I’ve been gone for a week, and busy beyond belief both before and since.  So, this will be less than eloquent, but a catch-up of events to date:

• Robertsville TSA had a great time at Nationals in Orlando, scoring several trophies and a number of finalists.  Delta was not among them, but she did learn a lot.
• Gamma got home safely on Wednesday night.  She’s still on German time.
• Delta and I left Islands of Adventure at 9 p.m. Wednesday, arriving at home about 7 a.m. on Thursday.  Yeah, I drove all night.  Alone.  Was tired.
• Brother-in-law PJ arrived with his two kids about two hours after I got home on Thursday.  No rest for the wicked.
• Although HWTFM lived alone for several years before we married, he apparently forgot how to do dishes.  Or even where the sink is.  The house was a mess.
• We spent two days on the lake with RealtorChick and family; she is a saint for putting up with my extended crew for that long.  The fireworks were lovely from the middle of the lake.
• PJ and pals left about 1 a.m. to head back to Maryland, but got seriously sidetracked along the way when he lost his wallet sometime in the middle of the night.  Trying to get two kids home with no cash, no cards, no driver’s license… just a checkbook and a work ID, must have been incredibly stressful.  It was stressful for me, and I wasn’t even in the car.
• Beta’s cell phone has been shut off following repeated defiance of her curfew — by several hours each time, three days in a row.  Thursday night, she didn’t come home at all.  I’ve totally run out of ways to discipline her — no car, no cell phone… she just doesn’t care.  She’s still 17, or she’d be evicted.
• That said, she did score a 5 on the Calculus AP exam.  Nonetheless, I’m not in a celebratory mood.

There — now that all that’s said, we can move on.

Spending five days in a luxury hotel with three young teenage girls (Delta and two classmates who needed close adult supervision) was both fun and exhausting.  The Rosen Shingle Creek is a great place for a student convention because it is secure and not within walking distance of anything (deterring kids who might be prone to wander off), but it’s definintely part of the top-of-the-line luxury mindset, where they’ll nickel and dime (and quarter) you to death.  Why is it that at any Econo Lodge (or similar budget accomodations), parking is free, wireless internet is free, and even breakfast is free?  Not at this place, though.  Parking is $8/day in the cheapest spot, internet (wireless or wired) is $10/day, and breakfast is about $20.  It’s about the same gig as the Opryland Hotel in Nashville — really nice, but there’s an extra fee for everything that others provide as a courtesy.

Given my choice of the matter, I’d always stay at Embassy Suites — comfortable, with all the amenities (usually free), and a free cocktail hour every night.  Okay, not suitable for school field trips perhaps, but still where I’d rather be.  The fact that it costs about half as much (or a third as much, if we’re talking about the Opryland) is just a bonus.

All of our separate travels are over now (except Alpha, who’s still at UGA), and our only remaining trip for the summer is to the farm.  We’ll live in the camper, cook on an open fire, and time will be largely immaterial.  Time to sleep, time to read, time to fish, time to roast marshmellows.  Time to pick fresh cherries.  Time to visit Grandma.  I’m looking forward to that one.