Drifting

"And though you say your heart isn't drifting, drifting ... "
Harry Connick Jr. (I've had this song stuck in my head all day.)

Well, we're back. What exactly is the protocol on how to feel when you return to your house after being gone for 3 1/2 months? Especially when you weren't planning on being gone in the first place. It's not like going away for the summer, that's for sure.

When you pack your bags, you usually have a date of when you'll be returning. That wasn't the case when we left the day before St. Patrick's.

I'm feeling a bit sheepish for forgetting things like my phone number (home & mobile); the password on my desktop pc (which I have now, obviously, remembered). It is a strange mix of discovery & familiarity. Kind of like Alice through the Looking Glass. It's the same, but it's not.

Jacqueline already fell asleep in her eggs tonight. They all declared starvation at about 9:30 pm, so we made a modge podge of breakfast stuff-for-dinner; eggs, toast, cereal, pancakes. (i'll share my secret for fast pancakes soon). Her head was on the table before her egg was done. They all managed to get some nutrients into their bellies and are now snoozing soundly. It's a false sense of security, though. The first night is the easiest and sometimes you can power through & maintain some normalcy on the 2nd night, but the 3rd night, whoa, watch out. We'll be falling asleep at 4pm and ready to party at 1am! Pancakes and eggs anyone?

Current Events

A lot can change in a matter of days. This time last week, I was running errands & had about a million things to do on my mind. Even last Saturday, we had a family over, playing games & then helping them move some furniture from one side of the island to the other. Twenty four hours later, the husband part of that family was spending the night at our place because he couldn't get home. His wife & three sons were safe in their home, but there were roadblocks & chaos on the roads between.

Everything disintegrated fast. I had my morning "To-do" list made up by 9am on Sunday (quite an amazing feat) and within the hour, word came that we were to stay in our residences. The freeway through the financial district (read: the north freeway. one of two freeways running east to west) was taken over by large demonstrations. Ooo-kay. I guess I really didn't *need* . . . um, what was it I needed? Oh yeah, to run errands.

Anyway, we're leaving on a jet plane and don't know when we'll be back again. Oh babe, I hate to go. But my bags are packed & ready or not, we're going. Oh, and my 'babe' a.k.a. the hubs, my other half, the dude of the house, is not coming & has to stay and work. The things we do to earn a paycheck.

For lack of a better idea

I'm sorry. I'm really running dry on brain cells and ideas. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past month and a half, you'll know all about our recent 'instability' in the region. We're all ok and safe. It's just put a cramp in my style, to say the least.

The first weekend in February, we were able to escape for a long weekend and visit our friends in Riyadh, KSA. It was a balance of trying to decide what *needed* to be captured on film and what I *wanted*. Because I love love love to photograph. No formal training, just a weak hobby that I truly enjoy. But on the flip side, I sometimes find myself experiencing all that we do through a camera lens. I feel removed from the scene; capturing it instead of being in it. And that's where I have to figure out where I need to draw the line. I found a good balance this trip. I'm sad about some of the things I didn't photograph, but I don't regret anything I experienced. And really, what's more important?

I snapped this on our way into a mall. Oh, and as 'western ladies' we just wore the black robes, no ninja cover-up for the head. Though we do wear the matching scarf around our neck because, hey, you have to accessorize! I'll get some clothing pics up as soon as I can. But for now, enjoy. And remember, commit to public morality.

Welcome to Manama!

Wow. We are here. I don't know where to start. 'Hot' seems like too miniscule a word to describe the H-E-A-T. 'Heat,' is considered a four-letter word now in this house. Imagine your entire body wrapped in Saran Wrap and then being immersed in lava. I've never felt the sensation of being instantly wet; palms, arms, face, etc. upon walking out the door.

