quick trip "home"

With our scheduled work days changing we found ourselves with 4 days off in a row. We decided to go back to Indiana to visit family before the we are too tired from working to make the drive. :-)
We are 3 1/2 hours from our daughters home so wanted to take advantage and get some quality "grand kid time". We spent our evenings (and nights) occupying the guest room at my Mother-in -laws home and ventured out from there.
Sunday was pumpkin carving day at our daughters and we found them in their neighbors back yard putting scary faces on gourds. :-)

We had a great time hanging out with the kids and even picked up some ripe persimmons that we gave to Rudee's sister.

Amanda's neighbor, Steve, slow roasted a pork loin on his grill that we all shared for supper. He did a fantastic job, it was the best tasting meat we have had for a long time.

Monday we met with our son, Matthew, for lunch and got caught up on everything they have been doing. They just returned from a trip to Gatlinburg to celebrate their one year anniversary. Sounds like they had a great time.

Tuesday arrived way too soon for us and it was time to head back to Kentucky. We slept in some Tuesday morning trying to shift our sleeping habits towards working night shifts and ended up getting on the highway around 1 pm. Traffic was heavy with lots of semi trucks and we started hearing talk on the CB radio of a back up ahead of us due to construction. We ended up jumping off the interstate before the back up and took US 31 to avoid the "interstate parking lot". We stayed on 31 all the way to New Albany, Indiana where Rudee noticed a sign for the Horseshoe Casino. We made a quick detour and found ourselves in their parking garage in no time. :-)
When we visit a casino we always put ourselves on a budget and stick to it. We played a few slot machines with poor results and slowly worked our way through the different floors of the "boat that never sails". We were getting close to leaving (our budget was running low) when I got on a machine that started hitting and kept hitting! Rudee was my cheerleader and I ended up cashing out over $300 from that one machine! That was more then enough to recoup our prior losses as well as come away with a nice profit. :-)

Wednesday was our first day back to work. We are now on 7 1/2 hour shifts working 5:30 pm until 1:30 am. We get one paid 15 minute break and an unpaid 30 minute lunch. We are both working at getting our speed up and keeping our mistakes to a minimum. :-)
We were both a little sore and tired after work. My back muscles are sore while Rudee is complaining about her neck hurting. I guess we will be buying Tylenol by the case for the next several weeks. :-)
I'll keep you posted.