Destination: Wyotana

Just took the little girls on an 8 day outing. We drove 2746 miles (approximately) through 7 states. I picked up a pretty good travel buddy when I hit Las Vegas, my brother who shall be referred to as "Wubby" forever more. Libby renamed him and it just might stick! Together, the four of us covered a lot of ground.

The trip was for Mother's Day and my Grandma's 102nd birthday was the same day. There was a nice little lunch party for her. My husband woke me up in the middle of the night a few days before the trip with this crazy idea: "You should go! Take the girls and go. You can do it! It'll be fun." Really? Go on this super long roadtrip without the husband? Ugh, the thought of going it alone was not appealing in any way. My husband says, "pick up your brother on the way". Hmmm....

After a sleepless night of thinking and scheming and planning and mapping out the trip in my head, I decided it was a good idea and I would go. I called my brother and he said he was game. I called my mom and she stammered around a bit before giving me the unfortunate news that my crazy idea to just pop on over and crash the exclusive birthday party was not a good idea. She suggested I stay home and come another time. As usual, I did not listen to my mother. After 44 years of that, you'd think she would know that I never listen. Wonder where my kids get that?

The trip was a good one. The birthday party was great! Being home was a lot of fun and very refreshing. The girls had a wonderful time, and they loved seeing their Grandmas! They also got to play in the snow - so much fun! The road was good to us, the weather was just fine. All in all, the whole trip was nice and we got lucky in many ways making it one of the best vacations home we've ever had.

Now I'm road weary and having fun trying to catch up on sleep with two little girls who don't need roadtrip recovery time. Oh, how I wish I had their energy level!

Once we got home, I quickly discovered the reason why my husband sent me off on a long trip by myself. He hired a crew to demolish my ugly kitchen counter, and replace it with granite! I hated that counter. It was 4" white tiles and hundreds of grout lines. Blech, cleaning that counter was awful and it never looked clean. I hated it every day we've lived in this house. Also, the beat-up-scratched-stained sink has been replaced with a wonderful deep new sink! Love it! It's topped off with a new beautiful tall functional faucet! I'm so excited to have a squirty thing that works! And the faucet doesn't leak! These little things don't seem important but they really are. He also replaced the stove cook top. New stove! It's one of those kind that just goes on the counter, the oven is separate. This new stove is nice! The burners work! All of them! I love that - it's handy and pretty!

This is why my husband convinced me to get out of the house for a week. He wanted me out of the way. Didn't want my input or my stressing out over what was being done. Honestly, this is the best way to remodel - just come home to it all being done. Love it! He knows me well.

My Irish Eyes are Green with Envy

I don't really know if my eyes are Irish or not. I suppose I have some Irish in me somewhere. I have a bit of this and that, here and there. Today, I'm Irish though; I can feel it!

My mom, my sister and my niece are in the air as I type this. They will land sometime tomorrow in Dublin, Ireland. These three traveling girls will then spend ten days tripping their way around Ireland, seeing the sights and buying souvenirs. They are going to kiss the Blarney Stone, eat corned beef and cabbage and try to catch Leprechauns.

I take that back, my niece won't eat corned beef and cabbage. She's probably going to stick to her American taste in cuisine, sans vegetables (per her usual). She might look at some local foods, but she's pretty strict about eating only what she likes. My mom has a more adventurous palate. I'm somewhere in between, I'm sure if I were in Ireland with the girls I'd try a little something. Oh wait, I'm not there. I'm sitting here at home turning green with jealousy.

I am going to follow their trip day by day on Google and Wikipedia. I have the travel itinerary and I will look up the tourist info as they go along. It'll be almost like I'm there!

I really have too much going on to take off on an Irish vacation anyway. Especially in the middle of swine flu season! I'm a package deal, if I go, the little girls go too. This limits my travel opportunities, although the little girls might think its fun to chase Leprechauns all over the big Irish island. I doubt they would think flying all day and night is much fun though.

