Days 1,2 and a bit of 3 Mediterranean cruise

 Whew, here we go!

Day 1 Mediterranean Cruise

Ryan took me to the Amtrak station in the wee hours of the morning on a Thursday.  We waited until they opened and then he took off to make it back in time for work.  Well, an hour late but they were aware.

The Amtrak ride was good.  Internet spotty.  My seat companion was a very nice lady about my age and life experiences, but no kids.  We were talking about our upcoming week and I happened to mention that I on the first leg of my journey to Barcelona. OH MY GOODNESS!  She'd been there not long earlier and gave me all sorts of info on places to eat, things to see!  The train had some problems and actually stopped for a couple hours while something was being fixed on it.  From what I've been told that doesn't happen ALL the time but be thankful they took time to fix it! We both had to do some work on our laptops but when the internet conked out in dead zones, we chatted up a storm!

My sister and BIL met me in the Chicago suburb and my new friend and I parted ways cheerfully.  Teresa asked about my train companion and you know what? I never even got her name! :)  Oh well.  It's not like we were going to be penpals or anything.

That evening, Teresa and Ken had a work dinner to attend so they asked their son and his family to babysit me. lol. 

We had a tea party, played board games, ate pizza and watched tv together.  It was a good time!  

Teresa and Ken picked me up and I crashed hard back at their house.

Day 2 Mediterranean Cruise 

I worked on my laptop for much of the day and in my free time, packed and repacked my suitcases.  I had a large bag to check and another for carry-on.  Teresa pulled out her scale and I was so surprised to find that my super heavy suitcase only weighed around 34 pounds!  Doesn't leave much for souvenirs but that's ok for now!  And my bulky carry on was well within the limits. WHEW!  I did leave about 20 pounds of clothes in Teresa's guest room while we were gone though.  Did I REALLY need that many pairs of jeans and extra shirts?  Looking back now, I wish I hadn't left as much as I did. Oh well.  Live and learn!

We three took off for O'Hare that afternoon.  It had started to snow!  Yikes!  With only a 2.5 hour layover in Iceland, time was going to be close.  Ruth Ann was on a bus ride from Wisconsin and met us at O'Hare before we went through TSA.  We rushed to our terminal, we're that kind I guess! and then sat.  I babysat the luggage while those three went for some supper.  The flight was delayed 1.5 hours.  uggh.  

We finally got in the air and Ruth Ann promptly got a nose bleed!  We managed to scrounge up enough napkins to help her out.  

And DON'T believe these screens about the outside temp!  I have no idea what is accurate up in the air, but it said that in Iceland, it was 172 degrees as we were taxi-ing to the terminal.  I DON'T think so...

And various pics of us traveling between terminals on our layover in Iceland.

The movies were good but the seat screen in front of each of us was so close to our faces, especially if the guy ahead of us decided to recline his seat.  But that's flying for you.  It makes you appreciate the final destination so much better! And I may need new glasses for flights only.

We flew over Ireland and I got to snap a couple pics!  

I'm glad I did.  

Someday, I'll go back there!

Ok that's it for Day 1, 2 & a smidge of 3!

Rear View Mirror

Weekends in the rear view mirror.

For such a somber event, we were all pretty upbeat and cheerful for the drive to Nebraska for my Mom's graveside service.  We ended up having Leon's little brother, Finn, with us for the adventure.  He and Meri got on great.  Leon, Maddy and Matthew hung out in the "way back" and Leon showed off his Lego Star Wars game on his ancient Ipod.

I mostly visited with Robb, worked on funeral thank yous and took out some stitching from some zippers that I salvaged from some of Robb's old shorts that he was throwing away.

 We arrived first at the cemetery and waited in the van.  It was COLD, wet and windy.  It's always windy at this cemetery.  2.5 sets of my grandparents are buried out here and I was only able to put a rose on one of their graves before frost bite was kicking into my bare legs.  Slacks and boots would have probably been a better choice to wear...  

