Gettin' Back in the Groove... And the Eastern Time Zone!

I've been away for a while. Since Memorial Day, actually.

I just haven't said anything, because, well, you know... all those "online safety rules"... like not posting to the entire world that you are out-of-town on vacation for three weeks.
Because some desperate soul body might break into my house and steal all our fabulous stuff, like my 18-year-old used-to-be white couch.Or the hand-me-down stereo speakers my brother-in-law passed on to us that go so well with the 20-year-old stereo.
But I digress.

Where, pray-tell, have I been?

Big Sky Country and Yellowstone National Park.

And everywhere in between.

We packed up "Sulley", our big blue Suburban (named after the Monsters, Inc. character)

 and our camping trailer...

and set out to spend three weeks seeing a major chunk of America.

Yes, I said three weeks.
Can you believe it?!? The Husband actually agreed to taking that much time off work!
I've had the time saved up, because, heck, the last time I got three weeks off of work, I had to GIVE BIRTH!
So, the day he agreed, I posted my work vacation request form on our fridge, and booked us a reservation at a campground in West Yellowstone, Montana.

I'm going to bore you with some vacation stories and photos during the next couple weeks. I've actually been blogging all along--on a private blog for close friends and family, so they could see what we were doing each day.

This was really a great trip, that The Husband and I have been talking about since we bought our first camper 9 years ago. And, we finally did it. The girls, who are now 13 and 11, are old enough to remember it and really appreciate so much of what we saw and did. I'm glad we finally made the time (and the 4878 miles!).

I also thought I'd share a little about the RV (as in Recreational Vehicle) lifestyle. For those who might be curious.
Anyone out there an RVer, too?
Some people get a little hung-up on calling it "camping," because there's no tent involved. (Why would I want to sleep on the ground for three weeks in 30-degree nights? If that works for you, great. But, I got nothin' to prove.)

Meanwhile, we got home about 48 hours ago.

I've already conquered the mountain of laundry we drug home...

Now, honestly, our biggest problem is readjusting to life in the Eastern Time Zone. We'd kind of turned into slackers anyway, but the extra two hours on the Mountain Time clock really messed up everyone's sleep patterns. The girls have been WIDE AWAKE at midnight. And my efforts to get everyone up and dressed by 8 am this morning were in vain.

Monday is going to be ugly.