Hitting the Road

I've been car traveling for the last two weeks with kids, cousins, and siblings. Some of the highlights include:

1. Twelve hours at the Mall of America with three moms who hate malls, and 6 very young teens who just LOOOOVVVVEEEE shopping.
2. Looking down into the perfectly clear topaz water of Lake Superior.
3. Touring the refined Glensheen Mansion while my eight year old wants to know about the blood stains, and what does "bludgeoned to death" mean?
4. Nearly having a heart attack walking the stairs down the Split Rock Lighthouse cliff to the beach below. Actually it was walking back up that was iffy.
5. Two of my kids having a knock-down, drag-out fight in public over a hair clip.
6. While staying at the Grand Harbor hotel in Dubuque, Iowa, having the fire alarm go off at 8:30am. Like dutiful midwesterners, we all marched out in various states of dress.
7. Watching strange young girls hand my 13-year-old nephew their phone numbers. Do their parents know they do this???
8. Hauling all our luggage out of my cousin Anne's house only to realize later that we'd forgetten 3 days worth of our dirty laundry.
9. Lunch on Thursday was licorice, beer nut almonds, and beef jerky in the car. I still have heartburn.
10. The Mississippi River Museum in Dubuque - DON'T MISS IT if you have a chance.
11. Visiting my alma mater The University of Iowa. Progress and much money have changed it's face forever.

It's good to be home.