Ramblings: I'm baaaack. (That was supposed to sound threatening and creepy, fyi.)

We're slowly emerging from that post-vacation craziness of trying to get back on our normal schedules and routines.

The biggest challenge for the little kids came after we pulled in Sunday night at 7:30 after driving 12 hours and they immediately requested milk. Having been gone 8 days, we had no milk in the house. You would have thought I told them that the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, Santa, and Grandma decided to buy a time-share together in Alaska and were never coming back. Oh the weeping and whaling.

And it didn't get better the next morning when they requested their favorite cereal for breakfast. Sorry guys--still no milk. AUGHHH! STILL?! WHY NO MILK? Well, the milk fairy didn't stop by in the middle of the night so we'll have to wait and go to the store like normal non-milk-fairy-owning people. The INJUSTICES OF THIS WORLD. They refused to eat the chocolate chip pancakes I made them because there was no milk to drink with them. Oh brutha.

But after we were fully stocked with our weekly supply of three gallons (seriously--I know. We might as well just buy a cow) everything's getting a  bit back to normal. Although I still haven't downloaded any pictures that are waiting on my camera. But the clothes and suitcases were all put away by Monday afternoon, thanks to my system of never bringing home dirty laundry. That way the bags get delivered to the appropriate room by my bellhop (Jeremy) and I can easily transfer the contents to the dressers and closets of the owners.  And there are no massive piles of laundry to conquer along with everything else to worry about.

The boys and I even managed to take the car by the carwash for a good de-sanding and cleaning. Well, we just watched while the 8 guys pounced on it and had it looking as good as new in 20 minutes. And then we tackled the grocery store along with everyone else around here that was just getting back into town. Luckily it was so busy that there were no car-carts so I didn't have to fight that battle. As difficult as it sounds, hauling a train of two full shopping carts is easier than dealing with one giant car cart, flailing arms and legs, and the fighting that happens inside the car cart. I hate all the car carts in the whole world.

The week before we left was just as crazy and I haven't had a chance to write anything about Alex's 3rd grade recorder concert (hilarious), or the team basketball party (undefeated again this season), or Maddie getting her hair all whacked off the night before we left after weeks of whining and nagging (she claims it's still not short enough), or the giant hole that Alex made in his bathroom wall (when he tried to yank a towel off the towel bar but didn't realize he was grabbing the front and back ends of the same towel. Down came the entire towel bar--the attached brackety thing leaving a giant baseball sized hole in the wall.) But I'll try to get to it soon.

Not to mention our trip stuff--like Jeremy trying to give Alex whiplash while we were go carting, spotting Dog the Bounty Hunter and his cousin(?) on the beach, my encounter with the crazy old shopper at Marshalls, Maddie barfing into a giant ziplock on the drive home after chugging an entire Nesquik bottle of chocolate milk in under 10 minutes, me almost barfing when Jeremy tauntingly waved it in my face, my rediscovery of my love of reading (I finished two entire novels by the pool--without starting and stopping over the course of months and forgetting what the stories were even about), having to explain to the kids what a keg is and why the walmart there sells them, and then explaining to Alex why he'll never be going to Florida for Spring Break when he's in college, and Maddie constantly admiring all the "cute" bikinis and lamenting, "but Dad would NEVER let me wear one like that."

But no more for now--I just don't have the time. I'm supposed to be taking food up to Maddie's school for the teacher luncheon, taking the boys to the library for playgroup, picking up the dry cleaning, attacking the pile of bills that were waiting in the mail for me, and not to mention that my People magazine is still unopened! Priorities, folks!

Eating gourmet cupcakes by the ocean bought from the cutest converted metal traincar. Yummy. Chocolate with bright pink icing--Aidan. Cookies 'n cream--Maddie and Alex. Vanilla sugar creme with chocolate frosting--Avery. Red velvet with cream cheese and pecan frosting--all me. And sea salted caramel--jere. A nice appetizer before lunch. I'm one more vacation treat away from busting the button on my capris. Totally worth it.

We've been on the road again. Now we're staring at sandy beaches, listening to drunk college kids screaming "chug chug" from their beachfront condos, and zippin around the town in a 6 person golf cart. I conquered the busiest walmart I've ever seen and did the dreaded grocery shopping for our crew for the week, so now I can just lounge by the pool and listen to the kids scream chug while I sip my icy cold Diet Coke. Spring Break--whoo hoo!