Road Trip 2009- part 1

Here we go. This is the beginning of my vacation journal.
We left Kansas City around 1:00. We got all the way to Kansas City, Kansas before we had to stop for gas. I didn’t have a chance to fill up before I picked James up at work. I started out the trip driving, but had to pull over and switch drivers because Asa wouldn’t let James get things for him. Everybody loves the mommy! The trip is really going well. It’s about 5:45 and we’re close to Oklahoma City. I was just looking at the map and realized how well things are going. Once we get through OKC, it should be about 12 hours of driving time. And by then Asa should be ready for “bed.” Judah has been sleeping for a couple hours. I hope he’s tired today because he will have plenty of time to sleep!

9:45 PM
We stopped on the west end of Oklahoma City to get gas, use the restroom and get out our sandwiches. At the gas station they were remodeling the women’s bathroom. Luckily they realized how women would react to using a portable bathroom outside and decided to use the men’s restroom in the building for women. There were a lot of signs up pointing the men to use the portable facility on then north side of the building. It wasn’t until I was getting Asa out of one of the stalls that I noticed that it was a men’s restroom. Anyhow, we got back on the road and ate dinner as a family, it just wasn’t around a table.
Shortly after we left OKC, I smelled one of my favorite smells in the world. I looked over and saw a big field of hay all ready to be baled. Mmmmmm.
On previous trips to Arizona we have driven this stretch of road in the middle of the night and saw a bunch of flashing red lights. It was a little creepy. When we got home last time, I think we looked on the Google satellite view of the area and learned that it was a bunch of wind turbines. We think they’re owned by T. Boone Pickens. All of that to say that it’s still daylight and we got a good look at the wind turbines. They are a sight. There are so many of them and the power they generate is amazing.
Back to the current time, James is still driving. Judah is asleep again. Asa is watching “Ernie Sauce.” It’s actually the Gaither Vocal Band and Ernie Haase & Signature Sound. Thanks, Mom, he seems to enjoy it. He kind of sings along and claps at the end of each song. I have had a few naps also so I will be ready to drive soon.


10:37
We are pulling out of a gas station in Amarillo, Texas. Basically we were creeped out be every person at the gas station. Asa has all of his bedtime lovies; Judah has a bottle, and they are watching a Veggie Tales. All is good for now.

3:03 AM
We are getting gas in Albuquerque. James pulled over just before midnight and asked me to drive. Right after I started driving we crossed over into New Mexico. What kept me awake during the drive? My Christian and jazz mixes of music on my i Pod, attempting to pronounce the names of towns along the way and a few random radio stations. Among all the towns with Mexican names like Tucumcari, Albuquerque & Quemado is a town called Wagon Wheel. “One of these things is not like the other.”
Oh yes, Asa woke up during this leg of the trip. He would whine and cry for a minute and then be quiet for five minutes and then do it all over again. James finally turned on a movie for him and he fell asleep. Both babies are sleeping now. I love it! We only have four hours left. That will put us in Winslow at 5:00 AM.

We arrived in Winslow at 7:15 Central Time. That is 5:15 Arizona Time. Grandma and Grandpa got up early today! We've been here for less than two hours and Judah has already been injured. He was in the pack & play and Asa decided to throw some toys in. One hit him right under his eye. Wonderful! Now he will have a red mark on his face the whole vacation!

On our drive to Winslow we saw cars from the following states:
Missouri
Kansas
Nebraska
Iowa
Oklahoma
Massachusetts
California
Texas
Arizona
Nevada
Arkansas
Oregon
Illinois
Virginia
Wisconsin
New Mexico
Mississippi

Iowa, Celebration

I just heard Asa count to 11 all on his own!
Judah likes to crawl around holding a toy in his mouth.

Now on to what's been happening.

Tuesday (May 19) was my mom's birthday. I decided that the best gift would be a visit from some of her grandchildren. I drove up Monday morning with the boys. I decided that with our family so far away it would be worth the investment to buy a DVD player for the van. Asa was very excited to see Grandma. He even recognized her house when we pulled into the driveway. Not long after we got there we left again to meet my sisters and nieces for dinner in Iowa City. We ate at Old Country Buffet. I was surprised by Asa's behavior there. He sat at a table with all his cousins and ate his dinner. He only got down and ran around a couple times. Judah was another story. Every time I got up he screamed. I guess he really likes me! After dinner we took the kids to a play area in the mall and we had a chance to visit some more.

Jodi, Margee, Melinda:


Other exciting things we did while visiting my mom include eating at Tasos, feeding the ducks at the cemetery, playing in the yard and pulling fence posts out of the ground by the new tree. We left on Wednesday to drive back home in time for church.

My oldest sister Margee was here for the weekend. They are staying with friends in Olathe. It is fun to see Asa so excited to see his cousins. Faith and Joelle really love Judah. Between the two of them I wouldn’t ever need to take care of him.
Sunday evening we made our third annual trip to Celebration at the Station. It is a great outdoor concert by the Kansas City Symphony on the lawn of the Liberty Memorial with Union Station as a backdrop. We invited a lot of people from church and my sister’s family to go with us. We had a group of close to 30 in the midst of a crowd of 50,000. We had a great time listening to music and talking with our family and friends.

Friday we're leaving for Arizona for vacation. Stay tuned for summaries of our vacation excursions!

