Cross-Country Adventures

Last Thursday we set out for our big cross-country adventure. This was our first real road trip, and we were hoping to have T sleep through much of the 14 hour car ride. I'd just like to say that a DVD player is the best thing that could have happened to car trips. Here's T relaxing in his seat, watching a little Dora on the road.
And here we are the next day. Unfortunately, T slept for about 2 hours after bedtime and then woke up, pretty miserable. I kind of figured that might happen, since he's a belly sleeper. We stopped in a town near Pittburgh, with about 500 miles to go. The second day went better than we could have wished for. He watched TV or played with his toys, took a 90 minute nap (we usually only get 30 in the car), and didn't get super cranky until the last 45 minutes or so.
We got in and immediately put him to work. This is actually the morning after we arrived. He's fascinated by the house vac at Papa's house. We've been having a really fun, albeit low-key visit. Later, I'll get some pictures up from the water spray park in town. This afternoon, we're visiting our favorite Oz Orchard and petting zoo. I'm going to be sad to return east. We've got another 3 days before our road trip home. Sigh. Visits with the family always fly by.

Tweet, tweet

T got a present from his CAB. It's a tweeting birdie from Argentina. He's been fascinated all morning, and keeps asking where the baby bird went.

Today we're having a very quiet morning at the house, since we're off to the Land of Oz tomorrow evening. The good news for me is that I did laundry at Mom's house and came home with a suitcase of clean clothes. Ry also did laundry this weekend, so aside from cleaning the house a bit, doing a load or two of laundry and repacking, we don't have much to do before tomorrow. We're attempting our first long road trip with T. The plan is to drive overnight on Thursday and arrive in Oz sometime early Friday. This plan hinges on T actually sleeping in the car overnight. He's a belly sleeper, so I'm a bit concerned about how long he'll sleep in his carseat. We'll have a few hotels mapped out in case it turns into a total nightmare. Wish us luck!

Bounty

I have now harvested something from each of our vegetable varieties. The tiny tomato in the middle is supposed to be a grape tomato. It's either a mutant grape tomato, or we accidentally bought cherry tomatoes. Either way, you're looking at dinner tonight since I refuse to grocery shop for 36 hours at home.

Memphis Happenings

Our trip began with a 2 hour delay at the Philly airport that nearly cost us our connection in Atlanta. Luckily for me, the Philly airport has a couple of terrific little play areas that kept T entertained for most of the delay. Our 15 minute connection in Atlanta means that our bag didn't make it until the next day, but at least we made to Memphis.
Unfortunately, G-Pa could only stay for a couple days, but he and T became fast friends.
We went to the Memphis Zoo on Sunday. T was pretty unimpressed by the animals, except for the Sea Lions. He had a good time climbing the fences and running around. We should've just gone to the playground. You live and learn, I guess.
Absorbed by the Sea Lions with Neena.
And hatching at the farm exhibit.

We had a really nice, relaxing trip oveall. Memphis was having unseasonable low temperatures, so we got a week of mid-80s beautiful weather. T has been asking where Neena is all morning. He's feeling a bit put out that he doesn't have someone to entertain him at every moment. Such is the life of a 2 year old.

We made it: bag not so much

We have arrived in Memphis. The first flight yesterday was delayed 2 hours, which meant T and I had a 15 minute connection in Atlanta. The only reason we made it was that our arrival gate was one away from our departure gate. Our bag wasn't quite so lucky. The good news is that I had T's jammies, diapers and wipes with me. So far, I've not seen or heard from the bag. I'll be giving the airline a call here pretty soon. Of course there have been nasty thunderstorms since 4 am, so they may be a little busy today.

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

Well, not packed, exactly, but the last load of laundry is in the dryer. T and I are going to visit my mom in the sultry south (highs in the 90s, ug) for a week. I'm looking forward to someuninterrupted time with my mom. It's been a long time since we've had the opportunity. We get back on Tuesday and leave for Oz on Thursday evening. We're attempting our first long car trip with T. The current plan is to drive overnight, so T has to be conscience for only a few hours of the trip. We'll see how that works out. Blogging may be limited.

