saying goodbye to florida isn't easy when there is snow at home!

So we have made our Go Back Home plan: we are getting up at 4 a.m. and heading north...hopefully uneventfully, all the way to Richmond, Virginia. We booked a room with lots of beds, a little pricier than I wanted, but who wants to sleep on the floor after driving all day long?

The hotel also has a pool and a hot tub, just in case we want to soak or use up some energy.

We will still have over five hundred miles to go on Friday, but it will be warming up from tomorrow's snow in New York, and hopefully the travel conditions will be better.

It's a loooooong way home. Twelve hundred miles.

Our van is packed, and we have had a very good day.

We went to the pool this morning. We sunned and swam...and the same lady from the other day told me her friend didn't believe her how many kids I had, and wanted me to confirm it...they were okay about it, until an old man came along, over to the pool, and she blared the news to him, in a rather coarse way. I wasn't sure what to do, so I just ignored them. The man declared he was the only guy at the pool, so the Loud Lady made a sweeping gesture with her arm, at all of us, and said, "Well then you can take your pick." I was absolutely horrified. I still didn't say anything, but I was ready to pack up and leave. Sometimes I am just struck plain dumb by people. After mulling it over all day, I have concluded that I SHOULD have said something. I didn't want to fight with her, but sometimes there are just these spirits that people bring, and I should have stood up for the girls and told her to clean it up, pipe down, or just to shut up if she was going to be derogatory.

We headed back to Grandma's, and yay, went out to lunch at Panera Bread! It was very pleasant, I had a huge salad and a yummy coffee with nutmeg in it. The kids cleaned up their food nicely, they really enjoyed it.

Back to the pool for the afternoon, and it was much better, the Loud Lady wasn't there, and the kids felt much more comfortable. With temperatures in the high eighties, and plenty of sunshine and a nice breeze, perfection. Just lovely. Delicious weather.

Evening: Grandma ordered chicken wings and pizzas to celebrate Suzanne's birthday! We also had cake and ice cream, and watched the Syracuse basketball game, which was weird because if I were back in New York, I would have been at the Dome working at that game.

It's hard to say goodbye to Grandma. She's so much fun, and has been very good to us. We came here and messed up her nice tidy house, ha.

I probably won't be blogging on my way home, so goodbye for a day or two...pray for our travels...have I mentioned how much I don't like driving?:)