Closet sleeping and other observations

We're at the beach in Bethany Beach, Delaware. We come here every summer with Ben's family, and it's one of the most fun things I get to do. I love it!

We rented a car to drive over, and on Friday I busted my butt to get my house totally clean, all the laundry done, and things packed in a way that would facilitate the trip. I must have climbed my stairs 70 times, even to the point that I was sore the next day. I now have infinitely more respect for my mom's preparation when I was little, that I didn't even know happened!

So, to the point of this. Bee has decided that the best place for her to sleep this trip is a closet that's about as wide as she is long, and about as deep as the length of my forearm. She was so excited about it, it made me think that the world would be a much better place if we were all content to sleep in a space just big enough for us.

Similarly, I've been really glad lately that I'm kind of a minimalist parent. By this I don't mean in terms of the attention I spend on my kids....I mean all the STUFF that people try to convince you that you need for kids. We had about 4 hours worth of kid movies (Veggie Tales and Clifford the Big Red Dog) on my teeny computer that Bee could watch, and a magnadoodle that was a cool new toy for her. We were on the road for about 15 hours, and not once did she do that "I want to get out of the car/are we there yet" thing. I firmly believe that the reason she is so self-contained is that she doesn't expect to be constantly entertained.

Tangentially, we took 40 over for part of the trip instead of coming all the way over on 70, just to break up the monotony. It was BEAUTIFUL! I really like small-town America, and we drove through the Eastern version of mountains, all greeny and misty. It was gorgeous.

Best of all, I got to eat boardwalk fries. I'm loving life.