all done!

the weekend went quick!

we stopped in hinkley for coffee and rolls.

browsed around some shops in Canal Park.  i got a postcard, mari a cheese cutter, katie a hat, and mom... something kitcheny, i believe.  then we went up to the olive garden for a late lunch.

arrived in two harbors--mom and i were first, so we worked fast to unload the car, fill the fridge and pick our beds. (she gave her spot to mari, tho, mom's do that sort of thing)  i was relieved everyone seemed pleased with our lodging.  we watched up in the air with geo clooney.  not too bad! and mom made pizza--whole wheat crust, her own sauce with cheese and one with pepperoni. 

saturday morning mom was up EARLY. mari and i were sleeping like kings in the loft; we woke up to mom making her tea, and generally banging around the kitchen.  maybe 5:00ish :)  we started chatting in our bed and didn't make it back to sleep.  fun needed to start before the sun!

  we drove north, stopping at the roadside park at the silver creek tunnel.  we walked a bit along the path. it was windy and fresh.  loved it!  then moved on to gooseberry falls.  most of the path was clear, we spent a lot of time enjoying the rush of the river.  in the summer, this park is so packed, you have to register to camp a year in advance.  it was fairly populated on saturday, too, but there was still plenty of room to breathe.

  we headed back (with a little stop at pamida for some necessities, which equals a broad easter candy selection and chips, and then a lighthouse drive-by) to our lakeside home-for-the-weekend for a lunch of grilled chicken breast, oven roasted asparagus and homemade mac & cheese.  there was way to much food!  mom and i planned 3 meals a day.  we should have known better!  there was so much munching and snacking and our meals were so huge...next time we'll plan breakfast and one meal.  how do you cope with leftovers when you are not at home?  there is no such thing as tossing it out in my family.  we ate the leftys, which eliminated the need for more cooking, of course!

  in the evening, we set our to watch precious.  i really didn't know the story, and was horrified just a couple of minutes in.  i liteally ran from the room screaming.  i can watch a mafia movie, with shooting and swearing and general goodfella roughness, but i absolutely cannot stomach watching any sort of abuse.  oprah, if you are reading this, i will never watch another movie you make.  some stories are really difficult to tell, but there are certainly ways of telling a story, illustrating pain, that are not graphic.  i do not need to see and hear an episode of child abuse to understand the climate in a disrupted family.  especially not rape of a teenager by the man in the house.  i don't know if he was the father, or mother's boyfriend, but i didn't watch long enough to find out.  in fact, i just left and went for a brisk walk down to the beach.  and had to stay there at the water's edge with the sound  of the waves and the cleansing breeze for a long time.  those types of images that i saw in the beginning of the movie do not leave my head quietly.  i have to shove them out.  and then... i didn't want to go back in the condo--first, i just couldn't go back if the movie was on, and second, i was embarassed about my reaction.  as i was running out the door, shirley tried to comfort me--we won't watch it, she said, but i just needed to move far away from the energy in that room.  the sunlight was fading, encouraging me to get back before dark.  nobody really acknowledged the fact that i had a major emotional response, but i simply accepted the difference between how i would want to approach the situation if i were in their shoes, and the reality of their quiet to the issue.  katie, shirley and mari went for a walk in the dark along the shore just as i returned.  they scouted out our morning driftwood, rock and photo extravaganzza.

   even with the time change, everyone was able to sleep a little later on sunday morning.  mom and i saw the sun come up.  that was marvelous! 

 we had fun on the rocky lakeside--mom said it probably wouldn't be as exciting if it wasn't a little bit dangerous.  she is a wild one!

  the others were able to stay a third night, but i felt that it would be better to save my husband's PTO for this summer, when i'm bound to be losing my mind and desperate for his help.  when i returned around 6:30 last night, to 64 degrees and no snow, the kids came bounding outside to greet me, and get in some more play time in the fresh air.  the puddles are much smaller than last march.  mama like.  this morning when suvi was up at 5:30, i really wished i were still in that condo at superior shores.  i missed my little family many a moment while up north, it is good to be home, but a weekend away was totally delicious.

  Oh! Saturday morning Mari was reading her coffee cup to us (at that time shirley mom mari and i were the wakeful ones), with the suggestion to say five good things to the person sitting across from you.  this was the type of thing that i was wanting to orchestrate, and it happened organically!  it was difficult at first to hear positive things about myself, but by the fifth compliment, we were all enjoying the positivity.