So nice to be home ....

.... Hi!  We've been home for five days and I'd hoped to be back into my regular routine, but it's not happened.  I've been busy getting washing and ironing done, and making the most of my last full week with Kathryn - she's back to school on 2nd September!!!

We had a really fun day on Monday going to the shops for some new shoes (strictly boots) and clothes for her.  We managed to get pretty much everything she wanted at Target - she's a happy girl too.  Then on Monday night we all headed out to our local cinema to see the new Dr Who on the big screen.  It was fantastic!  The cinema was almost full and so many people came in costume too - Peter Capaldi looks like he's going to be a brilliant Doctor!  Then on Tuesday Kathryn and I spent some quality time having a massage - it was so relaxing.  And it really helped my back - I manged to pull a muscle while on holiday!

I've been catching up on commenting, checking new challenges - but not playing along - I will next week!  I've also made a start on editing my holiday photos - I took far, far too many and it's going to take a while, but we all had lots of fun taking photos!!  Here are few photos from the first stop of our holiday.  We were driving to St Louis and on the way saw a sign for Springfield, IL - home of Abraham Lincoln - so we decided to stop!

 Photo of what was the main railway station with this fabulous statue of Abraham Lincoln in front.

There were statues of Lincoln all round Springfield.  We found this one just down from the old railway station - Jonathan had fun echoing the pose!

The earliest form of mobile electoral advertising!!!!

Fabulous view of the Capitol Building - sadly it was a really grey day, so I've played with the photo a bit - but I think it works!

We spent ages walking around Springfield and could easily have spent longer, but we had to get to St Louis - more photos will follow.  If you want to see all my photos (on Flickr) from Springfield click here.

Finally, while I was away I was delighted to discover that my owl card had won the Serendipity Stamps Challenge to use twine - this is the first chance I've had to say - THANK YOU!!!!!  I am thrilled to have won - especially with one of my favourite dies!  Here's the card (full details here):

That's all for now.  I've got to visit the eye specialist today - Jonathan's taking me - there's a history of glaucoma in my family and at my last trip to the optician, the pressure readings were high enough for me to be referred to the specialist for a check up!  I'm sure it'll all be fine, but I don't mess about with things like this! See you soon.