Breathe

It has been crazy busy with Anna's visit and this is probably the first time since her arrival last Friday that I've been able to breathe a little bit. Anna's hanging out with AirForceguy tonight and so I have the evening to myself. Nice. The last few days have been filled with much laughter, tears, and stories, that I don't even know where to begin. It's been so refreshing to have this time with Anna and the last few days with her have me wondering why I am living so far away from Vancouver. I think about that for a while, but then I remember my reasons for why I am living out here in the east coast instead of the west coast.

So Friday night AirForceguy picked up Anna up from the Airport and took her to my place. We had dinner at Buca DiBeppo and ended up spending the rest of the evening at Target - my happy place. Who would have thought we could have so much fun shopping at Target on a Friday night? This may sound incredibly loserish (is there such a word?), but we seriously had a great time there. I honestly cannot remember the last time when I laughed so hard and with all the ruckus we were causing in the store, it's nothing short of amazing that the Target people didn't kick us out of there. Some of Airforceguy's co-workers are travelling out to Niger to do their Airforce work (secret mission kinda stuff), and so Airforceguy asked us if we wanted to donate some toys, books, crayons, etc... for his co-workers to bring out to Niger with them. And no, the Airforce guys aren't going to color and play with toys while they're out there. They are going to an area that is quite impoverished and have asked for donations to give to the kids they will come in contact with out there. Hence, our trip to Target. We filled our cart with small toys, crayons, notebooks, matchbox cars, and other knick-nacks. In the end, we closed out Target. Yay us.

Saturday I worked with the teen adoption group I've been facilitating all summer and then met up with Anna and Airforce guy. We walked around Chinatown and perused through the Reading Terminal Market Place, where I got one of the biggest shocks since I moved out here. I ran into an old college friend who I have not seen in almost 7 years. We were really good friends in college and remained in contact for a few years after that, however, after I moved out here she went grad school in Montreal and we somehow lost touch. Turns out, she has been living in Philly for the last two years. And the crazy thing is, she only lives about a 5 minute walk from where I work. I cannot wait to get together with her again and play catch on the last 7 years of our lives. Some may call it a coincidence, but I call it serendipity.

Today was Joy and Anna time. We spent part of the morning hanging out with the 5 and 6 year olds in Irishgirl's summer day camp. They were certifiably adorable! One of the 5 year olds I've known since she was three weeks old, when her mother started attending the teen mom's group I facilitated years ago. I haven't seen this little girl in almost a year and it was amazing to see how much she has grown. After our time at the day camp, we drove out to Princeton and went kayaking on the Delaware Raritan Canal. Although today was a scorcher, it felt relatively cool as we kayaked along the canal. What with the water periodically splashing us as we paddled and the trees shading us, it made it for a refreshingly cool kayaking trip. We kayaked for about two hours and after the first hour, my arms were burning. I know that I am definitely going to feel it tomorrow. But I have to say, the beautiful and peaceful ride was worth it. And of course, what's a kayaking trip without taking pictures, right? Anna, the camera junkie that she is, brought her digital camera for our little excursion and so of course, we went camera happy with all the water creatures we discovered along the canal. The highlight for me was when I discovered a pelican perched on a rotting tree trunk floating down on the water. Yeah, I know, it really doesn't take much to amuse me. Following our kayaking trip, we drove out to Princeton University's campus for some pub food and for Anna to grab more photo opp's of the stately brick buildings at the university. I guess one could say that she was in her element at Princeton. Like me, it really doesn't take much to amuse her either.

So back home we feasted on this great pasta dish that Anna threw together, along with some nice bruschetta, (which yours truly made from scratch), parisian bread and a riesling that I've been saving for such an occasion as this. All of course was shared with Airforceguy, Irishgirl, and PAgirl.

It was good times. Good times.