We hit the road Friday just after lunch and arrived in Savannah around 5. Josh had time to check us into our room and help us get settled before he had to jet off to a groomsman get together. So it was up to me to get dinner for Nora and myself while Quinn was along for the ride. No problem. We had seen a Five Guys just down the street on our way in. I remembered because Nora pointed right at it and said, “Five Guys!” I like to think this is a result of strong branding on their part and not that my two year old eats there enough to recognize every franchise she comes across.

Off we went. One problem- while we do have a double jogging stroller Uncle Beau and Aunt Jeanine were so awesome as to lend us, we didn’t bring it with us. All we had was the one that Quinn’s carseat clicks into. In other words, Nora had to walk. But like I said, I remembered it being close by. And she loves Five Guys. (Clearly.) And there was so much to look at in Savannah that I figured it would be easy enough to do a short walk with a little sight seeing at the same time.

So we walked and saw trolleys, horses pulling carriages, and tall buildings. We kept walking and saw flags and dogs and babies. And kept walking and saw a big courthouse like building with a gold roof. (Just trying to remember all the things I pointed out to Nora to distract her and keep her moving.) And kept walking. Past the gold roof building. Past lots of tall trees. Good grief, where WAS this place? I kept looking ahead and not seeing their sign. Oh, boy. Have a I mentioned that getting lost is my Superhero Power? Josh’s is falling asleep immediately whenever he wants, Nora has her Steel Bladder (as we discovered during a failed attempt to potty train a few months ago) and so far, Quinn’s seems to be smiling wider than should be possible. But mine is definitely getting lost. I was totally sure that the Five Guys was on this street. It was the main street and I had made a point to remember where it was so we could do precisely what we seemed to be failing to do. But I can, no joke, get lost anywhere.

Just before I started to seriously question my sanity, ah HA! There it was! Nora had walked almost the whole way, with only a few brief breaks where I carried her. We weren’t lost! Hurray! Hurray! I’m a totally competent Mommy Traveler! Look at me, with all my brood in tow! I can accomplish ANY DINING CHALLENGE YOU THROW AT ME!

I’m not sure I actually thought all those things, but I was definitely enthused. Alas, it was to be short-lived. I ordered for myself and for Nora (Forgetting to get her food when we’re out is another thing I do a lot, but not enough to qualify as a Superhero Power) and got our drinks. Then it was time to find a seat. It was a very cramped Five Guys. They crammed as many tables as they could, leaving little spaces between the aisles. Big enough for the average human, to be sure, but not a huge carseat stroller traveling system that I was swinging about like a battering ram. After taking up as much space as I could getting our drinks, and having at least two Five Guys workers duck out of our way, we went to go sit down. Almost all the smaller tables were taken so I had Nora sit at one of the large tables smack in the center of the place. I rolled Quinn into the space behind us and settled back to wait for our number to be called.

Then it started happening. I started to convince myself that we were being super inconsiderate. Who did we think we were, Nora and I, taking up one of the last remaining huge tables. During peak dinner hours. And what about Quinn, stuck between us and the table behind us. No party of four could sit there- she was dominating one whole side of the table. No no. This wasn’t working. We could easily move to the last available small table. There were only two of us eating, after all. “Nora, let’s go to that little table.” So I gathered all the drinks and the diaper bag. Nora sat and I started to make my way over with Quinn. I had noticed one of the workers who had already moved out of our way once watching us. I think he was thinking what any normal person would have thought. “That stroller is not going to make it.” Sure enough, as I started to push it through the tables, the wheels kept getting stuck. On one side of us was an older lady who seemed unaware and I really didn’t want to make her have to get up or move. She was elderly, after all. So I entered what Josh and I call the Neanderthal Mode. Which means I abandoned all logic and used brute force to try to make something happen that wasn’t happening, getting more and more frantic the whole time. The worker rushed over as I bombarded the other table and chairs trying to force my way in. As he helped me move the other table over, plus all four chairs, I could feel my face get super red. I was trying to make us be less of an inconvenience…

There was no turning back now. We finally got through to the smaller table when I realized there wasn’t a big enough space for the stroller here either. So now the stroller’s handle dangled over the table for four that we had just abandoned. We were taking up our table and rendering the other table useless as well, unless you don’t mind eating with a stroller handle in your face.

Thankfully, they called our number then and I ate as fast as I could. Nora worked up quite an appetite during that long walk and wolfed down her sandwich. Meanwhile, the older couple left their table, leaving an opening just the right size for our stroller to get through sans Neanderthal Mode. As long as no one sat at either table, we’d be in the clear. But if either table was occupied, we’d have to ask some people to get up.

I really, really need to pray for common sense. I think newcomers saw what was going on and didn’t want to box us in. At this point, we were essentially taking up three tables.

We downed our food and said goodbye to the same guy who was probably super relieved to see us go without having to rearrange the entire restaurant’s seating. Outside it was starting to get dusky and I wanted to hurry and get Nora and Quinn to bed. We did have a big weekend ahead. I decided to “motivate” her with M&M’s that I had seen in a vending machine. That did help get her home almost the whole way, with a few carried breaks. We finally got back to the hotel, took the elevator, walked down two hallways to the vending machines, only for me to realize I didn’t have enough change on me. Newman!

At this point, I was concerned about Nora’s feet. She was wearing little canvas espadrilles, so she was basically walking on fabric and straw all this time. (And yes, I was also bribing her with candy. I’ll be accepting my Mother of the Year award next week.) I had been asking her off and on if her feet hurt, to which she kept saying, “No.” Well, once I explained that we had to back to the car to get more money, she crumpled to her knees and proclaimed, “My toes hurt!”

