Vacation notes

We are in the middle of our vacation at J.'s aunt's and uncle's beach house up in Michigan. We have adult children tag teaming to get both time up here and to make sure the animals at home are taken care of. (Can I just say how wonderful it is to have such responsible adult children? They are all terrific.) It has been a great few days so far with perfect beach weather. We have swam, paddled kayaks, played games, read, done puzzles, napped, eaten lots of good food (J. grilled an amazing tasting turkey the other day), walked on the beach, eaten ice cream, and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. I'm not sure how many pictures have been taken. I know I haven't taken any, but I think TM has. We've just been too busy enjoying ourselves to worry about that. I also haven't blogged if you hadn't noticed. I haven't really thought about that either. In fact, this is the first time I've pulled the laptop out since we got up here. Here are some brief thoughts from the past few days.

• I've now read three of the books I brought up with me, and am sort of stuck with the huge non-fiction book I threw in. It's not quite what you would call beach reading, so I don't know what I was thinking. I should always just stick with light fiction for a vacation.
• I'm not sure we would have made it out of the house without significant help from children. A. and Y. helped make sure everyone got packed, D. made bread and granola to take along, and TM and D. collected all the food and packed it up for me. Even with all that help, I still had to bring the bills along to pay up here because there was no time to do it before we left. 
• Kenzie stayed at home. He came with us last time, but he is a little nervous by nature and never really relaxed and enjoyed himself. (Unlike Gretel who loved being at the lake.) He will be much happier at home where everything is as it should be and at least some of his people are around. Plus, he is an excellent guard dog for those people who are still at home. 
• Aster came with us. She was a little nervous at first, but has settled in and has had fun. 
• The younger people have spent long periods of time using the walkie-talkies here as they roam about the house and the woods. 
• We spent today picking up immense amounts of garbage from the beach. Please, people, throw stuff away appropriately. And fireworks leave tons of garbage behind. Just fyi.
• We have stopped looking at clocks and as a result our meals have become later and later, starting with late breakfasts from sleeping in, followed by late lunches after the beach, thus making dinner correspondingly late, even for us. It's a hard life, but we are managing.
• I was excited to find an Aldi up here, because otherwise most of the grocery stores have resort area prices.
• I'm still keeping an eye on the FB groups I help moderate. I really, really wish that social workers would do a better job of preparing families for adoption. We should not be fielding panicked pleas for help from parents who are not prepared for what older child adoption looks like. It makes me more than a little irate, and not at the panicked parents, though a little thoughtful common sense could go a long way.
• We were able to see fireworks from the beach. It was perfect. No sound for the more sound sensitive among us, and not crowds or parking to deal with.
• R. has (so far) managed this vacation quite well. I think because we've been here before it is familiar enough that it doesn't trigger her anxiety. 
• R. also really loves the kayak. J. has taken her out several times. What she doesn't love is when, because she doesn't have a good sense of balance or self-preservation, the kayak tips farther than J. can correct for and everyone goes under the water for a moment. We'll see if she gets back in for another ride after that little adventure.
• We think Y. might start to grow gills. She adores the water and spends as much time as possible in it. She also loves the kayak and does amazingly well at it. We realize it is one of those activities that doesn't require the use of her legs and the playing field is level for her.
• K. has become quite the paddle boarder. He has grown so much that the other day, when I came down to the beach and saw him on it, I at first thought that it was TM. 

And now, since I can't think of anything else to write and I am tired, I'll end here. I'm pretty sure I will be going back to total vacation mode, so you may not hear anything more until later in the week. Who knows? I'm taking a total break from making any sorts of plans right now.