We took a farewell walk around Lake Berkley today. It was a stunningly beautiful day – sunny, with a light breeze. We got to the lake, and spied a quartet of ducks, who clearly expected that we might have some bread crumbs to give them. And, then we spotted a floating empty milk jug at the edge of the water. The boys made it a project to find a stick that was long enough, with just the right curve at the end to pull the jug out of the water. This mission successfully accomplished, they both set to finding as much litter as they could to “clean up the Earth”, in S’s words. On this very atypical Shabbat, I thought this was a reasonable objective.

We got to the playground at the midway point around the lake, and stopped a while to play. They created a series of imaginary games, staring with fishing and grilling the catch over an open fire, to a game in which I played the role Sister, J was the Dad, and S was the Baby, which S gamely went along with. I thought that very nice.

We had a last stroll through the sand on the “beach” along the side of the lake, and saw some interesting ducks and other water birds at the end of the lake, as we were turning our footsteps back to the rental townhouse. The sun was shining, there was a gentle breeze, and it was just a delightful day to be out with boys.

We weren’t in any hurry, as we were waiting for R’s brother and his family to meet us, and take my MIL to drive back to her home, and then on to theirs in the very southern part of Florida. We got back, and the litter pickup project continued, aided by the allure of the dumpster in its special walled off area. Boys competed to pick up the most litter. We definitely left that place better than we found it!

The in laws arrived, Bubbe was kissed and hugged and loaded into the pickup, and we got into our own packed car to drive one last time to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. We figured we would just stay a couple of hours, but it turned into a 6-hour afternoon, catching the rides we’d missed on Wednesday. Today’s the first day that S is really back to himself. At breakfast, Dad and I found ourselves noting that, yes, S is back because he’s annoying us! It’s funny how much we wish he would tone it down and be quiet, but when he was quiet for four days In a row, we found it very disconcerting and worrisome. So, gotta love the annoying!

Now, J is out like a light, S is watching movies downloaded onto the iPad (wonderul invention!), and we’ve just entered Georgia, heading north to home. We’re not going to push it as hard as we did going down. We figure we’ll take a break and stop at a motel at around midnight or 1am. Then pick up again early in the morning. I think avoiding that 2am – 4am period of the night when it’s so tough to stay awake is wise.