The tent blocked some of the wind and most of the rain, but I come from a big family and we couldn't all fit comfortably, so some stuck out on various sides.

The reason the graveside service was 1.5 months later was so that grandchildren who couldn't make it to the actual funeral could make it to this.  And so that the weather would be better.  I'm almost thinking it was warmer in early March!  But who knew?

Matthew was gracious and helped be a stand-in pallbearer for it.

The service was short but poignant.  

And Beautiful Savior will always make me cry now.

Afterwards, we all drove to another town about 20 minutes away and filled the entire back party room of a Pizza Ranch.  So good to visit with them all.  I got to hear all about my brother's trip to Florida.

Mental note: Buy the strongest and most waterproof sunscreen I can find...  The Florida and Bahama sun was not made for lily white Iowa skin.  He and his girlfriend were peeling pretty good.

On the way home, the kids crashed within 10 minutes of being in the car again.

It reminded me of this photo that I took within 10 minutes of getting in our rental car in Ireland.

Kids are so sweet when they're sleeping... :)

Finally got home after almost 4 hours in the car and our company for dinner (brother-in-law and his wife) arrived 10 minutes later.

Yep - Lisa helped me get some of the food cooked while Robb manned the grill.

After dinner, Maddy helped Meri get all dolled up for a "Porch Prom" that she was attending that evening.

I KNOW!  I'd never heard of a "porch prom" either!  But it was Prom night at our local high school and Meri has graduated so she wasn't going.  Neither were a lot of her theater friends that own a house close to the high school.  So they had a party on the porch, watching and mocking the high school kids as they arrived at the high school for their grand march.  Meri was upset that she couldn't make anything but after hitting up the local convenience store, went to the party bearing chips and cheese dip.  She didn't get back until 2 am and I think she had a great time.

Ellie, Duke and Reedus were all under one roof again for the weekend.  They were excited and as crazy as ever to be together.   The people left back at the house on Saturday had to deal with it.  Not us.   Ellie promptly dragged the food dish to the bathroom and slept behind the bathroom door all day.  She can be moody.

Duke left with Maddy and Matthew on Sunday morning and Ellie stuck around until last night when Meri got done with her community play practice.  And suddenly we're just down to Reedus, who is snoring not so softly under the table as I type.

Teen Challenge arrived at the auto repair place this morning and picked up Meri's car.  Well, it's not hers anymore.

Oh!  My niece from LA came to the burial and brought my fabric that I had gotten in LA in February!  Now I have bunches of fabric to sew with again!  Not that I was running out or anything, but it's great to have fresh material when browsing through my stash and dream about what I could make out of it.  Jen, Meri and I looked through and came up with some ideas already.

Anyway, that was the weekend.  Everyone is back to their own homes and I'm scrambling to get work done today so I'll get a lunch time to sew.

How was your weekend?

California Dreaming - There's No Place Like Home

Last day of California trip, well of California anyway...

On Monday morning, Meri and I got up early!!  She wanted to get a hike in before we headed to the airport. We went to the park that had the waterfall and found this.

 We also found another car with hikers waiting to go in.  They gave up waiting after we all sat in our cars for a while and Meri and I climbed through the gate.  We found a map of the park and routed our way to the waterfall.

The cacti were pretty cool!  Look Maddy!  Succulents!

Along the way, the waterfall must have had some wash outs because some of the path was gone and there were just rocks to climb over.  We did find a pretty snifty bridge that reminded Meri of both bridge scenes of the tv series Harpers Island.  DON'T JUMP!!  

The hills of the gorge we were hiking through butted up to some California's back yards and we only know this because we took a wrong turn trying to find the opening of the park.  If we yelled enough, I'm sure some of the neighbors would throw old vegetables at us from above...  

We found the waterfall after 45 minutes of hiking.

A little underwhelming...  It was more like a moist wall.  

