Return of the Kano

It has been over a week since my last posting. I have been away on a much needed and far too short vacation.

Every other year my family gets together in the Outer Banks for a semi-family reunion. I say 'semi' because not everyone is always able to attend. This year my sister and my cousin weren't able to make it because of their jobs.

The house we rented this year was pretty nice, but definitely not as nice as the homes we had rented in previous years. I did enjoy my room and bed, however - despite not having our own bathroom (which really didn't end up being a problem). The bed was very large and comfortable, and for the hours I was able to sleep each night, I slept pretty well.

I thought the overall layout of the house was pretty nice, but a few tweaks may have made the house even better. The pool, for instance, was way too small for the size of the family we have. In years past we were able to jump into the pool, horse around - but this year you would be looking for a serious injury. In fact, I smacked my foot on the ladder once just trying to turn around in the pool.

Also, the night that we all get together two of my uncles head out for a massive grocery shopping. In years past, we have always had an extremely large fridge, or perhaps two fridges. This year, we had one medium sized fridge, which wasn't large enough for everything that we had purchased.

But, those were my only negatives of the trip - that and that it takes so long to drive there and back (more on that in the conclusion).

Kasey had a blast on his first trip to the beach. He truly has no fear - which is nice, but also scares the crap out of me. He ran right out into the ocean each time we took him to the beach. He also believes that the sand is for swimming, because he constantly did full body dives in the sand. When we were in the pool, he loved 'jumping' in to our awaiting arms. Jumping wasn't really the word, as many times it was a side step which almost smacked his butt on the pavement.

He got along really well with everyone there, and I think they all loved him as well. I have another cousin who has a son, Grayson, and my aunt has a six-month old daughter, Kelly. He got along very well with each of them - which delighted me because he doesn't get to be with young children that often.

Kasey was amazing the entire trip, and it just cements how lucky we are to have a kid like him. We had another exciting day where Erika had to go to the hospital, and was diagnosed with a kidney stone - still waiting for that to pass - but she was a trooper and didn't really let it bother her week.

It was difficult to leave as we had a very nice time there - and we both knew that work was lurking around the corner.

We left on Saturday at around 9 a.m. and traveled the entire trip home - arriving at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday. Again, Kasey had a pretty solid go at it - being in the car for 16 hours will make anyone crabby, but for a 21 month old, it could be dreadful. But, he only had a few meltdowns, the last of which was because he was so tired and could not get comfortable in his car seat. The only other setback was that he peed through his diaper twice on the trip back - which also meant his car seat got wet and his pants. But, we made it work and we made it back in one piece. I was so glad that car trip was over.

Overall, the week was amazing. I don't get to see my extended family too often as they have spread out all over the country - I have relatives in Houston, Seattle, Kansas City, Chicago, San Antonio, Pittsburgh and Plattsburgh (us). Also, it was my first vacation in over a year - and it felt great. But, the trip back took a lot out of me so I am exhausted again.

I need a vacation.

P.S. - While I was away Nick at R2D2 has marked me for the 12 Movies Meme - and although I am not a complete movie blog, I do delve into my thoughts on movies from time to time - so I will give it a whirl and have something within the next few days. Thanks for including me R2D2.