But M&M’s won out in the end and we went back to the car and all the way back to the vending machine. Where she changed her mind and wanted the cookies. Whatever you want, Munchkin, whatever you want. How are those feet doing?

The rest of the weekend went fairly smoothly. We really loved all the wedding festivities. Nora was completely enthralled with the idea of a real life Princess Bride. When it was time for her to wake up from her nap on the day of the wedding, she sat up immediately. “I go see Princess Bride?”

We sat up in the balcony just in case Quinn or Nora got too restless, and it gave Nora a great view. She happily sketched on the prayer request cards (I hope that’s okay) and waited for the Bride and Broom to kiss.

There’s no better excuse to travel than a wedding. Congratulations, Will and Vanessa! Thanks for letting us be there for your Big Day!

Oh, and that walk from the hotel to Five Guys? Josh just looked it up and it was half a mile each way. So while I didn’t technically get us lost, I sure underestimated the distance. Oops.

Here’s what happened the rest of the time we were on the road:

Day Four; Saturday Night, November 27th

Just after I finished writing the last post, I was ready for a great night’s sleep. We were in a clean, new hotel and that’s a recipe for great sleep for this girl. However. First a siren went by and Nora jumped up and held her arms out for me as she wailed. It was pretty easy to calm her down after the ambulance drove away. She just said “byebye” and laid back down and went back to sleep. There were a few quiet hours until the wind storm. Our hotel backed up to another building and created some sort of wind tunnel. The wind picked up off and on during the night and reminded me of the sound effects in The Mummy every time the mummy blew into a room.

Day Five, Sunday, November 28th
Around 5 am, it really got loud and woke Nora up. We spent the rest of the morning all piled into the big bed trying to sleep through the wailing of the wind. We didn’t have much success and understood why when we packed up the car the next morning. The wind was so strong that it blew some of Nora’s clothes right out of the little laundry bag. We could even feel it blowing our car as we started driving on the freeway. Everything really is bigger in Texas.

We made a stop in Palenstine to visit Josh’s grandmother. Nora loved meeting her and entertaining her and the other residents at the home by dancing and playing peek a boo. We also drove by the famous house where the Teague kids spent some time during summer. It was so special to be able to see the place that is a huge part of the Teague family story. We also ate dinner at Little Mexico, the mexican restaurant that is also well known and talked about. I feel like a real Teague after seeing these places and getting to spend some time with Josh’s grandmother.

That night we made it to Shreveport, Louisiana. We found a place to stay and while Josh was inside booking a room, I checked some reviews online. I don’t know why I do this to myself. I saw one review that said the hotel had given him bedbugs. I tried really hard to ignore that review, especially since other people said how great and clean the hotel was and that they didn’t see any signs of bugs at all. Still, I was glad this was our last night in a hotel.

Day 6, Monday, November 29th
Our last day! Our last day! All we had to do now was get to my mom’s house. Granted, it was a few states away, but they were much smaller than Texas and California. We really hoped we could do it. We did wake up to a downpour of heavy rain. It even thundered. Nora has hardly ever heard thunder- it doesn’t happen in Seattle. She was happily playing under the desk in the hotel room while we packed up. When the thunder rolled, I gasped out of excitement since I haven’t heard that sound since we were last in the south. But gasping was probably the wrong way to express myself since it only reinforced the terror that had gripped Nora. She jumped up to run to me, forgetting she was under the desk, bonked her head, and cried even harder.

Meanwhile, Josh had gotten a luggage cart and was ready to load up the car. As we walked to the front of the hotel to check out, Remy decided that he had waited long enough and squatted on the hallway carpet to relieve himself. Josh reacted first and tried to nudge Remy out of the squatting position with his foot but it was too late. We had to clean up that mess quickly and get him outside so he could finish. But the Remster doesn’t like to go in the rain. Anyone looking at their windows must have thought we were the worst dog owners in the world because we sat in the car and kept fussing at him to hurry up and go while he looked at us like, “But it’s raining.” He really was a very low maintenance guy on the trip but even he had had enough of life on the road.

We finally gave up and let the wet guy into our car and finished loading up the bags and checking out. Then it was time to hit the road for the last time. But first we had to stop at Chick Fil A for breakfast. (The day before was Sunday, so we had taken a mandatory break.) Then we got on the road and drove through the rest of Louisiana and stopped in Mississippi for lunch. At Chick Fil A- where else? (“My pleasure”- oh, how I’ve missed that!)

The next thing we knew, we were in Alabama! That’s our neighboring state!

But first, my friends, we had to get through one last hurdle before we earned the right to be back in Georgia. We had to drive on I 20 from Birmingham to Atlanta. Or as we like to call it, “That Scary Stretch of Highway Where You Hope You Don’t Get Run Over by a Semi Being Driven by a Truck Driver Who Must be on Some Sort of Mind Altering Medication.” It didn’t help that it was raining pretty heavily. That was an interesting hour and half or so of dodging the trucks who didn’t seem to respect our decision to go the speed limit (or even dared to go below it) since it was dark and wet. But we did it. I should say, Josh did it since there was no way I could have been calm in that situation.
But the rain finally let up and we got to 285!!!

A little while later, we were pulling into our new neighborhood! We did a quick drive by our future home and saw an Under Contract sign out front. That’s from us!

Around 10 pm we pulled into my mom’s driveway and were welcomed by mom, my sisters Mandy and Annie, and my brother John who wanted to hear our big entrance via cell phone from Birmingham. It was a great reunion, even if Remy barked in terror which made Nora cry for a second. But no matter- we were finally at our destination and our long drive was done. Nora was thrilled when she saw all Gran’s toys and Remy seemed to be very much at home after doing a few laps around. He’s already accepted that this is his new home and he’s in charge of all unexpected noises and visitors.

