Life. It [Continues]

I didn't do anything too special today. Mom took Riley and I with her to the hospital so we didn't have to stay around the house and we got to visit my nana again. I have to admit it was better than staying home. We were there for a while while Reid was at a friend's house, we left then were back again tonight. So overall not a very eventful day. But I feel like typing tonight so I'll describe in more detail our visit to Maryland since we're not all going to pick Rachel up tomorrow. Just Dad is going. It actually was pretty interesting and it's a shame I didn't feel like talking about it the night we were back.
We left on Saturday around 6:30. Rachel had cheer camp that whole day so that's why we left that late. Actually, it would have been later if Rachel had gone to her teacher's wedding that was originally scheduled. I got a visit from Ed earlier that day whom I hadn't seen since school got out. I knew he would find me eventually. We took a walk around the block with Katy. It was a fun time. We all piled into the van about an hour or so later (after getting Wendy's for lunch that is) and hit the road. But that sounds way too cut and dry for our family. Nope there had to be some excitement thrown in there and, yeah you guessed it, it dealt with Rachel and Reid. Not that it's surprising but Reid found it neccasary to tease Rachel with a bucket of worms that was sitting behind her. Dad was taking them for fishing. Of course, she freaked and flew out of the back of the van screaming. I sat there laughing. But c'mon! You have to laugh about it. Besides, she would have found out some time. Eventually, we got out of the driveway, which was by no means easy. Rachel and Reid started their bickering before we could get out of the neighborhood. They fought over who had more leg room. (Personally I think Rachel did but I didn't say anything.) Good thing too because I hate getting in the middle of their "battles." I simply loaded on the headphones, got out a book, and pretended nothing was wrong. Two and a half hours later, we were there. Unbeknownst to me, I was missing Big Brother.
We settled in at the house and arranged where we would be sleeping. Riley warmed up quickly. She was running around without a diaper. Reid was amused by a dart board and Rachel went off with Holly. I was in the middle of it all like always.
The next day we planned on going to the beach. Rachel and Holly were going to a birthday party and dad and my uncle were going golfing. We had an open day and beach seemed perfect. But then, like a sign for the day ahead, it started to rain. We hoped it would just pass over but it never did. One could say that it stayed over because the rain never ceased. It stayed over us all day and ruined all plans for the beach. Naturally, when it rains one may go to the movies so that is what we considered. To make a long and complicated story short, we never went to a movie. Instead we went to Walmart. Yeah that's right. We went to Walmart. It was the wackiest Walmart I've ever been to. I've never seen so many people jam packed into one store like that and it was definately weird. Originally, we went to go get some "dinnas" for Riley (we forgot em at home) and we were gonna pick up a few things. We ended up buying a coloring book for Riley, a boogeyboard for Reid, some pool goggles for me, pop tarts, and cheerleading shoes for Rachel. Meanwhile outside the sky is turning dark. We didn't know that. If we did I bet we would have been outta there a lot faster cause the storm was wicked. So here we are. We got all we need to buy and we're going to the check out line. Mom says we can go hit the outlet stores now and then go back to the house. We're walking to the register when we hear thunder. I'm talking about thunder thunder cause this was loud! One lady screamed which was pretty funny. Mom held her ears with Riley. I chuckled to myself. Now the only thing left was to get to the van with the groceries and make it back to the house. The only problem with that is mom is scared of the lightning yet she is the only one who can drive the van. I waited with Riley and Reid in the little foyer area of Walmart while mom went to bring the van up. Me, being level headed and calm, assured her that it would be fine and I told her I would do it if I could drive. (I would too. I don't mind the lightning.) Obviously, we got back to the house in one piece and we never went to the outlets. I didn't mind. That rain was pretty intense. There's no way we would have made it to the rest of the stores. Score one for me for suggesting to skip it.
Later that night, we rented Along Came Polly on On Demand and we had S'mores on a s'more maker. Holly filed my nails and made em all nice and shiny. It was a new experience, I must say. Bedtime came. We left the next morning and left Rachel there. The ride home was easy. I slept the last half hour or so and Riley and Reid slept practically the whole time. It was quiet. There were no Rachel and Reid fights. Dad's going to pick her up tomorrow and he'll stay a night there. I'm expecting the house to become a little louder by the end of the week now. Rachel will be back and everything will go back to normal. Well, everything will be normal enough for us anyway. For anyone else, it would be crazy.