Two days, just the four of us in Dave and Debbie's river house. A few (mostly) nice family meals, one float in the rain, lots of relaxation. I can count on my fingers the number of days our nuclear family has vacation alone together since Sam was born. Don't get me wrong, I love our trips with extended family. But I treasure these days, just the four of us.
And then on Tuesday morning we began to welcome the masses. Chris and Annabelle drove to Gainsville (and Publix) to collect Becky and Benton (and food). Sam and I did a mommy-son run down the river that was actually really nice. I am seeing these glimpses of him growing up, these moments of him as a "person" you can hang out with, and I like it.
We moved over to the big rental house and hung out at the dock for the afternoon. Dave and Debbie arrived in time for dinner and we settled in for a week.
This trip was hot. I don't every remember wanting to be so "in" the river before (rather than perched on top of the 70 spring water). I had a few cool morning runs when we first got there, but those quickly turned into sweat baths. Oh how I love dipping into the cold river after a long run, peaceful morning, just me and the wildlife. Ahh.
Sam continued to master his river skills. He practiced jumping off the dock into his tube (and has been practicing that move in the pool ever since - he's really good now). He swam more on our runs, and even swam across the Sante Fe to go exploring in the woods on the other side. Always literally looking for a treasure, that one. And he did find a few! A tennis ball and an old glass coke bottle this year. More than once he negotiated/begged a ride back to the beach side from Uncle Benton. I think those two have a secret competition to wear each other out anytime they find themselves in the same vicinity.
Thanks to some creative tube layering, Annabelle was able to ride in her own tube this year! Y'all, there are times you look around and realize that, as parents, you are exiting the fog that is the baby years. Having both kids on their own tubes was one of those moments. She was pretty proud of herself, too. She also enjoyed more play in the water this year, each chilly dip gleefully greeted with an, "it's fweeezing!" exclamation. She could have jumped off of the big float to anyone that would catch her for hours.
Sam would have, too, but eventually wore all of the adults out. So he taught himself to jump in and swim/walk back to where he needed to be. I'm telling you, if we coach and push (er...parent?) him properly, that stubborn nature might actually work to his benefit one of these years!
There was more kayaking this year than I remember in years passed. Benton got the ball rolling, but all the guys (including Sam!) gave it a whirl. The consensus is: paddle upstream first!
Afternoons were mostly spent on the big raft. I kid you not, almost every single tuber that passed our house commented on the big raft. No, we did not float with it, mere anchored just off the dock. Sat in it, jumped off of it, ran across it (after many warnings not to pop it!).
We took turns cooking, ate desert every night, set off fireworks and twirled our sparklers. We roasted chicken and marshmallows over the fire. We fought over who's turn it was on the swing and watched Swiss Family Robinson for the first time (BTW, I grew up on a version that had been taped, yes TAPED, from the Disney Sunday Night Movie on ABC. It was edited. There are some long and boring adult chats in that movie that I had never seen before! Gommy...still got that VHS?). We played board games and watched Captain Ron (been in the family 8 years now, still don't get that tradition). I read most of a book! You might call that lazy parenting, sitting on the dock and reading while others entertain my children, but I call it "modeling a love of reading" for them, which all the books tell me is really important. We celebrated Papa's birthday. Papa "fixed Annabelle's hair" and "did her make-up!" We roasted chicken and marshmallows over the fire.
And so many golf cart rides. To and from picking up tubes and what not, looking for deer, or just because. And Sam began driving the Pilot. On Papa's lap, and Papa did the pedals, but it was all Sam on the wheel. Some day my kid will be an old man telling a story about how his Grandpa taught him to drive, a little bit at a time, every summer on these back-country dirt roads. And maybe someone will put it to music and turn it into a country music song.
Y'all, we were gone for a total of 11 days. That is a really long time to be out of town! I had to load my new, massive cooler full of a week's worth of food 3 times! We had fun, relaxed, laughed, but were ready to come home. Even the kids missed their own beds.
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