Vacations are so short. I only took a few pictures, so the pictoral part is pretty incomplete. I'm still getting used to carrying it around so I can whip it out when I need it.

Thursday
I made my chiro appointment for 9:15 a.m. so I could go, then get right on the interstate. I stopped to get gas, and called Mom as I was leaving. My phone died. Oh, crap, I don't want to go on a road trip without a phone, but I don't want to go all the way back home and wait around for my phone to charge. Ah, ha! My wireless company has a store right around the block, I'll just buy a car charger and be on my way. Yeah, that didn't work. It's either my phone or the cigarette lighter in my truck, but neither charger we tried worked. But the rep was nice enough to let me use the AC adapter in the store, so I called Mom with the news of my basement problems, phone problems, and left with a couple bars, enough to get me through. Mom was worried enough about my basement to send Dad over with the Shop Vac and some reinforcements. (He ended up cleaning a gutter and covering a couple window wells, and next-door neighbor Doug checked on it a couple times while I was away, so that's the last you'll hear about my basement.)

Listened to the first half of Son of a Witch on the way, and got to Lew's apartment about 5:30, just as he was getting home. What timing! We went to his favorite brewery for supper, and we tried their beer sampler and I had the barbecue ribs. Yum!

Friday
I started out driving, and Lew took over half way, while we listened to Messenger. Awesome book - it was in the same vein as The Giver. It was only three hours, though, so I wished I'd picked up another one for us to listen to.

When we got there, it was a pretty laid back evening: we got sleeping arrangements down, and I took a shower while Lew started working on fixing Sonia's motorcycle.

Is this really his idea of a vacation? Then Steve made us homemade pizza, and we watched Mythbusters. Ninja myths! I totally think they should have put some more distance between the arrow and the robot hand, and it could have caught it, no problem.

I shared a room with three-year-old Nora, who immediately took a shining to my bed.

She is so cute! She reminds me of a Cabbage Patch doll. She had been having poopy problems. Steve took her to the emergency room sometime last week, because she couldn't poop and was in some pain. She went before they were seen, though, but she tore herself a little bit, and it still hurt her to go. Poor kid! Imagine being afraid to poop! It was embarrassing for Sonia and Steve though, when they were in a restaurant, and an older gentleman came up to complement them on how well behaved their kids were, and Nora said, "I had a big poop and it hurt!"

Saturday
I was woken up by Nora screaming from a bad dream. Not a pleasant way to be woken up, but I made room for her next to me, and she was comforted pretty quickly. I put my glasses on, so she had to put her sunglasses on, too. Mom had sent her some pink ones with flowers on them, I don't know, at least a year ago, and she still wears the heck out of them. What a girly girl.

Sonia had a bunch of work she had to get done that weekend, so she stayed home while, Steve, Ben, Nora, Lew and I went to the Science Center. It was really cool, plus they had a real submarine there you could walk through. Most of my experience with submarines comes from submarine movies, which I hate, because inevitably, someone has to shut the hatch from the other side and they drown, and I get claustrophobia just thinking about it. The real submarine didn't help any.

They also had a Sports Center, which was also awesome. They had a trampoline, a climbing wall, virtual volleyball, a virtual driving range, virtual snowboarding, and a pool table.

We both tried the trick shots, but both of us just missed.

Then Steve cooked pasta for us and a few of their friends while Lew and I wrestled with the kids. My jeans didn't make it through; my favorite pair of jeans now have holes in the knees. Now I'm stylin', I suppose. We played cards over cheesecake after dinner.

Sunday
We wavered about going to church, but ended up taking a walk around the lake instead. They live in a park, so there were plenty of trails and sights. Very lovely. My stomach was bothering me, though, so an afternoon nap was definitely in order. We had a bonfire that evening with hot dogs and potato salad and smores, and played baseball until it got dark. Then Sonia and Lew and I talked while Steve put the kids to bed.

Monday
Back to Indy, with a little play time first.
It was a pretty uneventful drive, but I was tired by the time we got back. We wanted to go see Grindhouse with some of Lew's friends, but I guess the internet didn't keep up with the theater, and the movie had stopped playing last week. So we met up with the girl Lew's been seeing, and went to play miniature golf. It was fun, and I got to get to know Jessie a little more that I would have. I rather like her, I think. I'm not sure yet. I think Lew's still wavering about whether he wants to do a long-distance relationship while he's finishing school, so I suppose I don't exactly have to form an opinion yet.

Tuesday
I was so tired on the trip back, I had to stop on the east side of Peoria to take a nap. Sheesh. I got to the parents' house about one, so I raided the fridge and took a nap while I waited for Mom to get home and Dad to wake up. We spent the afternoon together, and I got supper out of the deal, too. Lew had to call us to tell us his desk had caught on fire while he was on vacation. Some electrical problem, and he didn't lose any of his work, but he lost a couple hours trying to get himself re-situated. It was funny, though. On my way back to Iowa City, I was treated to a beautiful sunset.

The picture doesn't do it justice, of course, especially through my bug-spattered windshield. But it was a wonderful welcome home. I tend to get a little claustrophobic in the mountains, and seeing this across the fields of home made it just that much more special.

Today
I only had three hours of space left on my TiVo, so I pretty much just lazed around and watched TV. It was a great recovery to a great week. Except for the whole basement thing. What crap timing that was.