Headin' back home

Our last morning in Louisiana was as action-packed and fun as the rest of our trip...

Little Miss making custom mini frittatas with her Tita while Big Sis sleeps in...

Craft time...making badges for an epic series of races from the sofa to guest bedroom...a challenge Big Sis conjured up en route to New Orleans yesterday...

Showing off their badges...

What will more than likely be our last outdoor swim of the season in an incredible apartment complex pool (probably the nicest apartments we've ever been too...but then again we don't have much to compare against, as our first apartment complex also housed a registered sex offender and our most recent one had such poor construction that our chain-smoking neighbor's ciggy smoke constantly wafted through our walls...Matt ended up filling all noticeable cracks [around pipes, etc.] with foam spray insulation)...

Halloween cupcakes...


and a well-received introduction to "The Sound of Music" and "The Muppet Show"!

We left LA around 2pm, expecting to set foot on base around 1am that evening.  However, as previously mentioned, every time we plan to do a trip over two days, it ends up taking one--and vice versa.  The drive back was really dragging, and the girls were not up for another sleepover in the car.  Around 10pm, we stopped at a Holiday Inn Express outside Dallas and rested up, prepared to knock out the final 5.5h tomorrow.

Plus, walking in the front door, tired, and possibly cranky, in the wee hours of the morning on the first day of Matt's last week of academics--Sim-filled, and weather test-including, would not likely get it off to its optimal start!  ;o)  From the sound of it, Matt enjoyed unparalleled study time and chair flying (going through the motions of/visualizing full flight itineraries in your head, while sitting in a chair) over the weekend, trumping even the amount he enjoyed during our excursion to Chuck E. Cheese earlier this month.  He is developing a great group of study partners--definitely pairing with among the most motivated and dedicated in his class--as opposed to the most outing/party-hardy, as I'd feared he would awhile back.  Glad he was able to make the most of his time--and very impressed that he passed up XBox sessions for time with the pets!!