Mark and Me Against the World

There will be several times this summer when Braeden and Emma are gone and Mark and I are on our own.  Friday was one of those days.

We went to the Children's Museum which Braeden and Emma have been too old for for a long time and Mark is very nearly too old for.

I cautioned him not to trample toddlers.  I explained how big and scary he is to them.  I described their limited ability to get out of his way.

I mostly wanted to avoid glares from their mothers pointed in my direction.

Oh, and I didn't want any toddlers trampled.  That too.

What I didn't prepare for was the the eventuality that Mark would spend 45 minutes in the plane.

45 minutes.

He flew to Chicago.  He orchestrated and then avoided a whole lot of turbulence.  He cautioned all the passengers to buckle their seatbelts.  He served food.  I sat on a bench outside the plane, berating myself for not bringing a book to read.  The last time we went to the Children's Museum, Mark was much younger and I needed to be more involved. 

Mark finally tired of the plane and was off and running (and more or less avoiding toddlers).  He ran up and down the treehouse steps five times just because he'd been sitting still for a long time and had energy to burn.  I trailed behind him.   He had me look in the periscope at the bottom of the treehouse while he looked in the one on the top.  We spoke to each other through a tube.  Later he commented about how we'd been on Skype together.  It's the same way he says to "pause" when he needs to interrupt or can text on my phone better than I can.  Weird.

In the early afternoon we headed to Leavenworth where Adam had been all week for training for work.  He had stayed at Sleeping Lady Resort which was beautiful.  I love going to eastern Washington.  It's dry there and has the same kinds of vegetation as Nevada.  These white flowers are all around my parents' house.  They're not particularly pretty or fragrant but they still make me happy.

I think that's a shadow on my foot...not leprosy.

Mark and I wandered a little while we were waiting for Adam to be done.  When we met up with him we went swimming.  On the drive there, Mark said, "I can't wait to go swimming!"  Poor kid.

He never gets a chance to swim.

After I finally dragged Adam and Mark out of the pool, we went to the fairly posh restaurant at the resort for dinner.  It was sort of wasted on Mark.  He didn't really like the food.  It's chef's choice and buffet style.  They had lamb chops and swordfish.  (I, of course, went for the swordfish...I don't like to eat anything cute.  Beef, yes. Veal, no.  Lamb, definitely no.)  Mark had some soup and lots of fresh berries and chocolate milk.  I gave him a bite of my extremely rich, extremely dark chocolate dessert and he swooned.  There's something very endearing about a little boy with tousled hair and grubby hands swooning over dark chocolate.

pictured here with creme brulee...when in doubt, have two desserts

Kind of makes you think that despite everything, you did something right as a mother.

The kid has good taste.