Now we just have to realize that we are actually living here again and not on vacation. Our stuff doesn’t arrive for a few more days and my mom has been kind enough to offer the use of her garage for storage until the house is ready for us to move in to. In the meantime, it’s been great to start reconnecting with family and friends. Josh and I got to go out on a date last night and drove through midtown. Enough has changed that we do feel like we’ve been gone a few years. But enough has stayed the same that it still feels like our hometown.

And once again, thank you so much for praying for our trip. We are so grateful that God kept us safe and we were able to arrive safely. We’re back!

Here’s a quick recap of the trip so far if you’re interested-

Moving Day-Tuesday, November 23rd
A snowstorm hit Kirkland the night and day before the moving van was supposed to arrive. The roads were pretty icy and most places were closed on Tuesday morning. We were thrilled to see the moving van pull up a few hours later. These movers were awesome. They inventoried, wrapped, and loaded up all our stuff in two hours. That morning, Josh woke up with an itch to get on the road. Since the movers were so fast, we knew there was a chance we could start that night. For extra motivation, we sent our air mattress with the moving van. The only catch was that Josh had to finish repainting our room and Nora’s room. I couldn’t help because the paint fumes were ridiculously awful and I had to keep an eye on Nora. But he did it and we were on the road before 7 that night. We made it to our goal- Portland, Oregon.

Day One-Wednesday, November 24th
Josh took Nora to the hotel breakfast where she loved the make-them-yourself waffles. She also had apple juice for the first time along with a piece of toast. That’s a big breakfast for her. So when it all came back up ten minutes into our drive, (literally minutes after I said, “This is going to be an adventure!”) we hoped it was just a combination of excitement and eating too much.

We pulled over onto a random street, stripped the poor child down to her diaper in 20 something degree weather, and tried to clean up as best we could with wipes. About ten minutes after we got back on the road, that second outfit was ruined when she got sick again. We pulled into a Walgreens parking lot to clean up again and Josh went inside to get some towels. After covering her up as best we could, we started on our way again. She did fine until we stopped for lunch. All she wanted was some water and one of Josh’s chips. That didn’t stay down either and we had to acknowledge that she did indeed have a stomach bug. By the time we pulled into Redding, CA that night, she was on her fourth outfit and that one needed a wash as well. Thankfully, the hotel we stayed in had a laundry room. She was down to two outfits to last the rest of the week.

But it was a beautiful drive that day! We drove through the northern California mountains and got to see Mt Shasta. We also got to eat at In N Out that night for dinner. So delicious. And totally worth the half an hour we spent waiting in the drive through line.

And I also should add that even though Nora wasn’t feeling well, she did a great job and was able to sleep through most of the drive. We felt awful for her but we were very proud. I also want to give a shout out to Mom- I called her throughout the day with updates and to get any advice about Nora being sick and what we needed to look for. Mom totally called it and said she would probably be sick off and on for about 12 hours and then be really tired another 12 hours, and probably the whole next day as well. That’s exactly what happened. Good job, Mom!

Day Two- Thursday, Nov.25th
Nora didn’t get sick the next day but wow, was she sleepy. She slept almost the whole day, and we weren’t complaining. She was pretty happy when she was awake, so she seemed to be on the mend.
This was also Thanksgiving Day! Our only concern for this day was if we would be able to find something to eat for dinner. We knew we would at least get a good breakfast since it was part of the hotel package.

Wow. This hotel’s dining room was Small Talk Central. We spent an hour in there. As soon as we walked in, a nice couple who was about to leave offered us their table. They immediately started talking about their travel plans and asking about ours and we swapped stories.

Somehow, it turned to the wife’s recent eye surgery. I had noticed she was wearing dark sunglasses but wasn’t going to say anything. Just after Josh got up to get a few things, she started to take off her sunglasses to show me the results. I absolutely panicked. I’m a bit squeamish and hadn’t actually started to eat yet. But what do you do, yell out, “Oh, no, that’s okay, please, please keep the sunglasses on?” I didn’t know what to do but wait in slight horror as the shades came down.
Thankfully, it wasn’t as bad as I feared and I think God gave me the grace to block it out immediately afterwards. A good reminder for why I’m not a nurse.

Then a few conversations later, some guy who had also been talking normal travel talk walked up to Josh and showed up him a recent incision that had been made to insert a piece of titanium into his neck. We’re not sure what was up with the post op show and tell. I guess we should be thankful we didn’t have anything to show?

A few hours and several miles later (just outside Sacramento) we stopped to get gas and I never thought I would be so happy to see an open McDonalds. We were that desperate to find anything open for lunch. I knew Nora was still feeling under the weather when she turned down a french fry.

We kept driving and I started making calls to find a place to stay in LA that night. Several places had vacancies but hardly anyone allowed dogs. I called about ten places, most of whom wouldn’t talk to me after I said “dog” and the two places that did take dogs charged between $50 and $75 extra. We hadn’t had any problems until now finding a place to stay that charged a small pet fee.

So we moved outside LA and widened our circle until I finally found a hotel that accepted dogs for a small fee. We booked a room immediately.

I kinda misread the map scale because I told Josh that I thought this place was just outside LA. It turns out that Redlands, CA is about an hour outside LA. That’s like driving to Athens.

By the time we got there, we were so tired and it was getting late and our odds of getting any kind of dinner seemed smaller and smaller. Then we saw the hotel. As Josh described it when I kept asking him how bad it was, it was “a little dicey.” Let’s just say it was one of those rooms that you stop looking at because you keep finding things wrong with it. Such as the huge dent in the wall where the door handle had smashed through the drywall and was being covered with a square patch of wallpaper pasted right on top of the original wallpaper. And the trashcan in the middle of the floor that was resting on top of two newspapers. Newspapers that I picked up to throw away and discovered they were damp and covering a mystery puddle. Then the bathroom with random hot spots on floors and a toilet that ran every hour. You get the idea.

