(no subject)
I'm home. Yay! I missed my house, and most of all my bed. I had a pretty good time though. Let's see....
Tuesday:
Left work at 5, stopped at Publix for a few needed cupcake ingredients, picked Casey up from Niki's house (she had a good time. I was amused by the fact that she kept insisting she wasn't tired from two nights of staying up late, all while her eyes were drooping), hit a drive through for dinner, went home, ran Casey a bath, put away the last load of laundry, finished packing, wrapped gifts, and made cupcakes, among other things. I wasn't able to finally relax until 9:30 or so.
Wednesday:
Got ready, dropped Willow off at the vet kennel, and waited for my parents to pick us up. We were on the road at 9:30 and arrived in Albany, GA at 4 that afternoon. We spent the evening just hanging out with the family and chatting. On top of the cold I was battling (and still am, though it's getting better), I had to deal with the allergies that always hit when I visit there. Luckily, the aunt I was staying with no longer has any cats, but my other aunt does, and we were at her place for a bit, and there was also this cat named Tiger who they were feeding, so he'd come by a lot and hang around outside the house. Despite my nasty allergy to cats, I still love them and can't resist giving them some love now and then, and then I end up paying for it later. There's also the change in atmosphere and the pecan trees that add to the problem. So anyway, at one point Wednesday night, my right eye turned beet red. I needed to get my contacts out, but I'd forgotten to pack the solution. So my mom took me to Winn Dixie and got me some, along with salt water nasal spray she'd suggested I use for my cold. I swear I was on every medication known to man while I was there, and none of it seemed to do that much good.
Thursday:
Thanksgiving Day, of course. We opened Christmas presents that morning. The adults didn't really get much... I just got an ornament with a picture of the family in it from Casey (via my mom). Mostly we just got the kids things. Casey got a cute little digital camera, a pink camo purse (she's still not fond of pink, but doesn't reject is as vehemently as she used to, so I think she was okay with this, LOL), a necklace and a bunch of cash (which will be deposited into her savings account). Later we had a delicious turkey dinner and sampled the zillion desserts that were available. I'm scared to weigh myself tomorrow. I swear, I'm just going to have to starve myself so I won't have a gain at my next research clinic appointment in a couple of weeks. They said I was only expected to maintain, but I'm not sure that's even going to happen. Yeesh, holidays.
Friday:
That morning we went for a drive to Arlington, a very small Georgia town where my mom and her siblings grew up. We went to see my great aunt Mary Alice and great uncle Joseph for a little while. Aunt Mary Alice likes to knit, and it just happened that she had recently put together these cute Christmas kitchen towels. She said that the woman at the head of each household could come and pick one. Mine is hanging on my fridge now. Next we went to visit my grandparents' graves (grandpa died before I was born, and granny when I was only 9, so I don't remember her too well). Then we drove by the house my mom grew up in. I remember visiting it a lot as a kid, because my aunt Teresa went on living there for a long time after her parents had died.
After we left Arlington, we all stopped at Cici's for lunch, and then we headed to Cheehaw park. We visited the zoo there and then let the kids play on the huge playground. I had thought for sure Casey and the boys would be too big to care about the playground, but they all had a great time anyway. Ha.
That night we had dinner at a seafood place called Blackbeard's. It was pretty good, but I was put off by the pictures all over the walls of people with the animals they'd killed while hunting. Yeah, I really want to go to a restaurant and see pictures of dead deer all over the place. How redneck is that?
Saturday:
My uncle Rick and aunt Lisa and their 3 kids left that morning. Rick and the boys had tickets to the Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta that afternoon, and Lisa and Lily were probably going to do some Christmas shopping or something while they were gone.
The rest of us headed to Wild Adventures theme park. It's about halfway home for us, so we had decided to split the drive up by spending Saturday there and then staying in a hotel room that night and driving the rest of the way home today. We had a good time at Wild Adventures. The weather was really nice for the most part, though it got pretty cold at times. On the way there, we'd stopped at Walmart to get me a new sweater. I'd only packed a windbreaker, not realizing it was going to get into the 40s while we were there. I got a really comfy black one. It's really big on me, which I like, and so cozy. We also grabbed some new cough medicine for me, because I'd managed to finish off an entire bottle of Formula 44E during the trip. This time, on the advice of my cousin Melissa (a nurse), I got some Robitussin pills. Either they are a miracle drug or I was already getting better, because since then I have been coughing a lot less. It hasn't gone away completely, but the improvement is huge. I wish I'd been taking those all along. I think I'm getting better too, though, because I haven't taken the pills since last night and I'm doing pretty well.
