Jenyfer Matthews

The first week we were on vacation we were staying in a hotel while my daughter attended a tennis camp. The room didn’t have a refrigerator, so we were dependent on eating in restaurants. At first I was looking forward to it – any day I don’t have to cook is a good day.

I quickly went off eating in restaurants. Is there anything on any menu that isn’t deep fried and / or covered in cheese? It’s as if these places are looking for ways to make things as unhealthy as possible. And the portion sizes are ridiculous – even when I ordered a half order of pesto for my son it arrived in a serving bowl and was enough to feed at least two adults.

The children’s menus were just as ridiculous. There weren’t so very many options in the small town where we were staying so we ended up eating at Perkins (a large chain) a lot. If you ordered the macaroni and cheese from the children’s menu, they gave you an ice cream scoop sized portion of pasta and a small side order of your choice. I understand that the children’s menu covers a wide age range and that not all children have the same appetite, so I didn’t think much about it the skimpy serving until my son ordered the “dollar pancakes” one evening instead. The pancakes were actually $1 cheaper than the macaroni, but the stack of pancakes they brought him would have been more appropriate for a truck driver. Where is the rationale in that?

I finally managed by skipping meals or picking off my children’s plates.

It’s not a whole lot better now that I’m at my father’s house however. My step-mother plays dirty: she is a great cook and she spoils me rotten by not only making my favorite entrees, but she also makes dessert every night. How am I supposed to resist carrot cake with caramel frosting, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, or ice cream with fresh raspberries? And just in case I could resist all of that, she bought my favorite mint ice cream bars as well.

She looks perfectly pleasant, but she’s evil, I tell you. Pure evil. No one could resist her wiles – I don’t think I’ve been hungry since I arrived. I’m powerless in her grasp – and it would be churlish of me to refuse her hospitality. I’ve gained about five pounds in my first week, and at this rate even my baggiest pants won’t fit by the time I leave. I’d have to kayak all day, every day against the wind to keep up with this intake.

Three weeks (nearly) down, three to go…

The weather report for the weekend was a little iffy but I’m happy to say we were in luck. Saturday we hiked for about three hours up a big hill at the back of my father’s property. The trail was marked “Hellacious View” – it was clear enough that we could practically see Canada from up there.

We spent Sunday at a birthday party for my step-mother’s niece at a place they have on an inland lake. What a beautiful day! We did some kayaking and ate some fabulous fried fish before we started to play with the big water toys.

The children looked like they were having so much fun being dragged in the tube behind the boat, I decided it was one of those seize-the-moment-moments that I couldn’t let pass by.

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The things I won’t do after a few beer margarita cocktails!

It was a lot of fun, though I was petrified that I was going to flip over into the lake at high speed. I have to admit that I had such a tight grip on the handles of that tube that I broke a blood vessel in one of my fingers and came away with a big bruise!

I’m glad I did it once, but I think I’ll probably stick to kayaking from now on!

I’ve always loved trying out alternate / quirky modes of transporation so it’s no surprise to me how much I enjoyed kayaking.

After my trial run in a very calm inland lake, my step-mother and her sister-in-law took me out on Wednesday to Lake Superior. I’m very happy that we were using sport kayaks, which are a bit wider and more stable – with the water temperature in the instant-skin-numbing zone I wasn’t so keen on flipping over! (though the risk of freezing did add a bit of a thrill to the excursion!)

The weather forecast was a bit iffy and the region is subject to micro-climates (it can be sunny in one spot and foggy a few miles down the road) we decided we didn’t want to drive very far, just in case. We put the kayaks in the water at a nearby beach and set off paddling along the shore to a nearby landmark my step-mother calls Hollow Rock.

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Look at me – still upright!

Approaching Hollow Rock.

The water was just high enough that it would have been difficult to pass through the small opening. It was surprising how much larger the opening is on the other side!

There are actually two openings, but I didn’t see the larger of the two on the approach.

The opening is larger than it looks and was so fun to go inside and investigate.

The view looking out from inside was just stunning.

After the rock, we decided to paddle around a bit more until the wind started to shift on us. The last place you want to be in a kayak is Lake Superior with rolling, cross-wise waves. That lake has sunk bigger boats than a kayak, after all.

We were out for about three hours, give or take, but it didn’t feel that long. I’m hoping to get in a bit more kayaking over the weekend, though I’ll have to share time with my children. I’m also wondering whether my father would notice if I left a trailer with three kayaks parked in the tall grass behind his shed for our next visit??

My final flight to the north woods on Saturday went without a hitch – thank goodness. There was a chance of thunderstorms which never materialized and an air show which did not interfere with our schedule. We even enjoyed watching a bit of the air show once we were safely on the ground.

Yesterday was our first proper day of vacation and we started out with a visit to an inland lake for some fishing – and a kayak lesson. My step-mother invited me to come along kayaking with her and a friend and I thought I’d better practice a little first because I don’t relish the thought of flipping over in Lake Superior! It was a lot easier than I thought – then again it was a very calm day. It remains to be seen how I do in the big lake.

Being up here with my own children got me to thinking about all the other trips I’ve made to Minnesota as a child with my parents, many of which were done by car. I remember one year that my sister and I, aged 18 & 14 respectively, smooshed into my dad’s mini-pickup truck (no AC) and rode up from sourthern Lousiana with him. We alternated who had to sit in the middle, which was made more uncomfortable by the stick shift. There was no radio, just an old tape deck which my father had command of. At fourteen, I preferred to listen to road noise and wind than folk music.

