Git 'r done

It's our last day in MO and we will be busy trying to do everything we can before heading out to Alabama tomorrow. That will include a big group lunch at Lambert's this afternoon. Not really sure what the rest of that "everything" will include; could just be hanging out and playing with the family.

The kids have really enjoyed being with their cousins this week. One of my nieces has kids that are the same age (within a few months) of my oldest 3. This makes for lots of fun for all of mine. They've played pool, ping pong, and washers. Last night, my nieces both came back to the RV with us and the kids and went swimming in the RV park pool. Then two of the kids spent the night in the RV with us last night. They'll be heading to lunch with us today along with their brothers and mom.

Time to hit the ground running!

Back where it all started

We arrived in Cape Girardeau yesterday afternoon around 2:30. This is the city in which Brian and I both went to college and where we lived the first 3 years of our marriage (he was still finishing nursing school then). The kids were uber excited to get to Grandma Betty's and Uncle Larry's houses (conveniently located side-by-side). The boys spent much time at my brother's house playing ping pong and learning how to shoot pool. Emily and I spent most of our time at my mom's, just reminiscing. Rory and Campbell were introduced to one of my niece's dogs, a little Miniature Pinscher named Zeke. In true big dog fashion, Rory was terrified of him. Now that is something I'd love to have on video.

No hard and fast schedule planned for today. The only sure thing is a good ol' dinner off the grill tonight... I believe Larry will be barbecuing ribs and pork steaks. At some point, everyone will want to come out to the RV to see it. I'm sure we'll also work on getting in some game time. Since there is a fishing pond here at the RV park, that might also be a possibility for some fun time today or tomorrow.

The kids are all asking to go to Lambert's to eat at some point as well. Perhaps we'll make that tomorrow's lunch. Meanwhile, it's time for me to get started with my day. I'm going to shower and get dressed and head over to the homestead while everyone else sleeps in.

Family gatherings

I am slowly getting over whatever it was that was taking me down. I stayed in the RV last night while Brian and the kids/dogs went back to his sister's house. Joel also stayed behind at his own initiative "to take care of" me. I dozed off and on and didn't get out of bed for good until 10am this morning. Still have a bit of a cough, but other than that, I can't complain. Brian and the kids are guzzling Airborne to try to keep from getting it, but I'm not sure if Brian started soon enough.

The dogs got to go up to the nursing home with Brian and the kids to visit Brian's mom today. Rory was quite the lady. The day room has a large glassed-in bird cage there (and birds are Rory's favorite thing to watch). She sat and calmly watched them; Campbell was the one who wanted to break through the glass. No manners. Tsk, tsk.

We were able to see lots of Brian's family today; ones we hadn't seen in a really long time and some we'd never seen. The 3 younger kids had a blast meeting cousins their own age and hanging out in the back yard with them. They played junk ball, top toss (a homemade version), and washers.

We did get a phone call from the RV park that the winds were picking up and we needed to head back to put our awning down. Didn't get there in time to save one of the support arms which snapped. We did manage to get the awning retracted and everything back the way it should be; we just won't be able to use it again until we get that arm replaced. Seems like it would be a straightforward enough repair... We'll be 2 hours from the factory when we are in AL, so maybe we can call them and set up an appointment to have it fixed while we're there.

We'll visit Brian's mom one last time in the morning, then return the rental van and head down to Cape Girardeau.

First Missouri stop

We made it to St. Charles, MO last night. I started getting Emily's sore throat late last night and today feel like a train hit me. Drinking lots of water, and sucking on lemon drops and Halls cough drops.

We visited Brian's mom earlier today at the nursing home, then took our laundry over to Brian's sister's house to get it worked on. I fell asleep on the couch. While I was asleep, Brian went to the grocery store and bought fixins for a hamburger/hot dog grill here at the RV. Both his sister's family and his brother's family came. They had planned for his mom to come, but weren't able to find a transportation service to get her here. The one that they had originally contracted with had mechanical issues at the last minute and couldn't do it.

