Toothpaste in the sink on the mirror, on the wall   A forgotten trail of toys, Littered down the hall   Half of a sandwich, 4 days old Left in a lunchbox,  covered with mold   Backpacks and shoes, dropped by the door Clothes never seeing inside of a drawer   Clean bathroom towels, in short supply Wet bathroom towels were not hung to dry   Fingerprint smudges all over the glass Dirty hands touching it, each time they pass...

“I’m sure there will be many stories that come out of this trip. Even if it rains on us, bears eat our food, and we come back with ticks and a horrible case of poison ivy….it will make a great blog post, right?” 1. It rained on us, a lot. 2. No bears, but raccoons tried to eat our food. 3. We came back with 1 tick…so far. 4. Thankfully, no poison ivy. It was quite an adventure, and the weekend didn’t disappoint as far as stories go. We came back with so many great stories. I think that may be the point of camping after all. So that the next time you camp, you can say, “remember the last time when…….” Here is what we will remember. Going camping takes a lot of preparation. You have to think about every little detail, every thing you will need while you are gone from clothing down to dish soap. The frustrating thing is, you need all of that weather you are going for one night, or one week. We packed more food than we needed, and were on our way. FYI…it’s important to have a few empty bottles with tight fitting lids in the car when traveling a long distance…especially when traveling with boys. I’m just saying. We arrived at Juniper Springs Campground at around 5 pm. It had been clear on the entire hour and thirty minute drive, until the last 20 min when it started raining. Of course it did. When I pulled up to check in, I tried not to read into it when the ranger asked me what other adults where with me. None, I said. You are by yourself with the kids? When I said yes, she gave me a long...

I don’t know how it happened, but we are coming to the end of summer vacation. We have three weeks left before school starts. Three weeks to fit in all those fun activities that I thought we were going to do while the kids were out of school. Three. Weeks. So what have we been doing all summer? My husband and I have been working. That is new for me this year as I usually don’t work during the summer. I am usually free to be spontaneous, my favorite thing to be, and we go with the flow of the summer breeze. Whichever way it may blow. My kids on the other hand, have NOT been working. Quite the opposite. They have been staying up WAY too late, sleeping until after lunch, and then spending way too much time killing people on the t.v.. Now, I know it’s summer, and it’s ok if they do some of this. However, it really bothers me that they are not out swimming in the pool that NEVER gets used, or playing basketball or something outside. (To be fair, my oldest son does go long boarding very regularly. He is exempt from that complaint.) My youngest son who is 12, even though he is the worst at getting sucked into the virtual world, is the one who most wants to have some sort of an adventure this summer. He has been dying to go camping. He has been asking, no…begging,  all summer to go camping. Our family has camped often. We really enjoy camping. Maybe I should restate that. The boys and I love camping. Todd tolerates it. I think he enjoys it once he gets there and  the work is all done. That’s the problem with camping...

Music has always been a part of my life. For as long as I can remember, I have either been listening to it, singing it, or playing it. It is a part of me. I think it is genetic. My mother is the oldest of seven kids, and all of them are musical. They sing, or they play instruments or they do both! They were even in a band together as teens/young adults called The Loved Ones. It’s no wonder why there was always great music on in the house when I was young. I learned to love the best. The Beatles, Crosby Stills and Nash, The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull, The Doobie Brothers. I have great memories of our family get togethers being a great big sing along. Someone will pull out a guitar, and we  break into Suite Judy Blue Eyes, or one of the many Beatles songs they know. As I got older  and developed my own taste in music though, I don’t remember my mom’s musical appetite growing with me. There were some things we agreed on, but I definitely had my own genre. She fell into that stereotypical parent role of “Turn that garbage down”. It was not garbage by any means. This was the 90’s you see. In the heat of the grunge movement. I have to admit, I was a sucker for the dirty sound of bands like Pearl Jam, Jane’s Addiction, Alice In Chains and Nirvana. If I hear them today, I still want to close my eyes and lay my head back and “get lost” in the music. If I concentrate hard enough, I can almost smell the incense burning, and hear my mom banging on the door telling me to turn it down. Now,...

I’m hungry I’m starving I think I”m going to die   My children say this, with a dramatic sigh   I’ve cooked They’ve eaten They each cleaned their plate   Yet here we are in this food debate   It’s bedtime No eating You should have had more dinner   They try to convince me they are growing thinner   So what Big deal You aren’t going to win   I smile at them with my patronizing grin   Eyes rolling  Tummy’s grumbling They hit the sack   I sit down to enjoy a little snack -Beki...