A Week at the 'Rents

I just spent the last week at my parent's house back in my home town. That was a trip in and of itself. Lily and I went down on Tuesday, and I ended up having to stop 3 times for a 2.5 hour trip. Twice to nurse her in bizarre places (once in the parking lot of an apple farm, once at a sign that said "Swan Lake" even though all there was as far as the eye could see was prairie), and once in a place with a bathroom for me. Sheesh . I had been planing on going down Tuesday, coming home Thursday, and returning with Tiger for my parent's 30th Anniversary party on Saturday. The ride down was such an ordeal that I ended up staying clear until the following Wednesday (also, the fact that my sister is moving to Mexico in a week and I don't know when I'll see her next kept me in town to hang out with her), and Tiger rode to and from my parent's house with my aunt, uncle, and their three kids (which I am sure was a separate adventure in itself). The ride back home was not quite so difficult, but when Lily and I did stop to nurse, I realized making the trip by myself and two kids would be more than I could handle right now. It's a good thing kids (usually) come one at a time. Hopefully they will always come one at a time for me :-).

I had a great time being with my parents and sister, even though she was working during much of the time. We did manage to go on at least one long walk a day, which was lovely. It was very nice to have everyone around, and I've come to the conclusion that having family living nearby was the way things were meant to be. This was especially clear during the weekend, when all the Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins were in town--it was such a lovely time that it is difficult to describe it in words. The party was the fist time the Iowa family met Lily; it was so sad we only got to spend 24 hours together before they had to go home. I absolutely ache for them. We had a 3rd birthday pool party for my little cousin N on Saturday. I got to have some bonding time with with his mom and baby sister (my youngest cousin is only a year older than my own child!), which was a treat.

My parent's 30th Anniversary party was a complete success! Nearly all the invitees came! I've never seen my parent's house so packed, and everyone had a great time. It was fun to see people who I hadn't seen in eons, parents of childhood friends, former teachers...it was crazy. Mom and Dad even managed to have a good time, I think.

While cleaning up for the party we discovered a family of six owls living in the tree in front of my Parent's house (we found them because of all the guano they were leaving on the sidewalk). They became quite an attraction. I wanted to take one home and name her Hedwig, which just goes to show how much I'd been steeped in Harry Potter lately. Bye the bye, I got the chance to finish book 7 while I was visiting, too, despite being constantly interrupted. I read the last few chapters twice, just to savor it. I'm trying not to be just a bit depressed now that it is all over. Interesting enough, I learned that Harry and I would be the same age. So if he were real, and Hogwarts was real, and I went there, we could have taken classes together. I'm such a nerd.

Katie and I stayed up too late a few nights watching smutty TV. Just one episode. Only one. OK, OK, just one more. But I got a lot of work done on my knitting project during the smutty TV sessions, bonus.