Brian, Emily, and his sister are up at the nursing home now visiting his mom again. They took her some of the food from the cookout. Tomorrow they have another transportation agency that is picking their mom up from the nursing home and taking her to her brother's house, where all of her brothers/sisters and their kids will be gathering for a get-together.

I myself am ready to hit the hay, even though it's only 8:30 here.

Just as we get used to the routine of life on the road....

Real life steps in and smacks you upside the head. After we left Ogallala yesterday morning (6:30 am MST), I was online looking for a van to rent while we were in Omaha having the RV checked out. After I finished that up, I hopped over to my Google Reader to see what was new in the blogworld. I never expected to encounter what I did... a short post from our former preacher, Jim White, alerting us to the death of the 13yo son of friends from our church there. He was one of the 4 scouts killed in the tornado that decimated the Boy Scout camp in Iowa on Wednesday night. The youth minister from church, Franklin Wood, wrote a very touching tribute to Sam last night.

The news made for a somewhat more subdued trip. Friends had planned a cookout and had invited others from church to come to visit us. I wasn't sure whether we should continue it, but we decided it could be a good thing to help lighten the mood a little. We did spend some time talking about Sam and sharing stories about him. Tonight is a memorial service at church and we are so torn. It brings up memories from 3 years ago, just a week or so after we moved to CA, when one of the teens from church was murdered. We were so far off and felt so helpless. Well, now we are here, and feeling just as helpless. We want to stay for the service, but are stuck on a schedule.

Please pray for the Thomsens: Larry, Sharon, Lindsay, and Sara.

Today we will head to the St. Louis area. We have to return the rental van and then drive by our friends' house, as the 3 younger kids all wanted to spend the night there last night.

Day 3: From Wyoming to Nebraska

What an interesting day yesterday! Lots of wind, which made for some intense moments, especially on one stretch of interstate that was down to 1 lane and was a descent with many curves. Makes me very glad we aren't returning by this route. Took us a little while to get situated once we arrived in Rock Springs, and we wound up eating dinner at 9:30 at night. It was also rainy and even SNOWY. We had flurries this morning for the first hour or so of the trip as well. We were at a KOA last night.... not any place I'd like to stay at for any length of time. Their "pet walk" area was just a fenced-in plot of red dirt. Which meant mud because of the rain. UGH.

We are nearing Cheyenne, WY now and will be stopping for lunch there. Then it will be on to Ogallala for the evening. We should arrive there well before dark. This is a good thing, because we will need to leave early tomorrow in order to arrive in Omaha before noon. We have to take the RV to a local service place to have it looked at. The lights on our instrument panel aren't working for some reason. We tried replacing a fuse, but that didn't help. We'll spend the night in a KOA outside Omaha (Gretna) and then head on to Missouri on Friday morning.

Emily seems to be feeling better. She actually got out of bed today and has spent the better part of the trip up front with us. She and Rory are reclined on the couch together now.

On the road

Greetings from Elko, NV! We left home yesterday morning a little after 6:30 and arrived here around 10 hours later. That included a couple of potty stops for the dogs and a refueling stop, during which we also ate lunch. (Speaking of refueling... gas has dropped 16 cents a gallon from the Fairfield, CA area; last price we saw was $4.o9. I'm wondering how far east one has to go to see it rising again.)

It has been a fairly easy trip so far, save for one spot in CA where I truly thought we were rushing to our deaths. Since I had only slept 3 hours the night before, I thought I'd try lying down on the bed in the back and seeing if I could catch a little rest there. This was on a stretch between Auburn, CA and Reno, NV. For starters, California roads are some of the worst in the world. Very rough and bumpy. I felt like I was on a trampoline with someone else doing all the jumping. But that wasn't the worst part. I could feel the RV heading down some big inclines and it felt like we were on a runaway train. Rory was lying down next to me and I held on to her and prayed out loud: "Dear God in Heaven, we're all gonna die!" and "Save me, sweet baby Jesus in the manger!" After what seemed like forever, things settled down and I came up front and asked Brian if it was as scary up here as it was in back and he looked at me like I had 2 heads. Apparently, I was having sleep-deprivation hallucinations or something. He said it hadn't been bad at all. So how fast were we going down the inclines? I asked him. 50 or 55, he said. My jaw dropped. I could have sworn it was more like 80. Note to self. Don't ride in the back when going through mountainous areas. It will conjure up images of death, destruction, and very bad things.

