Year 2, Day 131: Vacation, Day One

Emily's sister said to she and I while we were discussing last minute arrangements "You guys don't like to travel." She was right, and it stung. We don't. That explains why we are packing as if we are 1)moving or 2)going on an ocean voyage. We just lack the experiene to do it correctly. From a long weekend to a week away we approach every trip as some kind of break-up with our house, to whom we must faithfully reproduce the experience of living in when we arrive at said destination. I find that people are often amused by our packing, and if I ever get around to writing down WHAT we actually pack, maybe I'll print it here.

Breakfast
1.5 Cups Kashi Go Lean/Heritage Flakes
1 Cup Blueberries (2 strawberries thrown in there)
1 Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
a little bit of Rice Crunch-Ems and Strawberry Yogurt Burst Cheerios thrown in the mix

Lunch
Salad with Roasted chicken (this consisted of four flat, thin slices)

Arrival Snack(s)
3 Handfuls of Almonds/Cashews (provoked by anxiety)
3 oz 50% Jalapeno Cheddar
A few bites of a nectarine
a few bites of cantaloupe

Dinner: Brio's
6 Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese
Greek Salad with Grilled Chicken, Feta, Avocado and Candied Pecans (I thought I could just eat around them, but I was wrong).

In retrospect, this seems like kind of an irresponsible eating day, but wait— there's an explanation (isn't there always?). I had packed all the cereal this morning so I couldn't do my usual "add a little more Kashi to the bowl" routine, but I knew it was important to be well-fortified for the trip. Arriving at our vacation house was anxiety producing for all the regular reasons— what did we get? In this case, there were other difficulties—the directions were so BAD that we were driving around for quite a while until we asked a hapless postal clerk with a mysteriously enigmatic accent for directions. Even his directions were mysterious; like a character from "The Usual Suspects." When we finally arrived, we realized it would not be the house of our dreams, but mostly because it lacked 1) central air conditioning and 2) unbroken screen windows. Oddly, out of all the cyberrentals in the world, Emily unknowingly picked for rental the first house my Father and stepmother moved in when they moved to the area from Long Island. They had rated it poorly, but from the pictures (online) that Emily sent them guessed it had been 'fixed up a little.' They were wrong. So when we got here, after a frustrating 20-minute 'lost' episode following a three hour ride, I was strapping the nut-bucket to my chin. Amazingly, our kids were nearly silent as we bickered amongst ourselves as to how to navigate the car. With some luck, and while it was still daylight, we arrived, unpacked, and got into the pool. Emily went to play tennis, and after a few laps with Ruby, I played an hour of tennis too. I hope to play an hour everyday while I'm here, and maybe swim that long too. I'd hate to have the next weigh in be another trip up the detecto scale.