And since it was a dead end, we turned around and started our hike down.  

Half way back and my phone started ringing.  It was an FB messenger video chat with my sisters and parents!  I am NOT going to turn that call down!  So we sat on a branch and chatted for a while.  Got to see the talents of a great-nephew!

Eventually we got to the end of our hike and back to civilization.  Doesn't a fire hydrant protected by boulders symbolize that?  

And someone's washing machine run off.  Meri was more impressed by that than the actual waterfall so she posed for a pic of that.

Then we packed up at the hotel, had a nice breakfast and traveled to LAX.  

We got to the airport and through security fairly quickly.  After some exploring, we had a great lunch before returning to our gate. 

Once we were boarded, the flight was delayed longer and eventually they told us that an engine wouldn't start so we can get off the plane if we wanted to.  A girl sitting next to us had a connecting flight to Toronto so she did.  A little while later, the captain told the rest of us to get off too.  This plane was too broke to fly and they were getting us another.  Yikes!  Better now than over the Rockies, right?

So the girl who had gotten off earlier than us let us budge in line to get our connecting flight to Iowa rescheduled.  "We're with her!"

For a little while.  She was able to get a direct flight instead and off she went.

Then we sat.  and sat.  and sat.  Thankfully there was an available plug in to charge my phone within sight of Meri so I read in my little corner and Meri was all alone on her wall...

We finally got back in the new plane after an hour and a half of waiting and eventually winged it back to Chicago where we flew in a holding pattern until they let us land.  Ice storm...  

Since all the flights out of Chicago were now cancelled, they put us up at a really nice hotel and gave us food vouchers to use at the airport.  

On Tuesday morning, Meri and I went down for breakfast before catching our shuttle back for the 8am flight home.  I got a call from Robb who had been watching our flight and he told me that the flight had been moved to 7pm.  dang.  he was right...  Well, the hotel would only let us use the shuttle up until 10am.  So we took it and headed back to the airport.  

I worked from my laptop for a while since I was supposed to be back to work today anyway.  Meri binged watched a tv show and cried when it got sad.  We explored the airport a lot.  

The underground people mover was intriguing and we had races on it!  Once, when I was supposed to be in the next conveyor belt walkway, I purposefully stepped onto Meri's and ran to catch up wiht her.  She heard the whirring of my carry on luggage wheels and looked over her left shoulder to see where I was and almost fell down out of shock that I was right behind her. HA!

So we got a workout all right...  We made up for it by eating well and getting lots of sugary snacks.

I'm so glad I dieted so much before going on this trip...

Finally got on our flight home and made it back to Iowa around 9:30.  Took the shuttle bus out to our economy parked car and found that it had snowed.  A lot...  The roads around the cars were plowed well, but there were heaps of snow surrounding Meri's car.  As we opened the doors, something blew out.  I thought it was a napkin so I didn't worry much.  But then once we were settled, Meri asked, Where is our parking ticket?!  *gasp*  After looking all around her car inside, she backed out over the snow bank and I went back to search with my cell phone flash light.  FOUND the ticket just casually sticking up out of the snow.  WOW...  Prayers answered!  We didn't want to pay the maximum fine for losing it!

Got home around 10:30pm and Meri stayed over in her room.

We were finally home!!  What a wild ride that was!!

Oh There WILL Be Cake

On Friday, I got the lining/wearable muslin prom dress just about ready for Meri to try on.

She was busy and we didn't get a chance...

So the lining is completely done with skirt lining attached. Including some continents made from an old pillow case, hanging from the waistline so she can get the overall affect.

On Saturday, we got a freak blizzard...  I guess it's still March, so I have no idea if this is the "out like a lion" or we need to wait until next Saturday to decide.  The girls who stayed over on Friday night got picked up by one of their dads when it was obvious Meri wasn't going to be able to drive them home in this weather.  