We left Wild Adventures at around 5:30 because it was getting cold and we were pretty tired. We had dinner at Applebees and then checked into the hotel. My mom thought she'd booked a two bedroom suite, but it actually turned out to be a two BED suite. So we all had to share one room with two beds. It was pretty nice though, and the beds were queen size, plenty big enough for me and Casey (although I did have to keep telling her to scoot back over to her side when she crowded me). The bed we'd slept in at my aunt Mary's house was awful. It was a couch bed that was about twin sized, and Casey and I had to sleep there together. There was a bar going across where my legs were, and I woke up several times because my legs would be really sore from sleeping that way. Add that to my coughing fits, and I did not sleep well on this trip.
So there I was, finally in a nice big, comfy bed. I was finally going to get a good night's sleep, right? Not so much. You would not BELIEVE how badly my mother snores. I told her she needed to be checked out for Sleep Apnea, because she sounded like she was struggling for air. That made it nearly impossible for me to sleep, although I must have managed, because my mom and dad both said I'd been snoring too, and that I kept coughing and waking them up. I apparently had a pretty bad coughing fit at around midnight that didn't wake me up, because I don't remember it. Casey, in the meantime, slept like an angel, because that's what she does. LOL
Oh, also... the hotel room had a whirlpool tub. Casey, my dad and I all took turns using it, and it was so nice. Just to have a tub deep enough to sit in it was nice. Most normal tubs are so small. And then we watched Elf (one of my favorite holiday movies) on the hotel room TV and went to sleep.
Today we got up at around 7:30, had breakfast at the hotel and got on the road. We got back into our area at about noon and headed straight for Gatorland. Casey's Girl Scout troop is there today for a field trip. They were supposed to meet at 11, and I'd told her leader I doubted we'd make it by then. So when we got there I just called to find out where they were and sent her in to find them. It's a very small park, and they were pretty close to the front gate, so I'm sure she didn't have any trouble. I'll be picking her up at 4.
So now I'm doing laundry, paying bills, etc. I need to go grocery shopping too. I'm so exhausted, but I'll do my best to get some things accomplished. Tomorrow morning Casey has an appointment to get her final HPV shot, and then I'm going to take her to school, pick Willow up, drop her off at home, and go to work.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
Sleeping in the car on the way there:
Look, the leaves change colors and fall off the trees there! That doesn't happen in Florida. Basically you have leaves one day and then the next day you don't. They are all on the ground, the same color as always. Bleh. I like Florida, but that's the one thing I wish we had... seasons.
The kids collecting pecans that had fallen from my aunt's trees. Casey brought home a bag of them. I don't know what she wants me to do with them. Neither of us likes pecan pie, or really anything with them in it. My mom said to give them to her and she'd do something with them.
Lily was especially proud of her pecans, telling us we were not allowed to eat any of them.
Casey and Lily were the best of friends the whole time. Lily was like her little shadow, following her everywhere she went. Casey was so sweet to her, playing with her and giving her lots of hugs. In the background are my aunt Teresa and my mom.
Nathan and Casey playing Poker Yahtzee. Casey wasn't pouting or anything... she was just worried about what he was going to roll. Hee. Also, see that bracelet she's wearing? She and lily made those together.
Casey and Tiger, the cat my aunt has sort of adopted. He was very sweet, and there are no hard feelings against him for making my allergies go all wonky.
Opening presents
Melissa gave Andrew and Nathan hornet hats to wear to the football game. Here's Nathan wearing his.
When we were visiting aunt Mary Alice and uncle Joseph, a neighbor's dog wandered over to play with the kids. She was the sweetest thing ever.
At the Cheehaw zoo, you could see what kind of bird you are like by measuring your "wingspan". Casey was a turkey hawk. Or something.
This is how Casey and Lily walked around the zoo most of the time.
And at Wild Adventures, a tiger. This was pretty funny - there was an employee walking by the cage, and I guess the tigers knew her as the person that feeds them. So they were following her back and forth and making this sad little meowing sound. Aw.
Aunt Mary and Teresa (my mom's sisters) on a spinny ride. My dad, my mom, Casey and I were riding it too, and my dad almost puked on us. He didn't go on anything else that day, and we were okay with it. Ha.
Casey riding the Boomerang. It takes you up that first hill, then drops you through some loops, then you go up that second hill, and then it drops you backwards through the same loops. I've ridden it before and it's pretty fun, but I wasn't really in the mood for coasters that day, so I opted out. I rode some things with her, but for whatever reason, didn't feel up for the big stuff.