Here is the current weather update as I type this. (It is 5:30 pm)

Sunny

Temperature:

99°F

Feels Like: 125°

My thoughts are quite jumbled & disconnected right now. Thank you, jet lag. We are all doing better though, this will be our 5th night. Everyone slept through the night last night, so we are on track for readjustment. Though I fear Sunday morning will come all too early for the school-going members of the family. The bus arrives to pick them up at 6:50 am. Yipee. Thankfully the bus stop is right outside our house.

Oh yeah, house. Lovely Manama House. It is more than I could have imagined. I fear I may be in danger of actually having some empty storage shelves. I do have to go outside to do the laundry in a non-air conditioned room. And I seem to have a grouping of geckos that like my laundry room. As long as they keep staying out of my way, I'll be happy. I have noticed an absence of ants & cockroaches in the walkway to the laundry room.


And another one that likes to frequent the ceiling of Mairyn's room. I did not want to influence the children with my abhorrence to all things creepy crawly, so I told them geckos were good. They don't have any teeth, they're not poison, no claws & don't bite. They eat bugs we don't want in our house. And then that's when they named him, Hector Protector. (and just b/c he's a gecko, I kind of want to change the spelling to Hektor Protektor, but then I decided it looked a bit German in spelling, and that wouldn't make sense for a Bahraini gecko)

Whoo-boy, if you can't tell already, I am wiped. I will wrap this post up, but don't worry. Now that we have internet, I will be giving very frequent updates. We have a lot of things happening this next week; first day of school, first grocery shopping trip, etc. And of course, I'll have more pictures.

Leaving on a jet plane

Here we are.

Sitting in the terminal.

Waiting.

I saw Ben Stein. He wears sneakers with his business suit. Huh.

Jacqui got up about 5 times last night. She's already had numerous meltdowns today.

Grant is full of boy energy that compels him to bounce off the walls.

Mairyn & Eliza are both running on nervous, excited vibes.

We, the adults, are just hoping to make it through the flight & not have used the emergency door.

We'll be out of contact for a while until we get internet. Hopefully within a week.

I just checked the weather in Manama; 107F with a heat index of 123F.

Boo-yah.

Bring it..

Bulletproof

I am too tired to even think. Here's how the previous week went. In bullet points.


Monday

• Mairyn's dentist appointment
  
• Bank
• Various & sundry errands all preparing us to leave on Thursday

Tuesday

• Finish my list of 501 things to do

Wednesday

• Try & finish the list of 499 things still left to do.
  
• Cram all the stuff we "need" for then next 3 months into our seemingly inadequate suitcases.

Thursday

• Pack the car & try to arrive at the airport early enough to rearrange our seats, which are spread around the whole plane. Both flights.
• Airline rep. says that the gate rep. can "try" to shuffle the full plane around. {hey, if someone else wants to babysit my 4 & 6 year old for the 5 hours we're on the plane, that's fine with me.}
• Get through security. Actually went well. But they were calling our name for the flight while we were still pulling on our shoes. Great.
• Stumble onto the cigar tube plane & distribute ourselves. Thanks to some on-plane shuffling, only Spence & Eliza had to separate from us.
  
• Once in SLC, we fed kids & got to the next gate to sort out the seating thing. I lucked out when I got Mr. Fabulous. Mr. Fabulous took my name & seat assignments & said he'd put it on the 'wish list'. That didn't sound good, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt. 20 minutes later, Mr. Fabulous called out for Passenger Penrod. I walked up to the counter and, sliding 6 matching row boarding passes across the counter, he said, "Here you go, sweetie." I heart Mr. Fabulous.
• Get on the plane & plow through the next 5 hours.
  
• Land at Dulles at 11pm.
  
• Wait an hour for our bags.
• Send Spencer to collect the rental car during the 'bag wait'.
• Arrange baggage in rental Ford Explorer with Jenga-esque skills.
• Drive through hurricane spawned thunderstorms to our home for the next 9 days.
• 1:30 a.m. - get sandwiches & yogurt at the 7-11 because everywhere else is closed.
• 2 a.m. - finally in bed.