"The Traveling Girls", mom, sister and her daughter, will visit: Dublin, Kilkenny, Kildare, Waterford, Blarney, Killarney, Adare, Limerick, Bunratty, Ring of Kerry, Galway Bay, Galway, Cliffs of Moher and more. The travel itinerary says that the vacation is "A travel experience that combines Ireland's medieval heritage with its most striking landscapes". Sounds amazing! I know they are off on a great adventure and I can't wait to hear all about it! Here is a map of where they are going:


Looks like fun, eh? Hmm, do Irish say "eh?", I think I'm confusing them with Canadians. Eh, I'm not worldly enough to know the difference between Canadians and Irish so I'll say "eh" when I'm pretending to type with an Irish accent. Someday I'll get out more. Till then, I'm traveling vicariously via "The Traveling Girls". Have fun, Girls!

Home Sweet Home Again!

My poor neglected blog! I've missed you! But, I can't blog from the backseat of the mini-van on a lonely old road in the middle of nowhere. And, that's where I was.

We drove 3800+ miles. The baby is thoroughly sick of her carseat! I don't think she ever wants to be strapped down again! But, Gracie did great and made up for the fussing from the little protester.

One of my tricks for Gracie is the Bordom Buster bag. I fill it full of surprises and get one out every now and again. It really does the trick! This trip, she got new cars and trucks (Thank you to whoever invented Hot Wheels cars!) and new books. The books I got for her this trip are awesome! A lot like Where's Waldo, but themed with Disney fairies and princesses. I picked up a book on the road for her that was locally published, so I can't find a link for you but it's a great book! It is an alphabet book with pictures from Storybook Land in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Each letter of the alphabet highlights a feature of the park.

For Libby, I brought baby board books that she's never seen and baby rattles and toys that she hasn't discovered yet. Nothing beats boredom like old toys coming out for rediscovery! This trick didn't work as well on her. She proved to be a challenge.

Here are a few pictures from the vacation... I'll blog more stories from the road later, you don't want to hear 3800 miles worth of road stories all in one post!



Big Horn Mountains,Wyoming


Wyoming


Missouri River, South Dakota


Southern Utah

To Vacation, or not to vacation.. hmmm...

We were so busy in May and June, that the laziness of July has been extra sweet!

Our original plan, as usual, was to drive to my husband's hometown in South Dakota to attend a family reunion, stop by my Grandma's house in Wyoming for a bit and then drive home. It's 1685 miles one way, then back again. It's a long drive! And we do it every year with the whole family and the dog.

But on the heels of two graduations, a wedding, moving the big girls out, painting and reorganizing the house, teething, and all that went with the excitement of June... we decided not to go on vacation at the end of July. It's just too much work!

But, wait. Did we just cancel our vacation to go back and see family and friends because we are too lazy? By golly, we did. That's just LAZY!

After a few relaxing weeks, we decided we've recovered enough to go ahead and treat ourselves to a much deserved fun vacation after all. We will trek across the desert and over the mountains and across the plains! Crammed in our mini-van for 30 hours at a time! We will pack it up and move it out! North-Eastern Bound!!!

It is a lot of work, but it's always fun and we always have a great time. We don't get much sleep for a week, but sleep is over rated anyway.

The vacation is back on the calendar! Look out, inlaws and outlaws, here we come!

The Roadtrips

My mom and my sister are roadtripping their way west and home again. They went from Montana/Wyoming to Napa, California. It's a two-day drive for them, but the second day isn't as long as the first. They spent the night in Nevada in both directions and found good places to stop and eat along the way. They ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe! Fun times!

They sound like they are having a good trip, despite the purpose of the journey. They went on this whirlwind trip because Great Aunt Spuddie passed away; Mom and Sis went to the services.

