It's been a hard days' night, and I've been working like a dog...

No, not really.

I've been roadtripping. Vacationing. Driving. A lot.
Playing tourist.

I'm baaacccckkkkkk.

Today I'm just slacking. It's 11:30 and I'm just about to head in to the shower.

Hey, I've been busy. I think I deserve it. Besides, I'm the mom and I can slack if I wanna.

So, let's recap the week. (skip it if you're bored already)

Friday - drive to Cornell and pick up freshman nephew, continue to Wilton, CT to bring him home. Check into hotel room 5 minutes away at midnight.

Saturday - off to the new Yankees Stadium. Wait in line for an HOUR to see Monument Park. Plaques of dead Yankee players. Big whoop. I'm sorry, I just don't get it. But I did like the ballpark. And the beer. And the garlic fries.
See neighbor from Fairport. Random. Meet friends there in nosebleed seats over home plate looking at the first base line. Good view, though.
...To see the WORST inning in baseball history. 14 runs scored in the second inning. Yankees lose 22 - 4. NO, that's not a typo. It was history. At least it was a beautiful day.

DH and Number One Son go to midnight Easter services at the Greek orthodox Church. I stay with sleepy Darling Daughter. (yay, me!) They return somewhere around 3 AM. Christos Anesti!

Sunday - Greek Easter with the fam. Lots of lamb and other good food. We leave at 5:30 PM to drive to Washington, DC. We arrive at midnight. Again.

We check in to the beautiful Westin in Old Town Alexandria.

Monday - Awake to POURING rain. Buckets and more.
Decide to drive, instead of take the metro. Spend an hour looking for a parking spot that doesn't involve needing a rescue buoy or rowboat.
Car develops a weird shudder and service engine light comes on. Tour the National Air and Space Museum.
So is everyone else. See family from the church where I work. More random.
Drive 45 minutes out near the airport to see the other Air and Space Museum. The one with the shuttle.
Hey it was raining, what else would we do? Saw cool stuff. On the way out, saw Tuskagee Airmen. For reals. They were there for some ceremony.

Tuesday - GORGEOUS DAY.

Car still shuddering.
Tour Arlington Ceremony.
What's wrong with this picture?
Did you see it?

Lincoln, FDR memorials and Korean, Vietnam, and WW II War memorials.
Interrupted tourist agenda to sit through 2 our timeshare presentation (UGH!) It was the reason we went to DC for $99 for 3 nights in the Westin. It was totally worth the pain and suffering. Except the presentation sucked and the sales office was shabby. We are loyal to Marriott, thankyouverymuch.

After a late lunch we resume our tourist activities.
Daughter RUNS the whole length of the reflecting pool for fun and isn't even winded. Yes, I'm a bit envious. Starts to sprinkle, we run to car. Sky is threatening. We go to the Jefferson memorial and DH stays in the car because there is no parking.
Thunder and lightening begin, sky opens up with a biblical deluge. There are white caps on the water. Emma sees boy from her class at school. More random.
Yes, kids left their raincoats in the car and I left my phone there. We sprint to the car and arrive looking like we took a shower and forgot our towels.

Of COURSE this is fun.

We got to a little Greek restaurant near the capitol and have an amazing Greek meal. After we circled for 35 minutes looking for a parking spot.

OPA!

Wednesday - DH leaves at 4 AM for Dallas. We wake up at 7 AM and find a clogged toilet. Lovely. Because I am stubborn and want to see goofy tourists on Segways, we detour into DC to find and photograph them before heading to Philly.
This little excursion costs and hour due to traffic, construction and breakfast. Yay. Car stops shuddering, but service engine light is still on. I call dealer to make appointment for Thursday.

Arrive at Philly by 12:30 to meet my little bro for lunch and a little touring.

We go to seafood restaurant where Number One Son and bro gorge themselves on stinky fresh seafood while Darling Daughter and I eat kids meals - hot dog and chicken tenders.
Across the street, we go to the Mummers museum - built in 1976.
My Dad was the project manager for it for the city of Philadelphia as a part of his work on the bicentennial. It's a little tired looking but it was cool.

Yes, I still don't know how to rotate my pics on blogger. Sorry.

If you don't know what a Mummer is, google it and go to a New Year's parade in Philly sometime - very cool.

We played tourist in my home town and see old churches,

Carpenter's Hall, statues,

and the Liberty bell.
Just like my father, my brother knows someone everywhere we go and takes great delight in showing off Philly landmarks.

Despite all the impressive historical landmarks, my kids really want to get to my brother's house to see his dog and chickens.

Yes, chickens. And Aunt Sue, of course. ;-)

We have a delightful 2 hour visit and then are on the road again at 6:30 to head for home.