Friday

• The intermediate chapter begins.
  

Just my opinion . .

On body scanners:

I thought I'd better post something about this subject before it leaves the realm of 'current hot topic'. Or maybe it already has. I haven't seen any grainy, black & white pictures of the pudgy naked man on Drudge lately, so I could have missed the boat. I am also not the best informed person. I try to keep current on my news & such, cramming it in between other important activities such as laundry and corralling children. But here is my opinion on what I know.

When people immediately went on the defensive about these 'body scanners', I was a bit confused. I travel a lot. A. Lot. Believe me, once the 'limited liquid' ban was instituted, it definitely put a cramp in my style. Juice boxes were a staple in my kid's carry-on. It's a lot easier than dealing with that flimsy plastic cup. The stewardesses seem to have a particular fondness for filling the apple juice up to the brim for my 3 year old and then asking if he wants ice. Duh! I have adapted and either bring empty sippy cups or just ask them to leave the can. And don't get me started on how many times they've said 'no'. Seriously? It'll make it a lot easier on all of us if she'd just let me mete the two cans of juice out to my 4 kids.

But I digress, the subject is the body scanner. I really don't see the big deal. To me, these look easier. If it means I don't have to take off my shoes, coat and those of my 4 children (10 shoes, 5 jackets, 4 assorted security loveys and toys) I say bring it on! You wanna look at all my unflattering folds and crevices, go right ahead. If it means less hassle for me, I'll volunteer to go first! I know, I know, people are worried that the pictures would 'leak out'. Whatever. And maybe I'm too lassiez faire about it to be concerned. Yes, I would mind if my naked body with the blurred out face was posted as Google's new logo. But if it gets me through security faster, I will unabashedly surf on Google turned Booble.

You say the shoes, etc. do have to be removed? I have an argument for that, too. The way I see the magic of these machines is that it eliminates physical contact between those TSA people and me. Do you know how much it freaks a kid out to have their mommy patted down by a huge security Frau? The last time it happened, we were in Frankfurt. They let me keep my sandals on (Tevas to be exact) and so we unloaded everything else and walked through the metal detector. I was willing to take them off, but they just waved away my offerings. I set it off and immediately they pounced on me; "Vat is in your pockets? You have to take off everything metal!" I'm not a jewelery person and my watch was already in the 'Verboten' tray. They had me take off the shoes I had volunteered to remove just 15 seconds earlier, put them through the conveyor belt and stand spread eagled, facing away from my children. I was traveling alone with them and all they wanted to do was cling to my leg. The questions from them started spilling out, along with the tears, "Why is that lady touching you, Mommy? Can I have my frog blanket back?" We all escaped, obviously, but not without my children being a little more wary of any security screening we go through. So in my opinion, if these body scanners eliminate hassle and bodily contact, I say go for it.

A Change of Plans

If my life could be defined in 5 words, those would be it. "A change of plans". But really, isn't that what life is; a continuous revision of plan upon plan? Nobody ever says, "I'm doing today exactly what I said I'd be doing 5 years ago." Never. Ever.

I'm finding it hard to even compose a cohesive paragraph. I so want write a better post and give this new news justice, but my brain power is failing. And let's face it, Christmas is 8 days away, so that means I don't have any presents wrapped, my laundry is lurking in the basement planning mutiny, and I'm just not clever enough to balance it all.

Without further ado, our change of plans is just that, a change of plans. Turns out we're not really going to Amman, Jordan. We are going to . . . . *drumroll*


Manama, Bahrain




Surprise! Now you know why that muppets song was stuck in my head. Great, now I get to listen to it in there for 3 years. Move over Roberta and Carlos, you have a new friend. Forecast for Manama December 17th, 2009: High 71F (21C) Low 62F (16F) Humidity 68% Chance of precipitation 20% (water equivalent of 0.05 in) Water equivalent? What the heck does that mean? What's the 'equivalent' of water? Powered potatoes? Oh well, I hear we may get a villa. Whoopee!

