Spring Break Part 1

First day back to school after spring break...the morning went well. Both boys were ready early and, in spite of not wanting to get out of bed, I did not run too late. It is a beautiful sunny morning - the greens are brilliant and fresh, leaves are peeking out, daffodils and crocus are blooming...spring has finally arrived.

Spring break just flew past - guess that two trips to Chicago will make it seem that way. We had planned on going to Chicago last Sunday afternoon (a week ago) and staying until Tuesday night. B and Dipstick were due home from CO Saturday night so that would have given us a chance to see them and then head out. However B called Saturday morning and told me that they were going to miss their train connection from Chicago to South Bend and wondered if I could pick them up. Of course I agreed...rushed around making phone calls and getting stuff together. Squirrel rode with me on the way up...he got to spend an extra 24 hours with his aunt, uncle and cousins. The benefit to that was that I had some one on one time with him on the way up as well as company for me on the drive. The train was over 5 hours late so didn't get in until 10:20 pm after which we had to locate checked luggage (which was already on it's way to South Bend- we still don't know how that happened), get ticket refunds, make restroom stops, etc before we could head back east. We had to stop in South Bend to drop another couple at their car and pick up luggage then we headed home. It was 3:00 am by the time I dropped B & Dipstick at their house. I did not get home myself until 3:30 am - was in bed and asleep by 4:00. (Stretch was home alone this entire time - he's old enough to appreciate the time and he was able to take care of the chickens and other animals.) Stretch did not wake me up Sunday morning - I woke up to phone the head of the nursery at church to let her know I was in no shape to hold babies that morning and went back to sleep. I didn't wake again until about 11:45am when I had 2 different phones ringing at the same time. B brought Stretch home from church, waited on me to get around and we went to lunch, did grocery shopping and basically ran around taking care of stuff. Stretch and I left for Chicago about 6:00 pm. Squirrel was very very glad to see us when we arrived - he ran and hugged us both.

While there, I got to have supper with a good friend that I used to work with - we usually get together whenever we are in town - her daughter comes along also - eat and yak for a couple of hours. Our older nephew had school during the day and his dad had to work - that meant that La and I got "girl time" with 3 boys in tow. We went and visited the cemetery - beautiful day for that - took rubbings of Mike's headstone as well as pictures. What was neat about that was that Squirrel was, for the first time, eager to visit there - he actually was more "enthusiastic" than his brother was. We missed our exit on the way there and got to drive past the airport - the boys were all excited about that. Excitement on the way home involved missing another exit, getting caught in traffic and not being home in time for school dismissal. J did not get the message that he was to walk to his babysitter's house with a friend instead of his mom picking him up - that message not getting delivered involved several phone calls while finding him. He eventually ended up back at school and was safely picked up and taken to the sitter's house. Tuesday we made absolutely sure that we were home in time for school dismissal. We ran around "shopping" that day - La allowed Stretch to drive her car while I drove the other two boys - we were going to drop her car off to get tires repaired and oil, etc changed. He did really really well coping with traffic and rainy misty weather - probably the most excitement he had was having a wide load pass him and another wide load ahead of him. We also took pictures of the 4 boys - that should have been done Monday as the weather was better that day. As it was, the weather was nasty enough that we had to do them inside and I didn't think they turned out as well. It was nice to be able to use the digital camera and see that day how they turned out. La and I had good visiting time - alone - with no kids Monday night late when she met me at a bookstore after supper and late Tuesday night after everyone else was asleep.

Wednesday we made a leisurely trip home - making stops at a couple of different places and generally taking our time.