On the Road and Back Again
The last half of August has been nuts. I went to a Sherlock convention in Bethesda, and then turned around and we did our family vacation road trip across a nice chunk of the country.
Since my parents had such awful health scares this past winter, we didn't do the beach, rather we just drove down to see them. We stopped off at Dollywood though on the way down, the amusement park Dolly Parton owns in Tennessee to employ her family. It's a really nice little park, and since the kids in the area were back in school already, there were low lines for most of the rides Bri fell in love with Daredevil Falls - the log flume ride, and we took turns riding it with her. She must have gone on 10 times. I actually sat and watched some blue grass and country music shows while everyone else did nausea-inducing rides, though I did ride the log flume thing three times with Bri on my watch. I did pack extra clothes for the girls (I know how they are) but didn't have stuff for me. I was walking around in soaked jean shorts by the end of the day, and Chris decided we would scoot off and drive two hours immediately after getting out of the park to make good time on our road trip. All our clothes was packed away in the fanny pack strapped on the back of the car so I was sat in soaking wet pants while we curved and dipped over backwoods mountain country lanes following the GPS to take the quickest way through the wilds of Tennessee. Finally we stopped at a gas station as Tara needed to vomit, and Bri had to pee, and then found a hotel for the night.
We made it down to MS, and stayed in a truly awesome hotel I found for half-price on Travelocity. Embassy Suites in Ridgeland MS is a wonderful hotel if you're ever down that way, and the included breakfast was top notch! We stayed through the weekend, spending time with my parents, my sister and her family, and a really nice pool party and cook out with an old friend of mine. Then during the week, we left the kids to stay with my parents while Chris and I flew up to Minneapolis for a work conference he was doing a presentation for. It was so weird to get in a plane and get out godknowswhere - I didn't even know where we were on a map. Of course I only saw the airport, hotel, and a mall so I didn't get much of a sense of Minnesota. The Mall of America was the mall nearby and everyone had gone on and on about what a huge, amazing thing it was. It was four stories tall so it was a pretty big place, but really it was just a mall - the same old junky stores you usually see at a mall. It did have a small amusement park in the center and that was cool, but beyond that, it was really crowded, and kind of boring. I got a blizzard at Dairy Queen and bought a book at Barnes and Noble. I mean it was a nice mall, but it didn't seem exciting enough to be a national atttraction or anything.
We flew back for one more day with everyone. Sadly Dylan had been ill and my mom took him to the clinic nearby, and he had strep throat, so he got meds for that, and all was back to purring along, but I'm sorry he got sick on vacation. We did our two day drive home which was excrutiating as always though the kids were less restless - every year everyone gets older and the road tripping gets easier. My hand started hurting on the drive home and by the time we got home, I had blisters and rash all up over my left hand and arm. I realized that when I went into the side yard to get a deflated mylar balloon that had caught in my parents' yard, I must have wallowed in some poison ivy. I am so allergic to the stuff. It's awful. Sigh, this too shall pass.
It was super nuts having a day before school started back, but I got everyone kitted up and off on time. It will take forever to completely unpack the mountain of luggage all around the floor, but we'll get it eventually. On to September!