Traveling: Part Deux

Where did I leave off? Oh yes, Grant and his nice 'present' to me. Well, we hopped back in the car and continued on down the windy road. Gina the GPS kept us informed that we would be arriving in Boise at 5:15 pm. As we neared Nampa, I all I felt was hungry. I asked Gina to find me an Olive Garden. Lo and behold, there was one 2.5 miles from the next off-ramp. My sister and I pow-wowed and decided that if we still fell the need for speed, we would just skip Boise and continue on to Rexburg. After all, Gina said we would arrive at 11:34 pm.

We had a lovely, filling dinner and exited the restaurant to a steady rain. Hmmmm, not ideal, but we still wanted to sleep in our own beds that night. Baby Taylor was crying, but she always calms down once the car starts moving. She doesn't like it when the car stops! Well, Baby Taylor did not stop screaming and I had hit a wall. Being on the road for 12 hours was enough. We pulled off and found the Auntie's house and crashed.

I set my alarms for 5 am, just wanting to plow home and be done. I laid in bed until 5:45 am when Baby Taylor started her alarm. I piled the kids into the car and we were back on the road by 6:45 am. 40 miles down the freeway, an interesting sight loomed ahead of us. It looked like a sandstorm wall cloud, except it was black and not sandy. Steady drizzle followed us all the way to Pocatello. *sneer* And, I think the stretch between Boise and Pocatello could be on par with I-80 that runs along Southern Wyoming as the most boring piece of scenery that ever was. It also doesn't help that I had a snoozing co-pilot and zoned out kids. Not much for conversation.

We reached Rexburg by 11:10 am and beat Gina's prediction of arriving by 11:30 am. Yes, my whole purpose in life is to beat arbitrary time limits set by a mini-computer on my dashboard. The rest of Saturday was spent unloading (a little) and then taking my sister to Idaho Falls for some shopping she needed to accomplish. Baby Taylor managed to poop through 2 outfits during the outing. And we had to cajole and sweet-talk the eye doctor at Sams Club to give Katelyn one contact. See, she forgot her glasses in Montana and last night, she somehow missed the mark and her left contact did not make it to the case. So she was a cyclops all day, trying to figure out how she would make the drive home to Montana today. We waltzed up to the Vision counter, baby visibly bundled in arms and looking very cute. We explained the dilemma and, after much persistence and cute baby showcasing, they forked over one contact. Whew, mission accomplished, time to head back home, crash into bed and get up in the morning and do it all over again. Except not for me. Only Katelyn. Sorry, sis. But she only has 4 hours to go. I'm glad we did it, but I'm glad it's done!

Traveling

*sigh* I'm pooped. We arrived, finally, at home today. Friday morning at 5:30 am, my alarm boing-ed off (yes, it makes a *boing* sound) and signaled the beginning of a long journey. Though nothing compares to traveling internationally; it was still arduous. I had the kids, bags, my sister & her 7 week old packed in the car and headed down the road by 6:30 am. It was cold, drizzly and the weather was not happy I was driving. Mounting the passes by Crater Lake, there was already 6 feet of snow on the ground. Creeping along at speeds between 35 and 50 miles an hour, it took us almost 3 hours to reach our first pit stop of Bend. The clouds had thankfully parted while we ran in and out of WalMart & the gas station, to feed both the hungry humans and the car.

Once we were back on the road, the clouds decided that they were sad we had left Bend, and started crying. It cried all the way to Burns. We were able to up the speed since there wasn't any snow & ice, but still not fun driving in spats of rain. Potty stop in Burns and then we piled back in the car. Literally, 5 minutes down the road and Grant proclaims,

"I've gotta go to the bathroom!!"