And Josh was nice enough to wait until the next morning to point out that there was a “gentleman’s lounge” just across the street. I’m so glad I didn’t know that at the time. But. I am grateful that we had a roof over our heads and place that accepted Remy. We had shelter- that’s the important thing.

We did end up finding a Popeyes that was open so we got to have poultry and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving after all. =)

Day Three- Friday, November 26th
We found a Chick Fil A!!!!! We got to eat a real, genuine Chick Fil A breakfast. So good.

We drove through the rest of southern California, Arizona, and made it all the way to New Mexico. One of my new favorite cities is Phoenix. It’s like a bright, clean, gigantic outdoor mall in the middle of the desert. And everyone seems so happy. It must be all the Vitamin D.

We hoped to make it all the way to El Paso, Texas that night but we were too tired. After driving through miles and miles of dark desert, we saw the beautiful lights of Las Cruces, New Mexico and decided to stay there.

Day Four- Saturday, November 27th

Which brings us to today. I was craving something light after a few days of drive through food. Josh was nice and agreed to let me go to Starbucks and we got pastries for breakfast. Then we drove through the Texas desert. Of all the days for me to crave a light breakfast, I chose the day with a route that goes through miles and miles of land with very little civilization and few choices for places to stop to eat. Silly.

But first we got to drive through El Paso and visited the home the Teagues built and spent several years in! Josh, Nora and I knocked on the front door and the current residents invited us to look inside. Josh even got to see his old bedroom. Nora was thrilled because they had two really sweet, friendly kids and a cat. It was so fun to see how excited Josh was to see his old home and relive memories driving through the town and neighborhood. I’m so glad we were able to go inside! Texans are so nice.

Nora and I also got our first glimpse of Mexico today as we drove just along the border. I don’t think she cared but I was fascinated.

Then we drove and drove and drove and drove. Texas is huge. We drove for almost nine hours and are now halfway through the state in Abilene, Texas. This is where Josh’s parents went to college and I love this city! It’s huge and has so many great places to eat! We are staying in the nicest hotel yet- it’s only been open since March. I love new hotels.

Nora seems to be back to her old self with her old energy back. She’s napping a lot less but is still very sweet and a joy in the car.
Tomorrow we will attempt to finish crossing Texas. Seriously, this state is HUGE.

And I know everyone probably says this after you drive across half the country, but WOW, is God awesome. He created these gorgeous snow capped mountains and these crazy plants like cactuses and these gigantic mounds of red sand and rocks. It’s been really fun hanging out with Josh and Nora and getting to see such a range of God’s handiwork.

Halfway done with the trip! Thanks again for the prayers!!

We’ve decided that we are driving and planning to leave Seattle on the 24th of November and drive through Thanksgiving and be in Atlanta by Sunday night. We are prepared that we may have to make extra stops if the weather isn’t safe to drive in, but that’s the plan for now. The movers are scheduled and I’d say about 60% of the house is packed up.
Since we’ll be on the road during Thanksgiving, Josh agreed to stop and eat at Cracker Barrel. I’m so excited. I’ve been craving Cracker Barrel. And….. there’s one outside of Buffalo, where we’ll hopefully be staying that night! Yes!

Finally, I feel so bad for Nora these days. I think she gets really bored. I haven’t been able to play with her or take her out as much as she probably needs since we’ve been packing during the day. At least there’s lots of boxes around…

We are thinking of getting her a dollhouse for Christmas. It looks like she’s ready for one.

PS. We have an ultrasound scheduled for Tuesday! We’re hoping to have some fun pictures to post of Baby Teague!

PPS. Speaking of pictures, sorry that we haven’t had new pictures of the day! Josh is the one who knows how to do those and he’s been super busy scheduling movers, the whole process of trying to find and purchase a home, not to mention experiencing a busy time at work. Hopefully we can get those POD’s going soon.

It worked out so well that we were able to go at all. Josh had business meetings in Mountain View, which is about an hour and a half away from Carmel, home of Aunt Barb and Uncle Paul. They were available to spend the time with us, so he booked a ticket for me and away we went!

The flight out there was amazing. The flight attendant managed to find us our own row on a full flight! After landing, we got our rental car and car seat, dropped Josh off at his office, and drove down to Carmel.

And then Nora finally got to meet Aunt Barb and Uncle Paul! She loved them right away and started giving them her flirty, squinched up face grins. She also loved exploring their kitchen as we ate lunch. (So many drawers! And cabinets!)

After lunch we went for a walk in downtown Carmel. There were so many doggies. And birds. Aunt Barb and I went from shop to shop and were always able to find Uncle Paul and Nora by listening for the cry of “Hey! Dog gee!” Uncle Paul was very kind and pushed Nora’s stroller while she exclaimed over all the dogs. She also liked to touch the potted flowers. (And maybe even snatched a few during drive-by flower pickings.) She was totally comfortable and didn’t even care that I kept walking away. Instant trust and love for Uncle Paul.

The next day we went to this amazing park (the wildlife kind) where you can look over cliffs and see seals. We even got to see a mother with her baby seal! It was so adorable. The baby swam right next to the mom and sometimes they touched noses like they were kissing! We named them “Mommy” and “Nora.”

Next up — the Dennis the Menace Park. Um. Wow. I really wish every kid could go to a park like this one. It was huge with these gigantic bridges and swings and climbing equipment. Nora loved it when Uncle Paul carried her across the wobbly bridge. Then Mommy took her down the long, bumpy slide.

And Nora’s world came crashing down. She absolutely lost it. She sobbed and wailed and let the tears flow.

So we took her to the swings where she cheered up and loved every minute of it.