Her other plans for Saturday fell through too.  She was going to go pick up her prom date, go shopping at the Goodwill for a used suit that fits and then have him at our house for the whole day so I could get a good handle on fitting his suit.

Blizzard.  So no go.

I decided to spend the entire day, instead, on her prom dress and get it done as much as I possibly could.  Once I had the lining skirt attached, I texted her to come try on the lining and she texted back, "in a little bit."  That can mean anything...  And then the neighbor girl showed up wrapped in a blanket for a coat.  She must have packed her winter things away the same as I did!

So Em went downstairs to Meri's room and the "in a little bit" turned into "a long a bit."  uuugghhhhh...  

Oh well, I had lots of other things to keep me busy.  I KNEW that the lining bodice was going to fit her, so I cut out the pieces based on the paper pattern pieces that I'd cut out, forgetting a few important details... Such as "add 1.5 inches to the top of the side bodice and back sections.  

oops.

I didn't discover it until I had the organza overlay laying on top of each piece and ironing them.  

Now WHY are all these organza pieces longer?  Does organza stretch???...

no.

sigh...  I attempted to patch the shortened areas but couldn't line up the word cific and cean with the original Pacific and Ocean under the arm pit.  yikes!  and it would LOOK patched...

So I bit the bullet and cut out new pieces.  When ironing in the LAST of my fusible interfacing, I realized I'd cut TWO of the right side front.  

really?...

So Robb may have heard me use a swear word from clear downstairs...  and I cut out another piece strategically from the map fabric.  

There is less than 2 yards now for the prom date's suit jacket now...

AND nearly no continents to hang from Meri's waist line...

The only continent intact on the rejected bodice pieces is the USA, so I can salvage that one.

I may need to order more fabric.  Good thing Amazon shipping is fast!

So here is the bodice so far.  

I finally cornered the girl and made her try on both the lining and this.  She is THRILLED with how it's looking!  It's exactly like she imagined it.  And I got some clarification on how the organza on the skirt will be.  I had misunderstood, but now it's ALL clear!  and whew!  I hadn't cut that out yet!

I will need to add more tulle to our crinoline.  It needs to be poofy.

I spent another couple hours cutting out the skirt pieces and then took a break.  Robb wanted to get a snow fort built for Leon before the snow wasn't packable anymore.

If you were down our street Saturday, you would have seen a couple 51+ year olds loading storage totes with snow, packing them in and making HUGE bricks for the snow fort.

Nine tubs of snow later, we have a fort that the boy would love and won't melt until June.  Leon was thrilled when he got home Sunday and spent a good long time playing around it.  He gently carved a window in the area where I'd carefully packed snow between the bricks.

It reminds me of the windows at Newtown Castle in County Clare, where you could defend your castle with weapons through little slits in the wall. 

Weren't they just so LITTLE??!!!!  

The kids I mean.  I can't believe that trip was 20 years ago this spring!

Back to the dress that will make you want to travel...  I'll work on it today a little on my breaks and hopefully have the skirt attached by tonight.  The suit jacket that the date's mom picked up for him will be by later today so I can see how it fits on him.  

THIS is what we're shooting for.  This pattern was $1.99!  Simplicity is on sale this month people!!!  Woohoo!

More tomorrow on my weekend adventures.  There will be cake.

Eclipsed by a Tree

On the drive home from Wisconsin, Robb did all the driving and I just tried to stay awake.  When I was kid, I could fall asleep in the car at the drop of a hat and when we woke up, we were there.

Kind of like MAGIC!  

BUT I knew Robb hadn't had a lot of sleep over the weekend so I figured I better stay awake and keep him alert. 

I mostly ate.  Maddy and I had found some FRESH cheese curds and I thought Sluggy was lying when she said you can tell how fresh it is by the squeak.  What??!  But she's RIGHT!  This was the squeakiest cheese I'd ever eaten and wow was it good!  We split up the package and she kept some there.  I finished off my pack before the Iowa border.  Well, probably before Madison...  

