I'm BA-ACK!!!!!!!!!!

We have returned. From Kansas. Which I will discuss momentarily.

First of all, thank you to my wonderful mother, who kept my blog going so that I could come home to wonderful comments and a decent sitemeter report.

Secondly, thank you to all of you who commented while I was gone. I would LOVE to go back and respond to each of your comments (especially you fantastic people who delurked for the first time!) but I don't know if I will since I have a few other things to do (satisfy my itchy blog fingers, read 8,000 blogs, unpack and put stuff away, put my Christmas stuff away, find places for the 8 million new toys the kids got, convince children to make thank you pictures, upload holiday photos, copyread some stuff, grocery shop, do laundry, answer emails. . . oh my god, just writing that list is enough to drive me to the couch).

Third, thank you to my dad for taking us to and picking us up from the airport. Hell is probably EXACTLY like driving to Newark Airport.

And now, let's talk about our trip.

(A quick preface: I love my in-laws. I really do. They love me and accept my city-girl attitude very well. They are wonderful people.)

On Sunday the 23rd, we flew from Newark Airport to Kansas City. It is a three hour flight. But we were delayed in the airport for six hours first. With a three year old and a 21 month old. Actually, though, they were AWESOME. Lovebug had one crying fit, which was solved when we put him in the stroller and rocked him to sleep. Tons of people came up to us and told us what great kids we had and what wonderful parents we were (not that I'm trying to brag or anything, of course). But I would like to thank all of those people, as well as the family whose elementary school aged boys played catch with my little ones and all of the kind people who smiled and talked to and entertained my kiddos. You all helped us survive that trip.

After landing at KCI (it was around 11 LOCAL time at this point), we were met by my sweet parents- and brother-in-law. Who drove us back to "the farm". (The farm is not actually a farm, as my in-laws don't farm or even keep animals. But they could if they wanted to. They live on a gravel road about twenty-five minutes from the nearest town.) An hour and a half away.

For Christmas Eve, we gathered at Hubby's aunt's house. My mother-in-law's side of the family is VAST. She has five siblings, all of whom had at least two children, most of whom also had at least two children. After a while, Lovebug and Ironflower grew overwhelmed so I took them to the guest room to play. And that was the party for us.

On Christmas Day, after the children doubled their toy haul, we went to the home of another of Hubby's aunts. This is my father-in-law's side, which is smaller and way more manageable. I actually know all of them. Anyway, Aunt Frankie was there and she was totally sweet to my kids. Maybe I should stop listening to family gossip. Ironflower and Lovebug had the best time playing with her grandsons.

Early the next morning, my brother-in-law went back to Chicago. And we were trapped.

Because we flew there, we had no car. Because of some tickets Hubby got as a teenager, he is still blocked from his parents' insurance policy (my mother-in-law can hold a grudge) so Hubby couldn't drive his parents' car. . Because I did not want to learn how to drive on icy gravel roads in someone else's car, I couldn't drive his parent's car. Because my mother-in-law had to go to work, some days there wasn't even a car for my father-in-law to drive us in. So there we were, carless in the country.

And with no internet. And barely any cell-phone reception. And hardly any water, because they haul their water and I was afraid of them running out. Which they did on Sunday, so Hubby and his dad had to take care of all that. And it was so cold that we only could play outside once. And even then it was only for half an hour.

We didn't leave the farm for four days. On Saturday we went into town with my father-in-law, which was fun. Even though all we did was go to the super-market and out to lunch.

Sunday was my night to see a few of my friends.

To be continued. . . .