Then I thought, “Let’s go to the baby slides. So she doesn’t have a fear of all slides.”

Too late. I held her on my lap and tried going down the 3 ft slide with her, and she was still hysterical. Aunt Barb and Uncle Paul even tried to hold her while she watched me go down the slide. (“Look at me, Nora! Whee!! This is so fun!!!”) Nope. Forget it. It was all too horrible for words.

Back to the swings. Because you can’t leave a park sad.

After she recovered, we headed back to the house. It was time to pack up and leave to drive back to Mountain View. It was sad to leave Nora’s new friends.

Then we went to pick up Josh from work. Uncle Kemble was there so we could all go to dinner. We went to In N Out, because we were in CA and you have to go at least once. (Them’s the rules.) Kemble was making Nora giggle pretty hard, which was impressive given how exhausted she was.

Time for bed. This promised to be interesting because we haven’t attempted to sleep in the same room with Nora since she was an infant. We put her pack n play next to our bed, turned out the light, and hoped she’d go to sleep. Sure enough, I heard the sound I thought I would hear; little hands struggling to find a grip on nylon netting. I saw one hand, then the other, grasp the rail. Finally, a little head popped up and there was Nora, ready to play the “You’re Pretending to Sleep and I’m Going to Get You” Game. She was giggling as she repeatedly tapped my head.

After trying to lay her back down a few times, we decided to try co-sleeping for the first time ever. First she just wanted to play with our noses and hair. Then she would sit up and flop onto one of us. Only to sit up again and flop down on the other one. And there were spontaneous bursts of giggles as she continued to attempt the Wake Up Mommy and Daddy Game.

Back to the pack n play, only this time we moved it as far from our bed as we could. She must have been totally wiped out because she didn’t even make a peep. (I was expecting some major protests.) A few hours later, we were waking up to get on another airplane and back to Seattle we flew.

Nora had such a GREAT time with her (great?) Aunt Barb and Uncle Paul. They took wonderful care of us! They had toys for her, her favorite foods ready to go, and lots and lots of love and attention.

Thanks Aunt Barb and Uncle Paul! We’d love to have you visit Seattle anytime!!

It started when we woke up around 5 am. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, which was nice and relaxing. Nora was doing just fine, crawling around on the floor at the gate. I know, I know, I can’t believe I was okay with it either. But it really is true.

Poor Nora’s had a bit of a cold and I think she was just worn out from all the festivities, but we were hopeful she’d do okay on the plane. (It was a morning flight after all- yippee!) I didn’t realize how exhausted she was. Just after take off, she burrowed herself between my arm and sweater and passed out in seconds. Josh and I stared at each other with hope. (This so did not happen on the last flight back to Seattle.) She slept for 40 minutes! It was a New Year’s Eve miracle!

After she woke up, I thought, “Great, she got a nap time in. She probably won’t fall asleep the rest of the flight.” Oh, me of little faith. My girl took another quick nap about an hour later. Then, in the middle of flipping through one of her books, she just leaned back onto me and closed her eyes. And took her third nap- she slept for an entire hour! I even got to sleep.

So yay for another good flight! She did get a little fussy towards the last hour, but not enough to draw too much attention. Oh, and I should mention that on both this flight and the one into Atlanta, we recognized a flight attendant from our Oh-No-We-Are-The-Parents-of-The-Screaming-Baby-on-the-Plane flight. And both said, “Oh yes, I do remember you guys.” They were nice about it, but still. Oh dears.

Thanks so much for everyone who prayed for our trip. We really appreciate it and are so thankful that the last two flights went so much better. Praise the Lord for the small things that make such a difference.

We landed around 11 am Seattle time. It was the weirdest feeling to drive home from the airport feeling like we had so much of the day ahead. Our day had started 7 hours ago. We woke up in Marietta and were in our Kirkland apartment by lunch time. (Local time, anyway.) The wonders of modern travel. I mean, we crossed the country in one morning. It took the pioneers on the Oregon Trail, what, six months to do that?

Nora was downright giddy when we walked down the hallway to our door. Remy wasn’t there; he was still at our AWESOME FRIENDS, THE SMITHS’ (YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO GOOD TO US!!) house. So while there was no Remy to greet us, guess what was waiting for our arrival? The saddest, Charlie Brownest tree you ever did see. Aww…

And guess what else was waiting for us? Lots and lots of Christmas cards! Most people were still sending them out when we left. Opening them felt like a 2nd Christmas. I love this tradition. The Christmas cards will be displayed for awhile. The tree has got to go before it just keels over.

Then we had an afternoon that we didn’t really know how to fill. We ended up ordering pizza, getting some things unpacked, waiting on said pizza, catching up on Tivoed shows and taking turns holding Nora who was just about done.

Okay, fine, the truth is that I bent over to pick up my bag when I was standing next to the opened door of the taxi while I was holding Nora and when I stood back up, I didn’t realize how close the door was and she bumped her head and it was all my fault and she’d been doing so well and suddenly she was a train wreck and I felt sick about it. I admit it.
So while she was probably just tired and recovering from the busy day, she was pitiful, cranky, and not at all herself. I spent the afternoon reassuring myself that there was very little chance she had a concussion.

Josh went to pick up Remy around 5. When he made his grand entrance, Nora was absolutely thrilled. Her eyes lit up and she was so happy, she couldn’t do anything but sit, stare, and yell with pure delight. If we’d known she would be so excited, we would have documented it.

Nora was ready for bed around 6. Josh made it until about 6:15. He didn’t even make it to a bed, he just slept on the couch. I caught up on some Glee episodes- reruns I hadn’t seen yet, yay – and read until I could no longer form coherent thoughts. I fell asleep around 10.

