Farewell, September!

As I type this, lunch time has come and gone on this last day of the month. I am back from vacuuming the van and spent some time with some wet scrub wipes giving the inside a good once-over. The vacuum at the local place suck in that they don't suck. There is still dog hair all over the floor. But it's a starting point anyway and hey, we're going to the beach!

All that's left is packing our personal clothing and items and loading that and the food into the van. And closing up the camper and getting it ready and hitched to the van. It is currently infested with small housecats and large houseflies. I plan to have it all done by the time Matt gets home so we can enjoy our evening together and not stress over last-minute this and that.

Poor Matt, I feel so bad leaving him behind, especially considering his huge aversion to being left. He routinely freaks out if I push the buggy out of the store while he is still fiddling with his wallet after paying for groceries. Heaven forbid I go down a different aisle and him not see me! He reminds me of Jake, who once threw himself onto the back of my car while I was just changing parking spots.

Speaking of Jake, he was just in here chatting about Anne Hathaway-again. I guess it's a step up from his pre-school years when was determined he would marry a blonde. This was after he opted out of marrying his sister, despite the fact she was the 'onwy gull I we eber lub.' At 2 and 4, they were surprisingly well-reasoned in their thought process, they held hands to provide a united front and Jake-of course-did all the talking when the engagement was announced, though she nodded now and then.
So many things go through your mind when your children decide to get married and so many more things when they decided to get married very young and even more when they decide to get married so young AND to each other. Luckily, Po came along and opened his mind to 'lubbing' someone other than Chanopolis without us having to delve into details of why inter-family weddings are a bad idea.

Well, back to the list, I guess. I still need to clean some more in the house, floors need some attention and so on. And the packing...I hate the last day at home and the first day of the trip, it's SO much work. Same thing when we get back-the long drive, the unloading of the van and camper, the 11 loads of laundry and a whole bushel of stuff from elsewhere that now needs to be put somewhere. The odd aversion to throwing away parking permits and campsite tags and ticket stubs.

Off we go

The Day Before

Up early to play...er, pack.

And test my camera!

Bokeh, bokeh!

The mythical and elusive FULL PAYCHECK.
I will never take base pay for granted again.

Green Day

So, I woke up with Matt-not on purpose but because he was so loud.
I decided to get some shots of the sunrise, but every time I do this, I forget that the sun rises behind a wall of pine trees and to see it before it's been up for half an hour requires putting on shoes and heading down the road a ways. So, I took pictures of other things, including my bed lights and the first full paycheck since January.

I have some vague plans to get packed today and maybe run a couple errands. Ben in particular has suffered a recent growth spurt and needs some clothes that fit. I would like a pair of shoes that magically cure the plantar fasciitis I have developed this year. I also, for the record, want a pony.

The weather for the trip is looking like sheer crap-t-storms daily after only 2 days of rain all month so far. I hope it will not affect the trip too much, I don't mind camping in the rain, but I don't like hiking to the bathhouse at 2 a.m. in the rain.

Link to the website blog about our trip! I can create pages offline and upload when I have a connection, it's easier to do en route than blogger.

http://www.roamschool.com/camping/trips/0709/ngtrip01.html