To make a long (weekend) story shorter...

We drove to Pennsylvania and back over the weekend, to see Hubs' grandmother. It was a long drive, but I'm so glad we went. Big girl is named after Hubs' grandmother, who has only seen her once - when big girl was a tiny six months old - and who has never seen baby boy. We visited with Grandma on Friday and she was so excited and surprised by our visit. She didn't know we were coming up to see her and the expression on her face when we opened the door to her room and she saw big girl was one of the most beautiful sights ever. We visited for a while in the morning, then left so she could have lunch and rest, and then visited for a couple of hours more before dinner. We wanted to be careful not to wear her out, since she's not strong anymore and it's only been a couple of weeks since she was hospitalized with pneumonia. I wish the drive weren't such a chore, and so hard on the kids, so that we could visit more frequently. It's hard to get a lot of time away between school and work.

We managed to elude all kinds of nasty weather which could have left us trapped up there in the Holiday Inn for a few extra days. We got out of Pa before the snow that socked Ohio got that far, and we came down through Virginia to all kinds of fun flurries. We made a stop for lunch at our alma mater, to get cute shirts for the kids and eat lunch at a delightful bistro that's new to town since Hubs and I were in college there. The food was divine.

That was my "party." Big girl loves parties, and knowing that it was my birthday, she insisted that we have a party, and she talked about the party all morning long as we drove south. She was a big impatient and kept asking when we would have "Mommy's party" and what we would
do at the party. In the end, my party had much better food that her usual parties, but don't tell all of the teddy bears and dolls that I dissed their pretend food. Oh, and the slice of chocolate truffle cake that I ate for dessert? Absolutely sinful and worth it.

Lots more fun stories to share from the whole weekend, including big girl's introduction to the concept of a urinal, but that will have to wait until later.