Home Sweet Home

I absolutely love coming home after being away for a little while for one BIG reason. My cat runs to me like I have been away for a year. I was the last one in the door when we got home, I stopped to put down bags and pet Tuesday. Then I looked up and saw Izabel peeking around Bill and Nate. I stood up and said in my really annoying momma voice "There's my baby!" And Izabel ran around Bill and Nate so fast she skidded into my feet. She always has this incredibly shocked look on her face. Like "Oh wow, is it really you?" I love that. I wish I could bottle it and have it every day. She has done that every since I went away for a week and left her with a friend of mine. At the time, she was only about five months old. She was at the top of the second story staircase when I walked in. I looked up and she looked at me for a minute like she didn't recognize me. Then when I said, "There's my baby!" She came running down those steps so fast I thought she would fall. I just love the love. You just can't beat that kind of a home coming. Although I have to say coming home to a clean house sure does rank high on the list.

Okay so I am going to bore you with a lot of my favorite pics from the weekend. I know what you're thinking - "Oh Yeah, a family slide show!" Don't worry I won't show you all 1000+ pics. Just a few of my fav highlights. And let me tell you when I went through them quickly there are quite a few great shots. I can't wait to start scrapbooking! What a huge difference it makes when you invest in a really good camera.

We went to Ohio for a family reunion slash 75th Grandpa's birthday celebration. Come to find out though, the actual "real" family reunion took place two weeks ago. We got the invite on Saturday. Uh, whoops. Think they're telling us something?

So we took the extra long flight to Louisville, Kentucky then took a little drive over to Cincinnati, OH. (Can't remember what the abreviation for Kentucky is right now. Will have to look that up later). When I say extra long, I mean extra long. We left at Noon-ish and arrived in KY (good guess?) around midnight. Uhm, with a stop on the way. How is this possible, you ask? Well, as my husband would say "We got a good deal on our tickets." Thankfully the man has come to his senses and has reevaluated his statement saying now, "Nothing is that good of a deal." We blessedly got lucky, our 9 year old son was a dream on the way there. Honestly, you really didn't even know he was there he was so quiet. Course on the way home . . .

So we spent the first night at an aunt's house. I interrupt this post to thank a very sweet girl, who will remain unnamed, for giving up her bed at three o'clock in the morning for us. When I was a kid I absolutely HATED when people came to visit because being the youngest I was the first to VOLUNTEER my bedroom. So huge thanks for the accommodations!! The following morning we met at breakfast while the same aunt who boarded us brought Grandpa to breakfast for a little surprise. The surprise was us - all 12 of us. Now let me tell you how many people commented on the fact that he was in fact turning 75 and should we really be surprising him this way? My thoughts exactly. Thankfully not much upsets Grandpa as far as I have seen. God love this man. He is just the nicest man! I have only met him a few times, but for some reason I have grown very fond of him already. It could be that my husband has a profound amount of respect for him or the wonderful stories he tells. Who knows? Anyway, I can't remember what exactly we did after breakfast.

That evening we ended up at another house and that is where I met my competition. The woman we all fear is in our husband's life. She called him the minute she found out he was in town. She begged him to come see her right away. And of course he quickly promised it would be soon. She has brown hair and a stick figure. Her eyes twinkle whenever she looks at him. And she is ten years old and cute as a button. My husband's first cousin. He just dotes on her. Quite a cutie and a great kareoke singer!

The next morning the guys took off for a private breakfast with grandpa and the men. We girls met up and had a big breakfast as well. Then I told everyone I was going back to shower and get ready for the day. Instead I went back and went straight to bed. Got caught too! Everyone came home before I could get up and act like I had been in the shower for awhile. No guilt here though! I totally needed the rest. Nothing like jet lag and constant talking to make you tired. Then we took Grandpa to Walmart. Okay another small story -

Right before we left for Walmart Grandpa mentioned taking us to Wally World. I didn't realize the name until we were in the car. Then all of a sudden I jumped in my seat and yelled at my husband, "Grandpa wants to take us to Wally World???? Like in the Chevy Chase movie??" My husband looked at me for awhile, then said, "oh that is just what Grandpa calls Walmart." Uhm, oh. Damn. I am such a sucker for visiting anything I see in the movies. One day I will live in the movies. Now back to reality -

