Almost Home, Hooray!

Just completed my sixth pump site change!  The beach was kind to us this year. : )  Clay swam in the hotel pool tonight (which always waterlogs his stickers!), so it pulled off when he was changing into his jammies.  Oops.

We traveled all day back toward home..we are in downtown St. Louis, Missouri tonight.  The plan was for Ches to take the boys to the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers at 7:05.  It was televised on ESPN, and he thought they'd love it (Clayton Kershaw was pitching, and they think he is the best in the league!).  Problem is..we were in Wheeling, West Virginia this morning..and it takes some skill to plan an almost 9 hour drive!  with stops and meals!  We did make it to the hotel by eight, but he was tired.  They all were.

I got Carter a bath (had to have the fix-it-guy come repair the drain so it'd hold water!) and got him to sleep.  Ches took the big boys down to swim for a little while.  Then I traded Ches after the baby was sleeping well.  It was small and splashy down at the pool!  Mary Claire just hung with me.  She wasn't wanting to get into the small football game going in the tiny pool. ; )

My entire family is just sooo excited about being back home!  It's been a good trip, and as usual, they've all adjusted to traveling, driving long distances, and all sleeping together.  I'm thankful it's possible honestly.  It makes for good memories.

We played football in an empty church parking lot today next to a gas station.  I think it was in Illinois.  It'll be a good memory for us.  I loved watching Clay and his daddy throw the football..so many awesome throws and catches!

We've watched nearly all the dvd's we loaded into my little (old CD) notebook!  Is that even possible?  Mary Claire has watched almost all of season one (6 discs!) of Little House on the Prairie!  We've seen lots of Bubble Guppies, Curious George, Veggie Tales, and I'm so thankful the big kids haven't complained!  (I'm actually surprised they lay back and watch it, ha!)

We are still deciding about going to the City Museum tomorrow with the kids before we leave town.  It's awesome, but we all really want to just get home (and they've already been a handful of times).  They are dying to play outside at our house! : )  We don't know whether to let them in on the vote.  Hmm..six people make it a harder deliberation!

Either way, we'll sleep in our own beds, water our own flowers, and eat at our own HOUSE!!!  Exciting stuff.  Nothing like being away to make you long for home!  I'm so glad the kids miss it and finally feel like it's home.  We've kinda felt like nomads for a while. ; )

Hope you are sleeping in your own warm bed!

You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.  Deuteronomy 28:6

On the ice? No thanks!

When we were in France, I'd ask for ice with my Coke. They'd look at me and say, "Ice Cream or Ice Cubes?" I don't know if it doesn't translate well or if lots of Americans like Coke Floats!

2pm-ish:
Another exciting day! To avoid the ice and impending missing electricity, we decided to head south to Dallas. We can be impulsive, no? We packed, checked the kids out of school, and took Lexi to Gigi’s for her to babysit. We are now in Texas after a long trip. We’ve enjoyed driving in borderline temperatures-it’s quite the adventure! In the 28 degree zone, we had icy windshield wipers and side mirrors (meanwhile wondering if we’d made a mistake). We’re now into the warmer 33 degree zone.

Clay and Mary Claire have done well (as long as they are fed, watered, and entertained!), but Ethan has had finer moments. He had about an hour of crying, saying, “pee, pee!” Of course, I wondered if he had a urinary tract infection as we were driving away from the only doctors we knew… We changed him a couple of times, and he seems to be better now. We stopped off at a Wal-Mart in Durant, OK to let the kids run around for exercise(no Chick-fil-a in sight!), bought a movie, and tiny toys to entertain them, and got a few snacks and drinks. We got gas, and headed out on the road again. I guess this is a preview of what’s to come when we drive to Nashville at the end of March. This is only six hours, and it’s eight to Nashville!

We have talked to Mom several times since we left; she’s keeping an eye on the weather (and temperature) for us! We have the phone numbers for the Arkansas and Oklahoma road conditions at our service. We discussed going on to Houston since it’ll be a sunny 71 degrees tomorrow, and they have the space museum! We also considered San Antonio for the Alamo, Sea World, and the (msn.com rated) five star Children’s Museum! We decided we couldn’t take another four hours just for the warmer temps. We are really just getting out of ice, and Dallas will get us there (plus we already have reservations!).

We’ll see how the evening goes… We have to find dinner, check into our hotel, and get ready for bed. Ethan only slept for one hour (hence the crying!), so he should go to bed easily (knock on wood).

Tomorrow our plan is to explore Dallas’ Children’s Museum, check out the Aquarium, maybe the Railroad Museum, Science Place Planetarium, or the Museum of Nature and Science. We know we can’t do it all. We have half the day on Wednesday also-we’ll see how the weather at home goes. If there’s still no electricity, we may stay another night. Heck, we could go on to Houston then! : )

9:51pm:
Well-we had dinner at Chick-Fil-A, so the kids could play then made our way towards Dallas. We are here now, Ethan had an hour bath (surprised? He came in, located the tv, played with the dishwasher, then made a beeline to the bath, and started stripping off his clothes!), the kids are all in bed (none are asleep!). I’m really not surprised! It’s been an adventure, and it took a while to settle down. Ethan is still getting out of the pack-n-play, coming to see us, playing with his new ball…. We tried letting him sleep in our big bed (with the ball) but that didn’t work either.

We actually have a nice room. We always stay at the Residence Inn by Marriott since they have separate rooms and a kitchen. I think they gave us a larger room though! We have two bedrooms (with doors!) with two bathrooms and the middle area is a living room (with fireplace) and a kitchen/eating area. It reminds me of adjoining dorm rooms. Clay and Mary Claire are in one room, and Ethan is in the other in a pack-n-play (well, sometimes). We’ll go to sleep in there when we wind down. There is a fold-out bed in the sofa-but they always suck-they are so thin. And there’s a big king size bed with 6 pillows calling my name…

Or is that Ethan? “Da-ee? Mama? Da-ee? Mama?"

10:19pm:
Update: They are now all asleep! : ) Goodnight!