Tell Me What You Need, Senior Pride, Senior Pride

And we're back! Andrew and I had a wonderful time with Rachel and Weatherson. They live in the most adorable home, and I'm frustrated with myself now that I didn't take more pictures so you could all take in the coziness with me. The warm cottage was especially appreciated since the temperature actually dipped to -13 our last day there (wind chill factor bringing it to -27). Rachel did her best to sell me on the glories of living in Minneapolis, but I told her I really couldn't bring myself to move to a place that required the ownership of "ice tools." One morning she told me to stand outside after my shower while my hair was still wet, promising that it would freeze in no more than 10 seconds. I took her word for it.

The flights. Well, let me just say that I'm really excited that Phil will be traveling with us on our next airplane adventure. I had put all my hope into the idea that Andrew would be transfixed with Baby Einstein on the portable DVD player, but there was a problem with the battery and it wouldn't come on. Not even a flicker. I'm am grateful beyond words that there was an empty seat on the way there, or some poor soul would most likely have strapped himself to the wing in order to escape the madness. My attempt at photographing Andrew's first flight will speak for itself:

We got the DVD player fixed for the trip home, but with only one seat, no nap and an outrageous amount of time sitting on the tarmac, it was still an adventure. All things considered, Andrew handled it all amazingly well. He was just ... busy. :-)

One day, the temperature hit, like, 10, so we decided to venture outside. Andrew wasn't quite sure what to think of the snow suit. Weatherson, however, thought the whole thing was splendid.

A kind soul lent us the snow suit and boots. Unfortunately, the boots were a little big and wouldn't stay on when Andrew tried to walk, and sitting in a pile of snow didn't impress him as much as I'd hoped. But at 10 degrees, Rachel and I decided a short time in the snow was enough.

The one kink in the whole visit was that I decided to come down with a bad case of the bubonic plague on Thursday night. This was terribly unlucky since Rachel had fixed BLT's (one of my favorite things), and we had plans to watch Mean Girls together. Instead Rachel spent the evening on the phone with Ask-A-Nurse trying to figure out if I needed to go to the ER while I lay in the fetal position on the pull out couch she made up for me so I could be near the bathroom/not wake up The Precious. Up until this point Rachel's hospitality had been impeccable. But now, in my time of need, she denied me the one solitary thing I asked her to do: Smother me with a pillow. I think I even said "please."

Here's a picture of my death bed and the bucket kept close at hand. I knew you'd want to see.

In the end, I did not need to go to the ER, was better by morning and eventually forgave Rachel her selfishness. The following evening consisted of a fabulous beef stew, warm chocolate chip cookies and High School Musical II.

Thank you Rachel and Weatherson for such a wonderful visit! We miss you loads already and can't wait to see you again!