Anyhow, the rest of the trip was much easier. The roads in NV are as smooth as buttah (but with out all the fat). Once we got here and set up camp, I cooked dinner. (French Country Chicken.... a make-ahead dinner I made at Dream Dinners a couple of weeks ago.) Then Brian took Halke and Noah swimming. Joel stayed here and helped me wash/dry dishes. We took the dogs outside for a bit and played some catch, then came in to watch some tv. I was asleep by 8:30 or so.

The dogs were ready to go out at 5:30 this morning... yawn. They've both had breakfast now and are lying around. Everyone else is still asleep as well. Not sure when we'll get on the road today. Our goal for tonight is Rock Springs, WY. According to Google Maps, that's 410 miles. Brian is in charge of dinner tonight.... steaks on the grill.

One low spot of the trip is that Emily is sick. She seems to have come down with the same virus she had a few weeks ago ... kinda like a bad cold with a sore throat. She spent the entire trip yesterday sleeping; all except the last hour or so. Then she was back in bed after dinner. Hopefully she'll feel better soon.

Will write more later today or tomorrow!

Is this how a hamster feels?

I was just answering an email to a friend, telling her what was/is/will be going on around here and realized perhaps I could use it to make updating here a bit easier. Perhaps after seeing it you will be more likely to forgive my protracted absence from posting:

We are leaving for a 3-week trip on Monday and I am stressing bigtime over all I have to do between now and then. Brian will be working in Sacramento on Sat. and Sun., so I will be packing the RV all by my lonesome (well, with the kids, but that doesn't help in the "remembering" dept.). Today, Emily has to be at school at 10 for her last final, Halle and Noah have ortho appts at 10:30, and I have a hair appt at noon. (Have to pick up Emily and get her and other kids back here between ortho and hair appt.) Then Em has to be back up at the school for graduation by 4:30 (choir is singing), and Brian and I have to be there at 5:30 (directing traffic).

I have to drive to Sacramento and back tomorrow morning to pick up a replacement iPod from the Apple Store there, so I can get it loaded up with music to take with me on the trip. Emily has some place to be from 1-3 tomorrow, then we have Celebrate Recovery at church... I am supposed to be there by 5:30 for worship team practice. Plus, the 3 younger kids are going to a birthday party (we'll drop them on the way and pick them up on the way home). No present bought for that yet: Can you say "GameStop gift certificate?" I knew you could.

Noah has a baseball game at 8 am on Saturday. If they win, he will have another at 1, followed by his team party at 4 at the base bowling alley. Emily has a birthday party to attend that evening; thankfully, it is just a few blocks away at the conference center here on base.... Evidently it is a big sweet 16 bash.

Somewhere in all that, I have to shop for groceries for the trip and get the RV loaded up with that stuff. Brian is going to pick up the RV from our storage unit today and plans on washing it this afternoon, then parking it in the "famcamp" (base RV park) so it will be ready for me to load up. It will be all hooked up to water/electric/sewer, so the fridge will be getting cold and ready for the perishables to go into it.

This is pretty much the way my life has been going lately... Running from one thing to another. Is it any wonder I haven't stopped to write a blog post???

There you have it: just a glimpse at the insanity that is my life lately.

Life is so daily

Eeek... I have been neglecting the blog again. Life gets in the way sometimes. Ball games, play rehearsals, grocery shopping, laundry, housework.... Even though I've stopped to read others, I haven't taken the time to write anything. So what is/has been going on here?

• We're about 2 weeks away from being done with baseball season. Can I get an Amen?
• Emily's play is over. She totally ROCKED her part. I have had more people come up to me and tell me how awesome my daughter's voice is since that weekend. It's funny how having her complimented feels almost identical to being complimented myself (as if I have anything to do with her beautiful voice).
• Rory is finally out of her "come-hither" phase.
  
