That was a vacation much needed

I thought I would get on here and let you all know that I am still alive.  As if you all were holding your breath not knowing what to do with yourselves while I was gone.  I am still alive and had a beyond great time on vacation with my favorite 3 boys!  We honestly had the best time.  It is so far the best vacation we've had with just our little tribe.  (Dale is like 1/4 Indian, so I can say that) 

We went to the great Ozark town of Branson.  I spent a lot of time there as a kid because our grandparents had a house there just off the strip.  I don't ever remember having such a great time!  Sure the go carts and spending time with my grandparents was always a great time, but we didn't treat it like a vacation as we did this time around.  I don't have my camera with me today so you are going to have to wait for the pics. 

It was an emotional week, not that my current state inflated things.  We headed out on 8/4, which was the 4 year anniversary of losing my childhood home to a fire.  Story to come later.  That got the emotions going then just thinking about the drive and the hills and the times when we would do this drive as a kid came flooding back to me.  The sights, the smells, the fighting for more room with my brother and sister, hearing my brother shout out there were 4 red cars in a row, and "shirt happens" as he misread one of my grandpa's t-shirts, and the feeling of pulling up to my grandparent's house late at night and the anticipation to get inside to them.  It all flooded me and I could barely hold back the tears.  It is crazy how much I still miss them! 

Seeing my boys do things I spent my childhood doing was also emotional.  Walking the river my grandpa loved and Wyatt begging to go fishing (one of my grandpa's HUGE passions in life) pretty much topped it off.  My grandpa would have loved these boys to death!  And they would have loved him just as much as I did! 

I wasn't sure if I would still know my way around.  It has been quite awhile since we have been back.  Not since soon after my grandma passed.  Once we got into town it was like I had been there yesterday.  There were of course a couple of new things, but the strip to me was the same and we quickly found our way to the back roads once again after letting the boys see the strip.  We took a drive to my grandparent's house to see how it was holding up.  It made me sick to my stomach.  The place is falling apart like crazy and it is obvious the owners since hadn't put the love into the place like my grandparents did.  The deck that we spent so much time swinging with grandma was about to rot to the ground.  It was sad, but I felt some closure at the same time. I don't need a stinkin house to hold their memory!

Dale and I laughed together again like we used to before all this stress and life came about.  It was so nice enjoying each other so much.  I'm glad both of us let ourselves go and didn't stress about anything.  It was refreshing.  The boys had their moments, but for the most part did an awesome job and really enjoyed themselves.  I haven't seen Waylon talk or act so much like a big boy yet.  He was strutting around all over the place.  Wyatt did the same.  He was ordering his own food, talking small talk to the waiters, and even took several attempts at swimming underwater without a lesson behind him.  He was so proud of himself and I was so proud of him.  I loved it to say the least! 

And I figured out what is causing this nausea after my 1st trimester.  It is getting up at 5am!  I only had one day where I felt nauseous on vacation after eating some crap food.  The rest of the time I felt great.  Once the alarm went off yesterday morning at 5am the nauseous feeling returned and hasn't been going away until lunch time.  I guess I just need a permanent vacation to cure it!

Anyway, I didn't think this was going to turn into a huge sappy post, but that's where it has turned.  I have a humongous case of post vacation blues.  I mean HUGE!  I even cried at work yesterday!  Seriously!  Damn emotions!  I just wish we had more time together to be like that instead of the everyday rush, rush, rush on limited hours of sleep that invades our "normal" lives!  I have a huge urge for change and not the new baby into our lives change coming in a few short months, but to a change in our everyday lives right now.  I just don't know how to fulfill that urge.  And here we go right back into the stresses of life!