On the Road Again

Every time we think that a road trip is a good idea, we take one. We should have known!

We wanted to get an early start and meet my mom and her sleigh at the outlet mall in Hillsboro. I called to tell her that we were leaving and she was madly rushing around to get things ready. We arrived a little after 9 and since she was delayed a little I of course began to shop! Since there are have been bigger and better outlet malls built close by, this little one is slowly going under. I hit a couple of store closing sales and got a few good deals along the way. The car was already packed to the gills so when I got back to the car I found all my purchases sitting in my seat. I guess my husband was trying to nicely tell me that if I kept shopping I would have to hold it all! He did manage to find someplace to store them.

After noon my mom showed up. By then we were hungry and picnicked on the tables in front of the stores. There was a lady who was selling tamales to customers that were meeting her up at the outlet mall and we mentioned that looked good and she offered to sell us a dozen extra she had. They were excellent! We demolished those, added some german potato salad from our german Christmas, fed the children some sandwiches and then hit the road.

250 miles later we were on the border of Texas and Oklahoma and we needed a rest stop! We exited at the sign but didn't realize that we needed to backtrack on the other side of the freeway to get to the rest stop. We had entered Oklahoma, but went back to Texas once we turned around towards the rest stop. Realizing that we were doing this, we opted to turn around again and get back on the freeway and stop in OK. We left Texas, entered OK, and then entered TX again as we got back to the other side of the freeway. Once we finally found a place to turn around, we got back on the freeway and left Texas and finally entered OK for good. Yeah, okay, that makes no sense when you write it down.

We continued driving, grabbed a hotdog at a convenience store in Tulsa for dinner and then hit the road again where after 11 last night we finally arrived at the hotel. We had called ahead to find a place that was reasonably priced and served breakfast as feeding this hungry bunch can cost a bundle. My mom refuses to stay in any one star hotel, but I think we should up the standards to nothing less than three stars! We pulled up in front of the Lamplighter Inn in Springfield, and it looked okay. We got in there and the front desk clerks were pleasant but quirky. Em had to use the bathroom and one of the clerks ran around the corner and started yelling at the drunk man coming out of the women's restroom. we got Em situated after checking the bathroom and then went to our rooms. We had adjoining rooms...on the third floor....

Going up in the smelly elevator I was getting kind of nervous, but it was almost midnight and we were tired! I opened the room and expected to see mirrors over the ceiling. My mom's heater/ac was broken, so at midnight we are taking a tired Em, a wildly awake Abs and an energetic Junior down the hall to the new set of rooms. These were actually better than the first set, although I am glad we are staying just one night! The girls wanted to stay at the nice hotel that our windows looked out to, but we tucked them into bed and eventually we all fell asleep. Junior didn't get the message on sleeping through the night, but what's more fun than having a baby kick you and sleep on top of you all night as they try to get comfortable?

We are about to go to breakfast and then hit the road.

Christmas in Texas

We are having our Christmas with the outlaws tonight since we are leaving in the morning for my sister's house. I'm cleaning and sent Gunner and Junior to the store to pick up tape so I can wrap the presents. Santa has been notified of our location on Christmas morning and the girls were relieved to hear that. Today is the last day of school and then the outlaws are bringing over a German Christmas dinner. They ate and left in such a hurry on Thanksgiving, that I wonder how long they will stay today.

I signed up to be a sub, and am being stalked by the sub center. I did sub in a music class yesterday and in a kindergarten class the other day. I can't take the calls because I have to coordinate the girls getting picked up from school and Junior going to daycare. I have to do it online and plan ahead. I am hoping in January to pick up more jobs though since Junior loves going to daycare and he would be happy being there every day. He'll have to start going anyway when I go back to school this summer, so I might as well get him used to it.

Since we are leaving tomorrow....you guessed it.....I have nothing packed. My mom is going along with us, and after checking in with her, she's not ready either. At least I know where I get it from! I was kind of worried about the whole trip since until about 10 pm last night we didn't even have a place to stay! We finally found what we were looking for--my only request was an indoor heated pool so that we could tired the kids out at night.

I have the roomba and the scooba going and have to wash and fold mountains of laundry. At least I work well under pressure...

Gas Leak

Yesterday I was having Starbucks with my friend and Gunner called to tell me that there were fire engines around the girls' school, but not to worry because he didn't see any smoke. We figured that the school was probably touring the fire engines or something. No big deal. Junior and I head out to a doctor's appointment in the neighboring town and Gunner calls to tell me that he finished up his PT appt and caught on the news that there was a gas leak at the school. Another Soldier watching said that the kids were evacuated to a gym on post. We finally manage to get a hold of someone at the gym and were told that we were supposed to come pick up our children. We never received a phone call or anything, and this was hours after the incident. If Gunner hadn't caught the tail end of the news, we would have never known since I wasn't home and even if I was, I would have been enjoying the peace and quiet. The children were safe though and that was what was most important. They had to take 12 children to the hospital and 5 teachers. Em's teacher passed out in the classroom in front of them. They were taken to the cafeteria where they were loaded on to buses--I think they said with staff and everything it was 21 buses, not sure on that. They got to the gym where they were given water bottles as they entered and later served pizza hut, milk and applesauce and waited until their parents went through a screening process to make sure that they were being picked up by the correct people. The news said that the school was filled with carbon monoxide. Thankfully no one was hurt, but they do need to work on their emergency notification system!

Em and Abs talked about it the rest of the day and Em wrote it down and told me to blog it. Her Grandma would be proud that she is documenting everything.

She wrote:

Today was the worst day of my life. The school was filled with carbon
monoxide. Mrs. M passed out on the floor and had to be rushed to the
hospital. It was so major that 2 fire trucks, 8 ambulances and 21 school
buses were there to take all the kids to the gym. But the good things are
Mrs. M is okay, there will be school tomorrow and everyone is still alive.

13 Years

My internet wasn't working, so this was for yesterday.

Today, Gunner and I have been married for 13 years. We were married about 7 months after I graduated from college and he had received orders for Germany. During those 13 years we have lived in 7 houses, three different duty stations (Hood twice, Germany and Lewis), had three children in three different locations (one at each duty station....hmmmm.....maybe that is why the Army isn't moving us anymore?) and suffered through three year long deployments with a 4th one on the way. My husband's hair has started to gray...a lot (mine too--not good!). We've gained a few pounds. We've lost three grandparents, my dad and muddled through life together although we are almost always apart. Even though his dirty socks can never find the hamper, his shoes are scattered around the house and his army gear breeds in the closets overnight—I wouldn’t trade a thing (ummmm....but if someone reading this can help us out, I would like to move again!). Thanks Gunner for the last 13 years and many more to come.