Camp-Outs and Vacations

I've realized lately that one way to dodge the creeping threat of daily-life-monotony is to pretend to be on vacation.  I think about how I feel when we set foot in Boston, Vermont, or any new locale, and recall what it feels like to see things through fresh eyes, unencumbered by routine.

As a result, we've been "going on vacation" a lot lately.  It's more a mental effort than an actual one, since we rarely venture far...oftentimes our vacations are as simple as a drive to a quaint town down the road to walk around, grab a snack, and pretend we just hopped off the train.

Recently, we were downtown for one of Joshua's regular visits to his opthalmologist at Children's, and we chose to turn our doctor's visit into a trip to the Lincoln Park Zoo and a nice stroll in the beautiful neighborhoods in that area.

This...

Children's Lobby...pretty fun!

A cutie playing with clinic toys.

Turned into this...

In case you can't tell, he's really excited about this particular vacation.

Blurry photo of a Sun Bear, mainly included because it's now one of our nicknames for Joshua.  We see similarities.

Last night it took the form of a husband and wife living room camp-out.  Admittedly this was more by necessity than for novelty (we're under heat advisory here, and just installed a window unit in the living room), though we chose to make lemonade.  We blew up the air mattress, popped a bunch of popcorn, and turned it into a movie night.  We did this a lot as newlyweds too, and it brought back memories.

Regardless of the form it takes, I firmly believe that it's important to try to be as present as possible in our days, and a great way to take steps in that direction is to see our moments through fresh eyes.  Drink it in.

Enjoy some vacation today.