Since I am enjoying my 8 days off work and have time enough to take a test that tells me I am a totalitarian - just like Kish and Emily - then I guess I have time enough to finally write about our vacation and what is up around here. Vacation was pretty good except for the fact that the weather in St. Louis was horrible and we didn't have power in our hotel the first night. Also on Friday we went to St. Louis Mills which is this awesome outlet mall - but about 30 seconds after we walked in the door the power went out. Not cool. Thankfully my mom had packed a flashlight and candles - and we survived. The power came back on the first night around 1 in the morning. That was a good thing b/c without air conditioning it would have been a long night. It was about 101 degrees that day. Mary learned (FINALLY) how to swim without her life jacket and also my mom taught her how to spell MISSISSIPPI - seeing that we went over the Mississippi river about 15 times while we were there. Katie did pretty well over all. We had a few minor lapses, but she is doing so good. I am hoping to have some really great pictures for the blog when I get them from Mindy -- We bowled and went to a water park and did lots of fun things. It was a nice time away from the crazy-ness of our lives -- and I am still enjoying my break from work. Reality will hit on Thursday! YIKES!!