So Walmart ended up being a distraction while everyone else was setting up for the big 75th party at the Farm. Why am I capitalizing all these words??? Anyway, we totally led him in the back door. So we screwed it up, but I think we prevented a heart attack or at least that is my version. Ended up having a wonderful time. I am so shocked that I not only married a great guy and a sweet son, but I actually like my in-laws and the rest of the bunch. Let me tell you the freaks I have met when going with my friend' to meet their in-laws. So I know I got lucky when I not only like them, but don't want to leave. We also got a great tour of the farm that grandpa worked on back in the day. I saw the biggest pig I have ever seen ever, even in the movies. Seriously, I was shocked when I saw the size of this thing. I had no idea how big pigs really get. And you can imagine the bacon comments we had flying around. We also made a circle so we could pet the rabbits. Funny thing, the tour quide convinced us to all sit in a circle so the bunnies would not run away, yet when we were done petting the rabbits she told us to just get up and let them run away. Uhm, so what was the purpose of this circle thing? Apparently just trying to see what she could make us do in order to pet a rabbit. She could have challenged us and asked us to make an octagon or something really hard. I still would have done it. I love animals. Well, all but that pig. A little scary. Not to mention all the little gross me out germs on the kids hands. I kept thinking (and probably mumbling out loud like the crazy person that I am), "okay kids don't put your hands in your mouths."Uhg, horror the thought. [Doing the gross me out dance right now.]

We got a couple of really great photos I may use for our Christmas card photo this year. Have given up on trying to get the perfect pic every year with all the pets and the family. Too much work. And too much stress. And so not fun. This year I didn't want to do a photo at all, but on the other hand I do like having a great family photo. Bonus that I get to actually mail it to everyone else too.

Brings me to my favorite part of the whole trip. MY VISIT TO WHITE CASTLE. I have seen these burgers in movies and I have heard people talk about them since I was in highschool (guess how long that was). So when I heard we were going to be able to go to White Castle. I just about peed my pants. Seriously. Ask my husband. So I got a pic holding my take out bag. I really didn't order that many hamburgers. The server must have made a mistake. It just looks like a lot. We actually took them back to another fast food place and ate them with the rest of the bunch while they ate the food that that restaurant actually serves. Huh, imagine that. So here is my White Castle review -
seriously the nastiest burger i have ever tasted in my life. i barely was able to down a bite and yes i did eat a couple of bites just to make sure i wasn't being weird or losing my mind. the burger was soggy, the cheese was nasty and the pickles and onions and uhg, it was like eating mush. for fun. mush i have waited at least ten years for. so from me to you - skip the visit, just imagine how good it could be.

I did also try Skyline Chilli - chili on spaghetti; chili on a hot dog (uhm, chili dog). Not to excited about that one either. My in-laws are going to kill me for this comment though. They all really love this place. They would go straight from the airport to Skyline if they could.

Just to be fair and give one good review. I did really like Steak N Shake. But I didn't get to go there on this visit. So maybe next time.

The last night there, we ended up at another house. This one was really breath taking. It was backed up to forest. It had a garden, a barn, a garage with a really fucking cool race car in it. While everyone else was walking around looking at it. I jumped in and would have taken it for a spin (dreaming, I know), but the stearing wheel wasn't attached. They started it up and I jumped out of my skin. I didn't realize it would be quite so loud. I have been to Nascar, but this was unreal. Now I want to add drag racing to my list of things to do. www.50.com Anyway, this house was out in the middle of no where. They had a really great game room with pool table, bar and a couple of slot machines. It had a porch that went around most of the house - very cool. And then these really large rooms for entertaining. Add this house to the list of houses I would like to live in. Course I could live without the forrest behind it. I am freaky like that. I would be standing in the kitchen waiting for some alien from the movie Signs to pop up out of no where. Confused? [note title of blog] Again, I digress. We just had a really kick ass good time drinking and shootin' the shit.

Then we got up at 3 am this morning to fly back. Once again, my husband got a really good deal on the flights. Just kidding, actually I didn't mind the really early flight back. If it was a non-stop flight it would have been great. I slept most of the way. Which is good for everyone involved!

So . . . home sweet home.

Oh and one more thing. For anyone who cares to complain that my vertical photos are actually posting horizontally. Thanks. I know that. My computer is still winning, but I am not done yet. It may have won this battle, but not the war.