So we spent last Thursday through Sunday on Brooks Creek, an offshoot of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. It was fun to get away, to be on the road and see some new scenery. We stayed in what you might call a carriage house, a brand-new 3 bedroom (plus loft) apartment over a garage. The owners’ house was right there as well, something I didn’t realize when booking, but which worked out ok. “Mister Rob” and his wife were gracious hosts, and by the time we left, they were saying how we have to come back next year so they can watch the kids grow up. Well, I don’t know that I would go back, not because of them, but just because I didn’t fall in love with the area. It was very quiet and peaceful, and we all had fun swimming in the bay. The fishing and boating part could have been fun, if we had figured out the best places to go, or had our own boat. We were in a literal backwater, and most stuff of interest was at least a half hour away. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was that I didn’t like. All I can say is that in general, I’m more drawn to the North than the South.

But to be on a lounge chair four feet from the water, with temperatures barely hitting 80 instead of in the 90s, with the kids wandering around looking for crabs, frogs, minnows, butterflies and anything else they could snag with a net, and my husband engrossed in his fishing… that was nice. I also did no real cooking; we bought groceries in town before coming in, but it was stuff like frozen pizza. And no laundry, because there was no washer/dryer! And no cable or satellite service. (We did use the DVD player and the computer so the kids could watch stuff at times.) At night we played Yahtzee and Go Fish, and when the kids went to bed, I read. There was a clock in the living room that had Roman numerals. Doesn’t time seem to pass differently when it’s analog and not digital?

Awesome float

Kids loved the loft

Kitchen window view

This store was not as well-stocked as the one in VT

In Cambridge, the closest town

The kids were unbearable at times. The first night, I didn’t sleep well because of storms/kids, and my husband, as usual, didn’t sleep well any night. He and I had a tiff Saturday evening. I think I am ready for a kid-free trip with him, or a trip where we all go but the kids go to some kind of camp during the day and we go to the beach alone.

We didn’t spend very much: groceries, bait, one restaurant meal, and a trip to see Jurassic World on Saturday when it was rainy all day. Although we ended up buying more food than we needed, and had to leave some of the perishables there.

No recycling was available, so I saved most of the recyclable items and brought them home with us, just in time to put them on the curb Sunday night.

When we got home from Vermont last year, I was not at all happy to be home, because I lurved Vermont so much, but this time I was. It helped that the cat did not throw up while we were gone and that my awesome dad cleaned up a little inside in addition to pet sitting and plant sitting, so that we didn’t come home to chaos. The kids jumped out of the car and immediately picked up where they left off with their friends. So it was a nice mix of good to get away/good to be home.

Driving home, we were talking about the crazy pumpkin vines and how much they probably grew while we were gone. “We’ll find your dad wrapped up in them,” my husband joked.

There are about six pumpkins growing now between all the plants, I think. Next year I’ll have to remember that the vines grow toward the sun (duh) and give them more space to do that.

Monday morning, I harvested my first carrot. The patch in the back is a few weeks behind the couple ones in the front. I ate it right away and it tasted great! The tomato flowers turned into baby tomatoes while we were gone, too.

So my next trip is July 11. I’ll be heading to Binghamton, NY for my cousin’s bridal shower, with my sister and parents. Then at the end of August we go to the Shore for a week. Finally, Labor Day weekend we will all head up to Cooperstown, NY for said cousin’s wedding. That’s about 5 hours one way all told. On the ride home from Maryland, I was thinking that I needed to find a way to not bring the kids to Cooperstown. All the bathroom breaks and eating in the car and “how much longer?” — I was over it. I really don’t know how we made that trek to Vermont last year, except that I guess they slept a lot. Not to mention needing to clean up the rental house at the end of the trip, and the damage the kids wrought, including my younger son carving an X into a piece of furniture with a thumbtack. Over it. Some kind of grownups-only trip is definitely in the future, whether Cooperstown or something else. November is our tenth wedding anniversary, after all.