WHEW!

OK, I have been totally MIA...I know. And I'm sorry. No, wait. No, I'm not sorry...really.. :) We have been on VACATION! And after all that uterus talk, trust me, you NEEDED me to be on vacation! hehehe.

Too tired to upload pics tonight, but we had a fun trip. Rundown goes like this...

For my parents' 70th birthdays (don't shoot me for telling that, mom!) in June, my family decided we'd all bond and take a trip to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, TN. HELLO tourist city! But man, we had so much fun!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday we spent with my family (nieces, nephews, sisters, brother, parents, great-nieces and nephews). We splashed and played in the pool, we ate, we teased, we shopped, we laughed, we cried. It was just awesome. The best part was seeing my parents so happy just to watch us be a family! Then, sadly, most of them left on Sunday and we stayed on at the cabin we always stay at. (I'm sure the next post Tony does with pictures will include the cabin and the website...but I'm too lazy to look right now).

Anyway, this cabin is special to us. This year made our fourth year there and every year we envisioned bringing our kid(s) to it. So it was neat to share the cabin with them. They LOVED it! They could play for hours with the black bears and plastic apples the cabin owners used as decorations! They didn't want to leave today! They did NOT, however, love the ride to and from the cabin. Every time we would go up or down the mountain, we'd hear, "My tummy hurts!" or "My head hurts!" Uugh, motion sickness.

Today, we took our final trip down the mountain and being the smart mommy that I am, thought, "Hmmm, suckers, candy, and toys were not enough of a distraction while traveling. Let's try a movie! We'll turn the DVD player on and see if that distracts them enough to get them down the mountain!" WORKED like a CHARM! That is, until we went to a neighboring city to shop at a T*rget and promptly upon entering the store, Abby threw up all over me. Ewww..but she instantly felt better and began singing all about it in the restroom!

So beyond that, it was great. We did some shopping...and by some...I mean a TON of shopping. Didn't necessarily buy a ton...but had fun looking! We drove to Gatlinburg and did more shopping. We ate ourselves silly and had junk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We attempted to play putt-putt for the first time with the girls. Yeah, that'll get its own explanation! And just really spent time hanging out together and enjoying each other's company. It was one of the best vacay's I've ever had. (Minus the two baby turtles we had die while we were gone...SO SAD!)

It helped that we had a great housesitter, Beth. She was here when we went to China and helped us again! She just rocks! (Just don't ask her to turtle sit...KIDDING!)

*sigh* so it's late...and I should be unpacking...but I'm not. I'm going to get going though. We'll be back with a better post AND pictures! Hopefully in the next day or two, since the the big Hysto is scheduled for Monday!

G'night from home! There's no place like it!