another full day

sweetie's working graveyard tonight and last night, so time is very weird....add my 2-hour time difference to the mix and you'll understand why i'm still awake at this hour!

we hit the thrift store today for "domestication" purposes: to wit, sweetie still lives like a bachelor, and i'm here to help!...the thrift store was huge and full of those "only one" kinda deals....a nice well-matted photograph of a purple iris for 49 cents, cotton flannel sheets for 4 bucks, etc.

that took awhile, and when we were maxxed out on the shopping experience we drove out and picked up sweetie's older son, and then all of us continued out to sweetie's brother's house which is on a big lake.

this was my first "family meeting" and while i was initially a bit nervous, all went well! sweetie's bro, and bro's girlfriend, are easy-going likeable folks; and bro's 2 sons (7 and 9) are full of energy and life. we went out for a boat ride on the lake, and sweetie's son and the 2 boys rode on a giant inflatable raft towed behind the boat. can't really call it water-skiing but it looked like a ton of fun!

we parked the boat in the middle of the lake and sweetie and i jumped in for a swim. it is so much fun to be in and around fresh water! my last boating exeriences took place in the gulf of mexico, back in the days when my son was a wee one, and it's surely different to have fresh water vs. the salty stuff to play in.

since we got a late start on the day, we only had time to drop sweetie's son off and come back to saint paul before sweetie headed in to work. NOW i understand why the guy is a little fried by friday night; his schedule is hell on those circadian rhythms as he works such different shifts every day. makes me realize how lucky i am to have the work schedule i do....