• Brian had his Yukon broken into Sunday morning while at church in Sacramento ... thieves smashed his window and looked around till they found his GPS (stored away). They also took his registration and a $5 bill he kept in his visor for toll bridge emergencies. Thankfully he was able to find a way to get it repaired so that he didn't have to leave the truck unsecured while he is on the East Coast this week. One of the nurses from the hospital he moonlights at volunteered to stay with his truck at the airport until/while the repair company fixed it; she locked it up and will meet Brian back at the airport when he returns Thursday to give him his key.
• We've planned all our stops for the first leg of our RV trip and made the reservations. We have most of the return trip figured out as well.
• We went to see Prince Caspian on Sunday afternoon with around 300 other people from church (our church rented a theater for it). Great movie... kids loved it and the time went by so quickly it didn't seem like an almost 2 1/2-hr flick. Looking forward to adding it to our library when it is released on DVD.
• I've been battling a bum leg for a while. Finally decided to see a doc about it and wound up scheduled for an MRI in a couple of weeks. Basically checking the meniscus out to see if I've torn it or something. Sure fits the symptoms. Of course, won't be any time to do anything about it before the road trip. Doggone. Some day I will stop being such a suffering martyr and handle these things when they happen.
  
• Noah had an awesome ball game last night... He was 3 for 3 at bat, got on base 2 of those times (last at bat, the ball was fielded to first before he could get there), batted in a couple of runs, and made a great play at 3rd that nearly wound up a double play. His skills have really improved this season. Can't ask for much more!

Lotsa stuff coming up.... Tonight is Emily's choir concert. I was in charge of making the programs again and got the final product done after school yesterday. Noah has 2 sleepovers this weekend; one on Friday night and one Sunday night. Brian and I have a wedding in Sac this Saturday and an anesthesia department function to attend the following one. That weekend should also be our final weekend of baseball. (Cue chorus of angels)

Things are "heating" up

Sometimes I slay myself with my razor-sharp wit. Take the title of this post, for instance. It has nothing to do with the weather, a malfunctioning thermostat, or the state of the relationships in this family. No, this has to do with that beautiful creature gazing at you from the header up there (and just in case you're reading this in a feed reader.... or eons from now when this blog has undergone a major image revision, I am referring to our Great Dane, Rory, who just turned a year old 2 weeks ago.) Yes, my "little girl" became a woman this week. *sniff, sniff* Believe me, it was much easier reaching this milestone with my eldest child than it has been with a canine. Oh my stinkin' heck.

If you've never experienced the joys of doggie estrus, consider yourself blessed. Maybe if I had a toy poodle, it would be easier. Actually, I know it would. I remember the little "Sani-Panties" my sister put on her dog. I had no such option for My Little Pony, as one of my neighbors affectionately refers to her. My choices at the local PetSmart were either a disposable diaper, or a denim "diaper garment" in which you insert what looks remarkably similar to your grandma's maxi-pad. OK, probably not Grandma's, cuz they're "beltless." Let's go for your mom's. One scrawny little adhesive strip down the middle of the backside. Which to choose?

We began with the "diaper garment." Reading the boxes, I had to choose between one sized for a weight ending at 90 pounds (XL) or one beginning at 90, and recommended for Great Danes (XXL). Rory is a little over 90 pounds, so I went with the second. (Insert annoying buzzer sound here.) She is so svelte that it's really rather baggy on her and I have actually had to wash it several times because it just doesn't provide enough "protection," if you get my drift. So I went back to the store and decided to try the disposables. First size I try (Large) is too small. Then I get the largest size (XL, up to 90 pounds) and it's still too flippin' small.... They just don't come far enough up her back to fasten them. So the solution I have come up with? "Diaper garment" with disposable diaper as liner instead of the maxi-pad. It appears to be working.

Note to self: Schedule Rory's spay appointment.

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In other news, the boys headed off in the RV this afternoon for a manventure. It was originally supposed to have been all of us, but I thought it would be better to keep Rory at home in her current condition. The boys had been looking forward to going, so Brian decided he could handle it alone. This trip was to a nice RV park almost 2 hours south of here. They even took Campbell with them. From the last conversation I had with them tonight, it sounded like they were having a good time. They'll be back tomorrow afternoon/evening.