Back Home

We pulled into our driveway on Sunday morning just in time; right before a big rain storm. So, we weren't greeted home with the most wonderful weather. Then, after noon I did a Wal-Mart run because we didn't have any food in the house and was reminded of the attitudes of the people that live in OurArea. I was standing in the Self Check-Out line with 2 boxes of rice when a lady approached me and asked if she could get in front of me because she only had 1 item and there was quite a line. I held up my 2 boxes of rice and told her I only had the rice to check-out myself. So she gave me a look that said, "So are you going to let me in line or not?" I didn't move to let her in and she waved her hands at me and she said, "Go ahead..." Yes, how kind of her...

Needless to say, DearHubby and I were not very excited to be back home. After spending a week in the mid-West, the peace and friendliness of that area quickly grew on us. We will definitely miss that place.

DearDaughter2's birthday celebration at Chuck E. Cheese's was a lot of fun!!! My MotherInLaw didn't know if DearDaughter2 would enjoy the party since she was so young. Therefore, we were so happy that she was able to join in on the fun by enjoying the kiddie rides! In addition, unlike DearDaughter1, who doesn't like to get dirty, DearDaughter2 was a very brave girl and dug into her birhday cake and made a spectacular mess of herself!!! Watching DearDaughter2 enjoy herself made for great entertainment for all of us!

We didn't do much for the 4th of July. DearDaughter1 was over stimulated from the Chuck E. Cheese party and had difficulty sleeping that evening. We all didn't go to bed until past 1am and then I got up early to feed DearDaughter2. Therefore, we spent most of the holiday napping, at least I did. Later that evening, we did catch the huge fireworks display in Peoria. We left DearDaughter2 at home with my MotherInLaw and took DearDaughter1 with us. We had our own private parking spot because my FatherInLaw's job was in the middle of the viewing area and it was a gated lot. We brought popcorn and soda with us to eat while we watched the "show". DearDaughter1 was amazingly entertained by the fireworks show, but since it was way past her bedtime and since she didn't get much rest the night before, she fell asleep during the grand finale. I did take great pictures, though, and showed them to her later. (If you have a digital camera, did you know there's a FIREWORKS setting on it? If you go to the SCENERY [SCN] mode, there's several options for you to choose from and FIREWORKS is one of them. I am assuming that it sets the camera to have a slower shutter speed and maybe a bigger aperture setting.)

We spent the next day packing...

The ride home was not as rough as the ride over. We left Illinois at 3pm, during DearDaughter2's afternoon nap. We wore her down before the trip and she fell asleep right away, giving us a 2 hour nap before dinner. Then, DearDaughter2 grew accustomed to sleeping in the car and had a good night's rest after dinner. Because of her ease in sleeping on this car trip, DearDaughter1 also got herself a good night's rest. We made it home in 15 hours, which was much better than the 16 hours over, and we were traveling from a further distance.

Favorite parts of the visit:

1. We took 1 afternoon away from everybody and spent time as a family. We had lunch and dessert at Sonic and then we went to the park to let the girls play.

2. DearHubby and I were able to leave for dates on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after the girls went down for bed.

3. The peace and friendliness of the mid-West.

4. Not having to worry about house chores.

5. Getting to spend time playing with the girls and their cousins.

Least favorite part of the visit:

1. Coming home.

2. Not knowing my way around town and having to depend on DearHubby.