Rest Stop

By the time I lay my head on my pillow tonight, I'll have logged 500-some miles on the car since yesterday morning. And we've got miles to go yet this weekend.

Yesterday, I got up early as planned, picked up my stepson Casey in Eau Claire just after 8 a.m., then got to St. Croix Falls around 10 a.m. It turned out to be a beautiful, warm and sunny day for a change. How wonderful!

My 50-year-old brother had some interesting moving, thinking and creating activities for us!

Spent the morning on some trails south of town, looking for items in nature and finding more than we bargained for. My sister Rayna and I were off on our own trail, cameras in hand, snapping pictures with our "close-up" setting whenever possible. We were very excited to walk into some sort of a dragonfly festival. We both got some awesome photos like the one up top. I will post more when I get the chance.

After our walks and "scavenger hunts" and craft time, we had brats and hotdogs on the grill and a ton of other food. We did a brief program of sorts for Ron -- since that's what us silly sisters do -- then presents and CAKE! Yummy.

It was a fun day and a really, really nice time with family.

Got to stay at my nephew Zach's new place just east of St. Croix, then got up and hit the road around 8 a.m. Dropped Casey off in Eau Claire and got over to Wausau in time for Carter's 1 p.m. baseball game. They lost last night to Rhinelander. This afternoon they played Wausau. Or tried.

Wausau hit 6 or 7 home runs out of the park so yes, we got beat and we got beat bad. I'll give credit to our Rapids Rage boys, though. They rallied and got 6 runs in one inning -- Carter even got a double -- but it wasn't enough. Hopefully, they can turn it around for our final game tonight. They don't play that one until 9 p.m. -- yes, that late -- so we came home so hubby could mow, I could unpack my stuff and pack up Carter's stuff for confirmation camp.

He is all set to go. I am mostly unpacked but needed to rest a minute. All that driving takes a lot out of a person! I expect we will be dead on our feet tomorrow night at this time.

Our plan is this: Go to game tonight. Get home and sleep fast. Go to 10:30 church so Carter can acolyte, I can say a tearful goodbye to him and he can go home with his "camping buddy" Clay, whose mom will get them to the church in the early afternoon for their ride to camp. While he's doing that, Jim and I will head over to Menominee, Mich., for a graduation party for a friend's son.

Tired yet? Sounds pretty crazy for one weekend. But every mile is worth it when you can spend even a little time with loved ones, doncha think?

Which reminds me, I better log off and spend a few precious moments with my baby before we hit the road again!