Katie got in her car Friday evening and began her coast to coast roadtrip. We've spoken several times since she's been on the road. Here are the trip details ... I'll update as I hear from her, so check back for new updates! And you can refer to the map in the last post if you'd like, just click it to make it big enough to view.

Friday 7:30 pm PST - The great adventure begins!

Saturday 10:00 am MST - Almost to Albuqueque, New Mexico. Stopped and napped for a couple of hours somewhere.

Saturday, 4:30 Central - Stopped at Starbucks in Amarillo, Texas. She notes that Texas has a lot of ugly scrubby little bushes.

Saturday late afternoon - She saw Cadillac Ranch, the Giant Cross (which she thought was kind of creepy), and the tilted water tower. Entering Oklahoma, she didn't see a big "Welcome to Oklahoma" sign. What is up with that?

Saturday Evening - Oklahoma is kinda old and ghetto. She stopped in Oklahoma City at Subway. Yum.

Saturday 10:15 pm Central - Listening to an oldies radio station. Sure are a lot of church signs! A coyote ran in front of her car.

Saturday 11:30 pm Central - Leaves Oklahoma and enters Arkansas. The speed limit changes at the border from 75 to 70mph. Katie immediately gets pulled over for going 80. She agrees to make a donation to the great state of Arkansas, as requested on her ticket.

Sunday 12:30 pm Central time - Just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. She stopped and slept for a while in a Super Walmart parking lot after driving all night. She has gone 2000 miles so far and only has 500 left to go!

Sunday 6:15 pacific time, 9:15 Eastern, She arrived in Charleston! 47 hours!!!

My sister dropped my mom at her house in Wyoming and is almost home to her house in Montana. They had a good roadtrip too!

Emptying the Nest

Our oldest daughter got married in June, and I was fine with that, but now she's moving out. I'm not as excited about this!

Her husband (wow, that is weird to say) is in the Navy and stationed in Charleston, South Carolina. Like newlyweds, they want to live together. Crazy kids. Don't they know living on opposite coasts makes a marriage strong!

She's living here, he's living there. They have been patiently waiting for the Navy to put them up in base housing and give him permission to send for his new little wife. Permission Granted! He has keys to a three bedroom cottage on the Navy base and she can join him on the other coast.

The Navy will come and get their stuff, all except for Katie's car. They'll fly her across the country, but not the car. It'll cost a grand to get the car shipped over there. However... driving it across will take aprox 95 gallons of gas costing around $300. Not a hard decision to make when you do the math.

We got her all moved out of our house. She boxed up everything she owns and their wedding gifts, and we loaded it up along with: a flock of guitars, her queen sized bed, her dresser and mirror(which is the biggest bureau ever made), gigantic nightstand, and a futon. She also took a bike for fun! Everything went to her In-Laws' home where the Navy will pick it up. Aren't they lucky!

Tonight, after its dark and cooler across the high desert, Katie is leaving for Charleston. Driving her car across the nation, singing songs and talking on her cell phone the whole way. Nothing but a girl and the road. And probably a cup of coffee and a cooler full of pop and snacks for 2495 miles.

She's going to pass through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, a little corner of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and then, she'll drive across South Carolina to find her new home.

If you see her, smile and wave!

Grandma is Coming! Aunt Patty too!

My mother and my sister will be here in one week! Yippee! I'm so happy they are coming. We're all getting excited for their visit. All of us except the unborn child. She's still thinking she has all the time in the world.

My mom has lots of plans while she is here. She wants to go laptop shopping with my husband. Her plans are to spend an entire day dragging him along from one computer store to another looking for the perfect laptop. After she compares, decides and purchases one... she plans to have him set it up, transfer her files over from her old computer (which she is bringing along) and teach her how to use the new lappy. That could burn up another day.

Little does she know, but her new laptop is already purchased, it's here, and ready to go! Her son-in-law is one step ahead of her! Rather than have her freaking out for a week wondering what he got, is it what she wants, etc, we aren't going to tell her until she gets here. That way there are a lot fewer questions on her mind until she gets here.

