the in between

our little family has been on the move this past month. not prone to traveling during the school year, we're taking advantage of the summer months, visiting friends and family as much as we can. after our trip to florida, we have had two weeks before taking off again on our next summer-trip. 

mawmaw, lauren, me, zu (clearly enjoying herself)

in the two weeks we got the chance to catch up with family on my father's side over memorial day weekend. little zu loved being the center of attention and i loved having my sister stay with us for the weekend. i would have never thought, while in the middle of the most-tumultuous teenage years, that my sisters and i would end up so close. conversations with them are like conversations with a long-known very dear friend.

that same week i had a chance to drive up north to visit heather & little milo. i don't get to see heather nearly enough, but i hope to make the drive up there at least twice a year. its hard to find an excellent friend like she is an excellent friend (and person in general). i like to have friends that i admire and want to emulate.

our babies had so much fun playing together--milo is such a charmer with the little ladies! its nice to have a baby-friend for zu that is so close to her age. 

and zu got to visit the zoo (zu at the zoo!) for the first time. at first she was mainly unimpressed (asleep) but later moved on to sometimes-looking-at-things. i can't wait to take her when she's a little older--for now her interest in animals is primarily centered on ralph and wallie, our cats.

~

now i'm in the midst of laundry and packing up for our next trip. i love packing. its one of my quirks that bryan loves best--i get so excited about trips, its all i can do to resist packing a month in advance. babies require a whole new level of packing. even to leave the house, there is packing. and woe unto you the first time you forget diapers while out! a rookie mistake. yep, i've made it.

so baby clothes diapers food bottles brushes burpclothes bibs shoes & etc, poetry books (hoping to write a few poems that make it through draft one--i've had a lot of false starts lately), teaching materials (for my independent study i'm teaching this month), swimsuits, summery dresses, bryan-clothes, all the odds and ends necessary.

i should mention, zu has her very own suitcase. its itty-bitty, care-bears, adorable. it looks exactly like { this one } and was mine when i was little. most of our trips i've just thrown her stuff in with our stuff but i think this time she should travel in style. 

we're setting out tomorrow night, at zu's bedtime, and driving the seven hours straight through. i'm drinking my coffee black. i like late night trips like that. it reminds me of our young-firstmarried-craziness, when we would stay out all hours and drive for miles and go on such big adventures. when i was young i used to think that marriage + babies would mean my adventures were over, while really this is the very most exciting part of my life. oh the things i would've missed if life had gone how i planned it when i was young! i'm thankful for divergent plans.

such lovely lifelong detours.