We headed out to DE on Saturday morning.  Simon and I enjoyed our first Sonic experience in Bridgeville.  Then we moseyed down to Jill and Brian’s for the afternoon.  The kids splashed in the kiddie pool and then we enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner at Chez Murphy before skipping off to Lums Pond. 

When we arrived at Lums Pond, we found, much to our dismay, that we had, indeed, packed the wrong tent.  (My muscles ache at the retelling of it.)  The diminutive ‘tentlet’ was without any spine or exoskeleton to make it work as a tent.  (The critical piece of equipment is probably tucked deep into a crevasse in our storage unit.)

We were also in desperate need of baby wipes, so Daddy and Simon left Daisy and me sitting in near darkness to go backtracking to the nearest Happy Harry’s discount drug emporium.

In our attempt to find the tent support, we created a mountain of various bags, towels, blankets and Daisy’s crate piled neatly beside the car.  With the car gone, it looked more like a mound of cast-offs from yesterday’s yard sale waiting for trash day.  So, that was sitting in front of me about 10 or so feet, Daisy was staked and chained (looking rather pathetic - wondering if we really expected her to spend the night outdoors) to my right, and I was sitting in a folding chair, foot rest extended, wrapped tightly in a dark gray blanket, and coated with impotent bug spray — my glowering face illuminated by the light of Kevin’s portable XM radio that he thoughtfully threw to me before driving off into the vast, dark night.

Okay, it wasn’t THAT dark because a couple - I swear! - were walking by and literally stopped right in front of our site, staring at the pile of cast offs from the truck, Daisy in her leg irons (I mean, chain) and me in my gray womb; oh, and I forgot to mention that Simon’s little chair and an assortment of his lovies were to my left.  I think I may have lowered my eyebrows and gave them a deliberate stare because they suddenly found their wits again and walked briskly down the road.

Daddy and Simon came back hours later.  No, you’re right, it was more like 10 minutes.  And announced that Happy Harry’s was closed.  Luckily, this did not prove to be a problem before we arrived home on Sunday - but we did take a huge gamble by not packing it in, at that revelation, and driving straight home.

We weighed our options and then settled on the insta-RV.  “What is the ‘insta-RV,’” you ask?  It’s a 2-door Explorer with an air mattress in the back.  The one person who thoroughly enjoyed the experience is Simon.  He was uberexcited from the moment we arrived.  He got a very restful night’s sleep and woke up ready to explore…around 6.  I took him for a walk to the pond and, as soon as he saw the water, his little legs were kick, kick, kicking.  As we walked up the path back to the camp site, he was singing about “Dada, Daady this” and “Daish, Aisy that.”

We left Lums at 7:30am and had a McBreakfast before arriving home around 10.

We have finally set a date for our move…July 23rd!  We’re very excited.  We’ll be near Nonni & Poppi and Aunt Adria & Uncle Howard…and Mommy will finally have a dedicated office space!  WhooHoo!

Master Simon is growing like a weed.  He will observe his 1st birthday in the new house.  We may not be totally settled in, but we will be at home.  For better or for worse.  And that, in itself, will be cause for great celebration.

Until recently, I’ve never considered the stabilizing beauty of baby steps.  I’ve normally charged through decisions with giant leaps…trying to get to the ‘greater’ thing in the least amount of time.  Sometimes at a ‘greater’ cost.  Now, with a family in tow, I appreciate and savour the planning for and anticipation of the greater thing.