However. I was awake at the stroke of midnight. I probably could have slept through the nearby fireworks, but Remy could not. It turns out that along with my phone’s low battery warning, Remy is terrified of the sound of small, planned explosions. He paced nervously around the bed and breathed on my face until I woke up to reassure him. So I did get to hear fireworks and the clock said it was exactly midnight. I didn’t miss New Year’s after all.

Hope you all had a great New Year’s celebration! Or at least that you were awake for it. =)

Nora had an amazing flight out to Atlanta. It was the best flight I think we could have had. We got to sit in first class! It. Was. Awesome.

And a long story that I’ll try to condense down. Josh wanted to cash in our frequent flyer miles for a ticket and it worked out that we could only use it for a first class seat. Josh figured we could send me and Nora up there and he could convince one of the coach fliers to trade seats with me.

I found my first class seat and it was already time to taxi and for take off, so I made small talk with the man who turned out to be incredibly kind and sweet to Nora. He called her a future beauty queen and complimented her hand eye coordination. (I took his word for it.)

The moment the seat belt sign was off, he told me that he wanted to switch seats with Josh so we could sit together. I tried to talk him out of it, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He packed up his stuff- including a Bible- and went to find Josh. We wrote a note to him to let him know how much we appreciated his kindness. His whole attitude was so humble and he was such a servant.

So we both got to sit in huge, comfortable seats with plenty of leg room. The flight attendants are so attentive up there. And you have leg AND feet rests! It’s incredible. Nora got to watch cartoons on her own little tv. Granted, she was distracted after 5 seconds, but still. Cool stuff.

We landed in Atlanta so relaxed. Nora did great! She slept about half the time and played with her toys the rest of the time. She was tired, but it was easy enough to find ways to keep her occupied.

We had a great, great week in Atlanta/Florida. We’ll have to post pictures from the trip soon. It was so much fun!

Then it was time to fly home. It was a night flight, leaving at 9:30 pm. First we had to drive over 6 hours from Florida to the airport. Nora barely napped in the car at all. I repeat- she barely napped at all. That meant there were two possible outcomes- she’d pass out on the plan from exhaustion or she’d be too exhausted to sleep at all and scream for hours.

Guess which one it was?
It was awful. Nora, who is almost always a very laid back baby, was screaming like a banshee before the plane had even reached cruising altitude. We couldn’t get up, so we just had to try to distract her. It didn’t work.

Finally, the seatbelt sign clicked off and we jumped up to walk with her. For the next hour, Josh and I took turns keeping her just calm enough that she was whimpering with only occasional screaming. But she was getting more and more exhausted until she hit a breaking point where she was simply inconsolable. That’s when Josh hid in the lavatory.

An hour later, I went and traded with him. Horrified that he had been in a lavatory, but at the same time, glad that something worked to muffle her cries. But I wasn’t going in there.

After trying to keep her quiet in the tiny flight attendants’ area, I gave in and also went to sit on the toilet in the airplane lavatory.

Now. Those of you who know about my….germ and general nastiness aversion, you’ll appreciate the things I did. Things that would NEVER be in the realm of acceptable in the ‘real world.’ But this was survival. Not only did I sit on the toilet lid- ew- but I actually rested my head against the wall. Against. The. Nasty. Tiny. Bathroom. Wall. Something about that small space did calm Nora down so it was worth it. I suppose. But yuck. On a normal trip to that room, I try to avoid touching anything. This trip, when the scratchy airplane blanket (that I also avoid on the average flight) fell off Nora and touched the toilet, I just picked it up and wrapped it right back around her. Earlier, I was standing right near the airplane door, where every single person on the last flight walked out and every single person on this flight walked in. And I dropped the pacifier. The one object that offered a few breaks from the screams. I dropped it. And picked it right back up and stuck it in her mouth without even wiping it on my jeans. Germs, schmerms, we had to stop the insanity.

She finally started to dose off, so I made a break for it and ran down the aisle as she started waking up. My goal was to get to Josh so she could suck on his pinky finger. That was the only way she would calm down. By the time I made it to him, she was starting back up with the kind of screams that start with the long inhale.

Miraculously, Josh was able to get his finger in and she calmed down and finally went to sleep.

( Interesting side story- At one point, the guy sitting on the window seat had to go to the restroom. Not wanting to wake the finally sleeping baby, he somehow scaled the wall, found a grip, swung over Josh and Nora, and landed in the aisle. He was a ninja, that’s the only explanation. There is no way a non-ninja could have done it. Nora didn’t even stir. And then he did it again on the way back. I stared at him with my mouth open. Okay, fine, I also gave him a thumbs up. I was that impressed.)

Nora slept the last 2 hours of the 5 hour flight.
People came up afterwards to tell us how sorry they felt for us and how they had been there, too. We, my friends, were those people with that baby.

But.
It is totally worth it. She’s our sweet girl. Though she was beyond exhausted that night. I think God was ministering to my heart during the worst of it because I thought how grateful we are to have our Nora, even when she’s hysterical. And that’s such a true thought, it had to come from God.

However, we will never be flying at night again.

However. There are those that game the system. Not Googlers, as it turns out, but other taxi drivers. Rogue taxi drivers–that in my case posed as the car service Google has arraignments with. Here’s what happened…

Leaving my desk for the day, I received a phone call that a driver was rolling up in a white town car. I walk downstairs, see a car of that description driving up, approach the window, confirm my name, the driver confirms, and I hop in. Moments after settling in, I realize through a very confusing, and twisted discussion with the driver, that I’m in the wrong car — not the one that I had called. The quickest way to realize this was to ask if at the end of the drive I’d have to pay. “Yes, yes, yes. YOU WILL PAY.” I told him that in prior rides I didn’t have to pay, but he nodded and insisted again: YOU WILL PAY — 3 DOLLARS A MILE. He went on to lecture to me that I should “never ever” call the other people, that they only do local drives, but he will go anywhere in the Bay Area, and offered me his phone number multiple times.

