• Cleaned the condo.
• Hid all evidence of the party.
• Tossed out the stripper. (Found her on the couch.)
• set the dishwasher.
• Hooked up the trailer and left for Michigan.
• Returned 1 hour later to get Erin.
• Ooops!
• Uneventful trip to Holland.
• Saw Beth and her dog.
• Laurel and her friends.
• Kathy and her sister.
• Went to the beach and got wet.
• Paneras for dinner.
• Erin won’t let me nap.
• Erin smells like poop and I smell like roses.

OK, dat’s it.

To the best of my recollection and not necessarily in order:

• She was very good at the funeral. Only one time was she too loud and that was at the cemetery when an ant started biting her butt and she jumped up loudly and proclaimed, “Stop biting me dude! Get off the chair dude.”
• First time I’ve ever heard an ant called dude.
• She fell asleep on Nancy’s lap during the service. Nancy was so great about letting her sleep without disturbing her.
• We went for a walk and found a park on the northeast area of the condos and spent an hour or so there.
• We then came back in and watched TV while waiting for dinner to arrive and our guests to join us.
• Don, Sue, & Nan dropped in for pizza and Don brought beer. We had a nice quite evening together when Nan took Erin for another walk. She guilted Nan into the walk and almost got her to do it again until I said “no” and that Nan was my friend and not her escort.
• Erin likes the condo and wants to live here with Old Beppe sometimes. We’ll work out the details later Mom.
• We lit the candles in the front room after everyone left and sat there and talked about the day. She said that it was sad that Aunt Ella died and she told me that Aunt Ella was with Jesus in heaven and that made her happy.
• I think the most important part of lighting the candles was that she got to blow them out when we were done talking.
• She loved the country club. I let her play on the stairs alone and that was fun for her.
• She ate well today. Ledo’s Pizza for dinner. Ham buns at the country club. Pancakes at J.C. George’s.
• She fell asleep on the couch last night, cuddling the angel bear.
• This will probably be a one time thing. Next time I bring Nina to take up the slack so I can nap every once and a while. Erin will still sit up front. She said so.

Being her Pake is great therapy for me. She is amazing.

Funeral’s over, Michigan tomorrow.

Erin took this picture too.

We had a nice night with the family at J. Alexander’s in Oak Brook last night. Even Carl enjoyed the food.

Erin is a real trooper in the car. She bears with her boredom quite well. Glad I have an iPad for her to watch cartoons!

J.C. Georges for breakfast! Eggs bennie for me and pancakes for Erin.

Tired of driving and we’re staying here so Erin can swim. Figured it was better to stop & sleep rather than to drive & die.

Erin and I spent an hour in the pool and she had a ball!

Erin tried to drown me

After a false start yesterday, we finally left and got to Shamrock TX. You’d have thought we’d have just crashed with exhaustion, but no, it took us hours to fall asleep. Someone likes to talk when she’s awake. Any guesses.

We hope to hit the condo at the end of the day today. About 950 miles and 13.5 hours according to Google Maps. No guarantees. Precious cargo aboard!

Sleep would be nice!