We got to Iowa and still had three hours to go.  I had cracked open a sewing book and knew Robb would think I would just sink into it without talking to him for three hours, so I deliberately put it on the side burner and talked.  

What tv shows did you watch as a kid?  We shared our favorites that we could remember and he brought up one that I'd never heard of so he told me to look it up.  I did on IMDB and still didn't remember it.  That probably wasn't on the four channels that we got at my house.

In the IMDB search engine, I plugged in 1980 and it listed all the movies and tv shows that came out that year, so I quizzed him.  It brought up lots of fun memories about various shows we watched, who we watched the movie with and the genre of shows that shaped us.  

He saw a LOT of movies with an old girl friend...  :)  

But by the time we got to the late 80s, most off them were with me. or his sister or college friends.

I had my head buried in the computer for almost the entire 3 hours. Yay for internet devices!  I realized that we'd never even stopped for supper!  Not surprising though for all the snacking we'd done.  We got home around 9pm, exhausted.  

Meri had already picked up Leon and they were camping out in the front yard in her tent.  The firepit was lit and they'd littered partially cooked marshmallows all over the driveway.  The ants love us this week...

They gave up camping around 11pm when we heard them come in and she plopped him into his bed.  During the night, it rained like cats and dogs with lots of lightning and pouring rain.  I'm so glad they came in!

Monday was, of course, the eclipse day.  During the morning, it rained off an on and at around 10 or so, the wind SUDDENLY picked up and roared like a hurricane outside.  I heard a snap.  A little while later, we found out why.

Yeah, the dead tree in our front yard is no more...  Robb cut it all up and we pulled it back onto our yard until we can move it to the land fill.  

So.many.twigs...

It fell in exactly the same place as the tree earlier this spring!  What were the odds!?  

AMAZING...  A foot to the right or left would have been disastrous.  Or if it had fallen the OTHER direction, Meri's car would have been nailed...

Is there any doubt that God takes care of us?  I'm learning to trust better these days.

Oh! While Robb cut the tree apart, Leon and I did a science experiment with the eclipse.  When I was in elementary school, there was an eclipse.  I'm guessing 1979.  I remember we used paper cups and saw the eclipse through shadows.  I knew we could do it now too, so I googled it.  

Yep!  Eclipse watching for the people who don't plan ahead.

Colanders aren't just for spaghetti anymore!

Ok, enough randomness.  Enjoy your Tuesday and remember, no matter what gets in the suns way, there is nothing new under it. :)

That's how we roll

On Thursday night,  Robb rented a UHaul and Matthew, Maddy, Robb and I got it and two other cars loaded to the rafters with their furniture, gifts and other belongings.  Enjoyed some Portillos Italian beef sandwiches for supper that Robb's brother had brought us from Chicago.YUMMMM...  I think I know what I'm having for lunch today...

Then I headed for the airport.  Meri's plane was an hour late, but we were glad she even MADE that flight in Chicago.  Her previous flight from Florida was delayed also so it was touch and go to see if they'd get on the connecting one.  So at 10:20 something, Meri's plane finally landed and all the parents waited patiently until the kids started coming down the escalator.  

Whew!  THERE she was!!!!

She has some great stories to tell about her trip, but the one that cracks us up the most, I can't talk about.  Let's just say "BEAUTIFUL!!!!" in an Italian accent, shall we?

Bright and early the next morning, we headed off to move Maddy and Matthew to Wisconsin.   Meri couldn't come along so we left her in charge of the dogs.  Several members of their new church arrived and helped move all their things up the stairs to their new apartment.  

Maddy planted me in the kitchen and said, UNPACK!  So that was my job.  This is their kitchen after we'd attempted to sift 100+ wedding gifts into it.  They've arranged and rearranged the furniture and will probably continue to do so until they hit on the right arrangement.  

They made lists of things to pick up on their next jaunt out.  

What a great apartment and what a great couple!

