There's no place like home. There's no place like home.

Thanks to my parents I was able to click my ruby red slippers and fly home (yes, back to Kansas) to visit. This is the first vacation I've had in years where I wasn't attending the funeral of a family member. Being that this is a vacation, I don't feel that I have really taken advantage of getting much 'play' time in. The reasons being that my back has been really bothering me and I caught some bug going around. While I am pretty much over the bug, my back is still bad and I have been a little overwhelmed and tired. That being said, I have had the opportunity to do a few things.

I've been to my Grandparent's house. I would like to visit with them more but Grandma didn't want sick germs and so I've stayed away so I don't make them sick. I'm hoping to get over to their house this weekend and while I am there I will visit with a friend I haven't seen in years.

I've visited with my pseudo brother Lucas and his fiance Emma. We watched the new batman move, talked about Mass Effect and how much they think I should get an Xbox or Ps3 and play it. Emma and I chatted about photography for awhile. I've also had them over for pizza at my parent's house where we watched Batman Forever on TV, talked about all manner of things, and they begged for five minutes of guilt tripping about how much they miss me and Skoora and really wish we would move back. Point being, they really fucking miss us to the point that they talk about us almost every day and even try to emulate some of our strange little sayings and quirks. It's really adorable and frankly I felt very special, wanted, and loved. It was so damn nice I almost cried.

I have also spent some time with my Cousin Sheena and her family. I've stayed over night with them three nights and even went with my Cousin Amanda when she had surgery. Good news on that front is that she doesn't have any more cysts or ovarian cancer. One night while staying with them my little cousin Kayleigh (who is soon to be five) and I watched a barbie movie and made necklaces. Kayleigh is so much fun and I've really missed her. Actually, when I came through the gate at the airport she saw me and ran up to me and gave me a big hug and she was so excited! She told me she wanted me to go to the Nifty Nut House, it's a candy and nut store here in town, and she wanted to tell me just about everything on her mind. She also wanted to know why Skoora wasn't with me and wanted to know when Skoora was coming home.

Aside from that I've been spending some time with my parents. I curled up at the foot of my parent's bed with their dog, Kali, and watched Captain America  and the Avengers one night. We tried to watch Red after that but my parents fell asleep midway through and I was falling asleep so I headed downstairs. Mom and I started watching Firefly together and at the moment my Dad and I are watching Van Helsing. Needless to say none of us have felt very well so conversation and movie/TV show watching has pretty much been the happening thing for us. Mom did get her new glasses. I really like them. Dad and I did play Guild Wars for a couple of hours one night but either I haven't been home or neither of us really felt like playing.

For the rest of my trip, I would like to see a couple of friends, spend some more time with family, and just relax.