Okay, first of all, my camera has internally combusted, after only 4 solid months of ownership, and as far as I can tell neither Ben nor myself are at fault here. Anyhow, I haven't been able to snap shots of anything that's been going on around here. And that would include a super festive Fried Chicken Party last Sunday (with my sister Sylvia in town who made the world's finest, flakiest biscuits) and an early morning bird walk through Millennium Park on Saturday where I spotted a Mockingbird--which apparently is a huge deal as they are rare this far north. Anyhow, it's going to be interesting to see how quickly Canon services the lemon, I mean my broken camera.
And I am leaving early Friday morning for a somewhat last minute trip to Key West to celebrate my girlfriend Suzi's 40th birthday. That's right, back to Florida. This will be the first time that I have ever been away from Ben. I'll actually be away for three nights and four days. Which means it will be the first time ever that Ted will be alone with Ben at night. (Which means if you live nearby, you might want to call in on my lovely husband and just give him props and cheer him on for being such a trooper.) To be completely honest, I'd say we're just a smidgen freaked out around here about the prospect of it all. At least Ted and I seem to be . . . Ben just toddles around, jamming various objects in his mouth, blathering on about this and that and climbing on "forbidden" things and usually falling off of them, crying and then running to hug my knees with astonishing passion. Then he cackles to himself, is distracted by a green ball or a board book and starts the whole wild cycle again. Sam seems to be quite cool with me going back to Florida. Double entendre-wise for sure.
Here's a snap from our Longboat trip at the beginning of the month . . . I'd found these urchins on the beach one morning while going on a walk. Once the urchin washes ashore and eventually dies, its spiky purple spikes snap off to reveal a gorgeous, intricate jewel-like shell. Sam is pointing out the spikes. Life's been a little spikey lately, not bad but just you know, spikey. We'll see how I go on the blogging front sans camera. Wait, who cares about the bloody camera, we'll see how I'll do four days away from my boys. Especially little Ben. I'll be just fine, right? Tell me I'll be fine. Of course I will. And Ted will be fine and so will Ben and Sam. Right? Right. Sigh. Well, I'll let you know if I see any urchins or any other spikey creatures.