Crap. Little did I know, that would soon be literal. We pulled over into a small turnout and I took Grant around to the side of the van. Since it's a van, we only have one door to open and act as his "stall". He kind of shuffled his feet, with his little red sweatpants around his ankles, and tried to attempt the roadside relief effort. He was not being successful, so I offered to hold him on my arms and let him sit, like a toilet and I would look away. As I am squatting in the gravel with my 5 year old slung between my arm and him clinging to my neck for dear life, a truck pulls up behind us. Crap again. She was peering over her steering wheel, assessing the situation, trying to figure out if we needed help. (it was pretty unpopulated out there) In her defense, I was next to the front tire. She soon realized we needed some privacy and pulled back out onto the road. I told Grant to just ignore her and get this DONE! (it had started to sprinkle rain again) I was thinking he had #1 to accomplish; noooo, a nice fragrant #2 was deposited at Mommy's feet. Double crap. Fortunately, we were traveling with an infant and we used a diaper to scoop up our "present" and be on our merry way. (I couldn't leave that desert blossom on the side of the road; wipes, tissue and all.)

Tune in for part 2 of our merry trip tomorrow! I'm going to bed, but darn it if I'm going to skip blogging!!

Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving get together! Now it's time to start the 8 hour drive to Boise, then another 5 hours over to Rexburg on Saturday. Fun fun fun. It has been a wonderful visit, but I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. No matter how great the hotel bed may be (there have been one or two) it's still not the same as my own beddy.

I am so thankful for a car that works without worries.
-- family that I care about and that I like to visit!
-- our health. Because with 4 little kiddos, the germs could be rampant!
-- beautiful weather! Fog every morning, burning off by quarter to noon.
-- lush, green nature walks on the mountain.
-- and friends that read my blog!! Even slogging through the boring posts with me! ;)

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

When you give a girl a camera . .

This is what she does . . .





Pretty productive for spending 14 hours in the car! We all made it safely to Oregon!

A Resolution

Photo taken by Eliza (psst, she's working toward her own camera. she'll get it soon!)

So sorry I've been delinquent in the blogosphere. Between trying to suck all the quality time out of Spencer that I can, battling with cabin people and going to the BYU game in Provo this last weekend, I've barely had time to catch a breath! I meet myself coming and going. And now it looks like I've got a sick Jacqui, I'm going to have even less time. So I'll cover the last few "blog-worthy" events in my least favorite, but efficient, format; bullet points and I'll elaborate soon. I promise.

#1: The Cabin

Last Monday morning, I woke up ready for a fight. I pulled up all records pertaining to the Island Park Incident, found the office's phone number and ate a piece of chocolate (to bolster my resolve). I was ready. I got the phone, dialled the phone number and introduced myself calmly, but assertively. Every possible response from them had a solid rebuttal.

"Hi, this is Lydia Penrod. I would like to speak with Susan, please."

"Oh yes, this is Susan. I talked with the owner and we're going to refund you for the whole amount. I was an unfortunate turn of events and we would really love for you to stay with us again. Is a check ok?"

Huh? Good thing I was sitting down! That's it? Ok, yeah, I'll take a check. Really, that's it. And I think we will try and do it again.

#2: Catching up

Spencer and I have been enjoying our quality time together. As most expats know, keeping up with your favorite T.V. shows is very difficult overseas. **sidenote** hulu really needs to solve that. **un-sidenote** We get around that problem by just buying the series on DVD. I don't mind that I'm a year behind. If I want to watch the next episode and find out if Sylar really is dead, I go ahead and watch it! That's the magic of DVD. I got all of our favorites a month or so ago, but just haven't had the chance to watch them. Wonder why? I told Spence I wouldn't wait, but, he came home and I still hadn't watched anything. So we've been digging into Heroes. Very, very good vacation time!

#3: The BYU Game

To be brief, it was a sweet weekend. I will elaborate with more pictures and details soon. But for now, all I can say is that even though we lost, it was all still worth it. Provo in the fall time, wonderful weather, getting together with old Cairo friends, kids cooperating with a fall photo shoot, and Ikea. What more could one get out of a weekend??

