Road trip

I spent the night on the couch, I can't even recall if it was on purpose or not. Ellie came down at 6:59AM and kissed me good morning - Rob and Nick were down around 8AM. I slept in a bit later but roused to the smell of coffee. Rob went off to try to fix a door somewhere and the kids were watching cartoons - I grabbed the phone and called Christi for some girl talk. The kiddos eventually found me and my mug of coffee on the phone - we are going to try to get together later this weekend.
I called Mom quickly to invite them to join us at Navy Pier tomorrow. Rob and i talked and we just knew we had to get out of the house. We packed some drinks and snacks, grabbed the Mackintosh pictures and we were on our way. First stop was Hobby Lobby to look through the frames - we found one we liked but they only had 1 - the guy in framing nicely told us he hadn't placed his order yet and would order 2 new ones for us and they will be ready next week. We got some lunch - Nick still isn't himself, little bit hot to the touch and his appetite is off.
We were on our way to check out some thrift stores and Rob looked back in the car and said Nick was out. I won't bore with you with all our shopping details - basically nothing good on the thrift front - Rob got a couple sweaters.
We stopped at a couple "manly" shops for Rob and Rob and talked in code and decided since we were already out and about and not too far away we would head a bit further and hit Vernon Hills Cuneo Museum Winter Wonderland. We stopped in at Portillos on the way and had a slice of the eclair cake and something to drink. The lights didn't disappoint - if you have never been it it is a huge lit Christmas display you drive through for miles. You set your radio to their station and can hear Christmas music - you can count the hidden snowman and they have a wonderful display of all the cartoon characters (everything from Batman to UP, Sesame to Wall-E).
It took almost an hour from start to finish to make it through - the kids loved it and it just makes you feel happy. We drove home and the kids watched something on the dvd players. We got home and the kids had something to eat and we started bedtime. Ellie and I got some much needed cuddle time on the couch while Rob got Nick to sleep. Rob just came down from getting them both tucked in and we were remarking how nice the last couple days have been. Lots of fun in store for tomorrow - Navy Pier for the children's museum and winter wonderfest.
I feel "normal" again today - I guess it really takes about a week. My nose is really annoying me - I have been using a dry nose spray but it is still dry and bloody. I noticed today that the drivers seat in the car has butt grooves - this is either a sign that I drive too much or a sign that my butt has lost all fat and is just bone. To make matters worse, when I had my PJs on tonight, Rob pointed out I had a hole on my butt - my favorite flannel PJ bottoms that are 12 years old. I threw out my PJ bottoms and picked out a new pair. We are catching up on Top Chef and relaxing. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal me - whomever that shall be, Tree