Roughing it... NOT

OK, internets..... I've been holding out on you. But it's not my fault. I was under strict orders not to say anything until we had a chance to experience the wonders in store for us with this baby:



This, my friends, seems to be the answer to our dilemma of how leave home for more than a day without needing to kennel the dogs or pay for 2 hotel rooms. She is an Allegro Open Road 35QBA (I gotta come up with a name for her). We made the decision to bring her home the day before Easter, but didn't actually get her until the 27th. Brian told me to hold off on the announcement until we got to break her in.

Well, we finally got our chance this past weekend. It was a whirlwind affair, trying to get ready to go.... what with 2 ball games to get through Saturday before we could even begin to leave. Somehow we managed to get it together enough to take a short trip about 40 minutes away to Lake Solano. See Brian drive:

We only had time to spend one night, what with baseball season and all. We are hoping for at least one more overnight trip somewhere else close by in May, and then maybe we will be able to do a 2- or 3-night stay for Memorial Day weekend. The kids had a blast, and we enjoyed ourselves a bit as well. We did discover that we will have to tweak the sleeping arrangements on the next trip so that the person who wants to sleep the latest isn't on the sofabed, but the dinette bed instead. It made moving about for the earlier risers (namely me, but the other 4 in the family as well) very difficult, since the sofabed takes up the entire width of the coach when it's pulled out.

Here are a few sights from Saturday and Sunday:



I am sure we will have lots of stories to share about all this... especially if I can't convince one small pony of a dog that she can do her business (what some humans call "paperwork") some place other than in her own back yard. Yes, my friends: we have a "holder." I'm glad we were gone for less than 24 hours. She was happy to come home and went straight to work as soon as she hit the back yard.

Yep... stories. We'll have 'em.

More than just a laundry list

So tonight I actually have more to say than just a laundry list of the weekend's activities. Maybe not a whole lot more than that, but at least something more. We've had our usual share of activity, including Noah's flag football game Saturday afternoon. A little trip to the mall with Emily (thankfully she was spending *her* money, not ours!) and a whole lotta housework this afternoon.

Tonight Brian and I played a game with the younger kids called Kids Battle the Grown-Ups. We've been trying to find time to play it for a while now; Halle and Joel got this game as a birthday present from friends back in Omaha. Let me tell ya, it really was fun. The game is a virtual tug-o-war between the adults and the kids, with each side getting to pull the "rope" closer to its side of the board with each correct answer (or incorrect answer from the opposing team). There are cards designated kids/adults, containing 3 trivia questions on each. There are also "Who Knows?" cards that are opinion questions, giving everyone a chance to see how well they know the others in the family. Some of the "Who Knows?" questions we got tonight were: "What famous person can you imitate the best?", "Who was the best President of the United States?" and "Who is the hardest working person you know?" By the way, the kids beat us. I'll challenge them to a rematch soon.

I pulled 21 movies out of the kids' rooms this evening. They are forever taking movies upstairs to watch before bedtime, but for some reason, most never make it back down here. Latest favorite DVD is Meet the Robinsons. I keep finding myself humming Little Wonders, by Rob Thomas. I foresee an ITunes download in my future.

I caught the last half of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition tonight. What a gorgeous house! I love stone on a house... What really got me was the room they built for the dogs. A while back, I told Brian I thought when we built our house after settling down, it would be neat to build a dog-friendly room... a place the dogs would enjoy being in when we weren't at home, with access to the outside. Brian thought I was crazy. Well, maybe I am, but obviously I have company. That's exactly what the design team came up with for these folks. It was almost like they read my mind. (OK, I will admit I would never have thought to put in toilets for the dogs to drink from. But I guess you wouldn't have to worry about them running out of water, would you?)

Hoping the fact that the clocks went back an hour last night will mean the kids fall asleep faster tonight and wake up more rested in the morning. Maybe that will work for me, too.

Down to the wire

So the movers are coming to pack things tomorrow. Are we ready? Uhh..... kinda sorta maybe???

Brian and Noah are off to the races today. Brian's boss at his moonlighting gig volunteered to reimburse him if he bought good seats for them (Brian and Noah) to go to the Nextel Cup race at Infineon Raceway today. They'll be sitting in the front row at Turn 7, so look for them. Poor Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson had some bad luck earlier this weekend with failed inspections, so they'll be starting at the back of the pack today. Terri, where's your Tony going to be??

The other kids and I will go out for lunch after church and then do a little shopping. Yesterday, we were able to get the washer, dryer, and microwave picked out. So the big stuff is taken care of. Brian also took quite a few things over to the house already.

We will probably be unhooking the computers tonight or tomorrow morning, so I'll be without email access unless I go to the library (which I may do...).