I got a letter of congratulations and a certificate from the college today for my outstanding spring semester. It made me giggle. I think I'll frame it and hang it on my wall. Grades used to mean a lot to me. They still do, but more as a marker of how well I mastered the material than as a goal in themselves. My dad's restaurant used to give away free treats for getting As. Where's my Chocolate-Cherry Ice Cream, dad?

T has been talking up a storm lately. Some of my recent favorites: "Mommy, I'm so sleepy" (before his nap). "No change the diaper" (after every nap). "I cleaned it" (describing his day at school). "Sit on the patio" (telling me to move my butt because he wanted to pour water on the chair I was sitting in. You can't fault his logic).

Another take on health care reform

This is an interesting article from the New Yorker about healthcare costs in the U.S. Specifically, it focuses on a small town in Texas with the highest medicare costs in the nation. The town is not unique in terms of population. Higher costs there do not equal better care. In contrast, the Mayo Clinic has one of the lowest healthcare costs in the nation and one of the highest quality ratings. The question is, how do they do it, and can all cities adopt a similar philosophy. It's long, but a good read if you have the time.

Grouchy McGrumpypants goes to Sesame

Yesterday morning we woke up and decided to take T to Sesame Place for the day. Generally, this turns out to be a great idea. T was pretty excited on the ride over, but as soon as we got there, he didn't want to do anything. "No water." "No rides." "No jumping." Looks like he's having a blast, right?
Here I am forcing fun on him at the baby waterslide.
Oh, but he did want to play with the sign.Finally after two hours, we called it. He had more fun at Taco Bell.

Happy Monday!

Points for creativity

This morning T and I met some friends of ours at a local park. The park has a duck pond, and I told T several times not to throw things at the ducks. He listened pretty well. It was only after a few minutes that I looked down to realize that he was tearing pieces of plant off and handing them to his friend, saying "throw it in the water." You've got to give him points for creativity.

Long Overdue Update

Ok, so I've been a bit of a slacker, blogwise. I got some (undeserved) crap from my sis-in-law about not posting a couple of days ago, so here's the bit long update. My class is over. Hurrah! I've been mostly working on getting my disaster-area house under control and basking in not having anything to do but gestate and take care of my little man. We took T to the fireworks for the first time this year. We were worried that he would be scared of the sound, but he wasn't. Not even for a second.Here he is enjoying the flashlights we brought along. This is his "cheese" face. You'll see it a lot.
We were camped out on a little hill and kept ourselves amused by encouaging T to roll down the hill. After a few minutes, the little boy on the blanket next to us joined in the fun.
Enjoying the fireworks with Daddy.
You can kind of see his big old ears sticking out below the fireworks. He went from sitting on my lap, to Ry's, to the stroller, to just standing and watching. The fireworks were all he could talk about for the next 2 days. "Fireworks! Up in the sky! Loud!"
This was actually a few days later at our second, much less successful fireworks attempt. We had some friends down for the weekend (and took practically no pictures). T came down with the Coxsackie Virus (also known as Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease). It causes a very sore throat and fever. We left the fireworks early because he was almost asleep. And they kind of sucked.
The weekend of Coxsackie. I'm trying to entice him with some cheese. We're sitting in the doorway because that's where he decided he would eat the cheese. When they're sick, they get away with a lot.
And this is this morning. We had a yummy diner breakfast before heading out to another Freedom Fest in the area. I'm very happy to be eating again. Mmmmm, omelets.
T, showing us the sheep.
Flying the helicopter.
And driving the dune buggy. We had a fun morning. We also ran into some folks who run a preschool co-op that's 1/3 the price we're paying for about 2/3 the time we're getting. It obviously wouldn't work when I'm back in school, but we're looking into it for the year I'm taking off to gestate and take care of baby T2.