The weary travelers return

We made the whopping one hour drive back from vacation yesterday. Yes, we travel far these days. But I actually highly recommend the close to home vacation. No need for potty breaks or snack stops, and if you need to run home at 9 pm one night because your cat sitter totally flaked out and the folks with your only spare key are on vacation with you, it is not that big a deal.*

The highlight of our vacation was the fenced in front yard, which was all sand. The biggest, bestest sandbox ever. We are seriously considering dumping several tons of sand in our new back yard and selling the lawn mower. We actually had to twist the kids' arms to get them to go down to the beach. But much fun was had at the beach once we got there, and at the singing ice cream shop, and at the kiddie amusement park, and at mini golf, and at the aquarium.... OK, I had fun at the aquarium. They had penguins, and we got to watch feeding time. I just love penguins.

We came back to discover that not a single person looked at our house while we were gone, sending M into a tailspin of despair and grumpiness. But on the upside, his lawn finally looks great! All nice a green, flowers blooming, and now we only have one bed left that is chock full of unidentified weeds. Too bad we are leaving in and have to start all over again in the landscaping department.

Anyway, on vacation I finished "the book" and will post a conversation starter tonight or tomorrow. And start thinking about a possible new book. I'm now engrossed in this one, but as it is well over 1,000 pages, I highly doubt anyone else wants to read it with me. So I'll be opening the floor to suggestions later next week.

Finally, I didn't really check in with anyone while away, and my bloglines is overflowing with material. I will probably read it all, because I am compulsive that way, but I most likely won't comment on the old stuff. But I should be back up to speed this week at some point. Except I leave for Nana's on Wednesday, so maybe not. But July, in July I will be home.

* Note to self, need to distribute copies of my key far and wide before I lock myself out, which I am prone to doing.