She'd like to spend a day in San Diego. Visiting relatives. And probably having lunch and doing a bit of shopping. As well as dipping her toes in the sand and feeling the sea breeze.

Then, she wants to head to the northern edge of Los Angeles to visit my nephew. Of course, my sister will be going too, my nephew is her son. He's been married for a year now and they want to take him and his bride out for lunch and have a nice fun day with them while they are out this way.

My teens have plans to get in some quality girl time with their Gramma and Auntie. There goes another day! They want lunch and a mani/pedi session. Gramma doesn't know about this either. We're all pretty sure she will turn down a pedicure quicker than you can say "pedicure". We all think if it is thrust upon her, she will give in and do it, and she will enjoy it too!

So, I asked my mom.... "Will you be stopping in to see me while you are here?" She says it is quite possible! I am looking forward to seeing my mom and sister in passing while they are here visiting the area.... Actually, I did talk them into staying here at the house instead of a motel, so I will get to see them as they come and go.

I wonder how they'll feel about taking a lively toddler with them everywhere they go? hee hee hee

The Big Party!

My Grandma Gracie turned 100 years old! Wow! What a birthday bash! I'm posting a few of the hundreds of photos we took. It was a three day party including cake, cake and more cake... the best fireworks show ever, tons of family and friends, picnics and great food, and really beautiful weather. The birthday girl had a blast! We all did!

Here's one of her delicious cakes: It is a full sheet, and it was so pretty, this picture doesn't do it justice.

This is the birthday girl on the right. My Great Aunt Spuddie on the left, she's only 98. Spuddie broke her kneecap a month ago, but she was running around faster than me at the party. They made her bring a walker, she parked it and never touched it. See, attitude runs in my family.


The museum in town put up a huge display of my Grandma's personal things with pictures and all . Here is a section of the display. There was a lot more!

Ok, it wasn't all pretty cake, old ladies and museums. There was a merry-go-round too! Fun!!!


And there was entertainment. Here are two of my princesses singing and playing music for the crowd. The kid in the middle is dating my oldest princess. We took him along to see if my family would scare him and make him run home crying. He didn't. He passed the family tolerance test with flying colors! Good boy!

Cowboys in kilts. Doesn't everyone have Scottish cowboys in their family?

This is how my family got from place to place. The bus driver would take a load and come back for the rest. And you thought I drove my mini-van!

This is how my 100 yr old Gramma got around. On the back of a Harley Davidson!

She also got a ride in a one-horse buggy.


Just for fun, I thought I'd throw in this cute picture of an adorable baby! Awwwww, he's so cute!

Happy 100th Birthday, Gracie!!!

Guilty of Blog Neglect

I've been so busy! Having a great time, but I'm worn out and ready for a lazy day. Today's plan: Sit, lay, eat, repeat. We had my Brother-In-Law and my nephew here for a week, so we did some fun touristy stuff and never slowed down. My daughter also turned 17 a couple of days ago. And... I was trying to keep up with the house and getting my daughter to school and back too. Plus, I had to get three flat tires repaired. Yeah, I said three! Had to keep up appearances and pretend we live like normal people who do their dishes and clean their bathrooms every day. I think I pulled off the illusion nicely. But, I'm worn out!

We went to Knotts Berry Farm... that one I told you about while my husband took over tourguide duty. Then hubby went back to work (two jobs and no time off left me as chief entertainer and taxi driver). So, I took them to the beach (twice), San Diego Zoo, USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum, and SeaWorld. I think I walked 500 miles these past few days.

Oh, Sea World was hilarious! Princess Gracie thought that the Shamu trainer was her daddy. She was yelling "Daddy!" repeatedly and clapping and just thrilled to see her daddy swimming with the fishy. What a guy... that daddy is sure special!