 AND they're within a mile of this...  SUCH a beautiful place.  They're going to love it here and we're going to consider every trip there our vacation.  We found all the stores they'll need and do you know there is a pub on every corner in Wisconsin?  It's TRUE!  And I thought they were famous for just cheese...

 The next morning we showed up at 6am, as Maddy had instructed us and woke them up. Made a quick breakfast and we all hit the road again.  Matthew off to a wedding in Minnesota for one of his best friends growing up and Robb, Maddy and I off to a wedding of a niece near Minneapolis.  The ceremony times were different and it just made sense to drive separately.  We did stop to get photos of the lake. AND an old school selfie before leaving town.

The next morning, we took Maddy to Matthew's parents town for church and a quick lunch before they headed off with more loads of Matthew's things to Wisconsin and us to home.  It was so good to get home and nap...  It's rare we do that.

But that was Robb's Father's Day celebration.  

Happy Father's Day (a day late) to the man who is the best part of our family and home.  I love you.

I wonder what crazy things we'll dream up to do THIS week...

Cheesy Beginnings

Sunday...  I sewed for a while in the afternoon, visited my bestie and headed home to get my act together for Monday while Robb picked up the boy.  We spent the evening getting the wedding invites and other things together to take with us on Monday.

Monday...  Robb and I left the kids to themselves for the day and headed north through wind, rain, sleet and ice to see Maddy and Matthew and visit with his folks to discuss wedding plans.  First stopping off and having a quick lunch with the two in ye ol' college town.  The moms took notes and I put mine into typed up form for a new Facebook group that has just parents and the happy couple.  In trying to come up with the least expensive way to do things, we've hit on lots of exciting things that if we play our cards right, just might be pretty cool.  

It's looking like a lot of fun and I can't wait to see all in it's glory.  Since then, I've been preoccupied with finding tents, tulle and wheels of cheese at discounted prices.  

And curiously enough, a cow.   

But not for the wedding.  Well, maybe...  ;)  

Last night, I had to get my mind off wedding stuff for a little while, so I asked Robb to bring home a couple gallons of whole milk.  For Christmas, he'd given me a cheese making kit.  

I followed the directions and paid close attention to the temperature and instructions.  heat milk and citric acid to 90 degrees, take off burner, add rennet, stir wait 5 minutes.  When it's custardy and cuts without the custard sticking to my finger, then put it back on the burner until it reaches 105 degrees.  Stir for 3-5 minutes.

and that's where things went horribly wrong.  I must have misunderstood how briskly to stir because suddenly the curd-like things disappeared and it became more akin to egg drop soup...

Ummm how is THAT going to be cheese??

So I drained it through cheese cloth for what seemed like an hour.  Probably more.  Finally got most of the whey drained off.  I asked Robb what we could do with whey and he said it's in the name.  You throw it a-whey...  For this batch I did, but I'm sure there is a purpose to it.  Seemed wasteful.

Microwaved the soft gushy cheese for a couple minutes until it reached 135 degrees and then kneaded 1.5 teaspoons of salt into it.  Then dunked it into a bowl of ice water.  

We sliced into it and it was actually pretty good! I'll add more salt next time.

And in looking back at the process, I probably did it correctly.  

The spoon is for reference.

Anyone out there make cheese before?  I'd like to make a cheddar but the recipe for it isn't for beginners apparently and is not in the instruction manual.  There is a colby that I'd like to try some time soon.

But that is how I turned $4 of whole milk into $3 worth of cheese.

Anyway... cheese is king!  Bring on the prunes...

Senior Year Blues

On Saturday, Robb, Meri, Leon and myself headed north with a truck carrying the futon and a van loaded down with several boxes and bags that Maddy had had packed and ready before her Colorado adventure.