Fast forward to 5 hours, 1 nap, and 300 miles later, and I get stopped for speeding in a work zone, less than 40 miles from my house. I was going 63 miles per hour and it was 1 AM. I couldn't believe it. Grrrrr. He gave me a bogus ticket for using a cell phone and acted like he was doing me a favor since it has no points and is a lesser fine.

Thursday - Got to work after 5 hours of sleep.

And now I'm tired. With mounds of vacation laundry to do. Why is there always more laundry to do then what we normally wear in a week?

Yes, I know it's super long, but I had a whole week to catch up on.

Here's a list of bloggers/twitterers that I came close to, but didn't get to see:

TooofEach/PearlsofSomethin (PA)
Lorrie (NYC)
Kelcey (NYC)
Marinka (NYC)
JeffKay (Scranton)
Debland (PA)
Flamingo (Syracuse)
Junkdrawer (Lehigh Valley, PA)
Tiffany (Baltimore)
JudyZ (CT)
Amy (CT)

Waaahhhhh. I did wave from the highway, though. Didya see me?

Vacation

No, I'm not going on one, but having both kids away at camp feels like I'm on vacation, even though I'm going to work every day.

Yippee!

Anyway, we pick the kids up tomorrow for the weekend, to make the trek to CT for my twin nephews' graduation party. We'll see the kids, do their laundry, see relatives, be festive and I've got a really cute sundress. :-)

Which one should I wear?

This one?
http://www.bodenusa.com/sale/col.asp?segname=Women&styid=WH107&segid=6&gpname=Dresses&desname=Halterneck+Dress&gpid=6&gen=#img

Or this one?
http://www.anntaylor.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=14583&categoryId=2261&pCategoryId=2259&productVariantId=90439&quantity=1&itemGUID=780a112cc0a86565499dadf812def2bf&sizeType=Misses&color=Summer%20Teal&size=18

(Sorry, I can't figure out how to just insert the photo and the web page won't link)

Then on Sunday, we bring them back to camp and I get to have another 2 week vacation. [insert big grin here]

This is where Emma will be going to camp:


Yes, they still make you wear a white bathing cap. Just like when I went there a million years ago.
This is from last year, my cousins and I all went for Women In the Woods and slept in this tent. I felt like I was a kid again. We even got yelled at for talking too much in the tent at night - just like 30 years ago!

Looks like fun! I hope she likes it as much as I did.

Vacation

Yes, I've had internet access at the marinas we've stayed at.

Yes, I've managed to wrestle MY laptop from my son on a regular basis.

Yes, I've read my other blogs.

No, I've not updated for 6 days. Mea culpa.

Not much to say. Small town. Old friends. Fireworks. Bickering kids.

Did I mention bickering kids?

And corresponding tension in the entire family? Yup. It happens.

Anyway, we are now in Kingston, Ontario. Our slip on the dock allows for maximum people watching. Might be some material there.

I tried to pack frugally in light of the fact that the boat has limited storage space. But I *had to pack exercise stuff. For my running (wogging) you know. I planned to go out every other day. 3 pairs of socks, quick dri tops, shorts and sports bras.

Uh-huh. I've worn them zip, zero, nada. Because I haven't done ANY running.

I did however walk 4 and a half miles. But I was wearing sandals because I didn't *plan on walking that far. The good news is that Land's End cork sandals are very comfortable and I got no blisters.

Boat trip next week...

But we don't know when we'll leave.

Did I already write about this?

We were scheduled to leave tomorrow, but Number One Son's baseball team is in first place and the playoffs are Sunday afternoon.

Sooo, if his team loses, we leave early Monday morning. If they WIN, the championship game is Tuesday night and we leave Wednesday morning. DH is dying a little inside, because he can't wait to go.

I am rooting for the home team. They're playing a team they've beaten twice before. I would LOVE his team to win.

I can wait for the trip, even though it means we miss Canada Day and my favorite crafts fair in Kingston, ON. I will be said to miss the Tie-Dye guy, but I'll live.

And, besides being exciting for NOS (Number One Son), it would mean 2 less days to board the geriatric dog, and 2 more days that I can work.

Speaking of the geriatric dog, I took him to the vet today for his rabis shot and the vet found a mass in his spleen. Without doing bloodwork, there's no way to know if it's cancerous, or benign, or something affects part of the spleen or other organs.

Desmond is almost 14. He's not in any pain, but he's lost 12 pounds this past year. He spends his days in the back yard by the deck, or sleeping by the foot of my bed, or on a dog pillow in the laundry room because he sometimes poops. Yes, he's old.

But sometimes he still thinks he's a puppy and gets all silly if he thinks you might take him for a walk. And he's so gentle, and thinks he's a lap dog.

But he's almost 14 and the life expectancy for a lab mix is 11-13.

Sigh.