Fly. Away. Home.

As the title says, I flew back to Burlington, was there for a while, then came back home.

Well, last Monday I found out that I had both Thursday and Friday off and when I told Julia she suggested we try to find some tickets back to Wisconsin to see my family. See, the only thing holding us back from making the trip was time off. In my current position I don't have any vacation time, so every hour I take off costs me money I can't afford to not have. Since I was going to be off for two days anyway we figured it might be our best chance to get there.

We foudn some tickets. Bought them Monday afternoon and flew out Wednesday morning.

I told my sisters what was up and they clued Dad in, too, but decided to surprise Mom and Grandma. We arrived late Wednesday night, stayed with my older sister, and showed up at my parents' place the next morning. I can say for certain that Mom was very surprised; she kept making little screamy noises and shook for about an hour afterward.

After some visiting we went to see Grandma. When we walked in she was in one of the back rooms and when she came out her jaw dropped and she couldn't beleive we were there. We couldn't spend much time there because she had to go to Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's, so we cleared out so she could get ready.

We had thanksgiving at Jean's place (where we were staying) and it was very nice. My whole family was there; sisters, their husbands, all seven nephews, Mom, Dad, Grandma, and my sweetie. That was a first and I liked it.

Just before dinner, I took Julia out for a walk and found a good spot nearby and proposed. Happily, that went well! When we walked back in the house she showed off the ring and everyone stopped what they were doing to wish us well and give us hugs. It was great and I was so happy to be able to do that back with my family instead of telling them over the phone. It was such good timing. (I say that because I'd planned to propose this weekend, even before we decided to go back home.)

It was so nice to see everyone. It's been too long (a few weeks short of two years).

The rest of the time at home was spent with my family, so I don't have too much to say about that. It was just a good visit home.

We flew back Saturday morning and arrived in Seattle in the afternoon, very tired and ready to be in our own house again.

As for the last few days; it's mostly been housekeeping, working on some projects that languished while we were gone, and settling back into our routine. Tonight I think Julia's going to work on jewelry and I'm going to Seth's to play D&D, so you know things are good.

Okay, enough for now. I'll be back soon.