What a day!

A snapshot from South Dakota

So the last day of our cross country journey was, well, hard to sum up. What should have been a 9 hour drive turned into a 13 hour trek.

We pulled out of Fort Collins, CO right on schedule at 6:15 am. We plow north and about 8 miles outside of Laramie, WY, I heard this weird, thumping noise. And right as I'm passing a convienient pull out area. Great. I'm trying to figure out if it's coming from the engine? No. A flat tire? But I'm not losing speed. I pull over anyway, step out and hear a loud, hissing noise coming from the rear driver's side tire. It had to be the one facing the road, huh? Right when I pulled over, another van pulled off in front of me. A tall guy in a baseball cap steps out of his minivan, laden with his own 4 children and wife.

"Can we help you?" he asks.

Through my tears, I can only nod my head and show him the offending tire.

"We saw you about a mile back and noticed something wrong with your tire. And then we saw the kids in back and you alone in the front seat. Thought you could use some help."

So him and his wife help me start unloading the back of the van because that's where the spare and jack are so well hidden. We start talking a bit and they are moving cross country too, from Virginia. Herndon, Virginia. They've been there 5 years since they graduated from BYU and now are moving back to the valley. They moved to the Herndon ward a few months before we moved out. It's a small world. He finishes up, we repack the car with the flat tire at Eliza's feet and I thank them profusely. I know I could have changed that tire, done it before, but I didn't have to. I did not even have time to stand on the side of the road and wonder what I was going to do.

I got back on the freeway and turned around in one of those median driveways. The ones where cops sit and wait to catch speeders. The ones that have a huge sign that says, "For authorized emergency vehicles only." Yep, I fit. My vehicle is in an emergency.

Scrolling through the "Auto Services" menu in Gina (the GPS), I pick the first one that has 'tire' in it's title and have her direct me there. I poke along at 55 mph the 8 miles back to Laramie and find Advanced Automotive and Tire. I pull up and walk into the office. A nice guy in there asks me what he can do for me. I explain the flat and much needed repair of my tire. He says that he'd be more than happy to help, but he's still getting the necessary tools to patch tires. But don't worry, he has a friend that can do it. He notices my license plates and says,

"1M, that's Rexburg, right?"

Yes, yes it is. He then kind of hems & ums a bit and then asks me,

"Well, then, ah, if I could ask, um, are you, uh, LDS?"

Yes, yes I am.

"So am I! Nice to meet you. My son and his wife are at BYU and just had their first baby last week!"

He pulls out pictures, and I mention that my parents used to live in Laramie. Yes, he remembers them. He then gets out his card, flips it over and writes his cell phone number on the back. I am to call him if I have any more problems today. No matter where I am, just call him up and he'll come or find someone who can. And if we find that we have to stay the night, please, call him up and we can stay with his family. I, again, thank him profusely and drive over to the garage where they patch my tire and give Optimus a clean bill of health.

Now, we have been delayed by 2 hours; the kids are hungry and I know that crackers and cheese sticks won't suffice. It's still only 9:30 am, so we find a breakfast place and they fill their little tummies. 10:10 am, we're back on the road and everyone is happy. I do get a little nervous as I pass between mile marker 306, hoping that history won't repeat itself. It doesn't and things are going smoothly. When we reach Rawlins, I have a half tank and decide to fill up. In Wyoming, you never know! After gassing up, right as we are easing back onto I-80, Jacqueline starts barfing. Great. Fortunately, there is one more exit for Rawlins and we pull off. I try to clean her up, but handi-wipes just won't cut it. There is a Best Western across the parking lot and I run in to ask if we can use their restrooms. They oblige and I bring J in, along with clean clothes. I clean her up and as I'm rinsing clothes in the sink, she's dancing a little jig by the paper towels. Ok, she seems fine! Maybe it was just a little car sickness.

