grilling out at the condo picnic areaThis was the last year for HSE to have a week-long fall break. We took advantage of the time and accepted an offer from Margy and Tom to drive to a family (free) condo in Siesta Key, Florida. We left on Sunday and took our time, with several stops. We arrived late Sunday night, unpacked and fell into bed. We all slept in and the weather on Monday was beautiful. Margy and I walked on the beach and we all spent the rest of the day at leisure, at the beach and pool and condo. We watched the Colts play on Monday night and fixed nachos. The rest of the week was about the same - we basically ate, slept, sat in the sun, read, played cards and swam. I had a test to take on Tuesday and drove into Sarasota to the Panera, which has free wi-fi (no access at the condo).
making puppy chowOn Thursday, we headed to Auburn. The trip was about 8 hours and we drove directly to Mellow Mushroom, had a pizza while we waited for Sarah to finish at work, and then followed her home. We met roommate Mallory and her dog Desi and got reacquainted with Sarah's dog Kylie. Mallory and Sarah were kind enough to give up their rooms to the moms and the boys spread out in the den with futons and air mattresses. Friday was spent on campus - Sarah with classes and the boys with a campus tour and appointments. We met back at the house and the girls went out looking for furniture (kitchen table and dresser). We made it to a couple of stores, but didn't find anything in our price range. We went back and got the boys and headed out to "Good Ol' Boys" for dinner. Emily had decided earlier in the day to drive down, and she arrived about 11:00. She and Sarah and I stayed up and talked for a while and then we blew up another mattress for Em and we all went to bed.
sarah and kylieOn Saturday morning, I dropped Sarah at work at 9:15 and visited a garage sale on the way back - no table or dresser :( Back at the house it began as a lazy morning but after everyone was awake, we got into action. We headed toward Goodwill, which turned out to be Mission Thrift and unbelievably we found exactly what we were looking for - a kitchen table and four chairs, a coffee table and a dresser (all for $150!). The boys hauled our finds home and the girls went next door to K-Mart for supplies. Back at the house we rearranged furniture and cleaned and organized all day. Emily and the boys met Sarah when she got off work and they all went straight to the game (Ole Miss). Margy and I put the finishing touches on the kitchen, living room, and Sarah's bedroom and then got ourselves and the car packed. Mallory came home from work before Sarah and she couldn't get over the changes - she was excited and couldn't wait for Sarah to see it. John, Sarah, Emily, Danny and Tommy stayed for the end of the game (Auburn 17 - Ole Miss 3) and then came home. Sarah was shocked and could not believe her room! Margy gave her the dresser and a new lamp as a thank you for having us all as guests and for getting Tommy a ticket to the game. Emily organized her desk and papers and most of her clothes and we made up her bed with her down mattress pad, clean sheets, her duvet cover and LOTS of pillows.
We stayed and visited for about a half an hour and then headed north. We got stuck in the football traffic for the first 50 minutes, but after that we were in hardly any traffic. Margy drove to Nashville and then we switched and I finished up. We only stopped once, the boys slept the whole way and we rolled in to Indy about 8:15. We slept for a few hours - my bed felt like heaven - ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! Emily stayed at Auburn Saturday night and went to a Halloween party with Sarah and John (the girls dressed as scuba divers, pictures soon).
