Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The Journey

I haven't been blogging because we have been traveling. On Friday, we headed to Ft. Worth because Brian's cousin, Chris, was graduating from high school. The trip was fun and VERY eventful. I was trying to find a quote that I once heard about a journey that would sum up our trip, but I couldn't find the one I was looking for. In the process though, I came across these two quotes that help adequately explain the weekend.

"Traveling tends to magnify all human emotions." - Peter Hoeg

"In America, there are two classes of travel: First class, and
with children." - Robert Benchley


On Friday, we headed out in the afternoon to Ft Worth. After several peaceful hours in the car, we decided to stop for a nice supper at Cracker Barrel. Lucky for us, the peaceful weekend stopped there. Nathan gagged on some food and threw up EVERYWHERE. Since we are experts in small children gagging and throwing up, Brian and I have a system already worked out. He is the napkin hander guy who passes napkins to me, the pounder and catcher girl who is responsible for pounding the small child's back and catching whatever comes out of his mouth. Unfortunately, we only had four napkins and Nathan apparently had a pretty full stomach. Needless to say, life got very messy.

To add insult to injury, the "nice" lady at the table behind us made some very rude comments as if Nathan had purposefully thrown up to ruin her day. I wanted to get in her face and put her in her place, but the need to take care of the situation at hand won out. I got Nathan cleaned up and then realized that he had gotten my clothes dirty too. So, I changed clothes in the van (very discreetly!) while I waited for Brian and David to make their way out to the car. Then we were off again for another "peaceful" car ride.

At least it was peaceful until Brian was pulled over by the state trooper. Did you know at night you can only go 65 mph in Texas? David was quite excited about the policeman and the flashing red and blue lights behind us. He even asked us if the policeman was there to show us the way to Dallas. That lightened the mood a little bit. The trooper gave Brian a warning (which lightened the mood even more) and we were once again on our way to Ft. Worth...at 65 mph.

Saturday was a good day. We spent time with Brian's aunt, Becky, and cousins, Chris and Meagan. We enjoyed getting to visit with them during the day and then went to Chris' graduation that night. It was a nice graduation, but a little on the long side for the boys, especially Nathan. At one quiet point in the graduationceremonyy, Nathan gave an overdramatic and very loud sigh, which brought about some stares, smiles and laughing from the people seated around us. (They were thinking the same thing...Nathan just had the guts to verbalize it!) Overall, they did a good job, but at the end of it, were more than ready to leave.

Sunday was another great day. We spent the afternoon with Becky, Chris, Meagan and Becky's husband Pat just hanging out at their house. The boys decided to put their feet in the pool and pretty soon they were wading on the steps of the pool in just their underwear. Nathan decided it was time to be a little braver and stepped off the step into a section of the pool where he couldn't reach the bottom. This led to me jumping in the pool to rescue him. (Did I mention I was wearing my jeans, T-shirt, socks and shoes?) And for the record, I don't think I will ever forget the look of fear in his eyes when I pulled him out of the water. I just wonder what was going through that little mind of his during that moment.

Anyway, since I was already wet, I stayed in the pool a little longer and took Nathan for a swim. I didn't want him to be afraid of being in the water, so I helped him "swim" for a little while and then all of us that were soaking wet dried off and put on new clothes. We spent the rest of our time at their house relaxing in the shade and playing with the dogs, which was a HUGE step for David since he was terrified of the dogs when he first saw them.

That is pretty much a highlight of our journey. There were a few other things in there like a movie and a shopping trip to buy me some new clothes to wear home since Nathan kept sabotaging mine. In spite of some of the "moments", it was a very good trip. Although, I will admit, it is always nice to be home.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just wondering if anyone told the state trooper,"Don't mess with Texas?"

Anonymous said...

sounds like you guys had many adventures! but hey, you got a good swim AND new clothes out the deal. What more could you ask for? :) Miss you.... awwww, we never talk! Makes me :( This calls for a Sav and Stace talk soon... Call me sometime when you aren't busy! Hugs the boys for me!

<>< Savannah

Anonymous said...

sounds like you guys had many adventures! but hey, you got a good swim AND new clothes out the deal. What more could you ask for? :) Miss you.... awwww, we never talk! Makes me :( This calls for a Sav and Stace talk soon... Call me sometime when you aren't busy! Hugs the boys for me!

<>< Savannah

stacey said...

I thought about it (the "Don't mess with Texas" line), but he didn't litter. I had to tell Brian about that story once we were on the road again, though!