6AM...huz is awake and moving around the room...his morning wake-up time.  Thankfully, he gets back into bed about 6:10 but now i’m wide awake, thinking i ought to get up and showered so that i’m ready first, for a change.  I lay there thinking for about 30 minutes and, mercifully, i fall back to sleep before such nonsense comes to fruition!

8AM...huz is awake again, only this time he’s talking...then the TV snaps on and, as i come to consciousness, i hear what i hear every Saturday morning...Sports Center!  He says, “Linda...do you want to shower first?”  Of course i do...i take the longest to get ready!  “Yes...i’ll get up in a few minutes.”  Five minutes go by, then 10.  I’m pushing my luck and i know it.  Huz is going to say something and i REALLY want to get up before he does.  Another 5 minutes goes by and i muster up all the energy i have and i slide out of bed.  Shower, get dressed, re-pack, tidy...and brush my teeth.  I load up my toothbrush and begin brushing my teeth.  As i’m scrubbing vigorously, i notice movement on the counter.  No one else is at the sink...then i see it...a ROACH!  I’m not too girly and squealy about bugs, thankfully, so i tell huz to “c‘mere“.  He and the kids come and take a look.  “A cockroach,” Kelly says.  Terrific...effing terrific.  I grabbed a little plastic bag from the ice bucket, snag the bug in a towel and deposit him directly into the baggie.  Huz ties up the bag and sticks it in his pocket.  I suggest he ask the clerk at the front desk what the roach’s cut was for the price of our room.  

We hustle our stuff into the car while huz checks out.  He showed the front desk clerk the roach and told her about the smells, etc.  In the end, she has assured us that our card will not be processed and huz will hear from the manager Monday morning...we’ll see.

Back into the mayhem these Pennsylvanians call traffic.  A forty mile drive to Lancaster...how bad can that be?  Well, Carmen doesn’t register a Lancaster, PA so we‘re on our own!  We muddled through, turned around and re-routed a couple of times but we did arrive at the first of two outlets we’d planned to visit.  It’s hot...and humid.  Every time i entered a store i am instantly relieved.  We spend the day going from the hot and humid outdoors to the cool and refreshing indoors, collecting bargains and not-bargains.  As suspected, American Eagle was the mother lode of the day.  We‘re all having a fun day...then Kelly hits a wall.  She’s tired, hot, hungry.  Uh-oh...this is not good!  All three of my children suffer from the same thing my husband does when tired, hot or hungry comes into play...UGLY.  We hastily finish our shopping and head out to find some lunch.  My son has this strange fascination with KFC and i haven’t had to eat that crap since they went out of business in our town several years ago.  So, guess what he spots not two minutes after leaving the outlets?  Yep...KFC.  We all agree to take one for the team and go to KFC for lunch.  It wasn’t too bad...but i’m happy i don’t have to eat it again.  We finish eating, take a potty and refill our drinks and we‘re on the road again!

Fortunately, all i had to do with Carmen was hit “return home” and she came to life, suddenly knowing where we were.  I never did figure out what the problem was with her finding or knowing about Lancaster.  Anyway...we were off!  Kelly fell asleep, Patrick stuck his ear buds in and i opened my book.  The trip home was far less dramatic...it was fun, actually.  About an hour from home i said to everyone, “I have to say that Pennsylvania has more unique smells than any other state.”  Kelly agreed.  We were driving along at 65 mph and we suddenly smelled blueberry pie for about 2 or 3 minutes.  Awhile later, some disgusting stench wafted it’s way into the car and Kelly said, “More blueberry pie!”  It wasn’t.  Probably 4 or 5 more times on our way home we commented on another smell (or stench).  Now, some may be thinking, “shut the windows“...but we couldn’t.  The a/c isn’t working in the Envoy.  I’ve been harping at huz to get it fixed for over a year but he doesn’t drive it so he doesn’t understand that it is sometimes unbearable without the a/c.  He understands now.

We all arrived home safely and exhausted.  Huz took a cool shower, Kelly and Patrick went outside to play catch (Patrick got a new ball glove at the Rawlings Store and needs to break it in) and I retreated to the bedroom with the air conditioning on full blast.  I am still here, 3 hours later.  

What started out as a 3-day endeavor, we completed in 2 days...allowing us a day at the lake!  

Huz wants to leave “early“.