At this point, we weren’t quite off the campus but we were still driving and, at this point, far from where he’d picked me up. I suggested that he should take me back. He refused. Really. He did. A quick glance at my door I noticed it was locked, and briefly went into MacGyver mode thinking I might bail out anyway. I decided to stay the course and just be driven home. Shortly after crossing the freeway, I received a phone call from the original town car service, “Josh, the driver is waiting outside, can you give us an idea how much longer you’ll be?” After a quick explanation, they expressed their sympathy and told me not to worry.

Moments later I arrived at the curb of my hotel, and paid the driver sans tip.

Today, a week later, I took the local bus system to the campus up here in Kirkland. No issues as of this morning!

Sadly, I had to leave Lauren in our as-yet unfurnished apartment for a week of training and orientation in Mountain View, CA. At the Seattle airport as I was boarding I noticed a guy wearing a bright yellow Google t-shirt, and hurried off to me seat in 18c. I was in the aisle, and next to me, in the dreaded middle seat, was a lady perhaps in her late 60s / early 70s. As I got my things in order and sat down, she gave a welcoming smile and friendly nod. Moments after buckling in, she began making a myriad of oddball comments about everything from the volume of the flight attendant voices, to “I wonder how many times that man has given the safety demonstration” kind of things. She was looking for laughs, not solely from me, but from any innocent passer-by. I meanwhile was looking for just a little quiet reading time before the crazy week began. The man to her left, near the window, was a bit more gracious to her conversation attempts and generally played along. That was until he got the 10,000 foot all-clear for electronics usage, as he whipped out his iPod headphones, turned up the volume and zoned out (we would never hear from him again). I was getting to that point myself as I fiddled with my iPhone, trying out a few new games only to realize that my neighbor-in-flight was committed to talking the entire way. No big deal, really — typically I try to talk with who’s seated next to me at least a little. I’m fascinated by the amount of travelers and what journey they’re on. I fully appreciated and enjoyed sitting next to her, although this was just one of those times I wanted to sit in quiet.

We talked. And we talked. Actually, she talked and she talked. Politely I’d ask a question here and there, but you get the idea. Eventually my reason for travel came up and I told her it was for work… “what kind of work are you in?” “Internet… Google. I work for Google.” Everyone’s got something to say about Google — makes for a really fun topic. So she told me everything she knew about Google. Friends of friends daughters that work there, stories of the same people who eventually left, etc. We quickly jumped back into discussing her art collection and her history of growing up in San Francisco — she’s lived in the city for close to 50 years now. She’s got a lot of art — we perused the in-flight magazine as she pointed out what she liked, didn’t like, the whole kit-n-caboodle. Overall it was time well-spent, just a bit different from what I’d pictured heading to the airport.

At some point just after we landed I reached for my phone and I must have made some off-hand remark along the lines of “Guess it’s about time I figure out how to get where I’m going.” Unbenowst to me she would made note of that. We said our goodbyes, nice-to-meet-yous and parted ways. Five minutes later, we’re all waiting for our baggage to roll up. She rushes to me out of nowhere as I’m on the phone, checking in with Lauren, and interrupts to happily tell me she found “another man on the plane that works for Google! He was wearing a yellow shirt and I asked him and well, he works at Google!” She scurries around the corner to get him, and up he walks with a slightly confused look on his face. “I thought you could get a ride with this man, perhaps! Maybe you can ride together wherever you’re going!” It actually was a pretty great idea, however he’d had his own arrangements and itinerary and I had my own and it just didn’t match up.

In the end, I ended up getting towncar service to the hotel and met a Googler in the process. Funny note: Our luggage was taking a little while to show up and fellow co-worker whispered to me that perhaps we should build Google Search for Baggage in our spare time. Har har har…

To see the entire album from each day, click on the Destination photos.

Day 1
Destination: St. Louis

After shoving two huge suitcases, our airbed, feather mattress, my terrarium, four pillows, a dog bed, a bag of books, Josh’s laptop, and of course, our car sick prone dog, Remy, we left Mom’s house and took off on the beginning of our great Road Trip ’08.

We got one block away before we had to turn around and go back to get some stuff (yup, even more) that we realized we forgot. So we were only an hour late meeting our Tennessee friends for breakfast. Thanks Davy, Emily, Kirby, Kristin, and Robbie! These were the guys (sans Kevin) with whom Josh won the trip to Paris a while back.

Several hours later, we did get to see some of flooding in Illinois that was all over the news this spring. It was so sad to see the tops of soccer goals and baseball field lights peeking out over feet and feet of water.

After driving about 6 hours, we arrived south of St. Louis- a whole hour earlier than we thought we would!! Our Garmen GPS didn’t include the time zone change when giving an estimated time of arrival. We were so excited — we were able to take a NAP before sightseeing! Luxury, luxury.

We then went down the famous arch. The Gateway Arch. There’s a really pretty park that we walked through. And three guys that I’m pretty sure were smoking marijuana. Either that, or they just wanted gullible people like me to think they were smoking marijuana. Hmm.

Anyway, we didn’t go up into the arch because it was going to take an hour and well, we were too hungry for that. But we did get to see the museum underneath the arch. There were some creepy animated “people” that moved around and told about the Lewis and Clark expedition. I didn’t like those guys. And, there wasn’t one for Sacajawea. My first disappointment of the trip.

 
Day 2
Destination: Sioux City, Iowa

Probably the coolest thing that happened on this day was upon our arrival in Sioux City. When we got to our hotel, Josh went in to check us in and came back saying the room was “pretty rough.”

