Back Home Again, From Indiana

Well, we arrived home yesterday afternoon from an...interesting...trip to Indiana. I guess most trips to Indiana are like that. You never know what will happen. This time, what happened was that my mom went into the hospital for three days immediately upon arrival. Don't worry, she appears to be fine now. It seems that the fourth toe on her right foot had a little stroke. Or something. She is doing much better and continuing to monitor the situation. If there is more news, I'll let you know. Anyway, once she was released from FCMH (where I was born!), the trip really began.

Daphne had a great time, and didn't want to come back home. She got candy and little gifts everywhere we went, so that probably had a lot to do with it. But she also had a great time playing with her cousins. Actually, they are my cousins' kids, so I'm not sure what relation they are to Daphne, but we call them cousins. It's less confusing that way. Anyway, she got to go to playgrounds with them, feed geese and ducks with them, play with them in the nursery at church, play baseball with them at my aunt's house, and various other things. She even got to go to school with one of them on Friday for an Easter party and egg hunt. She had a big time.
I had fun too. I got to have many of my favorite things: pizza from Pizza King (thanks to MY cousins!), ice cream from the Zesto, and a pedicure and manicure from Diva Nails. I got to spend time with my awesome cousins, which is always fun. And, I finally got to meet the great and mysterious Fooie McGoo and his nice family for a quick playdate at the park.

My Grandma's 90th birthday party was a big success, and everyone had a great time. My mom and aunt did a great job organizing and hosting, and my dad's slide show was a huge hit. My Grandma looked happier than I've seen her look in a long time, so I know it meant a lot to her. My cousin Amy brought her new baby girl to the party, so that added to the excitement.
AND Anthony is BACK on Project Runway! How great is that??!!

When we go to Indiana, I always stay with my Aunt Kathy, and she always has something exciting waiting for me in the guest room. Last time, it was a gift certificate to Diva Nails. This time, it was this painting:


You may remember the dress from this post. It is pretty much my Dream Dress. I want to wear it while I ride my bike around town with a basket full of flowers. So, I love this painting. Isn't it awesome? Thanks, Kathy.

So, all in all, except for the hospital part, it was a good trip. I didn't get to go to Huber's this time for fried biscuits and apple butter and chicken and dumplings, but I'll be back. Thanks to all my relatives for everything. And there are lots of pictures on Flickr for anyone who wants to see.

Yesterday was Kevin's and my seventh anniversary. We spent the day (10 hours of it) driving. It was actually not the beating you might think. In fact, I'd almost say it was pleasant. Daphne was really good, so that helped. We arrived home to see that the cherry tree in my side yard is starting to bloom and the peonies are coming up. We had no food in the house, so we walked to the local Indian restaurant and had a delicious dinner. It wasn't a big production, but a good anniversary nonetheless. Then we came home from dinner to discover that the AC is not working properly. It is 92 outside today, and will be 95 tomorrow. It's about 80 in the house. We'll most likely have to call a guy. I hope it is only a minor problem. Fortunately, it is supposed to cool off quite a bit on Thursday. I am trying to think cold thoughts and not go postal.

This week will be about catching up during the day and taking it easy in the evening. I have tons of laundry to do. The house is a disaster, but I can't clean when it's this hot, so that'll have to happen later in the week. It's too hot to cook, so we'll have salad tonight. I have TV to catch up on that I missed last week. And that's about it. Rocknoceros is playing at Daphne's school on Friday, and her first soccer game is Saturday. Good times.

I hope you all had a nice Spring Break and Easter. I'm going to go now and pretend to be cold...find something icy to drink and maybe look at pictures from the blizzard. Mind over matter.