Some Points

1. I really, really should be in bed right now. Oh why am I not in bed?

2. I am sorry for everyone who doesn't have the Leaf baby. He is amazing. I could hang out with him all day long. He drools and smiles and creaks out some song and I just don't want this time to pass.

3. We spent a lot of time at the Rainbow Gathering trekking up and down new trails. We hauled gear, I hauled babies, sometimes with a little one on my front and a big ol' long girl named YaYa on my back. Miles of walking, miles of lifting. We are now so ripped that we could pose as bodybuilders. Thankfully all the walking was through amazing vistas of hills and mountains with tall aspens and pines, a stunning valley with a creek, and wildflowers everywhere. I loved getting out of my tent first thing in the morning and being outdoors immediately.

4. I did nine loads of laundry at the laundromat today. All the guys hauled stuff out of the gathering for two days in the mud that was created by the rain that Colorado was praying for and unexpectedly received. Mud everywhere. Wetness in clothes and blankets and sleeping bags. Laundry. I've always loved coin laundry. I even wrote a poem about it once. I think that laundry is my favorite chore, although that is seriously getting tested with the amount that I'm doing these days.

5. My kids love dust more than Dora and Diego, more than chocolate rice milk, more than putting small round objects in their mouths. They may even love dust more than they love whining. They love to sit in it, to pile it on their clothes, to rub it into each other's hair. They would take baths in dust if they could. This was their primary occupation for the two weeks that they were at the gathering. Playing in clinging, dirty, nasty dust.

6. Yes, I did drop a pot of boiling water on my foot, while getting it ready to cook oatmeal over the fire. I was adding more wood to the fire, standing in the beautiful celtic trinity knot shaped fire pit, when I accidentally knocked the whole boiling thing on my poor self. Thankfully I was able to run over to Chris very quickly and scream at him to pour cold water on me. But I was definitely burnt. While walking barefoot to try to let it heal I split my toe open on a root. These things both happened to me as punishment for talking too much about Chinua's tendency to trip as he walks without watching the ground.

7. We hope to leave Steamboat tomorrow. Farewell, beautiful resort town.