Back to Business

As you've probably noticed, I've been "offline" for about 3 weeks. During this brief hiatus, not only did normal life happen - you know the day in, day out activities - but some special moments too.

Probably the best moment was being able to travel to Illinois to surprise my brother, Dennis, in the celebration of his milestone birthday 50! I arrived the day after his birthday and was able to spend 4 days with him and his family. Recently, Dennis mentioned in one of his messages, he's a Pastor, about my tendency when we were young kids to "wander off" while our family would go bumming (translation - window shopping). Keeping this story in mind we surprised him at a local grocery store saying I was lost, you know "wandering". 

In order to keep him in the dark that I was coming to town, I went ahead and sent him his birthday card which wasn't just a card. I've been trying to be a little more "clever" in my birthday greetings this year. The idea for his greeting came to mind several months before his birthday. 

I purchased a helium filled "age appropriate" balloon, I had to tease him about his age, and attached to the balloon's string the actual birthday card. I mailed it so it would arrive the day prior to his birthday, which meant next day air. Although the idea came months before, sadly my execution regarding mailing got totally delayed. It was a good thing I did though. According to him, the balloon was only inflated for a day.  

This trip was especially restful as I traveled alone leaving the kids home in the excellent care of their father and a few friends to help with the time between school and his return from work. 

I had such a wonderful time catching up with my brother and his family! It had been way too long since I had seen them. Hopefully, Dave, the kids and I will be able to go there soon and visit again.

My trip home was a little unnerving. Sadly, my flight was on the day of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon. Thankfully my flight not only stayed on schedule it actually left a little earlier and I arrived home ahead of schedule. I was greeted by Dave and the kids, such a wonderful sight!! 

Since the trip, I've been trying to get back into the groove of daily life which has come back slowly.  I've also been sidelined with a few migraines due to the erratic temperature shifts we've had here in the Northeast. I'm feeeling like I am now back on track and the proof is that here I am blogging again....looks like we are "back to business".

Oh, during this online hiatus, I've still been busy trying out new recipes. I'll be posting the successful recipes we've tried......they are scrumptious!

A Weekend Away

We love our family get aways. This weekend we headed back to the timeshare in Pennsylvania where we stayed in December. This visit we were able to stay in the newer development.

The kids were very excited to go. Emily already had her clothes packed on Thursday after school. The only thing they had to get together Friday after school were their backpacks and videos for the DVD player.

Dave was able to go into work early so he could get out early which allowed us to make great time getting there. After dinner, the kids and Dave headed to the pool while I got to relax in the quiet of our unit.

Funny thing was when they came back from the pool Emily had what looked like two black eyes. I asked what happened....it turns out she had her swimming goggles on so tight that she broke the blood vessels under her eyes -the left eye being worse than the right. Emily has learned the value of concealer at the age of 9.

Yesterday we went out to a local pancake place, went to one store then the kids wanted to go back to the snake and animal farm we went to during our last visit. When we got back to the resort, Dave took the kids to the game room. Emily is quite good at Guitar Hero. For dinner, the kids chose to have sushi so that is what we had. The kids got in pool time again after dinner - Emily didn't wear goggles.

Check out was at 10 this morning and thankfully we remembered to change the clocks so we made it out on time. After breakfast, we headed to the outlets to get Matt his Crocs for the summer - it is the only shoe he wears then. We also went to Totes to see about rain gear for the kids.

Sadly, when we got home and got everything unpacked, the kids were forced back to reality with having to complete their homework for tomorrow.

We had a wonderful time and the kids are anxious to go back. Matt told Dave last night he was "stressed because he didn't want to leave Pennsylvania". You've got to love his sentimental attitude.