Last night, the girls were scared because the last time we were in Indiana they barfed. It's funny that perhaps forever, their association with Indiana will be that of barf. Good times. My association will be not sleeping well. Kate was crying at 1:30 and scratching. Nauvoo, we needed bug spray. Alice counted 40 bug bites on her legs, Fiona had a couple, I had a bunch, Ken a bunch, and Kate a bunch. We were covered. At least our legs were. Fiona and Alice fell asleep without too much difficulty, but Kate had a tough time and woke up like I said after one and had a really hard time falling back asleep. We had bought benadryl gel but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, at least not for more than ten minutes, but she finally did sleep, so that was good.
Two final things about Nauvoo - I feel like we hardly saw anything. There were so many buildings to go to, so many messages to hear, and we saw a handful. We didn't do the carriage ride, or the oxen ride. We only saw one performance (not including the band), and we didn't go to Carthage. I definitely want to go back there sometime and see and do more. I love going to historical places. I love the spirit you feel. It was neat at general conference last time or the time before one of the general authorities spoke of visiting Palmyra and he waited to feel the truth of the place, in the place, but the testimony didn't come. The testimony came when he was on his knees in his bedroom. I say this because we don't have to go to the place to have a testimony of what happened there. But I am grateful that I've been able to travel to so many wonderful historic sites.
This morning was good, but before we finished breakfast, there were signs that it was going to be a long day...
The first photo is of Fiona freaking out and running away. I can't remember what great offense was perpetrated, but it was awful! She calmed down enough to take a picture with the fun cup, and did come upstairs to get dressed. The mustache cups at the Hilton chain are really cute! (They have smiley faces too.)
Okay, the road home! We didn't rush. We had breakfast and were leaving the hotel around 10 I think, but I wanted to stop at Target. We had talked about getting backpacks and lunch bags at Target, they have such cute stuff - so off we went. I didn't mean to take an hour...
So we were finally on the road about 11, and then I don't know, we crossed over into Michigan, we lost an hour, and all of a sudden Ken and I felt really tired!
We stopped at a McDonald's play place for lunch, and it was a little cuckoo. I don't know why the order was so hard to do, and then the girls wanted to play, they took forever eating, and Ken had his I'm so done moment.
Then it was the road again. I'm not sure how long we'd been driving before Fiona started crying. She wanted us to return her backpack because she didn't like Barbie and she needed to go back to the store immediately. She alternated between this and I want to go home right now. She cried a lot. Then Kate cried because Fiona wouldn't stop crying. And then I missed the exit for the interstate because I was having my I'm so done moment! We had a stop at a rest stop, which didn't seem to help at first, but then Fiona fell asleep! Thank the heavens.
As we got closer to Sarnia, and the border we could see a huge storm. We crossed the border with no issues, but we were getting closer and closer to the storm.
We had beautiful weather the whole way across the country. I think there was a sprinkle somewhere, but I literally mean sprinkle, but other than that, sunny skies. It was a great blessing, but just as we drove over the border the heavens opened. The rain was intense - thunder and lightening, and a wall of water. We all had to go to the bathroom at this point, but I wasn't going to stop. We got a little ahead of the rain and stopped, but the storm was following us so we made our "rest" stop quick.
We stopped one more time to get some food just outside of Cambridge, the storm continuing to chase us. The drive, the last bit, it's always the longest isn't it? So close and yet so far...
It's funny to me that the last picture sign is the blurriest - it says Ajax. I suppose all the rest were taken during the day! We got home just after 10 p.m. It does feel good to be home because the drive is over. But my sister is now a 28 hour drive away, and that doesn't feel good. Mentally I know which time zone I'm in, but the rest of me might take a while to get there.
We had an amazing trip. We did so much, we saw so much, we felt so much. There were fights and hugs, there was sickness, but mostly health, there was safety, so much safety. I feel so blessed, and even though I'm a little sad, I'm so very thankful. We live in a beautiful world. I'm so grateful to have shared so much of it with my girls and with Ken. Life is good.
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