When I went to check on Lucy Monday morning, I found her like this:

She had fallen asleep reading. Hopefully this is just the first of many times in her life when she will fall asleep reading. Also, hopefully, she will one day advance to falling asleep while reading Anne of Green Gables and Pride and Prejudice instead of Disney Princesses.

And here’s a random photo of Lucy looking like a rockstar. So maybe one day she’ll graduate to that, too.

To celebrate Memorial Day, we decided to go to Petrifying Spring Park. They have an awesome playground. It had both old school things (like a big, rusty slide, an old merry go round, and bucking horses) along with new, plastic, safe stuff.

Lucy is really brave and she’ll go down that big slide posted above over and over and over again without blinking an eye. But as soon as the merry go round started going faster and faster, she started screaming, “GET ME OFF!!!” So yeah… she’s not really into the merry go round yet.

But Peter and Penny Lane loved it.

The great thing about Petrifying Spring Park is that, not only are there awesome and possibly slightly dangerous playgrounds, there are also lots of trails for short little hikes (the kind I like). We decided to take one. It looked promising… all verdant and lovely.

There were wildflowers. There was a meadow. It was almost like Twilight (sans sparkly vampires).

But then there was also mud. Lots and lots of mud.

I don’t mind getting my feet muddy, but it was a lot harder to walk in flip flops that kept slipping and sliding off my feet. Plus, I kept worrying about falling and breaking my camera. And the kids really hated the mud, so it wasn’t the best part of the little hike.

But it was still really pretty.

I had to pack up for my flight later that evening, so my Memorial Day was kind of short. Around 5, Amanda and I put the bags in the car and headed up to Milwaukee to catch my flight. When we arrived at the airport, Amanda and I got out of the car. Amanda picked up a penny. “Find a penny, pick it up, all the day you’ll have good luck!” Just then, I reached into my new camera bag to pull out my driver’s license so I was prepared for the security line. Only to find that my driver’s license was no longer there! We called back to the house, but Mike couldn’t find it in my room. Amanda and I each took turns turning out my bags and looking under car seats, but nothing. I was not having good luck! I didn’t know what else to do. I really should have talked to the airline, but I didn’t know if they’d be able to help me. I worried that, worse-case scenario, I’d have to have my mom send my passport. So we decided to just go home.

The license was on the driveway, near the flowerbeds. I honestly have no idea how it got there. (Amanda also “claims” not to know.) I called the airline and found out that if I could make it to the airport (an hour away) before 9:00 pm, the airline would rebook me on the next available flight for free. Apparently this is not something they can do over the phone. Since this would save me $250, I borrowed the jeep and drove back to Milwaukee. Of course, the ticketing counter was closed by the time I got there. At 8:30. I called again, and they wouldn’t do anything to help over the phone. I was mad. And I wasted my Memorial Day evening driving to and from the airport. Twice. I went home, rebooked my flight for Wednesday, and wrote an angry email.

It wasn’t all bad, though. I got most of the cost of my flight refunded, and I got to stay an extra two days. So more Kenosha adventures to come.