We’re back into the cold dampness called Pennsylvania.  Florida for Thanksgiving was lots of fun and super relaxing.  The kids did super ok on the trip.  Elena was good in the airplane and bad in the airport.  Brandt was bad in the airplane and good in the airport.  At least they had the decency to switch off, I sure appreciated it.  No really they were just kids, so it’s all fine, I would do it all over tommorrow if I could.  

   The trip started out well.  Except for the episode involving a big puddle of pee on the baggage claim floor.  Oh, and I had to take Brandt to the doctor because his breathing sounded like he was up to two cartons of Marlboroes a day.  The doctore was nice enough, but insisted on chest x-rays, and poor me had to hold the film and Brandt with his arms over his head.  This was some serious mult-tasking.  So they would take a picture. And Brandt would be squirmy and jump off the film.  Then we would take another and another and another.  Seriously, I think we did about 10 x-rays.  Anyway, we got the steroids, and another medecine whose name I forget, and Brandt did pretty well the rest of the trip.  Except for sleep issues.  Now the sleep issues, they are probably my fault.  In fact, I’m convinced of it.  I watched Sherry slam her kids into bed every night. AND THEY STAYED in bed.  Like magic or something.  I have so much to learn.

  The rest of the trip can be summed up as:  eating, sleeping, swimming, snacking, out to eats, games, snacks, late nights and more snacks.  My next post will be pictures so I can save thousands of words right now. 

Oh, I can’t forget coming home.  This made the pee/baggage claim episode seem like a walk in the park.  I won’t go into details for the sake of all the childless people that will read this and think what in the world?  I’ll just say this:  I have never before been stared at so cruely by strangers who all thought I was kidnapping my daughter as she screamed bloody murder, for oh, a half hour.  I seriously expected to be surrounded by police at any moment and Elena to be snatched away because she was so clearly being drug into the bathroom against her will.  I won that battle, yes I did, and she was happy too because I bought her a Kit-Kat and a Crunch bar (yes, two candy bars) all for going potty on a big scary potty that flushes by itself.

  One more thing: As we drove into our farm lane all the trees were stripped bare.  I know you expect me to go off about the amount of leaves I need to clean up now.  I can’t because my father-in-law did it for us.  Yup, not a leaf on the ground.  And that made coming home even sweeter.