Vacation?

Since we've arrived back in CU Land, we've been asked numerous times, "How was your vacation?"  And while the answer is, "We had a nice time with our families and friends," I also want to say, "Visiting family is not a vacation." Here are some updates to reiterate that point.

• I attended 2 doctor's appointments with my mom and took her to have an MRI.  The facial tics that I wrote about before are most likely a side-effect of one of her medications, which she is no longer taking.  Her MRI showed no problems, which is good.  I now have her permission to speak to her neurologist without her present.  
• Wild Man had his first sleepover--with his 5-year-old cousin J.  He had a blast, but Yetta was mightily upset because the sleepover meant she got one less night with him.
• Bear discovered the joys of the ocean, but his afraid of my dad for reasons I'm not entirely certain I can explain.
• I spent lots of time with my sister-in-law, Aunt J.  We vented about being outsiders in the family, but we also just had fun.  Pita commented on the time we spent together, which meant she was unhappy that we didn't include her.
• I was able to see my BF from high school and college twice, which is rare thing indeed.  I was very, very happy to get to hang out with her so much.
• I had many conversations with my parents about selling their house and moving closer to her sisters.  I'm not sure I made any headway at all.
• None of the homes we stayed at (with the exception of the home of our grad school friends who now live in Home State) were remotely child proofed.  Bear almost fell down more staircases than I care to count.  Being constantly vigilant to ensure he didn't injure himself or destroy my mom's or Yetta's countless knick knacks was exhausting for both of us.
• I tried to have a conversation with Archer's brother, you know, just because.  After getting a series of monosyllabic answers, I gave up.  To be fair, I don't think Archer got much more than that out of him either.
• Yetta was very displeased that we not only saw friends on our way to Home State but that we elected to stop overnight to see more friends on our way to CU Land.  Because you know, both side trips took time away from her.
• We're already being interrogated about our plans for Christmas.

Despite all of this, the visit was nice.  It was, in fact, the most drama free visit we've had since I can remember.  Perhaps the last one that was this drama free was the August before Wild Man was born.  There were no arguments, very few recriminations about our chosen career fields, and no questions about when we're moving "home."  That made it very relaxing indeed.