It is 4:30 p.m on Tuesday and I think I have us and our belongings back in order!

We left Panama City Beach last Friday after watching the weather forecasts and seeing a storm moving across our path.  We bid goodbye to the West Bay at sunrise and headed for the cold of MN.  

The trip was, thankfully, a quiet one.  We ran into a hellish rain storm and tornado warnings in Birmingham, AL, which is a lousy town anyway, but drove out of it by time we were a bit north of the city.

We were planning to stop in Paducah KY, but decided to go for  Mt. Vernon, IL.  Good plan but they are doing some sort of construction on the exit and we missed it.  Ended up in Salem, IL for the night.

We were hauling the "pets" for the Gergen boys, NOT a good thing.  The 2 hermit crabs did not enjoy the ride and expired the following morning.  We gave them a decent burial at a roadside rest, cleaned out the cages and continued on our way.

We had excellent roads all the way and we said hello to MN soil with the usual sight of the "falls" of ice on the cliffs near Le Crescent, MN.  Nearer home, just below Lake City, MN we saw the beautiful Mississippi river valley.

We arrived home at 4:30 or so.  

Ann, Scott and the 3 boys bought a couple of pizzas over for dinner and we played with the kids and visited with Ann and Scott for a few hours.

On Sunday we unloaded the van, which was SO overloaded that we had no room to move.  On Monday I went back to my workout class and was greeted with a lot of hugs and a lot of ribbing about leaving for warmer climates, from everyone.

We are truly happy to be home even if it is freezing outside.

On Monday evening I went to a Band Concert that Cal was in, on Sat. I will go watch the 2 boys swim in the State tournament.  It is good to be Nana! :-)

On the 17th I will go with Ann and the 2 older boys to Washington, DC.  I am looking forward to this trip, I haven't been to DC in at least 30 years, it will be fun to see it through the eyes of the 8 & 10 year olds.

Paul and I will get together with his sister Carol and her husband Ray this week to discuss a trip to Alaska at the end of May and beginning of June.   It should be great and the state is so beautiful that I should have a wonderful opportunity to take a gazillion photos to bore everyone with!

For the time being, I will be putting the 2 big boys on the bus every morning and going to do some workouts at the Y, after all we ate in FL we both could use some exercise.

As Dorothy said "There's no place like home" ;-)