How do you vacation?

Pannukkaku with raspberry sauce.

What do most people do on their vacation? A big part of my vacation is coming home to hang out with my mom. I love spending time with her... we get along so well. Since my dad died nearly 4 years ago and Pat's dad died 2 years ago...we spend a week of our vacation to help out our moms...doing the things that they can't do themselves.

My mom had a few things on her "to do" list that needed attention. Let me just say, I am not mechanically inclined one bit. I break out into a sweat thinking about putting something together or figuring out how something works...but I actually took apart the faucet and replaced some gaskets, springs and stopped the annoying drip! Pat told me I could totally do it and I was a bit skeptical. I must admit, I'm pretty proud that I pulled it off. It was one of my finer mechanical moments.

Yesterday morning I washed the foyer/kitchen/dining room/hallway ceilings and then I washed the floors. Then Pat came over (man to the rescue) and fixed her ceiling fan and light, finished putting up some trim, hung a light in the garage, fixed something on the garage doors, etc. It was so nice for my mom to cross off a lot of things from her "to-do" list. I know that feeling. My mom and I are both listmakers...and I found out she condenses her lists down to smaller lists just like I do. (can you believe it? it's almost like we're the same person!) While we were working, my mom just whipped up a little roast/mashed potatoes feast fit for a king. (This is one thing Pat loooooooves about my mom and I think she enjoys doing it for him too.)

So this morning my mom and I went out to breakfast to the local Finnish restaurant. We had Pannukkaku smothered in hot raspberry sauce and Nisu toast with a carafe of coffee. Ah...love to embrace my heritage...even though the "Finnlander" in me was usually hidden. The experience was heavenly and has become a tradition for us that started in January of this year. (last time I was home).

My boys have been spending their vacation working out at the University gym. They are conditioning for football which starts next month. They are both captains (Josh on Varsity and Jake on JV.) so they take their conditioning seriously. They even ran up the ski hill with their cousin Vinnie...They have worked out, slept, eaten, and played video games....but we have some work planned for them later today. Grandma needs her little tool shed swept out, grass needs cutting, my car needs to be washed...

I know it's not how most people spend their vacation but as far as I'm concerned...spending time with my mom whether we're lounging on the beach, gutting out 'ol Uncle Chet's house (last year's project), or washing floors and ceilings at her house are precious moments of time well spent.