Rehab

What to do when you have a mental breakdown? Take a vacation from your problems! Right, Dr. Leo Marvin? My shrink suggested I get away for some time, as a sort of "rehab," and knowing that Adam would be out of town for the weekend, I called my Aunt Jill and asked if the kids and I could come for a visit. She, of course, was happy to have us—bless her!—so we made our way down to Maryland before the big snow storm hit. It was my first time packing up all the stuff and kids for a trip, and I never could have done it without my friend, Emily's help. Yes, the friend who's daughter has cancer. She helped me. But she's pretty much a saint, so that should come as no surprise. We made it to my aunt's house without a hitch, but I later discovered that I had forgotten my toiletry bag, which not only included all the toothbrushes but also my newly acquired meds, both the anti-depressants and the sleeping aid. So, I didn't sleep that night. That was fun. But the next day, my aunt and I slogged through the snow to the supermarket, bought five toothbrushes and some melatonin and I slept fine after that. Hooray!

Besides watching a glut of British awesomeness (like the newly released Austenland) with my aunt, we also celebrated Valentine's Day by decorating heart sugar cookies and going on a special treasure hunt. 

Enjoying the loot at the end of the hunt.

At the last minute, Adam's plans fell through, so he took a Greyhound down and joined us for the last few days of our stay. He came just in time to dig a cave in this giant pile of snow in their front yard.

The mountain of snow eventually got stairs and a slide.

 The day before we left, we decided to take the kids into DC to the Natural History Museum, AKA the Dinosaur Bone Museum. The last time we were in Maryland, we took them to the Air and Space Museum and it didn't go too terribly, so we were optimistic about this trip. And it went pretty well. (We only lost track of one of the kids once!) 

The kids loved the dinosaurs.

Elizabeth was so fun to watch. She made a check list before we left of things she wanted to see, then kept adding to it at the museum.

The Future Scientist

 Everyone was pretty impressed with all of God's creatures.

Eddie learns one of the attributes of the class mammalia.

We're still alive! And smiling!

The museum has a live butterfly exhibit that we've been to before, when Elizabeth was just a baby. We thought the kids would get a kick out of it so we splurged on tickets. And we were right.

Hooray for impromptu vacations! It really was wonderful to get away for a bit and be with family. I'm so glad my aunt and uncle were willing to let us come at such short notice. They are a tremendous blessing in our lives. Now to face life after "rehab."