Good times, good times.
Tuesday:
Left work at 5, stopped at Publix for a few needed cupcake ingredients, picked Casey up from Niki's house (she had a good time. I was amused by the fact that she kept insisting she wasn't tired from two nights of staying up late, all while her eyes were drooping), hit a drive through for dinner, went home, ran Casey a bath, put away the last load of laundry, finished packing, wrapped gifts, and made cupcakes, among other things. I wasn't able to finally relax until 9:30 or so.
Wednesday:
Got ready, dropped Willow off at the vet kennel, and waited for my parents to pick us up. We were on the road at 9:30 and arrived in Albany, GA at 4 that afternoon. We spent the evening just hanging out with the family and chatting. On top of the cold I was battling (and still am, though it's getting better), I had to deal with the allergies that always hit when I visit there. Luckily, the aunt I was staying with no longer has any cats, but my other aunt does, and we were at her place for a bit, and there was also this cat named Tiger who they were feeding, so he'd come by a lot and hang around outside the house. Despite my nasty allergy to cats, I still love them and can't resist giving them some love now and then, and then I end up paying for it later. There's also the change in atmosphere and the pecan trees that add to the problem. So anyway, at one point Wednesday night, my right eye turned beet red. I needed to get my contacts out, but I'd forgotten to pack the solution. So my mom took me to Winn Dixie and got me some, along with salt water nasal spray she'd suggested I use for my cold. I swear I was on every medication known to man while I was there, and none of it seemed to do that much good.
Thursday:
Thanksgiving Day, of course. We opened Christmas presents that morning. The adults didn't really get much... I just got an ornament with a picture of the family in it from Casey (via my mom). Mostly we just got the kids things. Casey got a cute little digital camera, a pink camo purse (she's still not fond of pink, but doesn't reject is as vehemently as she used to, so I think she was okay with this, LOL), a necklace and a bunch of cash (which will be deposited into her savings account). Later we had a delicious turkey dinner and sampled the zillion desserts that were available. I'm scared to weigh myself tomorrow. I swear, I'm just going to have to starve myself so I won't have a gain at my next research clinic appointment in a couple of weeks. They said I was only expected to maintain, but I'm not sure that's even going to happen. Yeesh, holidays.
Friday:
That morning we went for a drive to Arlington, a very small Georgia town where my mom and her siblings grew up. We went to see my great aunt Mary Alice and great uncle Joseph for a little while. Aunt Mary Alice likes to knit, and it just happened that she had recently put together these cute Christmas kitchen towels. She said that the woman at the head of each household could come and pick one. Mine is hanging on my fridge now. Next we went to visit my grandparents' graves (grandpa died before I was born, and granny when I was only 9, so I don't remember her too well). Then we drove by the house my mom grew up in. I remember visiting it a lot as a kid, because my aunt Teresa went on living there for a long time after her parents had died.
After we left Arlington, we all stopped at Cici's for lunch, and then we headed to Cheehaw park. We visited the zoo there and then let the kids play on the huge playground. I had thought for sure Casey and the boys would be too big to care about the playground, but they all had a great time anyway. Ha.
That night we had dinner at a seafood place called Blackbeard's. It was pretty good, but I was put off by the pictures all over the walls of people with the animals they'd killed while hunting. Yeah, I really want to go to a restaurant and see pictures of dead deer all over the place. How redneck is that?
Saturday:
My uncle Rick and aunt Lisa and their 3 kids left that morning. Rick and the boys had tickets to the Georgia Tech football game in Atlanta that afternoon, and Lisa and Lily were probably going to do some Christmas shopping or something while they were gone.
The rest of us headed to Wild Adventures theme park. It's about halfway home for us, so we had decided to split the drive up by spending Saturday there and then staying in a hotel room that night and driving the rest of the way home today. We had a good time at Wild Adventures. The weather was really nice for the most part, though it got pretty cold at times. On the way there, we'd stopped at Walmart to get me a new sweater. I'd only packed a windbreaker, not realizing it was going to get into the 40s while we were there. I got a really comfy black one. It's really big on me, which I like, and so cozy. We also grabbed some new cough medicine for me, because I'd managed to finish off an entire bottle of Formula 44E during the trip. This time, on the advice of my cousin Melissa (a nurse), I got some Robitussin pills. Either they are a miracle drug or I was already getting better, because since then I have been coughing a lot less. It hasn't gone away completely, but the improvement is huge. I wish I'd been taking those all along. I think I'm getting better too, though, because I haven't taken the pills since last night and I'm doing pretty well.
