Sister Act, Nursing-Home-Style

Last weekend we visited my great-aunt, Sister Monica, in Dubuque. She lives in the nursing home side of a convent for retired nuns, as she is in her 90s and has Parkinson's Disease. It was a great time; they were so hospitable over there and they had awesomely good food that we got to eat in a private dining room. We visited for a while on Saturday night and then came back for church Sunday morning and had lunch with her.

I was kind of afraid of how the kids would react to a nursing home, but all in all, it went well. I would like to expose them to people of all generations (and vocations) early so that they won't be scared of old people like I always was. Emme pretty much was her usual banshee self, and some of the nuns thought that was funny. Huh. She was very huggy toward Sister Monica, though, which made me smile. Hannah was incredibly polite to the old nuns who would roll up in their wheelchairs and want to hold her hand.

Sister Janet used to be a music teacher and thought it was wonderful that Hannah was interested in music, but assured me (?!) that Emme's interest in piano was not true interest because she was only four years old. Gotta love those generational gaps :-D.

Max had a great admirer in Sister Irene. She is probably close to 100 years old and took it upon herself to roll into the private dining room while we were eating because she heard a baby. At that point Emme jumped up from the table and thought Sister Irene would like a big push through the door. Conrad saved her from smashing Sister's legs into the buffet at the side of the table. Anyhoo, so Sister Irene pretty much stole Max twice, which was a bit precarious as she can barely lift her own head up, much less hold Monster Baby steady while she rolled away with him. Conrad tried to take him back twice, but how can you argue with an old nun who sings to herself, "I'm holding a baby, look at me! An eight-month-old baby! Lucky me!" She was a riot, and I bet she was quite the troublemaker many years ago.

On our way back, we drove through Galena, IL, which was a beautiful little city.

Somewhere in WI, I don't remember where, Conrad visited his very first Cabela's. What a milestone! I found some Cabela's shorts that would go quite well with my new shirt from Fleet Farm, and was laughed at by my husband for my nontraditional feminine wardrobe choices.

We also bought a lot of cheese. We like cheese!

The girls fought a lot of the way home, which was wonderful. Emme cried (because of Hannah) for a great many miles.

My glasses also broke for good on our way down, because it just wouldn't be a family trip without some sort of negative snag. In the grand scheme of things, however, my broken glasses are nothing compared to our usual traveling debacles, so I'll take it. I needed a new eye rx anyway.