Observations after being away

I'm still on vacation for a few more days and LOVING IT! So this is what it's like! I've got a cup of coffee, I'm still in my jammies, Alex is plugged in to PBS Kids for a little bit, and I'm blogging. WOW! I'm more relaxed than I've been in months and I'm just loving it! I have noticed a few things both about my trip and about being back in Wisconsin... so I thought I'd share.

1. Iowa really isn't that flat and Wisconsin is very scenic. We cut across the southern part of Wisconsin while driving to Iowa, and it's just so beautiful. Jagged cliffs as you get near the Mississippi River and rolling farm hills. Just gorgeous. Iowa is more rolling farm hills than flat cornfields. The poor little state really gets a bum rap.

2. I felt like I was home when we were in Des Moines. I don't know if it was being with Mike and Jen (family) or if it was just being in a state where everyone sounds like me. In lower Illinois and in Iowa... the accent is very flat. I'm only noticing this after nearly a decade in Wisconsin. This is not to knock Wisconsin or Chicago accents... and those accents do exist no matter how much people deny it. The absence of accents was highly noticeable and very comforting.

3. Humidity sucks. Period.

4. Alex is really funny. He's caught a few episodes of Higglytown Heroes and now he says "Aww Pickles!" in the appropriate context. He also said "That's MY river!" when we drove over the Mississippi River. He's also telling stories now... big fanciful stories.

5. We are on day two of being pacifier free. The night we got back, we took Alex's beloved Nuk away. It was hard and I felt like a meanie, but he's three and it needs to be gone. I'm already afraid he'll need braces (Craig and I both did), but I don't want to make it any worse. So far so good. Two nights and a nap, and no turning back.

6. I need to keep running. I didn't run in Iowa because it was too darn hot. Lacey and I ran again last night. I need to map our route, but I think it was nearly 3 miles. We didn't run the whole thing, but we ran at least 3/4 of it. I think I'll go to the gym tomorrow to run, then we may run again Saturday morning. It felt good to run again and even better to take a shower afterwards.

7. Crocheting for most of a 6 hour car trip will give you wicked hand cramps.

8. The weather here in Wisconsin is quite mild in the summer. We didn't turn on the air conditioner for the first time until July 6! I guess that's the payoff for 100+ inches of snow during the winter and 12 inches of rain in June.

9. Google reader is a blessing and a curse. I came home to 168 unread blog posts. And some of them I can't clear out because there's the cursed "error on page." GRRR.

10. People missed me while I was gone. Both in the blogosphere and in real life. That's a good feeling. I look forward to getting back in the swing of things.