July 24, 1991

Andy's ready for a vacation, too.  We get a late start due to the fact that I don't have a key to the van.  JoAnna makes a special delivery.  While we're waiting, Andy sits on my lap at the kitchen table and we play "War" and "Candyland".  I know I won't be able to stomach Barb today, so the boys and I leave her behind.  I think she was expecting to accompany us.  Why?  She got dressed for a change.  Andy and I play miniature golf and then we join Mom for a picnic on the Capitol lawn.  Andy takes me on a walk to the pet store on State Street, giving me a thorough guided tour inside.  We stop at JoAnna's office to pick up Eddie to return home, as I had planned it, but Andy insists that we go to the zoo.  We have a great time there; both boys are angels.  By the time we return home, they are sound asleep.  Later in the evening, we cook hamburgers on the grill.

July 23, 1991

I'm up early and leave the house by 7:30, stopping at the library to see if there's anything of interest on my desk.  It does seem that the library is in unusual disarray.  Monday must have been a killer circ day.

I eat breakfast -- French toast, no appetite for eggs and potatoes -- at Olde Town Inn, then get my hair cut.  I spend the rest of the morning doing yard work:  trimming the shrubs and mulching a weedy area under the forsythia.  After feeding Eddie lunch, I spend nearly two hours on the bedroom floor with him, oftentimes content to watch him interact with anything he comes in contact with.  He's so animated and alert.

Once he takes a nap, I think about taking a bike ride, but only get as far as washing the bike.  When Eddie wakes up, we play on the hammock until JoAnna and Andy return home.  We go to Nautigal for supper, then after dropping off, the Club for volleyball, my first team appearance.  I play terribly but then so does everyone else on the team.  Self-fulfilling prophecy?  Where is my reserve of self-esteem?

July 22, 1991

The heat wave continues into my first official day of vacation.  Already I've having mixed feelings. Shouldn't I have more exciting things to do planned?  I settle for a domestic approach to life.  I take Eddie to the doctor to have his ears checked.  The infection is gone but a little fluid remains.  The plumber arrives during the early afternoon to fix the bathroom faucet, after a year of drips.  It's too hot and I'm too lazy for a bike ride so I go shopping instead.  I find some frames for my magazine advertisements.  Until JoAnna and Andy get home, I continue my 1968 taping.  We go out to Pizza Hut for supper.  Cool weather arrives during the night.

July 2, 1991

I kiddingly remind JoAnna to make sure she takes her portfolio to work.  I want no interruption this morning, as I've given myself a long list of chores to do.  Like take out the garbage, which this week includes sawing the changing table into bagable pieces.  Disassembling the entertainment center that we moved into the garage last fall.  Organizing the contents of the garage.  Performing some routine bike maintenance.  I'm a greasy, sweaty mess by 11.

As promised, I take Andy to Hardee's for supper.  He can't sit still the entire time we're in the restaurant.

Vacationland, Michigan

From a 1955 issue of National Geographic.

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