How are we doing so far?

Well, we're are half way through our child free time and so far so good.

1. Have a picnic dinner at the beach - not yet but have gone for lots of walks on the beach
2. Have nothing but cheese and wine for dinner - we have but it's too easy (see #14)
3. Go sailing after work - not yet but sailed for four hours on Sunday
4. Invite friends out for a cocktail cruise - hard with the lack of wind in the evenings
5. Sleep naked - a necessity with the heat wave we've been having
6. Go to boot camp two mornings a week for three weeks - not quite but did go to Stand Up Paddleboard Pilates!
7. Watch at least three movies that are not cartoons or in 3D - saw Larry Crowne
8. Touch up all the trim that I started painting two years ago and is chipped again - DONE!!
9. Get all the carpets and upholstery cleaned - DONE!!
10. Sort the treasures from the junk in the boys' rooms - still trying to steel myself for this one
11. Ride Jazz at least two times a week - once a week is a better than not at all
12. Walk River every morning - he's been going to work with My Other Half early
13. Get the problem with my photos figured out and find out about storing them in (on?) the cloud (whatever that means) - haven't gotten up the nerve to call someone yet
14. Make some delicious dinners that the kids would never eat - lots of salads & seafood
15. Eat at at least one of the four newly opened restaurants in town - one down, three to go
16. Sunbathe by the pool - still not likely but it's nice to dream
17. Make mojitos with the mint that is overtaking the garden - not yet but made garlic scape pesto and have put it on everything
18. Put this wallpaper up in the powder room - it's ordered!
19. Take my Other Half riding - not yet as it's been so hot
20. Put up some new photos in the kitchen - have to resolve #13 first
21. Write the boys lots of letters now that the postal strike is finally over - have sent two each so far
22. Go down to the city for a girls night out - haven't made it to the city but have had one girls dinner and going out again tomorrow night
23. Recharge my parenting batteries in preparation for the other 5 weeks of summer - YES!

River enjoying his Only Child status

Saturday we head to camp for Visitor's Day. Not sure what to expect, last year was okay but we were picking up Number Three Son at the end of his ten day stay and he was very excited to show us his cabin and the Bio Hut. We didn't actually find Number One until we combed most of the island. He and his cabin mates were doing charcoal sketches on a distant rock (one of the reason I love this camp) Number Two was just coming back from a paddle with his cabin as we were leaving. I made the mistake of jumping off the barge to go and say goodbye and he got very upset.

This year I asked them if they wanted us to come and, if so, they had to promise to be happy for my sake as much as theirs. Number One will be out on his canoe trip and we won't see him at all and I am going to ask my sister if she, her husband and PJ would like to come to act as a distraction from any potential homesickness. I know the boys are all as happy as clams while they are there but they do admit that when they have down time (which is not very often) when they think about home. So we will just have to have a whirlwind tour of the island (for the 10th time), see the snakes (ugh) in the Bio Hut, have a picnic with homemade cookies and other treats. But since I will be single parenting as My Other Half won't be able to join us I will be strong for both of us and enjoy that moment just as we arrive when I see my boys before they see me. It is at that moment that you can see each one, not as someone's son or brother but just the boy they are and maybe even the man they will become.