Yesterday was the end of summer, in that the boys went back to school today. So where did we spend that final day? In a minivan, driving for many many hours. Went to Steamboat Springs, CO for a delightful few days with my brother and his s.o. It was very nice to spend some time with him, having fun rather than dealing with the trying events surrounding my father's illness and death. We hiked, biked, fished, etc., all of those fun summer Rocky Mountain activities.
Stopped in the mile high city on the way home to pick up an extra mini-van, so the four of us were in two minivans for most of the day. Pinky started out with me after the pickup, and in keeping with the "no electronics" theme of the vacation, we talked, listened/danced to music, and sometimes just looked around together. It was fun. Next I was alone for a few hours while he joined Curly and velo-dude. And after the next stop, even though Curly announced he was going to watch "Wall-E" on the DVD player, Pinky chose to come with me again. We managed to find a radio station that was celebrating the Woodstock anniversary with some great 70's music, and some not so great but cheesy fun as well. We had a blast listening to that stuff, I told Pinky what I could about the music, about Woodstock, etc. When the station finally started to fade, he asked if we could look for another station that played "that awesome 70's music". We made a pit stop a couple of hours from home, and once again Pinky chose to come with me. We were both getting tired at this point, and couldn't quite find the music we wanted, but it was still all good. At one point when we were talking about his choice to ride with me instead of his brother, he told me that he really wanted to keep me company so I wouldn't be too sleepy and lonely. He is quite a guy, that one. 10 years old just may be my favorite age yet. Despite his announcing in front of some of my friends last week that his 5th grade teacher is "hot". So wrong, in so many ways; oh my, that one stirred up a good mom lecture from me. Pathetic thing about it is, he is just repeating what he's heard other boys at school say. He is so not interested in girls in that way (the "hot" way?). I know it's just around the corner though. And something tells me that when it hits, that will NOT be my favorite age yet.
