Well, in a few days, I’ll be heading back to oh-so-sunny (& hot & humid) Raleigh. I’ll be coming back to the same job, but in a different location. I’m sure the yard needs mowing unless, of course, my neighbor has gotten around to doing it in my absence. Even if he did trim the lawn, there is now a plethora of unwanted vegetation growing in the flowerbeds and along the house. As an aside: I really, really hate hickory trees.

Things done:

• Pictures taken, some of which have already made it over to my Flickr page. I’ve even learned how to streamline my workflow when dealing with digital photography.
• Relaxation with family, although I think I spent way too much time farting around with the computer to be really useful. The lads at work who saw me on IRC all the time probably would wish I would turn the damn laptop off as much as my wife probably did (sorry, Michelle!).
• Went swimming. When you have a small above-ground pool like my mother-in-law’s, this translates to horsing around and splashing each other. But mainly it involved toting around Isabella in the water. Man, that girl can’t get enough of the pool. I foresee swimming lessons in the near future.
• Eating good food. The diet commences upon my return.
• Reading. I read them by Joyce Carol Oates. To say that this was not an uplifting book is a vast understatement. That said, I’d recommend it as a stark view of generational poverty in Industrial America (mainly Detroit) right up to the 12th St. Riot.
• Watch crappy TV. Don’t get me started on bad Lifetime movies.
• Pick berries. I spent 33 years of my life not picking my own strawberries and cherries, to my detriment. This is one thing I want to do again. There’s nothing like eating fresh strawberries off the vine (or cherries off the tree).
• Saw some old cars at the local Cruise Night. Took pictures of this for my friend Eric B., who has this thing about cars.
• Visited a crafts fair in Lyndonville for the Fourth.

One major disappointment: we were going to visit the Strong National Museum of Play tomorrow, only to find out this evening that the museum is closed for massive renovations until July 14th. Michelle and Isabella went a few months ago and couldn’t stop talking about how incredible it was. We even had Isabella really psyched about seeing the Sesame Street exhibit. I guess it’s better that we found out tonight by looking at their website rather than find out in person, Griswold-style.

All in all, a good little vacation.