I went to Hawaii and lost my tan

It's true. Although I did spend a few hours on the beach with my book as a break one afternoon.

BUT, I live really, really far away from my sister and basically wanted to spend my time with them and help as much as possible. We both laughed/cried at the end of my visit - feeling like we could have/should have done more for each other.

I think we did.

I held, fed, changed babies, ate waffles with T every morning, played Barbies, read books, walked down the block with the boys, took pictures, ran an errand or two, visited in the waiting room together, stayed with babies so Deb & Neti could see a movie!, helped Deb with several projects and tried to make myself useful.

She let me do all of that! It was my pleasure. AND - I never cooked! So that was like a total vacation for me. OK, I put waffles in the toaster and heated up a ramen bowl in the microwave.

Thank you Debbie and Neti for sharing your family and your life with me for 8 days!

I miss them all and look forward to next year when we'll all be together for the twins 1st Birthday party (Hawaiian custom).

I'm very happy to be home with my own family now though. I missed them very, very much but was also thankful that things went so smoothly without me present. The girls are capable of so much now and armed with schedules, frozen meals and washing machine instructions, Bart was set. We also had some great help from several individuals re: carpool/babysitting - thanks to all involved.

I will catch up more over the next couple of days and add pic's. Unfortunately, my souvenir from the trip was a sinus/ear infection. I suspected it before I left (didn't let it slow me down) but was unwilling to sit for most of my last day in a clinic so flew home with plugged ears and burning sinuses. Didn't do myself any favor with that but was able to see the Dr. first day back and he 'apologetically' gave me antibiotics. Still waiting for them to kick in so am a bit slow......

And by late afternoon/evening, I just want to SLEEP!!! I adjusted pretty quick to the 12 hr time difference in HI but it could have been all the excitement of being there and helping. Now that I'm home, and things are in great shape (I did a lot of 'stuff' before I left), I find myself just wanting to sleep by dinner time.

So that's what is happening in my world at the moment. Bart is back to regular days at work now that I'm here, Kendra is adjusting well to her school schedule and Rachel is actually on her class trip to the mountains this week. She also turned 12 this week. 12!! Happy Birthday sweet girl.