While you were gone. . .

OK, so maybe I was the one who was gone. Still. It’s been awhile, right?

Here’s what’s been going down:

Last Wednesday (June 23), 3/4 of the magazine team loaded into a rental car and hit the road for Clinton, Miss. Let’s just say this: I had gotten limited sleep the entire week before and only 4.5 hours the night before. And that trip is long and boring. And I may or may not have taken a little nap. It took forever, but we finally got there. So I slept in a hotel for two nights, did work in a hotel for two days, and did a focus group with about 38 middle schoolers and 23 high schoolers for two afternoons. On Friday, after finishing our track time at 3:30 p.m., we hopped in the car and started for Nashville, stopping only to grab something to eat around the Birmingham area. And of course, it was there that I had the stomachache to end all stomachaches (not really, but I didn’t feel very good and that not feeling good lasted through Sunday). We finally got home around 11 p.m. I fell into bed, slept until about 8 a.m. on Saturday morning and then made the list of things that had to be accomplished.

The play-by-play of Saturday: • made breakfast • did laundry • changed sheets • showered and got ready • went to vet to buy dog food and get Muffin’s vaccination records • went to Walmart Neighborhood Market to get prescriptions • went in to work to finish the 9/10 issue of the magazine • went to Ross Dress for Less • home to iron and pack • fell over into bed

On Sunday, I got up, sang in two services, went to Sunday School in between, and left before the sermon to go back to my house, grab the dog and drive to Missouri. I got to my parents’ house around 3:30 p.m., but no one was there because they had a baby shower at church. I went down there and found my entire family involved in the clean-up. Actually, my brother didn’t even notice me until I’d been there about 10 minutes, then decided to “hug the Mandy,” which involves picking me up and swinging me around and I was wearing a dress and the way he was holding me almost caused me to moon many of the members of the church I grew up in. Awesome, right?

After that, we went back to my parents’ house, we kept the nephew for a bit, and went back to church for contemporary worship, which means I got to hear my brother preach.

On Monday, the entire family hit the road by 8:30 a.m. and was eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Cape Girardeau by 9:30 a.m. We then went on to St. Louis, checked into the hotel, and grabbed something to eat at the Hard Rock at Union Station. For the record, my nephew likes Stevie Wonder and Eric Clapton. Not bad, if I say so myself.

Monday night was the Cardinals baseball game and we had amazing seats thanks to a friend of mine from church. My mom, dad, and I got there early enough to see some of the Cardinals batting practice and enjoy our seats. The game was tied up until the bottom of the 9th, when the Cards scored! I was super excited and jumping up and down, but my nephew was about to have a meltdown. Baseball games are pretty long for 19 month olds, I guess 🙂

On Tuesday, we went to the zoo, where I got to ride the carousel and see pink flamingos and sea lions. We really didn’t get to see a lot at the zoo b/c the nephew was not in a good mood and had a major meltdown/tantrum on the train. He went to the hotel for a nap and lunch; my parents and I stayed at the zoo a little longer, then went downtown to eat at the Spaghetti Factory. We saw Wicked at the Fox Theatre that night (amazing and I loved it and I want to see it again!).

And we drove to my parents’ house on Wednesday, getting there about 2 p.m. I was on the road to Nashville by 2:30 p.m.

Vacation sure is restful.