Maybe not. About 2 hours down the road, she starts barfing again and keeps at it for the next 5. Each little hotel I see, I am sorely tempted to just give up for the day. I just can't. Though I am sick of driving, I'm sick of sleeping in hotel rooms, bringing in our toiletries and underwear, not having enough pillows or blankets. I just can't do it anymore. We finally limp into Rexburg and park in the driveway. Is this just a mirage or are we really here? We are.

Another South Dakota view

P.S.
I wish that I could say that I slept like a rock, am rested and ready to dive into all the work I have to do here. But I can't. Jacqui still wouldn't keep even water down late into the night. She spiked a fever and slept restlessly. About 1 am, she started keeping down her drinks of water. She would wake up about every 30 minutes for another drink, then lay down again. She's sleeping fine, now, after a breakfast of juice and bread. And no more fever. Insha'allah.

*For more charitable, inspiring and service related posts, ideas, projects and contests, go to The Service Soapbox.

Everyone's an individual

When we visit a place like Mt. Rushmore, or Niagara Falls, or the cool Dairy Queen down the street, I try to get an individual picture of each person. Something they don't have to share with anyone. It usually takes a while, but I like that they can pick out a picture from our family trip and go, "There's me at Mt. Rushmore." And only them.

*That last pic, btw, was taken by Mairyn.

Mount Rushmore

Traveling around the country has definitely been an experience. People ooh and ahhh when they hear we've lived in such exotic places, but there are some pretty amazing things right here in the US of A. Driving cross country; back and forth, within 7 weeks is a lot to absorb; like skimming a book, you get the highlights and a better "big picture" of it all. The driving has definitely been made easier with a new car and DVD system (bless you, whoever invented that). But the days still get long. Exasperation sets in when we've driven for so many miles to a certain destination and all that you get in response is whining & apparent ungratefulness. I find many "parent phrases" flying out of my mouth uncontrollably.

"I drove for 7 hours to get you here and you're complaining now?"

"You should be grateful to even be here."

I know that long hours in the car wear on everyone; no reaction can be predictable. Deep down, I know we're making memories. Niagara Falls? Check. Another little fold in the gray matter. National Monuments at our Nation's capitol? Got it covered. As well as a monumental tantrum on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Sakkara Pyramids, oldest structures on earth? Been there too many times to count.

When we were driving today, Eliza asked how much longer it would be. I told her it would be about 4 more hours.

"Oh, like the drive to Alexandria. It took us about 4 hours." she said.

She has a frame of reference! Mairyn, on the other hand, is still learning. She asks how much longer and it doesn't matter what you say, she'll moan and wish it was now. You can say 37 minutes or 37 hours, she can't tell.

This morning, I rolled out of bed at 4 am. I dutifully loaded the car, toted each sleeping child down to the van and rolled out onto the road by 4:45 am. Functioning robotically, I followed every turn Gina directed me to take. Somehow, 8 1/2 hours later, we arrive at the Roosevelt Inn in Keystone, SD just 2.2 miles down the road from Mt. Rushmore. And since we crossed into Mountain Standard Time, I gained an hour! We were walking into the Grand View Terrace by 1:30 pm.

The were all very excited and intrigued by these carvings in the side of a mountain. When we toured the visitors center, Grant liked the idea of guys using dynamite and blowing up rock. There was a little interactive exhibit where you select a picture, then push the plunger down and it simulates you blowing up part of the mountain during the creation part. Grant had to be reluctantly pried away. Jacqui & Grant really had the shortest fuses today. (hah!) But we did it. We saw Mt. Rushmore. Been there, done that, didn't buy a t-shirt; just a magnet for our collection.

Day One

We are on the verge of a new adventure. We may be one Spencer less in the family, but we will carry on. He left for Iraq late last night and we got up early and hit the road. I'm taking it easy meaning NOT driving 9 hour days. We've stopped in Streetsboro, OH which is 6 hours from Northern Virginia. And we really lucked out. I will forever praise TripAdvisor.com. They have never let me down. I wasn't completely familiar with the Wingate by Wyndham brand of hotel, but I love it. This is a great place. Indoor swimming pool, in-room fridge, microwave, free wi-fi and the room is huge!

