What I did with my summer vacation...

This entry will be sad, very sad, because:

1. My summer vacation was only 4 days long.
2. Two of the four days were spent driving 10+ hours each day.
3. The driving was done with a 22 month old toddler in the car.
4. Said toddler is very likely cutting her 2-year molars, as is evidenced by the recurrent line of drool running down her chin, the sticking-of-fingers-down-her-throat, a pervasive disinterest in most solid foods, and a marked increase in crankiness.
5. Said toddler also had a completely disrupted nap and sleep schedule over the 4 days, just what was needed to crank the crankiness up to the next level.
6. The 2 days not spent driving were spent in exotic and fascinating Fargo, ND.
7. Seriously, Fargo.
8. The 2 days were spent in a Holiday Inn, and right down the hall from my in-laws.
9. Seriously, my in-laws.
10. One of the 2 days was my birthday. (Happy 29th [for the 6th time] to me.)
11. The Citizen Eco-Drive watch my husband thought he had bought me for my birthday, was not, in fact, an Eco-Drive watch, but a plain old Quartz watch which I can't wear because I kill the battery within 2 weeks flat (some crazy personal electro-magnetic thing).
12. Because we were out of town, my birthday cake was store-bought; while it was not half-bad for store-bought, it wasn't anywhere near home-made quality.

So, with my whiner temporarily whined out, I will say that the visit with the in-laws went very well. They drove down from Saskatchewan and we headed north from Kansas City; Fargo is where we met half-way. They had not seen Miss M since last Christmas, and she's grown and developed SOOOO much in the past 8 months, we were overdue for a visit.

I was a little fearful that she might play shy around them, but we spent the weeks prior to the trip looking at pictures of our Canadian family and saying their names. She took right to them and treated them just as if she saw them everyday! She charmed and amazed everyone with her curls and verbal skills.

So, my summer vacation is over. We were planning to go somewhere later in August for a whole week (a whole week away from home with a toddler; how can I stand so much FUN? I know, I know...). However, something even MORE FUN popped up unexpectedly on my calendar for August and September; yes, I have the honor, nay, the privilege of being selected for Federal Jury Duty for the KCK district! So I have to call in each weekend to see if I have to report in the following Monday. Kind of makes it hard to plan anything. I'm kind of hoping to get picked for something (something white-collar and non-gruesome, preferably), because the court house doesn't allow ANY electronic devices inside AT ALL. I'll have to take an actual pulp and ink BOOK and get some quality reading done! For anyone with a toddler, un-interrupted reading time is BETTER than a physical vacation. It's a mental vacation. In fact, if I can find someone to serve me a frozen margarita at the court house, I may never leave...