I'm all proud of myself for keeping up with the Farmer and the kid. But, wow, being pregnant sure gets in the way of being a tourist. Of course I was always carrying a bunch of stuff, pushing the stroller and/or had Gracie on the leash, taking pictures, and stopping in every ladies room in Southern California. I took plenty of photos... no, not of the ladies' rooms!.... here are a few...


Oh, I got this awesome shot at Sea World during the dolphin show. They ask a volunteer family to participate. The mom and dad stand on the little bridge on the left side of the photo with the Sea World Entertainer guy (in the hat) and the little boy gets to pet the dolphin. Cute! Anyway, the dad stood in front of the mom and so she was leaning around the dad to see the boy... click the photo so you can see it larger and check out Mommy.... actually.... don't look with a full bladder, you'll wet yourself.... take a little potty break then come back and click the pic and take a peek at Mom.

All By Myself

"All By Myself"..... sing it with me.... "I took a shower, All By Myself!"

It was fabulous! Yesterday I spent a good long time alone in the shower. Just me. Nobody banging on the door. No toddler trying to get in the shower with me. No husband walking in on me. I truly appreciated not being bothered. It was a rare and glorious 20 minutes of solitude.

Our bathroom doesn't have a door between it and our bedroom. It's this master suite with an open design. Yeah. Hippies built our house! No privacy! Even though I lock the bedroom door, my husband sticks a little screwdriver in the lock and lets himself in. Then he leaves the door open. The teens go in an out. They too know how to pick the lock. They also know I can't get away and they take these opportunities to whine about whatever it is that I cannot fix for them anyway. In the meantime I am cowering in the corner behind a bottle of shampoo and a bar of soap screaming "Get Out!". The dog likes to watch too. I must be very entertaining while in the shower!

Usually I cannot take a shower without Baby Princess. And I don't mind if she comes in too. She likes the shower and its about the only time I can scrub her head without her pitching a fit. Washing her hair in the tub is like scrubbing a screaming tornado.

Taking a shower under the supervision of a toddler is an experience in itself.
Whaz zat? Toes? Yes, toes.
Whaz zat? Knee. Yes, knee.
Knee. Owie. No, honey, that's a scar. It doesn't hurt.
Whaz zat? Tum. Yes, thumb.
Whaz zat? Ewww Poop. No, honey, that's not poop. That's my butt. Poop goes in the potty. Poop? No, Butt.
Whaz zat? Eye? Ow! Yes, that's my eye. You just poked me in the eye!

This is about the time the dog tries to lick the water off my leg. And someone will bang on the door and yell "Mom! where's my.....???"

Not yesterday. Sing with me again... "All by myself.... I took a shower all by myself.... Until the water ran cold I was ... All By Myself!"

We're Back!

We're back. We drove almost 4,000 miles through all sorts of weather. We had a busy week, saw all the relatives but we still missed Thanksgiving. We had lots of quality time together as a family doing silly things like.... talking to each other, singing to the radio, counting how many times we've each been through Las Vegas, silly things like that.

During the trip we encountered all sorts of weather. We went from 91 degrees to 1 degree. I had to buy the teens some coats! We crossed the desert and went over the snow covered mountains. The trip took us through six states.

We only had one "incident" on the trip. My baby burned her hand on Great Grandma's furnace, which is a propane stove in her living room. The burn is a second degree and didn't warrant a trip to the ER but we were all just sick over it. She has blisters but is using her hand just fine. Looks like its healing nicely.

We went on this spontaneous trip halfway across America because my father-in-law passed away last Tuesday. My husband and 16 yr old daughter left on Monday in hopes of seeing him before he passed on, but they didn't quite get there in time. I left with the rest of the crew on Tuesday afternoon. The funeral services were very nice. During the family visitation, my husband held our little one while he stood at the casket and without prompting, she pointed and said "Grampa" for the very first time. It was a very special moment. I think that one moment will last a long long time in our hearts.

