Home at Last!

Oh, my. Since last Tuesday, the kids and I have spent over 34 hours in the car. Over 34 hours in 11 days. That's waaaay too long. Lions and tigers and bears, oh my.

John's grandfather passed away late last Sunday, and his funeral was on Thursday. John's dad Jim rode back home with us Thursday afternoon and stayed with us that night. John worked Friday, so the kids and I drove Jim to Austin to meet John's half sister, Heather, at Whole Foods. Jim stayed with Heather Friday night, and had his flight back home this morning. It was an ... um ... interesting ... visit, as always.

We got our shopping done at Whole Foods, and I bought myself a treat: Pumpkin Ale! I never buy myself beer, mainly because I almost never drink beer. Especially since I quit smoking. I have nothing against it, I'm just an uber-lightweight and tend to fall asleep if I drink more than one ... or if I finish one too late in the evening. :) On the rare evening when I get a hankerin' for one, I just steal one of John's. But I love pumpkin, and I've seen this stuff every year, and I've always really wanted to try it. So I got wild and crazy and went ahead and bought some. But I was too tired to try it last night. Maybe this evening. We'll see. Hee hee. I'll report back.

All the kids came with us to the funeral; it was a short service at the Houston National Cemetery. Jim was given military honors (he served in WWII), and the service was beautiful. I have to brag on my kids for a second. They were amazing. Not that they're usually wild Indians when we're in public or anything (please not that I said usually), but they were above and beyond great at the service, and then at the family gathering we went to afterwards. My darling husband at I received several compliments on all three of the little dears, and we couldn't have been prouder.

And then came yesterday. I am so glad that none of the people who were at the service were around yesterday. By the time John got home, I wanted to lock myself in a closet and not come out until Christmas. Well, maybe Thanksgiving at the earliest. But not before. Even the baby was making me crazy!! I think it was just that yesterday, the stress of the last few weeks came crashing down on us all ... whatever it was, it wasn't fun! All the kids were in bed by 8, and I was asleep on the couch by 10. And I'm still tired and trying to catch up on sleep!!

So on that note, I'm off to take a quick nap while the baby is down for a while. I promise to post something marginally more interesting soon, once I figure out which way is up.