Well, we made it back from our trip up north. O.M.G. how exhausting. Mallory is NON-STOP and I don’t know if she was pushing it just because my mom was there and she thought she could get away with it or what but she was out of control. She was still a very good little girl but when it came time for diaper changes or getting dressed, she would run away from me LAUGHING.
I’ve been going “up north” for probably close to 30 years now. Back when I was little, I would spend a week up there in the summer, helping with my cousins. Then when I got older, I would spend a week up there making sure the dock didn’t float away – heading to the dock at 10a every morning with my beach bag full of baby oil and magazines. And then when I got even older, I’d make sure stock of beer in the cooler was rotated on a regular basis, while making sure the dock didn’t float away. Plus my uncle has every single water toy you can imagine – jet skis, sailboat, Hobie Cat, kayak, canoe, ski boat, windsurfer. It’s awesome.
But since Rick & I moved to our lake, I haven’t spent a whole week up north and it takes a visit like this weekend to make me really miss it. I love Walloon Lake – the lake so huge and the water is so clear – but trips with Mallory aren’t as relaxing as my trips pre-Mallory were. My mom & I joked that two years ago when we went up – when I was pregnant with Mallory – we had to go buy a huge super-duper hard puzzle because we were SO bored.
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We arrived around dinner time on Thursday night and got to spend a little time with Uncle Nick & Aunt Pj. Mallory and I were sharing a room in the guest house and that was rough the first night – she was up in the middle of the night and ended up in my bed for the rest of the night. It sure is hard to sleep with size 5 baby feet in your face (she ended up sleeping better Friday & Saturday night and slept both of those whole night in her pack-n-play, thank goodness!).
Friday we met up with a good friend from grade school who was up north visiting her folks in Harbor Springs. We went to the Harbor Springs beach and Mallory got to play with her two kids – 4 yr old Addy and 2 yr old Teddy. Here are the kids having lunch:
Addy & Teddy showed Mallory how to build sand castles but Mallory was pretty happy just playing in the sand and in the water. It was great because it allowed me to just sit and catch up with my girlfriend. We have totally different interests (she has scrapbooks with pictures from different political stuff she has been involved in, I have scrapbooks of all the hockey arenas I’ve been to), but we are still good enough friends that whenever we see each other it’s totally easy to fall into conversation. I don’t think I still know exactly what she does but that’s OK!
Here we are at the Harbor Springs Beach:
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We stopped and did a little shopping on Friday on our way back from Harbor since my “Up North” shirt needed replacing. Then Mallory got to spend some more time with “NICK”.
Mallory very quickly learned how to say “NICK” and spent the ENTIRE weekend saying hi to him. HI NICK HI NICK HI NICK HI NICK over & over again. And when she couldn’t see him, she was saying “Where Nick go?”. It was so freaking hysterical. I felt bad because she wasn’t asking about my Aunt Pj but Mallory had a harder time saying Pj than she did Nick so I think that was why she was ignoring my aunt.
Anytime I needed some down-time over the weekend, I’d ask Mallory if she wanted to watch the Olympics and she would always say yes. I would go lay on the couch and she’d cuddle up on my lap and we’d watch whatever was on. By the end of the weekend, when I asked her if she wanted to watch the Olympics, she would say yes and then go run and lay down in MY spot on the couch – what a little turkey. I would get her to sleep for naps & bed while laying on the couch watching the Olympics. You can ask her to swim like Michael Phelps and she’ll start windmilling her arms. It is too cute.
Mallory watching the Olympics
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The weather was perfect all weekend, in contrast to the yucky weather we’ve had the past two times we’ve made this annual August trip. It was a bummer to have to come back so soon but I am happy to be home and back to our normal routine.
I need to get to bed so bon soir for now.
PS – Update on my triplet-bearing friend Jen – she is doing GREAT!! Off the contraction-stopping meds and contraction monitoring belly band thing and is allowed to go outside three times a day! Yeah!!