Vacation Rehab

One more vacation quip, a picture or two, and then it's time to put it in my memory bank to be reflected on fondly on rainy days or reflective moments. Then I must try to move on and get off my lazy, post vacation stress syndrome, McFlurry lovin' behind, and get this house back in order and some suitcases unpacked...finally. To say I'm not transitioning back to reality well is an understatement. Is there vacation rehab? Preferably located on a beach somewhere? Sign me up.

I may have mentioned before that Dakota is a bit of a brainiac. She's been reading since preschool and just devours books that would put most of us to sleep such as the Visual Dictionary of Plants or Dinosaur Encyclopedia or a factual book about Germany...seriously. She reads anything and everything she can get her hands on and stores the info away in her little head to be used in casual conversation later. Such as when we were driving and all of the sudden from the backseat we heard an angelic girl voice exclaim loudly, "LOOK! LOOK! Look at all that yarrow on the side of the road!" GI Joe and I looked at each other with matching blank stares until she explained to us that yarrow is an herb used for medicinal purposes. Indians used it to get rid of headaches and it can also be used to cure sick cats if they've eaten something poisonous. Oh YARROW, of course we go way back, I knew that.

When we were taking in the different historical sites she read every brochure, booklet, pamphlet, etc from front to back and would then proceed to enlighten us with random information about what we were seeing. She was right there with her father for the tour of Jamestown, D.C., and Gettysburg. She loved it and soaked it all in. One particular instance of her being too smart for her own britches was when we were in D.C. and she told us an interesting fact she'd read about one of the presidents. GI Joe was all, "Oh yeah I knew that and did you know he also did blah blah blah," and I responded with, "Wow that's really interesting, I didn't know we had a president by that name." She looked at me and then to her father with a bewildered look on her ever so innocent face and said, "Mommy, am I smarter than you?" She really didn't mean it disrespectfully she was just asking an honest question. So I gave her an honest answer which was, "Ummmm, well no, of course note. History just wasn't my thing. Neither was math....or science....or never mind. But you can't do long division (yet) and I can spell better than you, so NO you're not smarter than me, take that sista!" I'm in trouble when she learns long division this year in 4th grade. Just so you don't think I'm a complete dizzy blonde, I WAS part of the National Honor Society in high school and graduated with the exact GPA as GI Joe. Never mind that I was in a graduating class of 35 and took such classes as Basic Math, Adult Living, and Journalism, that may or may not have cushioned my GPA slightly but whatev, minor details. We all have our strengths, mine just happen to be more socially oriented. The moral of the story here is this: Parents be careful what you wish for when you're putting in requests for your child to be one of those really smart, advanced kids, as your wish could very well be granted and will result in you being humbled and shown up on a regular basis by your kid. But it will all be worth it when she's footing the bill for our beachfront cottage with her 7 figure income. Who's the smart one now?

And this is the look I get from her ALOT. The one that says, "Can't you see I'm kind of busy right now, doing important things that intelligent people like myself do, like looking for previously undiscovered marine life or curing cancer and such? Also, are you sure I'm your daughter? I just don't see how it's possible."

Oh it's possible, 25 hours of labor NO DRUGS doesn't lie. Just remember to thank me in your Noble Peace Prize acceptance speech.

All in all our vacation was a smashing success with no major issues, which is very unusual for us and a tad bit boring. No breakdowns, no lost in the middle of the night excursions, no mixed up hotel reservations, no major items (ex: flat iron) left off the packing list and forgotten at home. I suppose it was worth the 764 loads of laundry that I'm currently battling. The score: Laundry: 761 PP: 3. I've got a ways to go.