a trip back home

sorry for the 2 week silence over here! the kids and i returned yesterday from an 8 day visit to minneapolis. thatcher was not able to join us since his vacation time is almost non-existent right now, but hopefully he can come next time. we missed him! i survived two flights alone with the kids. the anticipation was way worse than the actual events, thankfully! they did great on both flights. honestly, they blew me away! maybe they were taking pity on me? haha. 

even though we had only been gone for a month, it was so nice to get back to minneapolis. as you can probably guess, the majority of the trip was spent visiting with and helping take care of my dad. his condition has deteriorated significantly since we left. he is experiencing really bad leg weakness (doctors are unsure if it's from the radiation or steroids or simply the cancer), so he is using a wheelchair to get around and needs a lot of help during the day. i was wanting to be there for him and help in any way, since i have been away and my mom and brother (and generous friends and family) have been doing so much. my dad kept thanking me profusely, but taking care of him right now is the least i can do for a man who has taken care of me for 31 years. he started a "last shot" treatment plan last week (one of the new immunotherapy drugs), but his doctor is pretty pessimistic about the chances of it doing any good for him. we shall see..

we did manage to squeeze in some fun things during the week. my dad's sister came to visit from new jersey and our trips overlapped by 2 days, so it was fun to see her! my mom's sister from georgia was also in town. meanwhile, thatcher's parents left for a trip to italy halfway through the week and my brother left to visit our new jersey relatives the day after my aunt went back home, so there was lots of coming and going, but i'm so glad we were able to spend at least a little time with everyone! 

in some ways it was weird going back and in some ways i felt like we never left. i'll admit i drove down our old street (twice) just to stalk our old house (there were no exciting changes). ;) so weird to think someone else lives there now! 

the kids kept me busy all week, especially ashford who is busier than busy these days getting into everything! they both slept with me most nights we were there. it was sweet, but also really uncomfortable as they are bed hogs. haha. 

i guess that's about all there is to report. i'm anxious to get back again sooner rather than later since things are pretty unpredictable with my dad. in some ways i feel like i'm living a double life. it's all sort of surreal.