Vacation - Everything but running

Thursday was a travel day, and also my mom's birthday.  My flight was delayed.  When I got on board I accidentally read the headlines in the magazine the guy next to me had.  It was clearly a "the United States is a Christian Nation; kick out the Muslims" kind of magazine.  I was thrilled when the flight attendant asked if I wanted to move to a different seat where I'd be by myself.  Once we got off the ground, the flight was uneventful.
In Cincinnati we went to Target for bike helmets and a bike pump, birthday presents for Mom and Dad.  Then we headed out to Green Dog Cafe to celebrate Mom's birthday and carb up for me.

Friday was the 20-miler, which I've mentioned a couple of times.  For dinner, Aunt Barb and Uncle Tom came over.  I cooked.  The menu included pears with prosciutto and goat cheese, caprese salad for the people who can stomach tomatoes, pasta with chicken and homemade pesto sauce and fifteen kinds of olives. 

Saturday we went to a conference put on by A.R.E..  The conference was sort of how this trip got started.  It wasn't exactly what I expected but it gave me some stuff to look up including the White Horse Prophecy and the Pyramid Timeline Prophecy.  Also, something interesting will happen on December 21st because that's when the Mayan Calendar ends.  After the conference we went home and took a nap and then headed to dinner with Mike and Linda.  We had African food and then Grater's.

Sunday I went for a run and then headed out to see Grandma.  Dad and I took her to and Italian restaurant, did some 'work' around the house (which was like two chores) and then hung out.  Dad watched football and baseball and I read a kindle book, Heaven is for real.  Dad got gum on his shoe during the trip.  Also, that night my computer died.  "Blue Screen of Death" on a mac is an entirely different concept.

Monday I went to play with some of my favorite people in the world.  How cool they still play with the blocks I got them for Christmas!  We read about the weather (yes, the snow in Minnesota comes up to my knees sometimes), watered the garden, ran up and down the hill and generally hung out.  I left when it was nap time.

 This one does not like to hold still for the camera so I did my best. 

 This one is every bit as sweet as he looks.

       
Mom and I hit Jazzercise for the 4:45 class.  We had a new teacher who seemed to have some new form of running on at the mouth.  (Jazzercise is a dance/exercise class where the teacher tells you what to do and demonstrates the moves as you go.)  It went from hilarious to bizarre pretty quickly.  I think she's a teacher in her day job so she talked about that but also some TV shows she likes/doesn't like and other random stuff.

Then all three of us went over to see a friend of my parents.  She'd cooked dinner for us and one other person who was also an out of town guest from South Carolina.  She lives in a hi rise looking over the Ohio River and it is an amazing view.  It was also Dad's birthday.

Tuesday I got up and went for a run in the rain while Mom worked on her dissertation.  Then it was time to head back to the airport.  My flight was miraculously on time (did I mention the weather?) but a little bumpy going up and coming down.  When I got back to Minneapolis I headed over to see my friends at the Mall of America Apple Store and picked up a brand spanking new computer to replace the five-year old behemoth that had finally bit it.  What they say about backing a Mac up with time machine - totally true.  One of the easiest data retrieval experiences I've ever had.