An Update of sorts

In case anyone out there is actually still looking at this from time to time, an update would be the right thing to do. The last couple of weeks have been strange for me. For anyone who is unfamiliar with my family, my parents leave to go to the Czech Republic in about a week. So, the last few weeks have had various trips of going to get things they're not taking, and just visiting, and that sort of thing. I'm still trying to sort through how I feel about it. I imagine that my reaction will come (as it usually does) after the fact, or just right before. I tend to have severely delayed reactions. I'm not entirely sure why that is. All that being said, it all feels a little surreal at the moment.

In other news, the kids get out of school this upcoming week. That will start the pool trips shortly afterwards, I would imagine, since we opted to renew our pool membership this year. I still haven't made vacation plans. I had intended to be off the last week of April, believing (foolishly, as it turns out), that my work would have sufficiently slowed for me to do so. I started the busy season with six reports to get out - one was supposed to go mid-February, two by mid-March, and three by end of March. On April 1, a grand total of one report had gone out the door. Somewhere along the way I picked up another, so now, nearing the end of May, there are still three to go. Makes the whole "work-life balance" thing a little difficult to manage. So, when all is clear, I plan on taking some time off. My strong desire would be to arrange some time off and to also head beachwards, since that, I think, would assist greatly in the unwinding process.

Otherwise, our little family has been trooping along. Dalton and I went on his first overnight camping trip last weekend, along with what seemed like an ungodly amount of other small children. We went and found shark teeth in a small creek, fished, and then I basically sat around while Dalton ran and played with his friends. Still, it was fun. We had to set up our tent on a slight incline, because there were no flat spaces for us to set up on. Therefore, inside the tent, everything was slightly tilted. We went to sleep, and sometime during the night, I hear Dalton making "unh" noises. I wake up, look over, and Dalton's sleeping bag has slid to one end of the tent, and he is all squished into about two and a half feet of space. He's still asleep, though. So I just pulled the top of the sleeping bag up, and he stopped making the noise.

Maggie had her recital, although that's been probably a month or so ago at this point. She clearly enjoys dancing, and I hope she keeps it up. I can't remember exactly what she was (a periwinkle, or some sea creature, I think), but we bought the DVD so we can watch it at any point now and I can be reminded.

Our house is a wreck (as always), although hope remains strong that we will actually clean it up at some juncture. With additional inherited furniture and other goodies, we're rearranging a bit this weekend, so maybe some of the clutter will vanish. It's starting to look a little better, so maybe soon we'll actually have some semblance of a clean house. And that, I think, is my cue that I've said all that needs to be said for now.