Yeah, We're Back (or something like that) Part 2

It is Friday.  I'm at work.  The kids and I are feeling much better now and I'm ready to continue my bloggy, vacation adventure for you.  I know that some of my readers where not too excited about the "To Be Continued" that I threw out there the other night.  Sorry guys, life shit happens.

Now, where did we leave off?  Oh! 

Aunt Darling text me on our way there to let me know that I better be good because once we got there, she had a little surprise for me.  I promised I was being good.  :) 

We got to the house and we were there for about 10 minutes (no she didn't wait for me to sit down or take my shoes off) when she said she wanted to show me something.  We went into the spare bedroom where she presented me with......

Her iPad.  Apparently she went out and bought herself a new one, no longer needing the old one and being the best Aunt on the face of the planet, gave me her old one for my birthday!!  She also included a $50.00 iTunes gift card and a really nice case to use the iPad in for safe keeping. 

Best.31st.Birthday.Present.Ever.

I think the shock was the only thing still holding me to the floor.  I squeeeeeed all over the place for days over that!!  (I love how she couldn't wait to give it to me :)

Thank you again so much, Aunt Darling.  I knew that I was your favorite niece ever but it's so nice to be reminded with gifts like iPads!!!!  :)  I use it every single day and I love it very much.  XXOO



Times a million!!  (I love Hoops and Yo-Yo!!)



After I stopped shrieking from my mega awesome present we got settled in a little, we decided it was lunch time!  We ran down the street to our favorite taco joint, Taco John's, to grab some food.  Unfortunately, I'm retarded and I didn't take a picture of our food.  (WTF.  Here we go with the neglectful bad blogger syndrome.)



Ah, thank you, Google Images! 



Here's what the food looks like.  Those things in the tub that Southerner's call "crispy crowns" or "hash browns" are like the potatoes that you get for breakfast at Burger King except at Taco John's they are called Potato Ole's.  These are 10 X's tastier, seasoned to perfection, and you can get them smothered in taco stuff.  Think nachos without the chips, Potato Ole's instead!  YUM!!!! 

After we had some lunch, Supa and I unpacked the van.  (Yes, he was STILL standing after staying awake for so long.  I told you I married Super Man!) 

My Grampa lives in the main section of the house and then up above the house is a full apartment that can be accessed from outside.  (No stairs inside the house to go up to the apartment)  When I was a little girl, my great grandparents (Grama Darling's parents) lived up there.  Now my Mom and Aunt Darling live there together so that they have their own space and Grampa has his.  (Trust, they are downstairs hanging out all the time and keeping him company)

I unpacked some stuff and then it was shower time!  I looked pretty trashy from riding in the car and sleeping for so long.  

The kitchen table upstairs.  Notice my iPad, Supa's caffeine (the only reason he was still awake I believe) and my makeup bag.  Time to do some damage control!





The window looking out from the kitchen.  I love the sunflower theme they have going on up there. 
(Notice the open window, it was absolutely beautiful outside and not a cloud in sight.)



This is the opposite direction from the kitchen going towards the living room.  Notice the eagle painting on the wall?  My Mom painted that.  Cool, huh?

The Darling family brought Palmetto Pig to IL so that my family could try real Southern BBQ.  We took 1 1/2 lbs of pork meat, a quart of hash, a pint of BBQ sauce and a quart of cole slaw.  That's what we had for dinner on Saturday night.  Aunt had to work but she had some the next day for lunch and said it was okay.  LOL



YUMMY!!!  My Mom definitely enjoyed it!  Since she lived in SC before, she knew what she was missing!



After the kids (and Supa) were tucked snugly into bed upstairs, I crept downstairs with Mom so that we could put out all the cool stuff that the Easter bunny brought for the kids!  We had so much fun!!  We also hung up plastic eggs (Aunt's original idea) all over the place and it looked so festive and awesome!  (Pics of this later)

Sunday morning, after Grampa Darling got done at church, we met our family members at Dunkin' Donuts to have some breakfast. 

