Jon had to travel for work this week -- something that NEVER happens. His trip was to Chicago, where his college roomie (and best man in our wedding) happens to live -- along with many of his former college basketball teammates. So he made a guys weekend of it and took advantage of the time away. Not having close friends (i.e. those he's known for a long time) here is rough on him sometimes, I think.

For whatever reason, our trip timing always seems to go slightly awry. This time, I got an infection in my eye! I'd take a photo of it, but you'd be scared! All day Thursday (Jon left Wednesday), I felt like things were hazy -- like our living room looked when we tore down the sheet rock. I assumed it was allergies, so bought some allergy eye drops. I put a couple drops in and knew instantly it was the wrong decision. My eyes immediately burned and watered -- and wouldn't stop. I seriously worried that I couldn't safely make it home. I had a 20 minute drive! Mercifully, we made it.

I went to bed at 8:30pm Thursday night, hoping against hope that my eye would be better by morning. All night long, my eye throbbed and watered. I woke up at 1am because I had tears running down my face -- not literal tears, because I wasn't crying -- but that's how bad my eyes were watering. I knew I had to get to the eye doctor, but wasn't sure how I could do it. I had to wear sunglasses in the house in the middle of the night, because I couldn't stand to see any small amount of light. I was trying to read my computer or blackberry to find out what was going on -- but literally couldn't see the words on the screen. That's how blurry it was. It was actually quite terrifying -- especially in the middle of the night with Jon out of town.

By Friday morning, I looked as if I'd spent the entire night crying. However, the pain had subsided. Again, I knew I needed to get to an eye doctor, but also knew I couldn't do it with the kids in tow. Stupidly, I braved the roads again -- with sunglasses OVER my eyeglasses. There was no way I was going to get a pair of contacts in my eyes! I made it safely to the kids' school and told the director good morning. She took one look at me and questioned, "Is it?" I assured her that I was OK and that no one had died. I looked SO awful! HA!

Then I made it to work and kind of shielded my face with my hair. I had an 8:30 meeting and the people coming into my office, I said, "Before I look up -- I want to assure you I'm OK." Then I looked up and the shock on their face was actually quite hysterical! I made it through my first meeting and was able to get an appointment at 10:15 with an opthamologist. My friend was nice enough to chauffer me -- the real reason I came into work that day. I needed help, but didn't want to have someone come all the way out to our house to give it! So she brought me to the eye doc, then to the pharmacist. The verdict: a viral infection in my eye. He called it something, but I'm not sure what. He thought it may be bacterial, so gave me antibiotic eye drops. I got my script, picked up the kids, went home, put the eye drops in, and took a 2 hour nap.

When I woke up after using the eye drops, they were MUCH better. Not completely, but not painful anymore either. Whew! That was AWFUL!!!

Since I was feeling better (i.e. not in pain), I took the kids to see the 3D movie, "Up" in the theater. It was a really cute/good story. Thankfully, it was also a cartoon without an "adult" underlying theme. I hate it when cartoons do that! There was a little bit that the kids just couldn't quite understand ("Why is he sad?") and parts that got a bit scary -- those were mean dogs! But for the most part, it was a great movie!

Saturday we tagged along with a couple friends to a local rescue/reserve for exotic cats. I had never heard of the place, but Adam and Chandra suggested it -- and suggested that feeding time would be the best time to go because the animals would be most active and you could hear them rather than just see them. This reserve had probably 100 cats -- lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!) -- puma, lynx, bobcat, jaguar, servals, even a macaw! Many of them had such horrible stories -- private owners who thought it would be "cool" to own an exotic cat, but once it got big, couldn't handle it. Well duh -- what did you think it would grow up to be!? Sheesh! There were declawed tigers, jaguars with their canines broken off by pliers -- the lengths that some of these former owners went to in order to keep themselves safe. Just stupid. But the animals themselves were absolutely breathtaking. So big. So powerful... So CLOSE!!! We were only about 5 feet from them. They were in their cage, then there was a walkway for the staff to feed and interact with them (the staff never goes IN the cage -- but they do pet them), and then the outer cage for the people was there. That's it! You can't get that close in a zoo, that's for sure!

The kids thought it was really cool. They wanted to pet the cats, but had to be satisfied by the couple goats and lamb. The photos include the giant lion -- which the staff was petting through the fence! Look how tall that king of the jungle is! Then the kids had to take their turns acting like lions. And finally, we found a huge bear's chair that the kids enjoyed posing on. It looked like a scene from Goldilocks with the kids sitting in Papa Bear's chair! :)

All in all, a good weekend so far... but we're ready for Daddy to hop on the airplane and come home!