We left Wild Adventures at around 5:30 because it was getting cold and we were pretty tired. We had dinner at Applebees and then checked into the hotel. My mom thought she'd booked a two bedroom suite, but it actually turned out to be a two BED suite. So we all had to share one room with two beds. It was pretty nice though, and the beds were queen size, plenty big enough for me and Casey (although I did have to keep telling her to scoot back over to her side when she crowded me). The bed we'd slept in at my aunt Mary's house was awful. It was a couch bed that was about twin sized, and Casey and I had to sleep there together. There was a bar going across where my legs were, and I woke up several times because my legs would be really sore from sleeping that way. Add that to my coughing fits, and I did not sleep well on this trip.
So there I was, finally in a nice big, comfy bed. I was finally going to get a good night's sleep, right? Not so much. You would not BELIEVE how badly my mother snores. I told her she needed to be checked out for Sleep Apnea, because she sounded like she was struggling for air. That made it nearly impossible for me to sleep, although I must have managed, because my mom and dad both said I'd been snoring too, and that I kept coughing and waking them up. I apparently had a pretty bad coughing fit at around midnight that didn't wake me up, because I don't remember it. Casey, in the meantime, slept like an angel, because that's what she does. LOL
Oh, also... the hotel room had a whirlpool tub. Casey, my dad and I all took turns using it, and it was so nice. Just to have a tub deep enough to sit in it was nice. Most normal tubs are so small. And then we watched Elf (one of my favorite holiday movies) on the hotel room TV and went to sleep.
Today we got up at around 7:30, had breakfast at the hotel and got on the road. We got back into our area at about noon and headed straight for Gatorland. Casey's Girl Scout troop is there today for a field trip. They were supposed to meet at 11, and I'd told her leader I doubted we'd make it by then. So when we got there I just called to find out where they were and sent her in to find them. It's a very small park, and they were pretty close to the front gate, so I'm sure she didn't have any trouble. I'll be picking her up at 4.
So now I'm doing laundry, paying bills, etc. I need to go grocery shopping too. I'm so exhausted, but I'll do my best to get some things accomplished. Tomorrow morning Casey has an appointment to get her final HPV shot, and then I'm going to take her to school, pick Willow up, drop her off at home, and go to work.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
Sleeping in the car on the way there:
Look, the leaves change colors and fall off the trees there! That doesn't happen in Florida. Basically you have leaves one day and then the next day you don't. They are all on the ground, the same color as always. Bleh. I like Florida, but that's the one thing I wish we had... seasons.
The kids collecting pecans that had fallen from my aunt's trees. Casey brought home a bag of them. I don't know what she wants me to do with them. Neither of us likes pecan pie, or really anything with them in it. My mom said to give them to her and she'd do something with them.
Lily was especially proud of her pecans, telling us we were not allowed to eat any of them.
Casey and Lily were the best of friends the whole time. Lily was like her little shadow, following her everywhere she went. Casey was so sweet to her, playing with her and giving her lots of hugs. In the background are my aunt Teresa and my mom.
Nathan and Casey playing Poker Yahtzee. Casey wasn't pouting or anything... she was just worried about what he was going to roll. Hee. Also, see that bracelet she's wearing? She and lily made those together.
Casey and Tiger, the cat my aunt has sort of adopted. He was very sweet, and there are no hard feelings against him for making my allergies go all wonky.
Opening presents
Melissa gave Andrew and Nathan hornet hats to wear to the football game. Here's Nathan wearing his.
When we were visiting aunt Mary Alice and uncle Joseph, a neighbor's dog wandered over to play with the kids. She was the sweetest thing ever.
At the Cheehaw zoo, you could see what kind of bird you are like by measuring your "wingspan". Casey was a turkey hawk. Or something.
This is how Casey and Lily walked around the zoo most of the time.
And at Wild Adventures, a tiger. This was pretty funny - there was an employee walking by the cage, and I guess the tigers knew her as the person that feeds them. So they were following her back and forth and making this sad little meowing sound. Aw.
Aunt Mary and Teresa (my mom's sisters) on a spinny ride. My dad, my mom, Casey and I were riding it too, and my dad almost puked on us. He didn't go on anything else that day, and we were okay with it. Ha.
Casey riding the Boomerang. It takes you up that first hill, then drops you through some loops, then you go up that second hill, and then it drops you backwards through the same loops. I've ridden it before and it's pretty fun, but I wasn't really in the mood for coasters that day, so I opted out. I rode some things with her, but for whatever reason, didn't feel up for the big stuff.
Good times, good times.