We did have a nice time together on the trip (despite the funeral, weather and burn). Here are some pictures from the road. Just fun stuff here... we only take fun photos!
Oh, by the way... the Las Vegas count is as follows: Katie - 15 times, Lexie 17 times, Gracie 6 times, Sandy the dog 11 times.

Vacation Photo Scrapbook

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Family Road Trip!

We are back from our family road trip!

Imagine this... a long roadtrip with your husband, two teenage girls with guitars, a golden retriever who is shedding like crazy, and an active toddler. Got all that? Ok, now add luggage, one more guitar for the hubby, a stroller, toys, food, dog supplies, movies, books, blankets and of course - a big cooler of ice and drinks. Got all that in your mental picture? Ok, now on the way home, add some wall hangings, an endtable, sewing machine, rocks, dishes and little boxes of jewelry and trinkets. Got it now? Oh, wait, add a cardboard box to the load - for some reason it was important to bring home an old cardboard box. Does your mental image of us have it all now cuz - That's us on vacation!!!

It was a LONG trip. Thank the Lord for the dvd player and the movie "Cars". I know the movie dialogue by heart now for the entire movie. Add that to my list of Mom-Talents. I am pretty sure the whole family, including the dog, has it memorized too.

We drove there in two segments. First run was just over 1000 miles and took us 17 hours. Second segment of the trip was 630 miles and took us 10 hours. Then home, 1650 miles and 30 hours.

I gotta say, I have a pretty good traveling toddler! And her carseat must be super comfy because it wasn't too hard to keep her happy. It wasn't always easy though. I did see a vehicle traveling down the highway in the lane next to us, going 80, baby in the front seat on Mom's lap. That just made us all sick to see that.

Here are the highlights:
Our first day we drove to north-central Wyoming to see my Grandma and my Mom. We left at 8:45pm on Sunday night and arrived at 3:00pm on Monday. Along the way, we pulled over on the side of the road in Arizona so I could nurse Gracie. I think it was 2 or 3am. The girls and the dog got out to stretch. When we were ready to go again, we all piled in, buckled up and put the van in drive.... OOOPS! Where's the dog? Oh Lordy, we almost forgot our dog in the Virgin Gorge in Arizona. Yikes! In the afternoon before we got to Grandma's house, we stopped in Shoshone for a milkshake. If you are ever passing through Wyoming you just have to take the road that passes through Shoshone and stop for a milkshake! Awesome!

While in Wyoming, we stayed at the Vision Quest Motel. These fine accommodations included two full size beds . Did I mention that there are 4 adult sized people in our family and one toddler who flops around at night? And a big lovable dog? Did I mention that? Sleep was fleeting.

The highlight of our Wyoming visit for the girls was their "playdate" that Grandma set up for them. They were a little worried about this "playdate" wondering what they were in for. They figured it'd be boring or involved horseback riding or something equally awful. Turns out, a couple of teenage girls came for the "playdate" and said "wanna go swimming?". The girls said "sure!" They soon learned that "swimming" meant going 35 miles up the road to the dam and jumping off a cliff into the reservoir. Lexie said "It felt weird cuz after you jump you fall for such a long time". Ok, there are just some things a mother does NOT need to know! That little tidbit is one of them.

On Wednesday, we loaded up and left for the far side of South Dakota. I think there are 2 towns between my Gma's house and my inlaws. Very boring drive. Around 7pm we heard the radio news about the 35W bridge in Minneapolis. The bridge collapsed. Immediately, I called my sister and she is fine she wasn’t on the bridge and neither were any of her in-laws. Whew!

We got to the in-laws late in the evening and the place soon filled up with Aunts, Uncles and cousins. Gracie was a little overwhelmed, but the girls and the dog were super excited to see everyone! I was super excited knowing I would sleep on a double bed in a quiet dark basement! Whooo Hoooo! I'm gonna get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight! I really miss having a quiet dark basement. Such a wonderful place to sleep and sleep and sleep! Ah!

