Along the Way

Well, luckily we made it home safe and sound...UNluckily, it turns out I really *am* allergic to Oklahoma and have been feeling awful since we got back. Thus, no post until now.

Luckily, we haven't had anything terribly pressing to do besides laundry. But again, UNluckily, we also have no heat at home (long story) so there's been a lot of woodstove-fire-building at our house lately. But that's not what I'm here to talk about today! I wanted to share some of the best/worst/just plain funniest things we encountered on our trip. Here they are in no particular order:

1. In Missouri, there are signs all along the highways that say:

HIT A WORKER
$10,000 fine

or something like that. In case you can't tell, this is funny because you could just take out the word "fine" and replace it with "points" and you'd be good to go. At the very least, they should've added "IF YOU...." or maybe "DON'T," but alas, they didn't. It seems risky to me. I'm glad I'm not a construction worker in Missouri.

2. A disgrunted young person had written in a bathroom stall in Valparaiso, IN:
"Studip hicks, you'll never leave this town."
Oh, the irony.

3. Written in the dust on the back of a semi was this brilliant thought: "Vikings sucks." It actually looked like someone had written "Viking sucks," which is at least gramatically correct if nonsensical, but then realized they needed to add an "s" and yet neglected to also delete one. Le sigh.

4. And finally, there was the doggie beauty parlor sign that was just...Well. It said "Victoria's Fabulous Doggie Doo's." I'm not making this up, people. Seriously.

THE END!

Homeward Bound

Well, I meant to check in a few more times on this trip--let you know how much fun James had with Grandpa Dave's trains, or how he discovered a ladder at Grandpa Lin's and spent hours "fixing the frigerator," or how beautiful the wedding we came to last night was, but I was so busy grabbing up time on the internet, doing important things like catching up on CakeWrecks...

Anyway. We're good. We've had a great trip. And now our friend Kevin is cooking us some pancakes and bacon, and then we're gonna hit the road. We hope our house hasn't had any freezing problems, and we can't wait to see our Gromit! Oh, and yes, we are planning the trip back strategically so we can eat lunch at Taco John's.

Bon voyage to us!

Checking In

We got to Grandma and Grandpa's yesterday. James was ecstatic when he got to see all of Grandpa's trains. It was better than Christmas.

Also...the nausea relief was definitely related to sitting still. Today, not so nausea-less. Especially since I made the mistake of ingesting lettuce. Why, why, WHY did I make that mistake AGAIN?

Note to those who have not yet been pregnant: lettuce is the most disgusting food I can think of AFTER you eat it, if you know what I mean. It is bitter and awful. Ew ew ew. I still taste the stupid lettuce. Gag me.

No, really, if I throw up I'll probably feel better.

Oh well. At least we got to go out to dinner with friends and Grandma and Grandpa had a great night with James!

Travel Observations

Yesterday was a very, very, VERY long day. We picked Ben up from work at noon and then we drove for eight hours.

Ugh.

However, James is an amazing car traveler. A-MAZE-ING. He read himself books for at least an hour. He played with his firetruck and his computer ("compeedwer") and his cars, and he colored 6 or 7 pictures. We all listened to music and sometimes James sang along. Well, except that he wasn't singing to the songs that were playing. He always sings one of a handful of songs but he likes it when the radio is on...so we could've been listening to "Back in Black" or "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" or "La Bamba" but James would sing "ABC" or "Puff the Magic Dragon" or "Twinkle Twinkle."

My nausea was actually better yesterday. But I'm wondering, was that real? Or was it just because I was sitting still for 8 hours? Hm. Either way, I'm grateful.

Today we have to drive 6 more hours. Luckily, Nana (Ben's dad's mom) is on the way, so we'll have a nice long stop there and a visit with her, and then for dinner we'll be with Grandma Robin and Grandpa Dave.

Wake me up when we get to Nana's.

Our Ever-Expanding Family

And no, I'm not just talking about my waistline.

There's also my milk-makers. Is it normal for me to already not feel like sleeping on them because they feel like rocks? Just curious.

Okay, but really, I meant to have this post be about GROMIT! And in case you don't know, that's our new dog. You see, I really meant to post more now that I've told everyone we're expecting...BUT...first there was the morning, I mean, ALL DAY EVERY DAY sickness, and then we got this puppy! So yes, Gromit is our new puppy, and yes, James did insist upon that name.

And yes, I really did want to post pictures but that is just not in the cards for today.

We got him a little over a week ago, when he was 6 weeks old, so he's still pretty tiny, but he won't be for long. He's half English mastiff and half Great Pyrenees, so he is technically a "Giant" dog. He looks all mastiff so far, and we're sort of hoping that part will stick. Pyrenees are great dogs too but more prone to wandering. Either way, we're superexcited about him and he's smart and fun and cute and, in case anyone's curious, GREAT practice for having a baby. He weighed 7.5 pounds when we got him, and I had to carry him a lot that first day, and then my arms were tired....he wakes us up at night a little bit to go potty, although not NEARLY as much as a human baby....and there are definitely a few sibling rivalry issues we can work through now. =)

Okay, gotta run. Just wanted to check in and say WOOF!