Visit from Chuck & Nancy and Business Travel

We didn't do anything for the 4th of July. We thought about going to the fairgrounds since they had kids activities (face painting, etc.), but they were calling for storms that evening and Chuck & Nancy were due in the next day. So, we stayed home to get the guest room ready and clean up a bit. I'm glad we did since storms came through around 6:00 and we would have been caught in it. And, we were able to get just about everything done that we wanted to that day. I feel a bit like a "lame" mom for not doing something for the kids, but there is always next year.

Chuck & Nancy arrived around 3:30 or so on Sat., the 5th. Lacey was quite excited to see them. Leah was a little unsure. We had a yummy (if I do say so myself) meatloaf dinner and relaxed for the evening.

Sunday was Leah's birthday party, so we were at Dad's all day.

Then, it was off to work for me on Monday while Butch got to deal with bagworms. Yep. Disgusting. We had noticed on the 4th that our spruce seemed to be dying. Nancy noticed that there were "things" hanging from it and they were.....moving. Yuck. So, Butch headed to the nursery on Monday morning to find out more about getting rid of them. He had the fun job of picking/knocking them off the tree....then burning them. Gross. Then, he sprayed the tree (and others around the house) with the stuff he bought at the nursery. (Yesterday, I realized there are still some alive, so he gets to have fun with this again, too.)

Wednesday, I headed to New York for a short business trip -- just lunch with a client, so I was up & back pretty quick.

I took Thursday off so we could enjoy some time with C&N. We went to Solomon's Island for lunch.
On our way home, we stopped at Bruster's for ice cream. Yum-o. I'd never heard of it, but it started in PA, so Nancy knew it and when she saw it told us how good it is.

After heading home, to drop off C&N and Leah, we headed up to Waldorf to pick up my rental car for my business trip to Philly.

I left for Philly on Friday morning. The first night or 2 was okay. Having "me" time isn't something that I really get. And...the ability to sleep through an entire night isn't something I get either. So, that was nice. I had a nice dinner on Friday evening and a good night of sleep. Then, I got to work 9:00 to 6:00 standing/sitting in a booth all day. By myself. Blah. They brought in food/drinks at 4:30, so I had a nice glass of wine. Then headed to my room for PJ's, dinner, 1 more glass of wine and a movie (Made of Honor). I did the same thing on Sunday night, too. This time the movie was 27 Dresses. By now, I was ready to come home. But, I still had to work Monday (9:00-6:30) and Tuesday (7:30-1:00).

C&N stayed until Monday morning to help Butch as needed. He did pretty well, though. Leah was good and slept pretty well. She woke up once each night and he gave her a bottle. She should be fine all night without eating, but I usually nurse her at some point in the middle of the night, so it was only fair for her to expect something while I was gone. We'll need to fix that soon.

As soon as I could jump in the car, I ran. :-) Made it home in a little more than 3 hours -- plenty of time to go with Butch to pick up the girls from Miss Lisa's. They were both as happy to see me as I was to see them. It was a little tough getting Lacey to sleep last night. She didn't want me to leave, so I caved and fell asleep in her room for a few min.

And, today....I'm working from home - mainly so I can return the rental car. Back to the office tomorrow.