On Friday, I took one teen and one toddler to the new waterpark in town. For those of you familiar with the town, it's at the Southside swimming pool site. Very cool aquatic park! One of my kids enjoyed it very much! My little one did not enjoy the water. She looked very cute in her swim suit though and isn't that what is important to a girl at the pool? She did enjoy running around on the sidewalk and her cousins took her to the sandbox area.

Saturday we went to Aunt Gert’s estate give away. This is how we ended up bringing home a sewing machine, dishes, some framed art and an end table. We learned that Aunt Gertrude donated her body to science and is currently attending medical school in Vermillion. She'll be there for 2 years. She passed away a month ago. Her and I share a birthday which gave us a sort of a bond. Also, my daughters all looked just like her baby picture. But, she was 14 pounds when she was born! Thankfully, my girls were all between 7 and 8 pounds. Her baby picture looks amazingly like my girls as babies and she just loved that. She gave me her one and only baby picture last summer.

Sunday, we left all the girls with their cousins and my husband and I got away together for the afternoon. Only one of his brothers tagged along, so it was as alone as we were ever going to get on this trip. We went to the Terry Redlin Art Center. So nice! The paintings are so beautiful and a wonderful peaceful feeling overtakes you as you get sucked into the artwork. I could have stayed there for a few more hours. We bought a small framed print. Then we went out for some mediocre Mexican food with very bad wait service. Made me laugh, South Dakota is just not known for good restaurants. Oh to be back home again!

We packed up and left Monday evening at 8pm Central Time and got home 30 hours later at midnight our time. This was a 1650 mile drive from there to here, but we did it in one shot to get it done.

We've been home for a whole day now so I guess I should unpack and clean up the vacation mess. My new mini-van did really well! It is so full of dog hair now though. We put 3831 miles on it and drove for 69 hours from our house back to our house again. I'd say it's maiden voyage was a wonderful success! We'll do it again in 11 months!

Here are some more vacation pictures, there is a nice collection in the photo gallery of our family web site if you want to see them all:

Hiatus

Well, my dear blog, I am taking an internet hiatus. I will miss my connection through the world wide web to the outside. But, I will put on my big girl pants and get through the withdrawals and resurface a less addicted person. I think every once in a while we need to get away from our crutches and stand on our own just to remember what that feels like. Gives a person a renewed appreciation for such things. Look for an update when I finish my internet addiction detox.

Selling my old van

Well, she's lived a long fun filled life. Time to let her go. I bought some window chalk and we wrote "For Sale" on the windows.

This old mini-van has been my best friend (sad statement about my social life, isn't it). It's a 1997 Dodge Grand Caravan SE. When we bought it used and abused from a junkyard in North Dakota. It had been rear ended and it was totaled. So, hubby and his brother and a few beers between them fixed it all up good as new (ah, close enough).

That was six years and 90,000 miles ago. We've driven the girl all over the nation - nearly. She's taken us through:
North Dakota
South Dakota
Colorado
Arizona
Iowa
Missouri
Tennessee
Kentucky
Indiana
Illinois
Wisconsin
Minnesota
Montana
Utah
Nevada
California
She's been through rain, sleet, hail, snow, wind, sun, and every thing else I can think of as far as weather.

Tomorrow morning may be the end of our friendship. Our friendship can be bought for a mere $2900. The guy coming over tomorrow to look at the old gal is a TV producer looking for a new star. The Caravan is auditioning for a part as a sexy mini-van in a reality show. (Ok, I made up the sexy part). But they are filming a show in our area and looking for a vehicle just like this one. Hopefully everything will go well with the "audition" and she'll end her long hard life with a bit of fame and possible a big explosion. That'd be cool!

By the way.... I just realized I don't have many good pics of my precious mini-van. But in my defense.... who takes pictures of their mini-van? That one isn't too bad, you can see the old gal and see what fun she's having camping with us.