My Wee Vacation with the Little Old Lady

My vacation for 2011 was a trip to Edwardsville, Illinois to see my sister, Aby, and her family.  The vacation lasted three days, 16 hours of which involved driving.  My passenger was my 75-year-old mother who hadn’t gone anywhere in a long time, either, and spent the drive pointing out the obvious, like, “Oh, look at that white barn.”  And, “Well, at least it’s only raining. It could be snow.”  She was right and we were glad it was only cold rain.

The view out my car on my way to Edwardsville, IL.
Mom also pointed out the construction zones.  She counted five in all.  They did not make us happy.
My favorite signs when traveling.

One goal of our trip was to arrive  at my sister’s in plenty of time to go see my nephew play basketball.  He looks something like this. 

My nephew, Collin, in his hoop gear.

It’s always fun to see someone you know up on the school wall.

Garvey, number 13, is the guy we came to watch.

And it’s really fun to see that someone score some points.  Collin didn’t play long but made 6 points.

He shoots. He scores!

I like taking photographs at sports events because well, consider the fact that Collin is shooting and two of his teammates on the bench aren’t even paying attention. Consider also the two guys on the other side of the door chatting as if there isn’t a game going on.

Is anyone else watching the game?

On the other hand, it was a bit hard to watch after a while. 

Four minutes left in the third period, Collin’s team had 35, the other guys zero.

So Collin’s team won and we were all happy, and to add to my happiness I got to play the fast-paced card game, Scrunch, with Mom, Aby, and my niece, Kailea.  Kailea recently earned her red belt in Taekwondo so I try to be nice to her. 

Kailea with her constant companion, Smiggles, the ferret.

My sister, however, does not have a Taekwondo belt and we get a wee competitive sometimes.  The fact that I remain the Scrunch champion is hardly worth mentioning, anymore than the nice chats I had with Aby’s husband, Jay, and the great Christmas shopping I got to do with Aby and Mom.  And while I can’t show you most of the Christmas presents we got, I will show you the one Mom and I found.  It’s for Mark, of course.

A caterpillar pillow pal safely secured in our car.

Best of all was the group photo with Aby’s family.

Jay, Collin, Aby, Kailea, Mom, me and Maggie, the pups.

We packed a lot in during our short visit and had a great time.   Catching up was the best part.  Or well, maybe kicking butt in Scrunch.

Scroll to Top