3 days till 'cation!

That's what the kiddos are calling it this year - 'cation - without the "vay" in front. And boy are they excited - as we all are! Eva woke up early from her nap today begging to go for a boat ride. While we did move to a near-vacation like home, we don't have boats! And Eli proudly named off everyone who is coming this year. It is close tie for favorite between Sara (Tim's girlfriend) and Poppa. Eva is enamored of Sara and can't wait for Sara to "hode you" again (which is what she says instead of "hold me"). It's going to be a blast!
The grown-ups are ready, too - although our new home has been a lot more fun than the old place - I'm more tan than I've been in years (yes, Tim and John, even through 50-70 SPF), Eva knows how to swim now with only arm floaties, and every day we visit the toads living under our toddler basketball hoop in the backyard. But, there is still a lot of work to be done here, and it will be wonderful to take a break from the to-do list to go up to Cedar Rapids Lodge. One of my neighbors was asking me about our vacation and wondered if we could stay in town for the weekend to do the neighborhood garage sale. I tried to politely decline, but when she said, "Can't get out of it, huh? Family reunion type thing. . ." in a kind of "poor you" tone, I had to hold myself back - WHAT? This is the best vacation in the world - and we've been going on it for 20+ years now, and no, I can't miss the drive up, because that's part of it - we eat at the same place for breakfast, and stop at the Mall of America, and then on Saturday spend the last 50 miles on the edge of our seats, desperate to get to good ol' CRL. I never want to get out of it - I hope my kids are still hauling me along when I'm 80, with my Rascal on one of those ridiculous little trailers behind their car :) It is the gauge by which we measure our entire year - I have not put pictures in my albums since last July, and hopefully, as usual, I will catch up again this year. Many of the gifts we give each other are destined for use at CRL - rockets, fishing gear, swimming stuff. It's hard to explain how much I love this trip to people who don't go on trips with family to places that don't have air conditioning - it's kind of like a club. We even have shirts (I personally have about 7 in my current wardrobe)!
Ah, well, I better get back to packing for this fabulous trip - or I'll be borrowing Eva's pants!