A weekend redeemed by family and being home.

Wow! Let me set the stage.

About a year ago, Gail started planning a 60th birthday party for my dad. We decided we would drive down there and then go to the beach after the party in an effort to squeeze in a vacation and visit with family. As the time approached for the party and we began to make plans, Les lost his job and we had to regroup. We decided to skip the beach and the kids and I would fly down there without Les and just spend some time with my dad and my family putting vacation on hold. We purchased our tickets and then waited for the big day.

Fast forward to a week before the party we scheduled Lauren's friend birthday at the cabin with some of her girlfriends and moms. We ended up having to cancel because Lauren came down with the flu. A few days later Emily came down with the same bug and since we were approaching the big party weekend we began to get a little nervous. Finally, two days before we were to fly out Emily's fever broke and we knew we'd be able to go. The morning we flew out I began to feel poorly. By the time we landed in Nashville I had a very high fever and knew I had the flu. It became readily apparent that I had 24 hours to get better or I would miss the party. Thursday night at the bed and breakfast (we stayed here because my dad still didn't know we were in town) I thought I was going to DIE. High fever, chills, cough, headache, devastated that I was going to miss seeing my family. Somewhere in the middle of the night my fever broke- probably thanks to the tamiflu- I decided to stay in a hotel one more night to keep people from getting infected.

And then, Jackson came down with a fever. We were going to miss the party. My husband, feeling helpless in Colorado, decided to drive out to TN to get us. I was going to be able to go to the party and he would stay with Jackson at the hotel. While I missed a ton of the fun activities I still was able to spend some time with my grandma and my dad.

The hotel we stayed out was a nightmare. The lady was like the soup nazi on seinfeld. If you complained or expressed discontent she threatened to call the police on you. Since it was the only hotel in Erin we were stuck. I guess when you have the monopoly on a business you can run it anyway you'd like. Today I am writing a letter to the corporate office and also the fire marshal in Erin.

Les arrived on Saturday in TN and we left on Sunday. The girls are flying home tomorrow. We're all praying Les doesn't get sick.

So in a nutshell that was our trip. I'm sure I'll more to say about things as the week goes on- right now I'm just so exhausted.