I need a vacation from my vacation

Ok, so I got home from Texas last evening. To my utter delighted surprise, the house was in great shape. Remember, it was left in the hands of my husband and 3 boys! The kitchen was clean, the dining room table (the most easily cluttered location in the whole house) was spotless. My laundry basket was nearly empty and there was food in the fridge. My family all pitched in when we walked in the door to help Glynis get readjusted and fed. My husband made me a great sandwich and even offered to give me time to take a soak in the tub. I guess they missed me!! Big Smile!!

It is now 11:30 a.m. and I'm finally able to get showered and dressed. Been hard to get moving this morning. In Texas we had Spring-like weather, but when I woke up this morning I was greeted with a very Winter-like 28 degrees. Even with the heat cranked up, I just can't get warm. At least the sun is shining.

The other difference I noticed right away was that my husband had replaced most of the light bulbs in the house. When I left, there wasn't a room in the house without at least one burnt out bulb. It really felt like a dungeon and we had not had time to get to the Light Bulb store. We now have 30% more energy efficient lighting and every room is brighter.

I'm so grateful that there was nothing on my to do list for today. No where to go, no appointments, soccer practice etc. I plan on relaxing, playing with Glynis, and enjoying my family when they all get home.

I have to mention how wonderfully we ate while we were away. We only ate out 2 times, but my sister-in-law cooked beautiful, yet easy, meals the rest of the time. I didn't have to lift a finger. We ate pasta, grilled shrimp and scallops, grilled chicken. Salads, blueberries, bananas, croissants, sandwiches. Unlike my house, they really don't keep junk food around. I was forced to eat healthy and what a delight it was. My big post-vacation resolution is to simplify my kitchen pantry. I think I'll start tomorrow. Today I'm on vacation from my vacation!!

Here's Glynis on the steps in my brother's home. This was her favorite activity on our trip.

I'm in Texas!

Too much to write about! I ordered a new laptop, it's here and I'm using it, but will be sending it back next week. I bought a refurbished Dell, but there's a few little things I'm not happy with so back it will go. My brother works for Dell so I will only say nice things about the company! It's a great little laptop and I'm sure Dell will meet my demands. For now, I'm in Texas visiting that same little brother. He and his wife just moved into a brand new house in Austin. It's quite lovely. Glynis and I are having a wonderful time. Which is such a relief since we were so sick last week.
Since I'm away from home, I'll just fill you in on our trip thus far. First, travelling with a toddler... All I can say is that I've got the best little girl in the world. I opted to let her fly in my lap to save money. I was as prepared as I could be. We had her Ipod loaded with her shows, pencil and paper, stickers, books, snacks, her Grandma, a muzzle and straight jacket. Just joking. Seriously, she was a perfect little traveller! I think it helped that we took the earliest flight possible. We were on our way at 5:45am. We flew in the smallest plane ever from Norfolk to Houston. Of course that flight ran long and made our connecting flight near impossible to catch, but we did it. Did I mention that we had to trek 2 miles to catch that connecting flight? ARGH! You'd have thought that my Mom and I had ran a marathon by the way we ran up to the gate with 2 minutes to spare. So we made it to Austin, my cute little brother was there waiting. We walked out of the airport into a beautiful sunny day. Remember, we've been sick so the fresh warm air was like heaven. Today it was about 75 degrees. Mighty welcoming coming from our brisk 40 degree days.
We spent our first day enjoying Mark's house, getting settled in, and visiting with each other. I haven't seen my brother since my Grandmother died almost 3 years ago.
Today, we ate a beautiful "pancake in a can" breakfast (note the picture.) Then we headed to downtown Austin. Glynis really enjoyed the Dell Children's Museum, but I think her favorite part of the day was our trendy Tex Mex meal. She loaded up on salsa and Ceviche. We walked the city streets and saw the beautiful majestic Capital Building. Tonight we enjoyed a pasta dinner at home with some of Mark's friends. It's 10pm Texas time, but 11pm according to my body clock. So off to dream land for me.