Empty Nest

Last weekend the family and I trekked out west to South Dakota. You may ask, "Why would you go to South Dakota?" Because it's super fun and interesting and not at all boring.......and Gramma & Grampa live there.

After enduring the five hour (2 DVD) drive, we unloaded and started the fun. N1S and I got to go golfing with Grampa. N1S had some really good shots, but hitting golf balls was only the chore to complete between golf cart rides.

Gramma then rolled out the slip and slide for the kids to cool off. We had a cookout where Lady Di made some incredible steak and chicken kabobs for the grill. Those kabobs will probably get us invited back.

The weekend was only marred by one event. We all went for a walk around town and ended up at the high school football field. When we stopped to sit on the bleachers, we were chased away by a swarm of angry hornets who must have been nesting close by. I was trying to swat them with my baseball cap, but one sneaked through and stung N1S on the back of the neck. Lady Di and I both felt terrible for him. After about 2 minutes of howling, he calmed down enough to ride his bike home and tell Gramma all about it.

We left on Saturday with only half a van full. The kids got to stay for the week, and we will pick them up next weekend. It sounded like Gramma and Grampa had a full schedule for them too. They had a trip to the museum planned as well as golfing, swimming and 4-H days.

We still call every night to talk to the kids and it sounds like they are so exhausted at the end of the day that they are asleep before they hit their pillows.

We miss them terribly but we can use this break to get caught up on some things that we have put on the back burner for so long. Lady Di is using this mini vacation to paint N1S's room. I am working all week and not much else. We did get to sleep in on Monday though, which was nice. With the kids gone I'm noticing that it is much quieter in the house. It takes three days to fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes instead of one. And I now have extra time to post about new subjects. Should I write about the problems of society? Local politics? The meaning of life?

So many choices....................................................................................................................................

Is it time to go pick up the kids yet?