The Joys of Camping

I am shivering beneath a urine-soaked sleeping bag on a poorly inflated air mattress; my toe, which I recently broke by kicking Trevor too hard, is throbbing and my lower back is aching from the rigors of lifting Noel in and out of the pack n play. I'm lying there listening to some yahoos (it sounds like they're about six inches from my head) going on about f-ing this, f-ing that, as they have been going on all night. I went up to Moonshine with my friend Betsy, my two kids, and her three, leaving the men to follow the next day. It took us three hours to just get out of town; what with all the items necessary to stave off children's whining or certain death, we couldn't have squeezed a bottle of valium in her minivan. (Tsk, tsk.) Then we had to set up our tents (at least she had a clue, I could barely comprehend that the blue pole goes in the blue slot, the green one in the green slot), feed kids, put them to bed. So finally, I have no idea what time it was, I'm lying in the tent, hoping baby Noel won't wake up for the nineteenth time (I don't think she's a fan of camping; either that or her ears were freezing off). I am planning my elaborate, early escape from the trip, and willing morning to come so the nightmare will end. I could've kept smiling, even with the loud rednecks and infants, the aches and discomforts and aromas, but for one thing that pushed me right over the edge: the tent was positioned in such a way that the restroom light on a motion sensor shone directly in my eye.
Moonshine, never again.

Sharing a room...

We had planned on the kids eventually sharing a bedroom, which seems like a good idea for many reasons. I've heard they sleep better together (not as lonely) and it is nice to free up another room for guests or as a playroom or office. But it so happens we are doing it a lot sooner than is ideal. Here's a brief recap:
Night One: Went very well, once both babies were asleep. Getting them asleep was rough.
Night Two: Both were up way too late, one wouldn't let the other settle in. Noel slept fitfully, waking up several times, crying for a length of time, insisting on being carried around and nursed like a newborn, but this did not rouse Trevor at all. I don't understand how he could sleep through the racket, but sleep he did. I don't think she was having trouble because it's a new room (same crib, etc.); I suspect teeth coming in or some other irritation. That was a terrible night's sleep for all of us except Trevor.
Night Three (tonight): It is 8:30 and all's quiet. There was a small fuss when Trevor noisily crashed in. Having had no nap, he was not as rowdy as usual.

Major Update

Oops! I have been neglecting my loyal (although silent) readers. We have been busy enjoying summer, kicking off with Trevor's third birthday, which we celebrated at Avery park with a pirate party. Next I guess it was Father's day, and a few hot days of summer which I did not take pictures of. Mixed up in the middle of all this is buying & selling houses which so far has involved reams of paperwork arriving daily, most of which is for some reason in a foreign language. The gist of the ones I managed to decipher is mostly to obtain a signature acknowledging the receipt of some or another legal document. We will probably need a few extra boxes to move all the papers to the new house. Finally, today is the Fourth of July and once again I didn't take any pictures, but I assure you the kids were all decked out in red white and blue.

We're kicking around selling our house and buying a new one and it is stressing me out. My mind is coming up with really weird stuff, like I just closed my eyes for a moment and saw our and our friends' places as they would fall on a monopoly board, where we are the light blue property, one set of friend are red, another set is green (the rich friends, because we don't socialize with anyone on boardwalk or park place.) It's a creepy and weird sort of comparison, one that is not discussed or considered, but what can I say? It just popped into my head.

Hobbies

Trevor's latest greatest hobby is throwing objects, usually at people. Seeing as I'm the "people" he's around most, I'm usually the target. Today it was a softball (not so soft! No warning!). Yesterday as I sat on the lawn with Noel, he threw a small radio flyer wagon at us. Luckily his aim was off.
Noel, on the other hand, has the sweet new hobby of sitting. Yeah, that's it, just sitting there and watching various objects whiz by, and occasionally falling gracefully forward onto her face. She's all arms and legs now: When I pick her up from her crib after a long sleep, it's like a giant beetle with four waving kicking rowing legs.
Amazingly, Noel has not been hit by any of Trevor's wild throws. If she did, I can imagine just what he'd say: "What happened to she?"

That's My Man!

This morning, shortly after Todd left for work, Trevor said "I want to bike to work like Daddy." Need I say more?

How Does Your Garden Grow?

When I grow up and blog for a living-you know, ads and that-maybe I'll have a garden blog. I need an idea for a catchy name, though, something with roots or green or sprout in the title.
My first entry will be about garden themes. Not color schemes like purple and yellow, or hot or cool; not dull themes like butterfly garden, white garden (der, that's a color) night, cottage, native, drought tolerant, shade garden. No, it will be about themes that evoke the specific feeling of the garden or the intent of the designer. For example, the present theme of our front yard border is "Romp Freely." (How's that for a blog name, eh?). After ripping out a succession of beautiful, ill-mannered plants--yarrow, snowberry, fennel to name just a few still crashing the party--I unsuccessfully amended the theme: Romp Freely, with Restraint. I guess that doesn't work. Today, as I almost broke my shovel excavating a gorgeous Cape Fuchsia (phygelius for you fellow latin snobs), I came up with another one: Casual Restraint. I'm still working on exactly what that means, but I'm pretty sure it should be pronounced through clenched teeth.
Here are some other ideas to start the list, which I ask you, my faithful readers, to complete: Unbridled Optimism, Zonal Denial, Perpetual Motion, Too Much Festuca (insert other words, Too Much Centranthus, Too Many Irises, etc.), Lazy Hippies, Perfect Symmetry, Cottage Kitsch, benign neglect. What is YOUR garden theme now, and what will it be tomorrow?