June 24, 2012—lazy, hazy days

According to the official calendar of the King Kompound (aka: the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System calendar) we are about four weeks into our summer. Thus far, as Nat King Cole used to sing, I’ve had plenty of the “crazy,” but very few of those “lazy, hazy days.” But I guess that’s just life.

The seasons determined by the tilt of the earth on its axis have very little bearing on the level of activity in most of our lives. Sure, there are the occasional happenstances of a seasonal nature which ramp-up activity levels (Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc.), but for the most part, life is always pretty crazy for us. I try to keep things in perspective, but sometimes it is difficult.

I know that the reason we are busy running kids to-and-fro is because they are healthy, active kids, therefore they have things to do. The reason our schedule is full is because we have jobs, church and civic commitments—all good things. But sometimes it feels too crazy and you just want to stop the roller coaster ride and get off!

Pretty soon we will enter another phase of our household life—two of the three kids will be in college (one here at APSU and the other is heading to UT in Knoxville), so we will have a little less activity in the house. Thank goodness this is gradual or I’d be experiencing “lazy, hazy” at a home for the mentally deficient!

 

 

 

In the meantime, bring on the crazy with our upcoming family excursion to the aforementioned (my column from April 22nd) second favorite place on earth. The area is known as the “Northern Neck” region of Virginia; it is located on the northernmost peninsula of three located along the Chesapeake Bay. We will enjoy boating, fishing, hammock rocking, great food and even better company. This is how it is going to play out . . .

We all pile in the “family truckster”—a 1993 Suburban, held together by prayer and our dear friends at Auto MD on Seven Mile Ferry Road—and head east. We stop driving when we see water. We will start the fun at Nikki and Bill’s (my sister and brother-in-law’s) RV they leave at a park there. It is big and comfortable, but will fill-up quickly with our family of five, Nikki’s family of five and Kendall’s family of four. Needless to say, Mom will be skipping this part of our adventure.

She will join us on day 3, when we move to the cabin our cousins so generously allow us to borrow now and again. It is much more spacious and allows us to spread-out a little more, but we will have equal amounts of fun at both locations. The additional bonus at the cabin is the fact that is right on the Nomini Creek. We walk off the porch and within a few steps we are on the dock. From there, children will perform their antics (which they believe resembles “diving”), kayaks will be launched and Uncle Bill will push-off more times than we can count to pull a tube or throw some fishing lines. Our biggest concerns all week will be: is it jellyfish free zone and do we need more ice for the coolers.

Cue the “lazy, hazy” and check my pulse.