About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.

Phew….what a long couple of days it has been. It doesn’t even really feel like we went on vacation! Here’s the catch-up…

Thursday
Thursday night I came home and started washing clothes and packing like a mad person. Seth was supposed to get off work at 3 but we all know that didn’t happen, he didn’t make it home until almost 5. We had to swing by Walmart and pick up something, so we caught dinner on our way home too. Seth came home and told me that it was suggested that he not go on vacation because of the impending deadline at work and when he said that wasn’t an option it was strongly suggested he take his laptop with him and work on vacation. Great. On top of that, earlier in the week he got overwhelmed by his masters class that he thought was going to be cake and talked of quitting the masters program. He has thankfully talked himself back into it. Anyway of course, when we get there, Seth’s brother Chet, who is watching our house and kidtens while we are gone is there having a meltdown about homework of some sort. So instead of packing and getting to bed early and watching stuff on the DVR, Seth worked and tutored Chet, I packed and basically moped about plans going array.

Friday
OH IT WAS SO EARLY, I started to curse whoever booked this stupid flight and then I remembered it was me. At THREE THIRTY! we woke up and loaded up the truck and tried to make it to the airport by 4. We were of course late and practically had to run to our flight. When we got there they had already boarded (even though the worlds slowest agent told us we had time) and we sat down at the gate and waited for the call to start boarding. All of the sudden they are like, final boarding call for Milwaukee and we were like SHIT! So we hustled onto the plane and had to endure the stink eye from everyone. Seth made me wear a mask on the planes because I haven’t gotten my H1N1 shot yet and I was REALLY embarrassed. I basically slept thru the first flight, even missing the beverage cart which I NEVER do. We got to Milwaukee and made a clean transfer there. We arrived in Newark at about 11 and waited for Natalia to pick us up.
We went to lunch in New Brunswick at a really cute little restaurant I wish I could remember the name of. When we got to Natalia’s I was WIPED. I ended up taking a big long fantastic nap while Seth worked. We went into New Brunswick and went to “The Stress Factory” where we took in a comedy show for headliner Joe DeRosa who was recording his Comedy Central Special-so it was REALLY HILARIOUS. A buffet was included in our ticket price and it went to benefit the United Way, so that was really neat. Seth really loved seeing comedy live.
When we got home Mom was there and I was still a little hungry so Natalia made me a cheese platter and we talked to Mom (I hadn’t seen her in a week or so) and watched Wanda Sykes comedy special on HBO which was hilarious. I crapped out about 1.

Saturday
Saturday my parents and Natalia and Steve went golfing and left Seth and I to sleep in (bless them). Seth and I woke up and decided to get real New York style pizza for lunch, we were directed to this little hole in the wall deli and it was FANTASTIC. I had a salad and made to order pizza. The salad was HUGE and had roasted red peppers. The pizza had ricotta cheese on it and I may never eat pizza without ricotta again. YUM. I’m getting all hungry and drooly about it.
After the world’s best lunch we went back to the house to wait for the adults to come back from golfing so we could head into the city. I took a nap and Seth watched football in the loft and worked. Everyone came back but needed a little time to shower and rest. We left for NYC at about 5. At this point it was a torrential downpour and it never let up all night. We parked and walked to Rockefeller Center and to Times Square. We stopped in a little Scottish pub for drinks and to wring ourselves out. Then we headed to the restaurant and had some of the best food I’ve had EVER. I had artichoke gnocchi and I can’t even tell you how amazing it was. Everyone loved their food. We enjoyed each other’s company and then headed home late, full and sleepy.

Sunday
Sunday was game day! Seth and I of course left too early and then got lost (in the ghetto!) going to the mall we were trying to find (and almost hit a deer!) and ended up 5 hours early for the game. I napped in the car and Seth walked around and tried to figure out what gate we were supposed to go into and he took in the whole world of tailgating at Giants stadium. They opened the gates at 6 and we filed in and watched warm up-which to me was the best part. The game started at about 8:20 and it was a packed out. Seth and I had a lot of fun, even though it was cold and I had to buy a 20 dollar hat in the gift store! We took lots of pictures and decided to go home in the third when the Giants were losing pretty bad. We had a lot of fun though. We got back about 1 and knew we still had to pack things up because we were leaving Natalia’s at 7 in the morning.

Monday
7 came way too early. Of course, it was even too early for the ticket counter and we had to wait for them to open, and then wait for them to check our bags, and wait for them to see if there was a earlier flight out of Milwaukee, and then wait for them to tell us that there was but it would cost us more money (ugh) and then wait for them to figure out the boarding pass printer was broken before they sent us to the kiosk to check ourselves in. We waited forever (again) in the terminal for our flight which left at 11. Then we waited forever again in Milwaukee for our next flight which left at 4:05. Both of these flights were an hour long. We got home, got our bags, got on the shuttle, drove home, and collapsed. The kitties were so glad to see us. They would not leave us alone. I unpacked and Seth worked some more and Chet stayed to get homework help (and to be berated by me for a messy house and unfed cats) and then we went to bed.

Grandpa
While we were on the East Coast, Sunday, my Dad called my grandpa and he sounded disoriented and said he couldn’t get out of bed. Long story short by the time we got off the plane in Milwaukee, my grandfather was transferred to a major hospital, was aspirating into his lungs, and had an infection. The doctors suggested he get a feeding tube and that would give him an extra six months to a year to live. We tried once again to get my Dad on an earlier flight (still costing extra money) and failed. The wait in the Milwaukee airport was unbearable. My Dad was understandably upset, every phone call we got seemed to be worse news. My Mom was on a different (direct) flight and unreachable. When we got back to Omaha we let my Dad take off and we got their golf clubs so he wouldn’t have to wait for baggage or deal with them on the shuttle. (thank goodness we did because it was almost a 30 minute wait) Dad and Mom went to Lincoln to see Grandpa and talk with the other brothers about options. I ended up taking Tuesday off because I was so stressed and my house was a mess, making me even more stressed. Plus Seth is under a lot of stress at work with the deadline, and I just wanted to take a day and get our lives back in order without bothering him. So I took yesterday off to relax and deal with my grandpa and my house of horrors. Late in the day we got the news that he would do the feeding tube and move into a nursing home when he was released from the hospital. I guess though last night we got the news that he was really combative and confused again so my parents had to go back up there and will probably have to spend the night tonite.

My DVR is going to quit the team
Yesterday I watched Law and Order, Ugly Betty, Ghost Whisperer, and both episodes of SYTYCD. That’s pretty much all I can watch on my own, Seth only had time for Destination Truth. Hopefully we will be able to get to everything else this weekend…hopefully. I will say though, this season on SYTYCD is SOOOO much better than last season, I’m loving already-although-DON’T EVEN THINK OF CUTTING MY KRUMPER JUDGES!!

Bean’s blog
Bean did really well with flying and has really taken up a dance studio mentality in the womb. Usually if I eat something, especially something sweet, it starts a dance party. It’s been really fun to feel. Next Monday at 8 am, we will hopefully find out what Bean is and can start calling it by its real name!

Back to the grind
Okay everyone, I still have tons of catch up to do. I’ll try to get back tomorrow! Hopefully with photos!

Love (being home, but not being behind),Carrie