Out of the Wild

 I am back from the wilderness and no worse for wear except for a nasty scratch on my leg that I sustained in an epic battle with a wolverine. Those claws will mess you up! Wait. Did I say wolverine? I meant fingernail. Damn. The English language can be so difficult because the words all sound the same. This reminds me of a co-worker who once told me and my friend Kristin that she couldn't tell us apart because our names sounded the same in her language (Spanish). Vikki and Kristin - those confounding Spanish homonyms! Sorry...I had to share that little memory with you.

So, back to the trip...it was good. The weather could have been better. We only had two days of sun and the rest of the days were gray and cold. Still, good times. There was also a miracle. Lo, two angels came upon me and said, "Fear not. We shall not annoy you at every turn and shall not distract you from your leisure pursuits by hyperactivity and unreasonable demands" and it was good. That's a fancy way of sayin' that I really truly appreciated my kids and realized that they are good peeps. I mean "peeps" in that hip, cool slangy way not in the marshmallow way because if they were "peeps" of the marshmallow variety, I would have no choice but to roast them on an open fire and then eat them and I think I might get sick from eating nearly a hundred pounds of charred marshmallows. Plus, it would be a little creepy...especially if they looked like marshmallow versions of themselves. Now, I'm laughing because I'm picturing everyone I know peepified. Hello Luisa - you look adorable covered in yellow sugar!

I fished, swam, laughed, read books, wrote, drank, looked at the stars, admired the lake and wore a red cowboy hat (but it was just that one time and there were some caipirinhas involved). Speaking of caipirinhas, I perfected the art of making them. The secret is crushed ice. Crushed ice in a caipirinha will likely change your life. I'm writing a book about it and then I'm going on a big tour that will be called "Curing Crushed Lives with Crushed Ice". I'm expecting some crossover success with trauma surgeons. I won't be serving drinks at the readings because I am reminded of that old proverb that says:  

If you give a person a caipirinha, you quench her thirst for a day but if you teach her to make her own, she'll drink for a lifetime.

Really, I just want to help you help yourself.

I have to "dash away, dash away, dash away all" pretty soon to pick Zeca up from Camp Kici Yapi. Before I go, I wanted to remind you all to enter the tagline contest because I want a kabillion entries by Wednesday night and, though she is trying, Ali can't do it all by herself (Keep going Ali - I love it!). Some of you are feeling shy, I know. Lie down until the feeling passes and throw your taglines out there! I'll laugh with you. I promise.

You can see our vacation pictures here. Beautiful lake. Happy kids. Relaxed parents.

p.s. I only got six hours of sleep last night.

p.p.s. If you read the entirety of this post, that first p.s. was probably pretty obvious.