The First Day and a Va-Cay Recap

Why not slam two totally different topics into one post?  I mean really, if anything organized and somewhat thought out actually appeared on this blog you might think I was being held captive somewhere and needed rescuing, but then again, you might enjoy the new writer and then would leave me where I was.

Clearly, I am going insane.

Well, not really.

The first day of school came and went for both of my little cherubs.  The good news is I am still alive to tell about it.  The even better news is that I got my toenails done and have gone out to lunch.  Twice.  I figured a celebration was in order, or at least something fun in order to get my mind off of what was really happening.  It worked.  Except now I am not really sure what I will do tomorrow.  Oh sure, I am sure that there are chores to be done, but who wants to be a stick in the mud?  I will have The Little Man all to myself tomorrow, so maybe another celebration will be in order.  Or chores.  See? Not very fun, is it?

So, onto the good stuff!  First day of school pics:

So cute!  And, seriously, how did they get so old?

*sigh*

I don't think I have been more happy (except for the day I finally made the decision) than the first day of school for The Girl that I decided to keep The Little Man home for one more year.  After we dropped her off, I realized that I didn't have to drop him off.  He got to stay with me!  It was the first time in two years I didn't have an emotional first day of school because it felt like just an extension of last year.  All bets are off, though, when he starts Kindergarten AND when he starts first grade. I could well up with tears just thinking about it.

So before I get all sappy, lets keep the ball rolling and move on into a va-cay recap!

Two weeks before school started we left for our End of the Summer Vacation.  Can I say, the kids are getting SO, SO, SO much easier to vacation with?  Seriously, it is a darn pleasure to be with them.  They sleep through the night, they enjoy doing all sorts of things, and the DVD player keeps them entertained for HOURS on the open road.  Or when there is nothing else to do.  How my parents traveled with four girls and no DVD player is beyond me.  They were WAY tougher than I am, without a doubt.

The Little Man and The Hubs started off their vacation a bit before us girls did.  They headed out for Iowa for a boys trip that us girls were happy to let them go on on their own.  While away from us they hunted down gas pumps, signs, and all sorts of gas and oil memorabilia.  Like I said, we were DELIGHTED to hold down the home front.  There are no pictures of this event because, well, it was a guy trip.  I don't think guys take pictures.  I did hear that they stayed in the best hotel ever (according to The Little Man) The main criteria for awesomeness: A pool in the middle of the hotel (the atrium), and they served him breakfast.  Really, what more could you want?   In between all the swimming, eating, and finding old gas and oil stuff, there were talks of creating the best paper airplane anyone has ever seen, and then flying it down over the balcony and into the atrium area of the hotel.   

Meanwhile at Casa de Wright us girls were living the dream.  According to The Girl, that means being able to eat whatever we want without hearing from the boys how they wished they could be eating something different.  So, I let her choose her menu.

(Do I have to tell you how happy it makes me to know that when she could choose anything to do without the boys and have a girls type weekend, she chose to eat good food? Just wait, it gets better!  Read what her dream menu was.)

She decided that the best options for us would be fish tacos, tuna melts, and homemade pizza with extra onions and artichokes.

Be still my beating heart.

She actually said these words to me, " Momma, you know what joy is?  It's these fish tacos full of avocado and onion." 

A tear of joy came into the corner of my eye and I knew right then and there we had bonded for life.

She is MY daughter.

After a couple of days of eating we rolled ourselves to the car to meet up with the boys.  Destination: South Dakota. 

Here we were able to meet up with family, visit with my Grandma, get a taste of farm life, and do some fishing.  Unfortunately, we did not get to catch any Fireflies which was high on the agenda for The Girl.  Despite it being Firefly mating season,according to The Girl, (are you kidding me?), we could not bring ourselves to be outside during prime Lightening Bug catching time.  What we thought were weird small blood sucking birds, actually turned out to be mosquitoes, and there was not enough bug repellent in the world to keep those vultures bugs off.

Plus, The Hubs and I are total weenies when it comes to getting bit by bugs the size of birds.

The Girl had fun anyway and used her bug catching equipment (yes, she brought it along) to catch something else:

Can you see them?

Here:

To be continued...