The End of Our Vacation

The End of Our Vacation
Originally uploaded by sammi's mom

Wow, what a whirlwind couple of weeks. To start it all off, we decided we really wanted to take a vacation at some point this summer. We originally toyed with the idea of the Outer Banks (we still want to do this, possibly next summer—if any of you want to go in on a house share and have a true, fun beach vacation out of it, let me know!), then thought about the South Jersey Shore (my home stomping grounds), then decided, at the last minute, to drive to Michigan to see Steve’s sister and her husband. We’ve never been to Michigan, but hopes were high that heat and humidity would be low. The first day or two we truly believed that. Until the heat and humidity kicked in with a vengeance. No worries, though. We were having a really nice time. Until the ill-fated thunderstorm on our 4th night there. We were planning on staying for 5 nights, then driving back the next morning. That plan changed with the crack of a bolt of lightning that hit a tree behind their house, split it down the middle, and landed it on a power line that cut off electricity and water to the house. Ah, the joys of well water with an electric pump and no generator. Not an hour before the storm, we had just been talking and joking about how they had never lost power before. I have to hand it to them, though, they really did plan for it well, strategically placing small flashlights in each room. I knew where two of them were, and jumped for them. We then decided to drive back home the next morning.

A bit closer to home, Samantha and I went with our friends (Samantha’s little twin/betrothed and his family) to a local-ish farm to pick peaches and blackberries on Sunday. It was an incredibly fun time, as there was a ton of stuff for kids to do, but MAN, was it hot!!! Samantha was a real trooper, and managed to help me pick blackberries through her whining (she was hot, tired, and in desperate need of a nap, but still stuck it out!). I asked her to pick just the black ones and put them in my bucket, and after squishing a few between her fingers (and subsequently rubbing her hands over her face and across her sleep-deprived eyes, looking like a deranged, blood-covered, pint-sized homicidal maniac), she found several that were keepers. After a short nap in the car on the ride home, we then happily jumped in our neighborhood pool to cool off. Relief!
On the potty-training front, we’re being more vigilant with her, and she seems to be getting better at it. I had said in the past that I wouldn’t talk about poo in my blog posts anymore, so I won’t. But I will just say she’s been pretty consistent these last few days.

We’ve got our in-home EDCD waiver meeting tomorrow morning. After having to jump through hoops to even find the Medicaid application on the County website (okay, how should I know that it’s found under the “Food Assistance” category???), we’re hard-pressed to know exactly which parts of the application apply to us. It’s pretty nonsensical, as I’m sure many of you can attest to. Wish us luck tomorrow—I’m afraid we’re going to need it.