Five for Friday....Vacation

This week has been crazy!  I know this should be all about pictures, but please indulge me and let me tell a couple of stories first.

Every year my mom comes out from Pennsylvania to visit my sister and me.  We hang out here and there, shop a bunch, and go to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Often we travel around to see grandkids and great-grandkids, but this year she has come out twice for weddings (the most recent being April), so we stayed pretty close to my sister's house.

For those who like a good shopping story...read on.  The three of us went to Kohl's, spent a long time checking out all the clearance racks, tried a bunch of stuff on, and picked out things she could leave here for Christmas for all those grandchildren.  When we got to the check out mom paid for everything, because she could get the senior citizen discount (just 15%).  We asked about whether they had any other deals going (like 30% and Kohls cash), but our cashier said no.....they don't do that very often.  I was thinking really??  It seems I am always getting those percentage off coupons in the mail.  Sure enough...we get home and waiting in my sister's mailbox 30% off!  Now we spent $300.  It was worth the trip back to see if we could get the percentage off.  The answer YES!!.  We went back, returned everything (learned we didn't have to take it all in with us...they just needed the receipt), then repurchased it all at the discounted price.  The grand total, you ask??  More than $50 dollars less than the day before, plus $40 in Kohl's cash. 

Monday we were supposed to head down to Cedar City and meet up with my son and his family.  While waiting for my daughter to arrive so we could all travel together, my 78 year old mother decides to climb a ladder and pick cherries from my sister's tree.  Not a very good idea.  While working on her second bowl she apparently fell off the top of the ladder.  We found her sitting on the ground confused and dazed and hurting.  She wanted to get up, but when she tried she immediately passed out and we dialed 911.  I do not have to say it was more than a little scary.  She was still insisting she is going to get to Cedar City in time for the first play that evening.   She did surprise the ER doc...the last thing he said as we left that evening was, "I am surprised."

We did get on the road Tuesday morning despite My mom's black and blue marks and bouts of nausea.  She is a strong willed woman! 

This helped the miles go by faster.

We made it!!  Yay!!  Going to see Shakespeare with my mother is like attending a college class.  She seriously just knows so much!  We were looking up The lost colony of Roanoke after watching the Tempest.    My sister, a history teacher, was helping us sort out the fiction from the non-fiction history, while watching King John.  Then it was Love's Labor Lost.  So funny and lots more play in words than I had realized.  We stayed an extra day to watch that one since we missed it due to our ER visit on Monday.  I did manage to get a shot of my mom conversing with William.

It has been a great vacation.