Home at Last

We have finally returned from our last-minute road trip. We drove from Dallas to Birmingham, then to New Albany, Mississippi, then to Memphis, TN, then Murfreesboro (outside Nashville), then back to Dallas over a three-week period. In Birmingham, all three kids came down with fevers and viral rashes, and Libby threw up in New Albany. They weren't recovered until the end of our week in Memphis, so we didn't get to see the sights, but we did get to swim in the hotel pool and hang out with an old friend of mine. In Murfreesboro we had an awesome time staying with the Harvey's (John's sister and fam). So much fun! We went to the zoo twice, many parks, the Discovery Center, and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over an open fire while the kids ran through the sprinklers. Libby has been begging to go back to Annika and Quinter's house since the moment we left. Sara cooked many yummy meals and they even made me homemade chocolate ice cream with a peanut butter swirl for my birthday. We had so many picnics, I think we ate lunch at home a total of 3 out of the 8 days we were there.

The drive home was long and miserable, but we survived. Barely. At one point Jaina chocked on a gummy worm. Luckily, I was sitting in the middle row and was able to turn around, reach my fingers into the back of her mouth and pull the worm out of her throat. All worms went into the trash after that. Needless to say, we are exhausted. I was so happy to come home to a clean house (thanks Mom, for teaching me to clean the whole house before going on a trip. It's so worth it!), but now it's trashed with luggage and junk. I got the kitchen in order last night and will work on unpacking all the clothes. The girls need to pick up the living room and their room. Another bonus: I washed all of our clothes before leaving Sara's, so I don't have to do a bunch of wash! I didn't take many pictures, but I took some, and Sara took some and I'll post them as soon as Sara sends me hers.

On a bad note: our A/C gave up the ghost yesterday. At 7 pm it was 90 degrees in our house. This morning at 8 it was 82. Thankfully, it rained last night, so it's actually quite cool outside. Well, if you consider 75 cool, which, in Texas, we do. So I have windows open and fans propped in the windows and it's acutally quite nice at the moment. I'm waiting for the A/C guy to call me and tell me when he'll be here to fix it. As soon as I know when he's coming, I'll probably go hang out at someone's house, or at least send the girls over to a friend's for the afternoon to swim. Hopefully I'll be able to go, too!