Reality Check

Home sweet home! How is it January 3rd already? We were home a few days after Christmas, long enough for the kids to enjoy their gifts a wee bit and then it was time to pack up the van and head to Indianapolis for a night. We went to do a bit of work at a conference for college students. We stayed at the Marriott downtown. We had a suite with an adjoining room. It is quite possibly the largest hotel room we've ever stayed in. I could have used another day and night there. But New Year's Eve we climbed back into the van and hit the road AGAIN to head up to Kalamazoo, MI to visit some of Steve's family.

Steve's grandma is 87 and is a reverse snow bird. She lives in Tampa, FL year round but comes up north for December and January to be with family. Its the one time of the year for the kids to see Great Grandma. We spent two nights with them. It was fun to be there and Olivia got to see her first movie in a theatre. Steve's cousin, Katie, a senior in high school, O and I went to see Disney's Princess and the Frog. O enjoyed it (and the medium popcorn that she HOGGED all to herself) and even made it through the pretty scary bad guy. I'm not sure why Disney has to make the bad guys so incredibly evil and scary. One little girl, who appeared to be a bit older than O, screamed and cried so much that her parents took her home.

Then it was back in the van to hit the open road one last time to make it back home yesterday afternoon.

As we were headed South on I-75 we passed so many cars with Ontario plates that I'm pretty sure there is no one left in all of Canada. I had to laugh because we passed one car with two older folks. The lady on the passenger seat had an open map taking up pretty much her whole half of the front seat. "Hey, lady, what do you need a map for? Just take this road as far south as it will go. When you hit Tampa, take a left until you see a mouse with really big ears!" 'Cuz you KNOW that's where they're headed!

Now, the decorations are down, the dust are bunnies up, the toys are loving their new home in the Ikea storage units and we're just here trying to stay warm as we get ready for work/school/Pilate's class tomorrow. As much as I love the holidays in late November/early December... I REALLY love getting back to reality on January 4th. I guess that officially makes me a mom! (That and the 3 kids that live here.)