vacation: all done

Is it just me or does it seem impossible that summer is (or already has for half our city) winding down?

This went really fast. It probably didn't help that we went from nice "leisurely" summer to - hey let's totally renovate everything a month ago.

A couple of months ago we both put in for this past week off from work and I'm so glad we did. It was perfect timing. And then the week before that we decided that John and I could benefit from a weekend together - just us. So, it kind of felt like we had two vacations back to back. The weekend with together we didn't do a whole lot of exciting stuff. We stayed home - not a hotel room to be found in a 100 mile radius because of the Bix and RAGBRAI and the music festival all happening in the same weekend here. So we stayed home. We watched a lot of tv that didn't involve cartoons or crappy music. We went floor shopping. We ate out. I cleaned house in record time - I forgot how quickly that goes when you don't have someone undoing everything behind you! And we spent time together. And it was good. And we reconnected and laughed a lot.

Then the week leading up to vacation and the actual week of it we, well we did a lot and nothing all at once. Here's a recap

Summer Vacation 2011

• one Mississippi Valley fair
• 30 quarts of peaches canned
• one trip to the zoo
• one bathroom remodeled
• 90% of the kitchen wallpaper torn down
• one night in a hotel with a pool
• the full series of Avatar
• one trip to world market
• several evening walks
• a ride on the ferris wheel with Guthrie, I was so proud of her!
• one bad fall for Laithe and John at West Lake (but only after a splendid picnic)
• two top incisors for Laithe
• hundreds of books read and crafts done
• 10 lbs of paste tomatoes harvested
• a lot of trips to Lowes a lot
  
• one identity thefted (mine!)
• 4 lemon cucumbers picked
• 2 flower beds weeded
• a few trips to our closing Borders bookstore
• and lots of late bedtimes and later breakfasts the next morning

It was a nice and always busy break. Not nearly as much driving this year which was good for us. Lots more hanging out at home - and our house shows it. It's a totally bomb-went-of-and-we-ignored-it disaster. Oh well. I mean, why mop when you're going to rip out your floor soon anyways?? That's just a waste of my precious time.

And pictures? There are precious few. I spent much more time enjoying my kids than taking pictures of them. I think that's ok.

Guthrie starts school next week, so this week is a time of rebuilding schedules and last hurrahs. I think we're in for some really wonderful weather too. Thank goodness! It was a bit too sweaty there for me for awhile.