I am heading to North Dakota tomorrow! We are going to get on a plane very early in the morning and see family just after lunch. I’m so excited! I haven’t been home for over a year, and there are many family members who still need to meet Maggie. I am so excited to show her off!

My little sister is getting married while I am there, so we are looking forward to that occasion. I also get to meet my future brother in-law for the first time, see if he passes inspection, and if he does administer the usual sisterly advice, such as “You break her heart, I break your legs.” Which I would. This “Ian” fellow seems pretty good so far. At any rate, my sister sounds happier than I’ve ever heard her before, so I’m thinking it’s a good thing. I can remember back to when I had that stupid “I’m in love” grin plastered on my face, and the world looked like a Karen Carpenter song with birds appearing and whatnot. It’s such a nice feeling. I’m so glad Jan found someone that she can have that with.

I scheduled my trip for two weeks so I could have a little one on one time with my sister before The Fiancé appears, fresh from England. (Did I mention she’s marrying a guy from the UK and moving there? She is so totally living out my fantasy! Why didn’t I get to do that?) However, after really thinking about it, oh my gosh, WHY oh why did I plan a two week vacation without my husband, and with two children? I hope I can survive the result of the temporary lapse into insanity I was experiencing when I purchased those tickets!

I think I am all packed and ready to go. I know I will have forgotten something, but as far as I can tell, all the really crucial stuff is packed. My bag of tricks is ready to keep the children happy on the plane. I have two blog entries ready to be automatically installed while I am traveling so that you guys won’t experience a two week dry spell. Aren’t I nice? I will have computer access on my trip, just not a lot of time, so I might not update as frequently as usual.

Now I just need to figure out how to haul two pounds of Tillamook cheese on the plane without it getting all warm and nasty. My gramma loves Tillamook cheese, but you can’t get it in North Dakota, so I grabbed a pound for her in the commissary today. Then I got into the check out line and realized that if I showed up in North Dakota with Tillamook cheese for Gramma and none for my mom, well, that could lead to being disinherited, so I ran back and grabbed another pound. It didn’t bug me at all that I had to go back, as they were passing out free samples of the cheese, and the lady was away from her little table, so I tried all the kinds just for fun. Yum yum.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco or Minneapolis airports tomorrow and see a crazy lady dragging two small children onto a plane, that’ll be me. Stop and say hi.