Returning From My Vacation-Imposed Silence

Greetings to my tens of readers, and by tens I mean my eleven readers! We were in Illinois visiting family, bemoaning the Cubs' pathetic post-season appearance, and taking the girls down memory lane. Every night before bedtime, the girls want us to tell them stories about our childhood, so this was a great time to show them the context of many of those stories, where we grew up, where we went to school, where I got into that fight, where Nana tracked me down with the stolen trash can lids, where Diane taught swimming lessons, etc.

All in all, it was a good trip, with the exception of the 24-hour flu bug I came down with on Friday that left me heaving several deposits at the porcelain ATM. Who knew I had so much to give? I've recovered and am finally enjoying solid bowel movements once again (sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference), and we're back into the full swing of family life here in southern AZ. Ah, there's no place like home.