The Big Move

Asa has been sleeping in the basement for a solid two weeks. We put him down there so that we can let Judah put himself to sleep in his crib. When Judah was born we talked about moving Asa's bed to the basement, but I couldn't stand having my baby in that dark cool place. In the last ten months, I've lost enough sleep and had a baby in my bed so much that I don't really care about all that silly sentimental stuff anymore. I decided when Judah turned 10 months old that I would stop nursing him in the night and almost always holding him until he falls asleep. It really has worked out well. Judah is doing very well going to sleep in his crib. About half of the time he cries for less than five minutes. He also has slept through the night several times in the last 12 days.
Anyhow, back to the big move. Asa has been sleeping in a pack and play downstairs. Remember how he jumped out of it about a month ago? He hasn't been doing that. Since he seemed happy sleeping in the basement, we decided to move his bed down there on Monday. I am sure he is happy to have some extra wiggle room.
Since we moved a bed out of the upstairs bedroom we had room for the rocking chair. My rocking chair has been in the basement since we had our Christmas tree up. And I have missed it. It's back in Judah's room and I love it! I have rocked him for a few minutes before putting him down for every nap and bed time. I'm in baby heaven!

I cut Asa's hair last night. He did a very good job sitting still. The part that bothered him the most was the cape. He started trying to pull it off about half way through.

Judah woke up at 5:45 this morning. I thought that if I nursed him he would fall back asleep. Wrong. He was lifting up his legs, playing with the sheet. I finally decided that we may as well get up. I started making breakfast for James (a rare task during the week). And guess who I heard talking in the basement? That's right. Asa. We all ended up eating breakfast at 6:30. Judah is already down for his morning nap. I'm guessing Asa will go down early for his nap. I hope the day isn't too long.

Pancakes

We had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes this morning. I decided to feed some to Judah and he really likes it! The only problem is that when they get wet the pancake bits get slimy. I'm almost ready to clean him up. Asa on the other hand wanted to put peanut butter on his pancake by himself. As I was helping him with the knife, I realized that there is going to be a problem. Asa is left handed and I am right handed. I was trying to hold his left hand with my right hand and guide him as he was spreading the peanut butter. Not so easy.

I had a great Mother's Day. Saturday I went shopping with a friend while James took the boys shopping for me. He said that everything would have been fine if Asa had wanted to sit in the cart. He instead wanted to be held. Anyhow, Sunday morning there was a beautiful plant setting on the table:


After church James grilled steaks and presented me with growth charts for the boys. Some day we will tack them to a wall in our house. For now they are just in the dining "room" and I hope that Judah doesn't pull them over on himself.


Last night Judah was eating some cheerios on the floor in the living room. At one point he was lying on his stomach while eating. It was so cute. By the time I got the camera, he was sitting up again.

Blog Help

If it's not a template, I don't know how to use it. I just stumbled across some programming hints for editing the text in my posts. So I'm asking for help. Where are the cool backgrounds? How do I make my blog different? (Maybe I should ask my web-programmer sister...) I'm open for any tips you have and I'm humbled by my request.

Last night we had this conversation:
Asa: I need more crackers.
James: Can you say please?
Asa: No. I can't.

This is how Judah crawls. He can get up on his knees and crawl, but he prefers to act like an alligator.

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Monday Night Royals Game

As we live in Kansas City and are always game for a little entertainment, we decided to go to the Kansas City Royals game on Monday evening. Every Monday the upper deck seats are $5 (plus surcharges, give me a break). We loaded up our van with the kids and food for our dinner. We walked 20 miles and climbed a million steps to get to our seats. It took me a while to get my bearings. The game was great. They have a pitcher who is suddenly good this season and he was starting. We cheered and booed when necessary during the game. Apparently the catcher from the Chicago White Sox is hated by KC fans. Who knew? Asa loved the whole thing and Judah didn't seem to mind all the excitement. We think Asa thought he was watching TV because of the huge screen in the outfield. I think he saw the actual players on the field at some point during the evening. The most exciting/annoying part of the night was drunk people. There was a bunch girls sitting right behind us that were very loud. James heard one of them say that they started drinking around 4:00. (It was after 7:00 at this point.) They were using pretty colorful language and I was just about ready to say something to them when one of the girls told another to watch her language around those cute little kids. (I had been surprised that they were making comments about our boys but still swearing. Hello, these are little kids!) Then after the game we saw what James described as a taping of Girls Gone Wild. There were a couple girls dancing on a car and lifting their shirts. Luckily we didn't see any skin and our boys didn't notice anything. Despite the awkward moments with intoxicated people, we had a great time at the game.



Judah has enjoyed time this afternoon playing with a magazine. I can't believe how exciting it is to little ones to play with such simple things.

Asa had a fever all day yesterday. He ran up to me this morning saying that his mouth hurt and showed it to me. He has a bunch of sores on his tongue. I took him to the doctor and he said it's a virus that will have to run its course over the next week. I really hope the sores are better soon. Asa looks so miserable!

Peas

The day I have been waiting for since I got married has finally arrived! If you know my husband, you know that he doesn't eat vegetables. I knew that a time would come when one of our children would notice that James wasn't eating his veggies and call him out on it. That time is now. We were just eating a wonderful dinner of grilled chicken, potatoes and peas. I was talking to Asa about his peas and noting that he liked them. He looked over at James' plate and noticed that his peas were gone. Asa pointed to the pan and asked if he wanted some more. I said that Asa had made a great observation and that maybe Daddy did need some more peas. I however (being such a loving wife) did not give James any peas since he really doesn't like them. It was very funny that Asa recognized that James wasn't eating peas. I know that this conversation will continue at different levels in the future.