the bills and brown county

The things I did yesterday were the bills and Brown County. Because Matt drove, I was able to squeeze in the paying of the bills while we travelled. I dislike it greatly, because I don't think I'm very good at staying on top of it. In my life, I tend to work in spurts of productivity. That means that I usually get things done right before they absolutely need to be finished. It's not real great for being consistent with bill paying. In many ways, I feel like we are just "surviving" the bills.
Once we arrived in Brown County State Park, we did a small hike called Discovery Trail which was super easy and nice, graduating to a mile-and-a-half long hike down and around a small lake. It was downhill all the way to the lake (partially on a long section of stairs). We rested when we arrived to the sounds of a light rain and to Bailey (my brother Dave's black lab) running into the lake after sticks. Marshall and I explored the path around the lake and really enjoyed eachother's company, so much more than we are home and I have a million other things to attend to.

The way back up the hill was hard- a good hard though. But I don't know what I was thinking when I tried to keep up with Dave. I quickly heard Nigel's cry and was happy to have that as an excuse to fall back. I nursed him en-route and by the time we arrived at the head of the path, we were both ready for a bath.

We picnicked and headed over to Monroe Reservoir for a swim at the beach. The boys got a short nap on the 20-mile drive. Matt was the villian in our game of, "I'll get your toes". He chased Marshall and Stewart while they ran in and out of the water, clamoring to find safety by spashing into me. It was pretty wild. I liked being where I was, but whenever I thought about Nigel asleep under a tree with Nana Jan, I really wanted to be there. I didn't get to sleep until 10, even though I needed it by the time we were leaving the park. After some dinner at Subway and a yucky diaper disaster we didn't make it home until after 8.