**Keep in mind, we were on vacation so we ate things like donuts for breakfast whenever we fucking felt like it!!!!**



Our leftovers!  Not very many!!

Good times!  Then it was off to the house to see what the Easter bunny left for us!!



As usual, the kids made out like bandits!  I promise there are baskets underneath all that stuff somewhere.  LOL!  The kids and I made the basket all the way to the right for Aunt, Mom and Grampa Darling!  They loved their surprises.

 The kids went crazy and had fun playing with their new stuff.  The Easter bunny brought Supa and I Survivor buffs.  (Grampa and Aunt Darling LOVE Survivor and watch it faithfully.  They love the buffs and have a whole collection.  Supa and I love Survivor too and the buffs are awesome!  They are great for catching sweat when you work out, wearing as a shirt or skirt (Dazzle) or just wearing to look cool (Neon).  So, that is how the buff thing got started at our house.  A past year when we went home, I actually stole a half of a buff from the upstairs apartment (maybe Mom's??) but I have never had a whole buff of my own.  UNTIL NOW!!  Yay!!


This is SUPA!!! Only in disguise!!  He has his Angry Bird's t-shirt on that the kids and I bought for him, his new buff, sunglasses and USC hat.  LOL!!!  What a cleaver way to get your picture posted on my blog!!



Next, Uncle Darling showed up at the house!!  YAY!!  I loved seeing his face!!  He also handed me a present when he walked though the door:



COUPONS!! And box tops for Neon's school!!  Another great present!!!  Woot!!  Thank you, Uncle Darling!! 

We hung out with Uncle Darling and talked for awhile.  We made a play date to come over to his house and play with his 13 dogs while we were home.  (more on that later) 

When it was time for Uncle Darling to leave, Aunt and I went to White Castle to get some lunch. 
PS, I don't really like White Castle that much but we don't have it at home anywhere nearby and Supa loves it so....I ate White Castle. 


If you've never been to a White Castle, here's what it looks like.  Mini square burgers.  I like their chicken rings.  (Think chicken nugget in a flat ring with lots of dipping sauce)

After lunch, Supa went outside and helped Aunt with yard work.  She weed-whacked while Supa cut the grass.  The kids went outside to play with Mom and they made some really cool sidewalk art.


My Mom is an artist.  Can you tell?  LOL



Mom drew the dragon and the kids helped her color it. 



The dragon was huge!  Hence the 3 pictures to capture the entire thing!  It didn't rain the whole time we were there so the dragon stayed even after we left.  :)

 That afternoon, Mom and I ran to the grocery store for a few things.  Ultra Foods.  It's big and has plenty of things to pick from, oh, and it's walking distance from the house so that's where we went.  The kids hung out with Supa, watched TV and read.

When we got back from the store, Aunt and I worked on cleaning out one of the spare bedrooms in the house that my Grama named "The sewing room".  I bet you can guess what usually went on in that room.  That was where her sewing machine and all her sewing projects were located.  (A very long time ago it was Uncle Darling's bedroom and once he got married and moved out, my bedroom)

Last year when we were home visiting, I helped Aunt start working on cleaning out that room.  There are 3 dressers in that room.  We cleaned out one and one half of them and ran out of time to finish. 

SO, this year, we worked on cleaning out the dresser right where we left off.  There was tons of paperwork (shredding that needed to get done), all kinds of lace, ribbon and sewing everything.  We filled and removed a 55 gallon, heavy duty trash bag full of fabric of every color and pattern you could imagine.  We found some interesting things in the sewing room to say the least.  (photos of this later)

We decided to have leftovers for dinner.  White Castle (Supa says they are good reheated), BBQ and mac n cheese ;) .  After dinner, Aunt and Grampa snuck the kids off to Dairy Queen for dessert!  YUM! 

That's all for today folks.

TO BE CONTINUED.................

Because I have some other things to work on today. 

Until Monday (unless I feel squirrley and decide to blog from my iPad?!)

Apple