we wait and wait and wait--with great anticipation--for those few luxurious days when the only agenda is no agenda, when the only things we do are the things we want to do when we're doing what we have to do--reading a book in the sun, swimming in the lake, hiking, canoeing, golfing, biking, shopping. How could this be anything less than bliss?
We waited and waited and waited--with great anticipation--for vacation 2010: a week at a cottage on Higgins Lake. And we certainly were not disappointed. We slept in and some of us didn't get dressed till noon, read books in the sun, swam at the lake, hiked, canoed, played games, laughed a lot, and just plain made lots of wonderful memories. We even added our Elizabeth to the mix, the sweetest and funniest fourteen-year-old niece and cousin you could have, making our week that much more fun.
But it's a myth to think that vacation isn't work, that we're living heaven on earth for a few days. A power outage that lasts for eight hours forces us into town for food and water and finds us amusing ourselves at Super Walmart. We discover that the woods aren't just filled with the sounds of rustling leaves, melodious birds, and rays of sunlight--they're filled with mosquitoes too. And how long it takes three teenagers traveling in a canoe to reach the landing at four miles an hour becomes more than just an algebra problem--it eventually becomes a funny story after everyone finds their place in the canoe. And you also learn that space is a good thing when teenagers and adults are living in the same place.
But in the end, the imperfections blend together with the squirt gun fights at the lake, the cute puppy up the street, the time when Jonathan nearly got left behind at the pizza place, our family watching a movie together or playing UNO, and Katie and Elizabeth's numerous hours devoted to . . . coloring. And you put it all together, and you have the lovely memory of vacation 2010.
(This post is dedicated to LRHG, who is tired of the kissing picture. Go figure . . .)
