longing

My two days away from the kids were - predictably - no big deal. The kids were fine for both MB and my parents, and Nico reportedly started asking when he got to go spend the night at Grandma's as soon as he got up Thursday morning. I got to go to one of my favorite state parks and learn fun stuff and feel like I was with My People. There was an ice waterfall and a night hike and I got to read in bed, which I can't do at home since Elliott still sleeps in our room. The training kept me so busy that while I missed the kids, I didn't have much time to think about how I was missing the kids. A bunch of the people I met were my age with kids in the same age range as mine, so we got to talk about our kids and that helped, too. I got the boys really cute stuffed birds from the park (a barn owl and a turkey vulture) and pretty well enjoyed the drive. It was long (looooooooong) but I made a huge mix of songs that I enjoyed belting out shamelessly in the car. So yeah...glad I went, had a good time, all survived.

An unexpected side effect of the very short walk I took during our break on Thursday is that now I am longing to go camping. Pining, even. We have a trip already booked for the first weekend of May back at the park we loved last year, and now MB and I are flirting with the idea of taking the boys here over a weekend in April. I fear the baby will be in an awkward transitional period - not content to sit as much as he did when we camped last fall but not walking yet; no longer only subsisting on nursing and bottles, but not ready to eat actual food. Surely it'll all work out, though.

Ice waterfall, which was actually a free-standing ice pillar, not connected to the rock at the top. Well worth getting muddy feet.