1300 Miles North - Homeward bound

My dad flew down (which is a miracle in itself, he does not fly) Sept 9^th and we left the 10^th at 5:30am for the 1300 mile trek north. We made it to Oklahoma City and were already sick of I-35 so we cut diagonally across Missouri.

The first day we made it to Springfield Missouri, about 750miles from home. We caught a hotel where Eliza decided to take on the corner of the night stand about 11pm…the night stand won. She spent the week with a beat up nose and a nice shiner.

Day two we left Springfield, drove up through the Ozarks and stopped at Hannibal Missouri and toured Mark Twain Cave. Isaac decided that he didn’t like deep dark caverns whose crevasses once hid dead bodies and infamous bank robbers. But the girls had a blast doing the tour with grandpa. We spent a couple of hours in Hannibal and drove the last five hours as we watched the interstate turn to 4-lane,then the 4-lane turn to miles of rural two lane roads. And then we were welcomed home by the world largest fiberglass strawberry sitting outside the Strawberry Point city hall. Population:1200

Strawberry is your typical Iowa town, one gas station that does not even offer pay-at-the-pump because even if they did people would still prefer to go inside, grab their morning coffee and get the gossip update from Karen the clerk. It’s one of those places everyone has a charge account at the gas station, the grocery store and munters hardware and they will just send you a monthly bill.

To give you an idea what I mean by rural, the nearest Wal-Mart is 20 miles away (and its not a super walmart, no food and as I soon found out no eyebrow wax). The nearest movie theater with more than one screen is 40 miles away and the nearest mall is 60+ miles away. I forgot how much you drive to get anywhere.

But it was a nice relief from the concrete jungle of Houston.

Quote of the week....

"Eliza! We don't throw canned goods at people, its not nice!"

Eliza decided to chuck a full can of pineapple at Jared's head...the kid has an arm on her. Luckily Jared has fast reflexes and he caught it.

Two Months

Isaac sporting his new suit for Max's wedding

Ike's "please don't hurt me" look

All Smiles

Weight: 11lbs 5oz (50%)

Well, we can officially confirm that we survived two months with three kids. I may look like I’ve been maimed by a pack of rabid coyotes, but I feel like a survivor. I finally got the hang of this, even when shopping (knock on wood). Jared has been a huge help, he takes Isaac three nights a week and that makes all the difference (It’s how I bounce back so quickly). Women always look at me and ask how do you get him to do that? Its simple - I ask. Jared pulls his weight with the kids and it makes the transition so much easier and I appreciate all he does.

Isaac is growing like a weed. He is all smiles - I can't get enough of him. He is so strong and very alert and now keeps a keen eye on where Eliza is. He is different than the girls, totally a mamas boy, but when you kiss him he already has a looks that say “ah mom, that is soo embarrassing” And then I do it again and again just to see his expression.

Eliza loves her baby brother, she loves to try to catapult him out of his bouncy chair, she loves to see how high she can swing him and she loves to see how long she can sit on him without getting into trouble. Last week Isaac was sleeping and had a dozen plus stickers stuck to his head. I thought it was hilarious and went to go get the camera. Eliza saw me and thought she would get in trouble because when I returned with the camera she was ripping them off as fast as she could and Isaac looked like he was mildly annoyed. She really does love him, and he takes her tough love in stride.