The weekend in Stuff

Busy, cold, and fun weekend. It was nice to get away and have some real extended alone time with just one of my kids and really focus my attention of her. Part of me wishes I had done this periodically with each of them as they were growing up. I suppose I still can, but it would have been nice when they were younger.

On Friday evening, we sent Olsen and Darren off on their romantic excursion in the mountains and then finished packing up the car for our own trip. We weren’t leaving until Saturday morning but we wanted to leave early.

Pizza and salad for dinner, shared with Mercer, at one of our favorite places in the South End. Nothing fancy, just like pizza should be. Then we went to bed early.

Saturday we were up early and jumped in the car. We stopped for coffee and then hit the highway. There had been a part of me that wanted to leave Friday night like Olsen did, but the traffic was so much better in the morning that I didn’t regret that decision at all.

First stop was Kittery, Maine. We have a few favorite stops there like a candy shop and a kitchen supply place, but then started the random other shopping that Harry had picked out. I mostly followed her around, approving or vetoing her wishes. She’s constantly buying clothes even though she has plenty, and now she’s buying more and more stuff that is just a little too revealing for her age. Well, she’s not buying much of it because I’ve been putting my foot down.

Lunch and then we continued north. We stopped at a dairy farm we like and had some milk, which may seem weird but it’s a tradition that we always do whenever we’re in the area.

Then we stopped at a map store. Another tradition.

Finally in Freeport, we went to the campground and set up. We had a nice evening together just hanging out and talking by the fire. We cooked some food and crawled into the tent early because it got cold out.

Sunday morning we made some coffee and breakfast and then went into Freeport for some more shopping. I picked up a few more camping supplies, but Harry was mostly interested in clothes. Fortunately LL Bean doesn’t sell anything particularly sexy.

We had lunch at a Mediterranean place we like. It’s funny, as I’m writing this, how often we take trips similar to this one that we have so many traditions.

The whole day was spent shopping, which Harry was fine with but I admit I got a little tired of it after a while. I was happy to see her happy though. Finally we made our way back to the campground and cooked some more food over the fire. Harry and I had a really great conversation Sunday night and I’ll probably write more later about what a good experience this was to communicate with her so well.

Yesterday morning we packed up early and were back in Boston early enough for Harry to go to the second half of a school day, but we decided to take the day off. I sometimes feel like a bad mother when I keep her out of school for non-emergency stuff, but I’m glad we had this weekend together.