Two days away from the Internet, and I'm just a little twitchy

So, I took something resembling a vacation. I've not been at work since Thursday, though I did sign on to my work email, etc., on Friday and Sunday (briefly). This is the longest I've been separated from my work stuff for at least eight months.

And it's been .... OK. I'm ready to get back at it. Have eased back in to Web connection by looking at some of my fallbacks: seattlepi.com, deadspin.com and MSNBC.com. Will log on tomorrow before I hop the bus, so I can deal with my email on the ride up to work.

Saturday was the boys' fourth birthday party, so I spent Friday getting ready. Sunday was "head to mountain cabin" day. We finally hit the road around 3 p.m., after hours of preparation (packing, fretting, procrastinating and playing with our new birthday presents). The cabin, specifically, Bear Mountain Lodge was really, really cool. We'll go back for sure -- just not at this time of year when winter stuff has melted away and spring stuff has yet to begin.

We got the last sleigh ride of the season, a sodden, muddy affair. The best thing about it was our driver, George, who had a waxed, curly mustache and an interesting way of looking at the world. He loves his dog. He thinks people ascribe too many emotions to horses (though, giving in our anthropomorphization, he compared them to teenagers who just need to be kept busy or they'll get into trouble). He's not too bugged by global warming, though he seems to figure it's inevitable.

We stayed at the cabin with our friends Cara and Lori and their daughter Casey, who was also born thanks to the contribution of California Cryobank donor 3387. They're really cool people, who we obviously have a lot in common with. We met on the Rosie cruise last summer and though 3387 provided our initial connection, we would be pals without it. In fact, we're happier not dwelling on this genetic happenstance.

We'll tell the boys someday about their special bond with their friend Casey. I'm interested to see what they make of it. We believe it will be their relationship to define, not ours.