Now. Family. Friends. If Josh, thinks a room is rough, well, then I wouldn’t be comfortable walking around in it. Let alone using their supposedly laundered sheets. Turns out, they wanted to place us in a dimly-lit smoking room at the back of the motel. No thanks.

So being the good husband that he is, he agreed to drive around and see if we could find a better room. The tricky part: finding hotels that allow pets. Consulting Garmen and the iPhone, we found a Regency Inn nearby that allowed dogs. Well, we found where it was supposed to be. Actually finding it took awhile.  When we did… Yikes. Nobody could be serious about it being a hotel. We were about to call it quits and go back to the Pretty Rough Room when we saw a Marina Conference Center. It looked gorgeous.

Not only did it allow pets, and not only was there a room available, but it had the nicest staff who checked in with us every time we walked by the concierge. And the room was fancy nice. Easily the best place we stayed in the entire trip. 
 
Day 3
Destination: Buffalo, Wyoming

The highlights of the drive this day were Corn Palace and 1880 Town. We saw a lot of billboards for it when we were in SD two years ago, and this time, I was determined to check it out.

It’s a building with sides that are decorated with murals made of corn. They change it every year. When you go inside the Corn Palace, there’s a photo history that shows the themes for each year (2008-Everyday Heroes). There’s also vendors selling souvenirs. But the town also using it as a community center — basketball games, meetings, even proms. We really couldn’t figure this place out. Is it supposed to be serious? It seemed like more of a funny landmark than a historical one. We were laughing the whole time. I hope that wasn’t rude. Is this how people who are visiting Georgia feel about The Big Chicken?

1880 Town has a two prong approach to nab tourists’ attention. 1) A museum of memorabilia and props from the film Dances with Wolves. 2) Original buildings from the frontier that have been preserved and moved into one location. It did feel weird when you caught your first glimpse of the town. Like a ghost town — only one that has been pieced together manually.

 
Day 4
Destination: Bozeman, Montana

This was the best day on the road. We left early so we could get to Yellowstone with time to look around. On the drive towards the park, Remy started making some gagging sounds.

By the way, Remy was a trooper on the trip! He only got sick one time, when weak Lauren fed him a french fry. But other than that, he just dealt with the long hours. He did crack us up with his sitting habits. He rarely sat in the bed we put in the back seat for him. No, Remy preferred to sit on the armrest between Josh and I. He’d gradually push himself back until he was blocking our view of each other. He also liked sitting on top of the luggage we had in the back seat. Or laying on the floor behind the seat. But no matter the place he choose, the position was the same — face the back of the car. It was like he was on timeout the whole trip. But it worked. 

Anyway, so he was making gagging sounds and Josh decided to pull over at the next side road. Which happened to be at the most breathtaking mountain lake shore we’ve ever seen. Remy was magically and instantly cured when we stopped the car. He took off and got to explore the water and grass and wildflowers growing. It’s just impossible to describe how absolutely beautiful this place was. The pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice. It was the best part of the whole trip.

Then on to Yellowstone! Yellowstone was of course, incredible impressive. Just driving through it was amazing. Waterfalls on the side of the road and lakes and snow we could get out and touch right there next to our car. One area we were looking forward to seeing was this trail that led to hot springs. I had Remy on his leash and heard two different people whisper, “I didn’t think you could have dogs on this trail.” Josh was off getting close-ups of a bison — that people were literally running to go see. I started waving him down with panic and gestured that we had to get out of there. Sure enough, there was this dopey little sign at the very beginning of the trail that showed about 6 things that shouldn’t happen on the trail — including dogs. I felt so guilty. I mean, Remy’s not exactly the kind of dog to take on a bison (the reason behind the rules), but still. I would have cried like a kindergartner if a Park Ranger had reprimanded me.

As we drove to Old Faithful, we were thrilled to see a crowd building. The geyser goes off every 90 minutes or so, so if we’d missed it, we’d be there until almost nightfall. There must have been 300 people there. It was crowded. But we got to see it go off in all its faithful glory after only waiting about 10 minutes. 

On the way out of the park, Josh lamented that he hadn’t seen much wildlife. In front of us, traffic slowed and people were parking their cars and running to the side of the road with cameras. I can empathize with people who live near Loch Ness. Of course, we parked our car and Josh took his camera. Guess what it was? We’re actually not sure if it was a deer, an elk, or a moose. But he  some good shots of whatever it was.

Then there was a second traffic jam. The one was caused by a herd of buffalo. There was a river on one side of the road and a mountain on the other, so I have no idea where they came from. Perhaps they just traveled down the highway for awhile. But that was a fun adventure. And even Josh’s expectations for wildlife spotting were met. He didn’t even slow the car down when we saw some deer a few minutes later.

That night was the most interesting (and by interesting I mean depressing) night in terms of hotels. It was our last night on the road, and the only other time that booking online meant getting stuck with a smoking room. It seems that when you book online to get a the better price, you also agree to getting whichever kind of room is available upon check in. And let me tell you — it was horrible. The room itself looked fine, but REEKED. We were too exhausted to search for another room and decided to deal with it and sleep. But both of us had a hard time sleeping and breathing the stale air. So. Let that be a warning to everyone who books online — always call afterward and confirm that you are a nonsmoker. Unless, I guess, you’re a smoker. It was the only time I busted out the sheets I’d brought to use in the new apartment. And our (personal, of course) pillows still smelled the next day.

 
Day 5
Destination: Seattle!!!

Not too much to report from this day. The last hour of driving seemed to take longer than the rest of the trip combined. But it’s amazing — even a short half an hour away from a bustling city, and you’d never know. It’s just trees and ice capped mountains and pure nature. 

Then we finally arrived home In Kirkland. Our new home and a new start.

It was a great trip.