There's No Place Like Home

Last time I wrote I said I might be absent for a while due to an eventful upcoming weekend. Now that the weekend has come and gone, let me just say I did not foresee how much crazy we were in for. There was so much going on the whole time I only took my camera out once, for about 10 minutes. Oops...The plan was to make the 8.5 hour drive on Thursday to see our family in Boise once David got off work. We got out the door exactly as planned and without a hitch. Somewhere along the way we missed a junction, and ended up lost, and while lost getting a speeding ticket. In David's defense, he was the driver that the cop decided to pick on in a cluster of about two other passenger vehicles and two semi trucks going the same speed. As for the getting lost, David has an iPhone 3GS bought used with a prepaid plan (no data) and I have a cracking, creaking flip phone, and thus no GPS. Always print or at least write down directions kids... After David's truck driving dad got us back en route the night went smoothly. We arrived in Homedale (our po-dunk destination) around 10:00 MST, only 1.5 hours later than planned. 

LL Ruby and Gpa E-Club in the house, laying down some beats.

  I should mention that this was a surprise visit, only my dad, little sisters, and David's parents knew in advance. It was my dad's birthday present to my mom. We stayed up late LATE Thursday night, and all of the rest of them, naturally. On Friday we had lots of visits planned and it was a bit hectic. We stayed maybe a little too long at my grandma's (whose reaction to the surprise was definitely the best) and I don't regret that at all. I think I might just miss her the most. After leaving Marsing we drove (with my mom and sister in tow) the 30-40 miles to Boise to see David's mom and brother. That visit was fairly short too. We had planned to take my mom, sister, and Lorelei to hang out at the "big" mall there while we went out on a date (what is that anyways?) to our favorite Boise coffee shop before meeting one of our friends for drinks when she got off of work. It turned out that we were stuck waiting at David's family's house for a different friend to show up there who made his own plans to see us  David. So we missed our date and would have had an extra wheel seeing the other friend, except that guess what? I didn't get to go out with them because on our way to our destination we were rear-ended while stopped in "traffic".  Boise's lack of people willing to work made for a wasted half hour waiting for the police to arrive to tell us that there wasn't enough damage to file a report. Really? A broken carseat and two people under age 18 in the vehicle that was victimized means no report? Reminds me why I'll never move back to Boise, ever. It's funny to think we've been living near Seattle for 9 months and never been in an accident or had a ticket...Anyways, I had to take my rattled, grumpy toddler to the nearest Target to buy a new carseat, as the buckle broke on the old one upon impact. It was NOT a good night. I was really disturbed by being in my first auto collision ever, and if I'm completely honest, at the time I was also very upset with my husband (which I felt guilty about) for carrying out plans with friends after the whole ordeal. 

On Saturday we left Lorelei in Homedale with my mom (Gramama) and my baby sister (Titi Abby) so that we could make up for our missed coffee date. It was weird, and so nice to go out by ourselves. The last time that happened I was 8.5 months pregnant with our nearly 2 year old daughter. Overdue much?  We really enjoyed the time together, feeling like us again. It was unanimous that Boise didn't feel like home anymore and it was really weird being there. When we left there was a big empty lot that was the future site of Whole Foods there, and now the building is up, about to open in a month. The small town health food coop that we went to when we lived there has been remodeled to compete with Whole Foods, and sadly it looks way, way to much like they're trying to be the health food giant itself. We didn't linger there long, just long enough to buy items to make my mom a birthday cake that our vegan selves could eat. After about 1.5 hours in Boise we went back to Homedale to make cake and potato leek stew for my family. Upon our arrival one of my aunt's and her family were visiting. I learned that my child is as horribly dependent on me as I thought, telling everyone for 20 minutes before I got back (in a whisper to not offend anyone), "I want my mommy." 

Almond flavored soy milk latte and vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookie at Flying M.

The rest of Saturday we spent cooking and just hanging out, which was a welcome activity (or lack of). David and I disappeared for a few minutes to bring my mom a birthday mocha and came back to our funny bunny running around outside with Gramama. We had a hard time getting her inside that night, after pushing a cat around in a wheel barrow and tumbling down stairs several times she was having much to much fun to come in. We're finding she's at that age that everything we want her to do has to be a fight. The joys... We stayed up til 2:30 talking with my dad and my sister while my mom went out with a friend. My youngest sister who is almost 17 is the only one left at home out of 3 girls, the other is 19, married, and in California. I was really glad to have that time with her because I so vividly remember being her age and feeling the exact things that she does right now, and feeling like no one could relate. Having the conversations I did with her made me think a lot about how I want to love and parent my own daughter, so that maybe she won't feel the same things my sisters and I all did.

Lorelei pushing "Paisey" (Paisley) in the wheel barrow. Paisley was her kitty before we moved, but we have a two pet max. She climbed in herself. :)

Anyways, the trip home was wonderfully uneventful and we couldn't be happier to be home, well except for Lorelei. She was really digging all of the extra attention and entertainment from family. This week is for packing and appointments. We move into our new apartment next weekend. That will be nothing compared to everything that happened last weekend. Bring it on!