Vacay Recap

What a day! It's in the upper 60's out there, with a nice gentle rain. Amazing for the end of July. We were badly in need of the rain, so it's especially nice that it's coming down gently. It's soaking in well.

After a very quiet weekend, we're starting to get back to normal. The kids were actually able to get off their cruise ship in the 'first wave', then drove almost all the way home from Galveston before a major stop (supper at Ottawa, KS, about 9 pm), so they arrived home in Grain Valley about 10:30 Thursday evening. They crashed in the basement..........first, because we were in their bed, and second so Miss 4-year-old didn't wake them up before they were ready on Friday. They were so glad to be home and so anxious to see her that they were up ahead of her. Both kids were happy to see Mom and Dad!

We so enjoyed our time with the grandkids last week – in fact, I emailed son and asked if he and daughter-in-law could please go somewhere so we could stay with their kids!! Unfortunately, he used up all of his 2013 vacation time nursing an injured ankle in February.

We had good times with the 14-year-old and were glad to be able to take him out to lunch Thursday while the 4-year-old was at Day Care. It was a nice quiet day at the house for us, and we did well with the two-hour turnaround between Day Care and dance class. Daughter had left me a book, so I had a marathon reading session that day to finish it, since I knew they were on their way home! I read through dance class, and only had 20 pages to finish up after everyone else went to bed (much of which I had already read, since I'm one of those horrible people who check out the ending after reading the first chapter or two!).

Speaking of horrible, the 4-year-old hates baths. I don't know why, she loves her little pool. But I had been warned. And she informed me that she was having “the most horrible bath ever” when I had her in the tub. I agreed with her that it was “the most horrible bath ever”. I'm proud of myself that I didn't cry along with her!!!

We got out of everyone's hair Friday morning so they could get unpacked and laundry started. We enjoyed going by the big Walmart in Blue Springs to buy groceries, then went by IHOP for a late breakfast. I was glad we did that – I found a couple of daughter's things still in my purse while we were there! We go within blocks of their home leaving KC anyway, so it was no chore to drop them by. I called and told her we missed the kids and were stopping by to see them! She thought I'd lost my mind (she was right) until I explained what I'd found.

We were home – home, sweet home! - shortly after one Friday afternoon. It seemed very quiet......but it was a nice change of pace to have one relatively simple TV with only one main remote (yes, there are two others, but only hubby uses them). And the house seemed so reasonable in size! The kids have such a wonderfully nice home......but there's a fair bit of square footage there. It seemed like a really long trek from one side of the house to the other after keeping up with the 4-year-old all day!

I'm sure everyone's been there, but you know how good it feels to get home and rest in your own bed. We had slept pretty well while we were away.......well, except for the first night when I couldn't get the TV in the bedroom turned off and we spent the night with it on (dratted technology!). But it felt so good to settle down in our own bed Friday night.

We were tired – we're glad to be home – but we're already anxious for the next time we get to spoil some or all of the grandkids!