Our summer has been extremely busy, which is kind of weird since we literally had zero plans at the start of it. We have spent several weekends at the lake which has been both a lot of work and absolutely delightful. It's always some amount of work to travel anywhere with two kids, especially when "camping" means sharing a small amount of space with four people. And never underestimate the amount of space and STUFF two little people actually need. I'm sure our neighbors thought we were leaving for months at a time when they saw us loading our car. We still have a few weekend get-aways planned, including a trip to Spokane this weekend for Alex's sister's wedding and then a mini family reunion with my side of the family in Big Sky in late August. We are going to take a day trip into Yellowstone National Park then because Alex has never been. Can you believe a person who has lived in Montana for nearly fifteen years has never been to Yellowstone? That is simply un-American if you ask me.
Being so busy this summer has proven to me that just because things with Cale are difficult, it doesn't necessarily mean things have to be impossible for him. Even though Alex and I haven't said this out loud, we refuse to put limitations on his life due to his disability. I think a year ago we would have made excuses as to why going to the lake or taking trips overnight were just too hard, but we've gone full steam ahead this summer and for that I am very proud. It's not to say that things haven't been hard and that those same emotions of self-pity haven't reared their ugly heads, but we've done it and had much success. Watching Cale find so much joy in swimming and driving the boat, playing in the sand and swinging from a rope swing, splash in the water and ride a wave runner has been the best reward we could ever ask for. He is such a happy kid and there really is nothing better than being able to watch your children be happy.
I also just have to say that we've had tons of help from our friends. We are so lucky to have friends that just "get it". They will take Cale and entertain him while we take a break to play with Riley, or even better they will take both of our kids to let Alex and I have a few minutes to ride the wave runner, water ski, or simply sit and have alone time. We are truly blessed to have friends that love us, and better yet, who love our kids. What would we do without them?!
Speaking of alone time, Alex's mom and dad took both kids overnight a few weekends ago. I cannot even begin to describe how much I looked forward to a night with just my husband. We truly acted like we did when we first started dating and in doing so I fell in love with him all over again. We had planned on going out to a nice dinner but at the last minute changed our minds and went to the local Pita Pit. We sat and watched the interesting folk that inhabit downtown Missoula which really could have been enough entertainment for the rest of the evening, but we decided to head to the mall to see if they had any good deals on summer clothes. (After all, we are headed to Cabo in February! More on that later) Going to the mall hardly says 'romantic' but we were both surprised at how much fun we ended up having. I think most of our fun was had when we decided to blow a dollar and buy a lottery ticket. Alex and I have now purchased two lottery tickets in our lifetime and each time we do, we end up buying at least ten dollars worth of entertainment. We were so sure we were going to win. So sure. So sure, in fact, we had already planned what we would buy with our millions. Dreams of extravagant cars and closets full of shoes raced through our heads. We planned trips and thought up ways to tell our family and friends of our newfound fortune. Sadly, however, all of our dreams were crushed when we got home and saw that our numbers were indeed not the winning numbers. Crap. Maybe next time. And the crazy part is that I'm almost positive there will be a next time. The highlight of our date night, though, came the following morning. We woke up around 5:45, got dressed, and headed to the golf course. That's right, the golf course! Most of you know that I used to spend all of my summers either working at or playing on the golf course. My only summer chore used to be having to practice. Those were the good 'ol days. Anyway, ever since we had kids I am ashamed to admit that I have only stepped foot on a golf course a handful of times. The longer I go without playing the more I miss it, which is why the only thing I wanted to do during our time without our kids was to play golf. And what better time is there to play than really early in the morning when the grass is freshly mowed and the the presence of dew leaves footprints on the greens. Even though it had probably been over a year since I last played, everything was pretty much as I remembered it, from the way I habitually plucked my golf glove off finger by finger and stuffed it into my back pocket to the way I twirled the club before stepping on the tee box. Man, I miss that game. We had so much fun together and it was so refreshing to just be husband and wife without the header of "mom and dad" proceeding us.
Here's to enjoying the last few weeks of summer!
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