Trip Report

Well, it was a long trip, but it was worth it!

We started out on Thursday and made it to northern Oklahoma for the night. Unfortunately, the husband and I were so hyped up on caffeine that we had a hard time sleeping that night. And there was a BIG thunderstorm. That was kind of nice.

On Friday, we made it to my hometown by around 2:00. And of course, my parents had Runza's waiting for us.

(and just in case you're wondering, we managed to have Runza's three times while we were there - Yum!)

We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning in my hometown and then headed over to my mom's hometown for the Memorial Day festivities. On Monday, we started the trek back home.

It was kind of a quick trip, but I think my parents managed to squeeze an entire summer of fun into the 48 hours we were at their house. The kids checked out my dad's waterfall, pond, and fish (and as soon as the boy saw the fish, he said he needed to get a net and headed for the garage - he remembered from a year ago that there was a fish net in the garage!!), they played in the sprinkler, we went to a bicycle race (more on that later), the kids helped my dad buy the plants and seeds and then helped him to plant his garden, they made mud pies with my mom, they helped make homemade ice cream, and they had lots of fun with their uncle. There was something going on every moment we were there and it was a fun, fun time.

The thing that amazed us the most about this trip was that there was a bicycle race going on in my hometown for the weekend. Well, we couldn't let this opportunity pass without going to see it. I mean, the first time a bicycle race has ever been held in my hometown and we're actually there? No way could we miss that.

So, on Saturday, we spent the morning and part of the afternoon watching the Monumental Memorial Cycling Race. It was really cool and quite funny, actually. We were the only spectators there for the start. And when we went to the little town out on the race route, we were the only people there who weren't somehow related to one of the riders. People were amazed that we would come to watch this. But, when they heard our kids yelling, "Go Georgie!" they knew we must be some kind of cycling fans. :)

Ok, actually, I lied just a couple of paragraphs before there - the thing that amazed us the most about the trip was that when we got to my mom's hometown on Sunday, it was 101F! It was hotter in Nebraska than it was in Houston! Come on, we go north to escape the heat and it followed us right up there?

Well, Monday morning, the husband began loading the car. He came back to the hotel room after the first trip out to the car and announced, "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the temperature has dropped about 50 degrees. The bad news is that the wind changed direction and we now seem to be down-wind of a feed lot." And with my first step out of the hotel, I knew he spoke the truth. It was almost chilly! And it smelled. Ah, well, it wasn't that bad. Any time we smelled that smell when I was growing up, my mom always said, "Money, money, money!" She raised us right. :)

So, the trip was a success. We got to see all the relatives and we managed to survive the car rides. I'm coming back kind of bruised and battered, however. The kids were so excited to be out of the car on Thursday night that we couldn't make them stop jumping on the bed. I happened to try to change the girl's diaper and then didn't get away from her quickly enough before she started jumping again and ended up with her head smashing into my mouth. I got a busted lip and spent most of the trip with this swollen, bruised lip. Every time I looked in the mirror, I couldn't figure out why I had chocolate below my bottom lip. Then I would remember that it was a bruise and it wouldn't come off. Uhg.

And then on Saturday, I got a sunburn which then got irrated somehow and now I have a rash all over my neck. I'm lookin' pretty good these days.

After this trip, however, I've decided that I don't like Thomas the Tank Engine. For the boy's birthday party, I bought Thomas stuff since our plan was to have his party at Hermann Park and ride the little train there. At the time, the boy had watched Thomas a few times - just enough to know who he was, but not enough to be a gigantic fan. Well, I made the mistake of buying a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD for the trip and it became his favorite DVD.

It has become one of my least favorite ones! Not because I'm sick of it, but because those trains are just not nice! They're always mad at each other, competing against each other, or teasing each other. It's almost as bad as Sponge Bob Square Pants. I'm putting that DVD far back on the shelf.

Anyway, other than this small snaffoo, the trip went off pretty well. We're glad we went and we'll probably do it again. Just give us a few months to forget any of the painful parts...