After two hours of swimming, we went across the street to the SuperWal-Mart. Yep, right across the street. While we were snagging some Kid Cuisines in the freezer section, Jacqueline decides to drop. She was exhausted. We were all up late, saying good-bye to Spencer, and then we were up at 6:30am. Dashing back across the street, I enticed her with promises of pudding and pizza if she just stayed awake. She did. They were thrilled with this little treat and everyone inhaled everything. I made myself a provolone, turkey & ham on ciabatta bread. I may or may not be eating chocolate covered doughnuts that were intended for the kid's dessert. I'll share. Eventually.

P.S.
Spence just called me and he got there safely.

Higitus Figitus

I feel like Merlin in "The Sword in the Stone". When he's packing up his house to move to the Castle? Except he can cheat. Where does all of this stuff come from? I think it breeds when we're not looking. I know that we are not a small family, but still. Why can't I have a little magic wand to wave over all of this?

"Shrink in size, very small, we've got to make enough room for all."

I have packed the van and I think we may have a couple kids sitting on the floor from here to the hotel in Virginia. I'd do something drastic if I had to travel cross country with all of this. I'll have about a quarter of it gone once Spencer is. Gone, that is. Monday night is the night. We have a fun weekend planned. And tonight begins the fun!

Saturday in Annapolis

No, we don't have any ties to Annapolis or the Naval Academy. We just like it. A lot. I love Annapolis. The Bay and the old streets and houses. It just feels good there. We went around the Naval Academy Museum, and the campus. The weather was just perfect. Some people were complaining that it was a little warm. "A little warm"? C'mon, you're talking to a Cairo family here, we can take the heat. We finished up the day at Buddy's Crabs & Ribs. A visit to Annapolis is not complete without eating there. We hit the classic Saturday buffet. And it's not the bad kind of buffet, it's the greatest. And I was in the mood for crab legs as well. Truly, you really have to be in the right frame of mind to eat fresh crab. A lotta work for not a whole lotta meat. But it's the sweetest, buttery-est (is too a word) mouthful that will ever pass your lips. Spencer went to the other end of the spectrum and had the fall-off-the-bone ribs. Win-win situation in my book. Oh, and kids eat free. Win-win-win.

We're done

So, even though this post is late in coming, I'll do it anyway. If you didn't figure it out already, we got to D.C., stumbled through the past few days. A quick recap of the rest of our trip is as follows: Day 5 --> We drove from Columbus, OH to Linthicum, MD. As we learned previously, Gina said it would take about 6 hours and 45 minutes, we added two hours and arrived right when we were supposed to! We got in a little after 4:30 pm and just crashed. We were able to crawl back to the van for a quick jaunt out to IHOP for dinner. Btw, their strawberry crepes are to DIE for. Right as we were being seated, the clouds opened up and began dumping rain. Whew, we made it inside just in time. And right when we were paying the bill, the clouds parted and the rain ceased. Just long enough for us to get home, get inside and have the showers commence again! It kept raining the next day (Thursday) and the next (Friday) and then was a clear morning on Saturday. We took advantage of the fine weather (although it was indoors, so weather wasn't an issue) and frolicked at the Aquarium in Baltimore. ;) Pictures will follow, just not right now. A relaxing dinner (yes, you can have that with 4 kids) at Macaroni Grill rounded things out. The cross country trip is over! For now. Oh yeah, I do have to drive back. Let's just not think about that right now. Forgive me, we didn't take any exciting pictures of the trip on Wednesday. We did get one of the clouds parting after dinner. Cue the heavenly chorus! Ahhhhhhh. And the pictures from the aquarium are on the camera, which is in the car and I'm too lazy to go downstairs and get it. So, you'll have to wait!