Vacation at the Lake Cabin

Kari, the kids and I returned yesterday from our much-needed vacation. We went to my granparents' lake cabin on Lake Sam Rayburn, near Broaddus, TX. This was the perfect vacation for us for a number of reasons: 1. It was very cheap. We only had to pay for the gas to get us there and back and the groceries we used while there; 2. It forced us to isolate ourselves with no television, phone, cell phone, computer, or any other connection to our lives back in Houston; 3. The kids got to experience the great outdoors, something that Kari and I have neglected to provide for them. We spent 4 days and three nights, sitting on the deck, playing in the lake, trying to fish, reading books, and playing games. The kids, of course, were thrilled to sleep in the bunk beds (just as my brothers and I were 22 years ago when we first went). They also enjoyed finding spiders, lizards, snakes, deer, and other woodland creatures.

At first, they were a bit intimidated, asking about the propect of bears, alligators, and other ferocious animals. I made the mistake of saying that there "might be" some skunks out there as we were driving along the dirt road towards the cabin on Sunday. I don't know for sure if there are, but I thought it could be possible. This was the wrong thing to say. For the next half a day or so, they both would enter new environments with much trepidation, saying "There might be a skunk in/out there." I finally had to reassure them that while I'm not sure about skunks, I hadn't seen one there in all of the years I came out to that cabin, so seeing one would be unlikely at best. Once they got over that fear, they had a much better time. The only other exception was that Regan didn't really care for the boat ride. We rowed the boat out to a buoy in the middle of the cove 3 or 4 times during our stay for us to swim and try to fish (we never even had a nibble). Regan would cry all the way out there and much of the way back, saying "I want to go back home," meaning our home in Clear Lake, not the cabin. Once we were out at the buoy, though, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. I've posted a short video of her tragic tale over on the podcast so you can get a good idea of what I mean.

So now we are back to work. The kids began Montesorri School today, and "real life" returns. I had 17 new voice mail and 36 new email messgaes waiting for me. Needless to say, I could have stayed another couple of days, but life goes on. I feel much better and well-rested, so I guess that means our vacation was a success.