My wife and I are packing the kids and our dog Mike in the car and headed up north for a week. We’ll live in the woods like animals, hunting for our food, taking on nature’s worst with our bare hands. Mike, already being an animal, has a slight advantage. Because of this, it makes sense that he should be in charge. So, I’m letting him hang onto the food supply and my quiver of arrows. What could possibly go wrong?

Actually, we’re going to our beach house which, at last check, has indoor plumbing, cable, high-speed Internet and is just up the hill from a wonderful little coffee shop. Not exactly roughing it, but compared to L.A., we’re off the grid. And I think if Mike were thrust into the wilderness, his first and last act would be trying to solicit some belly rubs from a grizzly.

This is my wife’s first real vacation in three years, not counting her maternity leave. And I hope you’re not counting it because it was anything but a vacation. She’s had the long weekend here and there, but she always ends up working from home anyway. This time she swore she would not do any work. That lasted about 7 hours and that was the 7 hours she slept last night. She woke up to some kind of work emergency. Okay, so her no-work vacation got off to a rocky start, but she’s on it now. In fact, she’s off to lunch with a friend. Good for her… I wonder if she’ll bring me something.

We leave for the beach tonight. It should be relaxing. Just in case, I’m bringing my bow and arrows.