It took FOREVER to get Meri and Leon out in the car and down the road.  In fact, even after we got in the van, it took 30 minutes to go 8 miles...  I kept an eye on the odometer after filling the tank.  REALLY??!!  We need batteries NOW?  And it took way too long to find a movie in stock at Redbox that Leon would actually watch.  Then he dropped his milk cup and juice cup down the side of his seat where neither Meri or I could grab it.  So I had to pull over for that.  

Then a ditch break later when Leon mistook a #2 indicator for a #1 indicator.  Didn't we just stop ten minutes ago and you used the restroom there?

Well, that stop was ok as we saw some wild turkeys in the ditch AND we were able to retrieve a Lego piece that he'd dropped earlier.

But we finally all showed up about the same time.  Robb had had to stop at a client's on the way up, so he'd left a lot earlier than us.

So Maddy has a new futon this year as the one she used for the first three years kind of bit the dust.  I bought this from a sewing buddie's garage sale a month or so ago.  It is SO much more comfortable!

I've gotten the measurements and plan to make a new cover for it sometime this fall.

Since Maddy is an R.A. and the only other person in the hall until her roommate (another R.A.) showed up 2, all the other dorm rooms were empty.  And Leon needed a nap.  He and Meri chose an empty room across the hall and napped on the bunk beds for a while.
Apparently we needed Leon refreshed the rest of the day activities.

We loaded the empty plastic tubs back into the van with bags of clothes that we'd accidentally brought along.  It was a miracle as we took more things home with us than we'd brought.

Well, she got moved in and most things put away.  The Christmas lights were up so our work here was done.  I managed to grab a pic with her and the guy before we headed off to dinner with his family at their home.

While Robb and I visited upstairs with Matthew's parents, we heard a CRRUUUUUSSSSH-SHHASSSSHH downstairs in their family room.  It's an interesting noise and one that I had actually heard many times before back in Iowa.  Matthew had dumped his three bins of Legos onto a huge heap and the girls, Matthew, Leon and his two sisters dug in.

Pure heaven... If you're under the age of 22 and don't have to worry about being the one to find the odd piece under your foot when you're walking through the room in the middle of the night.  His mom and I eventually couldn't resist and we joined them.

At the dinner table, Leon grabbed Matthew's usual spot and pretended to be Matthew for the duration of our visit. And Matthew had to pretend to be Leon. Kind of a Freaky Friday kind of thing...

We asked Leon Matthew how does Matthew behave? He grabbed Maddy's hand and started kissing it, and then proceeded to kiss up her arm. Matthew Leon claimed that he doesn't do that and acted embarrassed.

:)  Kids are pretty observant!

Leon was in rare form and ran around the living room almost crashing into a wall and informing us that it's no big deal because he has armor under his skin.  He got it from eating snow.  

???

Meri cooked up a plan to stay the night with Maddy and come home the next morning in her truck.  After a successful presentation, she and the girls all went to a movie, then she stayed the night on Maddy's new futon.

So when the rest of us were leaving after dinner for our long drive home, Leon Matthew acted like he was going back to his house with his new family.  Deb seemed concerned, "Um... what doesn't he like?!"  I told her vegetables.  So she said "Leon Matthew, we only have carrots, broccoli and peas in the house to eat!"

He was cheeky and said that he likes to try new things.

Liar!

So I had to go retrieve him and he sobbed saying that he wanted to live there and be Matthew.

Sigh.  Don't we all?...

I mean... LOOK at those Legos!!!

The sobbing only lasted until he was in his seat and I was getting a movie started for him.

About half way home, Leon finally went to sleep and woke up screaming with a bloody nose.  

Oh dear.  It was rather tricky to help him with kleenex and stay buckled up.

He howled, "How does this always happen???!!!"   I asked him calmly, "Did you pick your nose?"

"YES!!!!"  As if he was just following directions and this just happened anyway.

"That's why dear..."

So, just following directions and ending this post now.  It was a long but fun day.

And I'm going to miss Maddy.  Sunday was pretty emotional for me.  I hope we see her soon.