Some things never change

Summer is over for me and it’s back to reality now – which means no more bacon with breakfast every morning and no more desserts every night. No more good beer or wine either. I’ll have my work cut out for me when I go home to lose the weight I put on in the process of having such a good time this summer. It’s always amazing to me how much easier it is to gain weight than it is to lose it, especially as I get older.

I admit that part of me wants to lose the weight for the sake of vanity. I have to accept that I’m at an age now that I look better dressed than undressed, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Beyond how I look is how healthy I am.

There are unhealthy lifestyles that can take their toll on the way you live and age: excessive eating / weight gain, drinking to excess, smoking, working too much to give a few examples of things that people do have some control over. Then there are hereditary illnesses like heart disease, hypertension, strokes, and diabetes that tend to run in families – not always possible to totally avoid but a sensible approach can probably avert certain disaster.

Living the expat life, most of the expats I meet are in their 30s and 40s with young children. They’ve gone abroad to make more money and live a better lifestyle than they could in their home country. The women I socialize with tend to be very fit and health conscious – many working out at the gym several times a week. In my day to day live in Egypt, I don’t interact with that many older people. It’s been very different this summer. There seem to be senior citizens everywhere I look, in varying degrees of health. Some are out power walking or bicycling while others are stooped nearly in half making their way slowly and painfully around the grocery store.

Watching them has made me realize that one day I’ll be old too – sooner than I’d like. There are always health crisis that you can’t predict like crippling arthritis or cancer, but barring those calamities, I want to be the old lady walking briskly down the street with my head high and shoulders back. I don’t expect to live forever, but I want to live well. I want to be strong enough to lift my own grocery bags and agile enough to reach the top shelf. I want to live long enough to see my children grow up and be healthy enough to see and play with their children.

I want to have the energy to spoil them rotten when they come and see me for summer vacation!

Where did the summer go?? When I arrived in July, I thought I had loads of time to do all the fun things we wanted to do. Now that we have less than a week left, we have to make every day count!

Thursday we spent the day at Lutsen Mountain Ski Resort hurling ourselves down the side of the “mountain” on their Alpine Slide. Talk about fun! It was my daughter’s first time to drive her own sled. I made sure I was behind her, just in case she decided to go slower than the next driver – I didn’t want anyone crashing into her. I need not have worried – I was going as fast as I liked and never once caught up to her!!

Friday was another beautiful day and we went fishing with my father in the afternoon. There is more to fishing than simply putting your line in the water! He caught three rainbow trout and I caught one. I’m sure that the one that stole my worm and got away would have been the biggest of the lot!

Saturday was the third lovely day in a row and we spent it at my stepmother’s family camp at an inland lake. The kids spent the day playing in the water and being dragged around in a huge tube behind a speed boat. I spent the day basking in the sun and eating freshly fried walleye. Doesn’t get much better than that.

It’s just as well we had so much fun the previous three days because Sunday it rained all day.

Now it’s time to turn my attention to buying those few things that have thus far been overlooked and packing up all my stuff. One thing that may not get packed is my ring – the jewelry with whom I left it hasn’t done the first bit of work on it. Grrrr…. He suggested maybe I could pick it up next time I’m in town, but what would be the point in leaving it with him? He’s had it since July already. If I left it, he likely wouldn’t touch it until next July anyway!!

Bored? Need a few ideas on how to spend what’s left of the summer? Or maybe you’re more like me and like to plan ahead – for next year! 100 Productive Ways to Spend Your Summer Vacation has some pretty great suggestions. I know I’m taking notes…

Unfortunately for me, paying to fly business class wasn’t really an option. So imagine my disgust when, as I am at the check-in desk in Cairo, one of the airline representatives comes to inform me that the flight is overbooked and due to my frequent flier status I’m eligible to be upgraded. Even as my heart swelled with hope she continued and tells me that it’s airline policy not to upgrade children under 12. Um, okay. So why tell me at all?? I could have lived happily without ever having been teased in that way. In the end, I got the seats I paid for, but see that cat up there? That was me, squashed in my economy class seats between two sleeping children.

(But it could have been worse – they could have stayed awake like me!)

After enduring a twelve hour flight shoehorned into a square foot of space, sandwiched between the kids, imagine my delight to find out that the next partner airline I was flying had NO problem upgrading children. We flew first class from NY to Minneapolis. It’s a different world up there. We not only had bigger seats and more leg room, but I had a real lunch with free beverages and actual glassware! I didn’t sleep on that flight just so I could better savor the experience

All in all, I can’t complain. I gave myself enough time to clear security and get from place to place and none of my planes were delayed and my luggage arrived in tact. These days, you can’t really ask for much more than that.

Yesterday was the last day of school and both children arrived home weeping. I was a good student and liked my teachers well enough, but crying because school was finished for the year was never my reaction to the last day of school!

The kids seem happier today – and have kept themselves busy. The pop-up soccer goals that Santa brought haven’t seen much action in their intended capacity but they are being used today – as tents. The kids have put them side by side, covered them with a fleece blanket and dragged their pillows inside along with their flashlights. Their intention is to sleep in “the tent” tonight. We’ll see how long that lasts.

Their room is currently a disaster, but hey, it’s better than watching TV all day and I have only heard the words “I’m bored” once today so far…

Only 12 days of peace-I mean school-left.

Putting the constant cries of I’m bored and the general sibling sniping that occurs when the children are in each other’s company all day, there are several things about summer vacation I’m looking forward to: getting out of Egypt and the heat and seeing family, no homework, no packing school lunches (x2). There are too many things to itemize really, but one very small thing that I really love about summer is not having to wake up to an alarm.

What’s your favorite thing about summer?