Home Again, Home Again

Yes, the Trueself clan made it back safe and sound. There were very few temper tantrums and no tears from anyone so let's chalk this up to a successful vacation, shall we? As a matter of fact, N said as we left the amusement park that this was the best vacation ever. I thought, but didn't say, that I thought that was kind of sad that this was the best we'd ever managed -- two nights in a campground with a day at an amusement park.

Highlights (and lowlights) of the trip:

• A massive headache awakened me in the middle of the night on the night before the trip. After mucho medication and a heat pack on my neck I managed to get some sleep before we left, and N and W let me sleep in that morning.
• We started our trip in blue skies and sunshine. By the time we arrived at the campground we were in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Fortunately, we were renting a cabin and not tent camping.
• N spent most of his campground time with the other kids there, completely ignoring W and me. Sadly, that made me happy because it gave me some peace and quiet.
• When we arrived at the amusement park we started by doing it N's way, which was to walk from one end to the other, back and forth to get to the next ride he wanted to ride. About an hour in I couldn't take it anymore and insisted that we make our way around in an orderly fashion riding what we wanted as we got to them.
• I forgot my swimsuit so at the waterpark I laid on a lounge chair while N swam and played in the water. I love to swim and hated that I missed out, but at least I spared myself what probably would have been an inevitable sunburn.
• Denny's makes greasier omelets than I thought humanly possible. At least the toast was decent.
• Dad doesn't want Mom to talk to anybody about his cancer or the treatments for it. Being Mom, of course she can't resist talking about it, but with the warning that I have to not let him know she's talking to me about it. I know he doesn't want us worrying about him, but damn it, not knowing makes me worry just as much or more.
• The doctors found a spot on his liver so in addition to the treatment for the colon cancer Dad is also being given radiation on the spot on his liver. He has turned down further surgery.
• W just couldn't wait to leave yesterday, insisting we had to leave my parents' house no later than noon so we could get N home in time for his soccer practice. We arrived home two hours early. I did not indulge the urge to say "I told you so."

Well, that's it, our long weekend in a nutshell.

Oh, and W wants to plan a trip to Hawaii, shades of BJ's trip last year with his wife to Las Vegas. Will Trueself follow in BJ's footsteps and have a similarly grand time, or will I grow some balls and say no? Stay tuned fellow travelers. We shall see. (Of course, he had to go and make it almost impossible to refuse by offering to go over while the Illini are playing in the preseason tourney there.)