5 state road trip!

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Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com<

Guess what we did?
We had made plans to have my nephew, Travis, stay with us for a week or two this summer and had arranged for us to pick him up by driving like crazy on Monday, sleeping at their house that night, then leaving the next morning to be home Tuesday night (typically 13-14 hour drive for us.) We had the kids draw straws to see who got to go with me because I wanted to take the gas efficient Rav4 and not everyone would fit. I took the others (and let them skip school for the day) to Elitches last month. Lucky for Travis, he ended up getting a free ride to camp but it was scheduled right in the middle of his arranged trip to our house. It all worked out and we changed dates to July when Bill – Mike’s dad, Travis’ grandpa- will drive him out. This left us with Sebastien and Piper having no big trip. I asked them what they wanted to do – go to Elitches with me, road trip still (only one day-no hotel) or something else. They decided road trip; just drive around anywhere. I figured I’d take them to New Mexico, have lunch, then come home. Sunday night I went to print out Mapquest (in case our Tom Tom GPS failed) to Sante Fe or Albuquerque and looked closer at the map. Guess what? We could go the the top of New Mexico, Cut across to Dumas (Dumb Ass as we affectionately referred to it), Texas, straight up to Oklahoma then just a little further to Kansas and finally home. It was a big loop. So that’s what we did. No real destination, we just stopped at tons of gas stations and little obscure land marks. We did find that we followed to Santa Fe trail through a lot of our journey which Sebastien thought was great – he had learned about this in school.) Five states in one day - great times!

Political Opinion

Halloween. Mike had the daunting task of taking several of the kids shopping for costumes this year. Yeah for me! While perusing the various masks and outfits the baby, Vicente age 1, was very amused. He laughed at the kids when they tried on the scariest, goriest creations they could find. A skull with eyeballs and blood? No problem, he would poke it's eye out with his pointy finger and giggle. Green monster? Peek-A-Boo time. Hatchet to the head? More giggles and a little drool. The kids enjoyed showing him their finds. Until "THE ONE". Once the mask was in place on Nicole's head, Vicente took one look and let out a blood curdling scream. Real tears came to his eyes as he clawed and scratched at Mike, looking for protection from the hideous monster who was sure to be his doom. His eyes puffy, his whimpering echoing off the bland walls of the store, the mask was quickly discarded to the bottom of the rack. He started to relax but he will always remember that moment in his life when he came face to face with his greatest fear - Hillary Clinton.

Morgan with a needle through her nose

Here's my baby, Morgan, getting her nose pierced on both sides. I gave her that nose, you would think I would have some say to what she does with it. OK, I drove her there. Am I a bad mom? I also signed the release for her to get her first tattoo at 16 yo. Maybe I am too much of a pushover or maybe it's OK that I don't let things like this bother me too much and mostly concentrate on making sure they are good people. Not sure but I know I will second guess my decisions as a mom for the rest of my life. Maybe I should say a little prayer - Lord, please don't let me screw my kids up so bad they have to file for bankruptcy because they can't afford all of their therapy. Amen.

Piper's Question

Quite a while ago Piper woke me in the middle of the night and told me she couldn't stop thinking. I nicely told her that it is three in the morning and she should just close her eyes and try to get some sleep. She said she can't, her brain keeps thinking and won't quit. I asked her what it is that she can't stop thinking about to which she replied, "What's more important, your butt or your head?" Then I was up for the next hour thinking. I still ponder this question because it made me realize that sometimes even the not so glamorous things in our lives are quite crucial to our existence.