December 22, 2012

The First Christmas of 2012

With John's family being here in Memphis and my family being in OH, we travel for either Thanksgiving or Christmas every year and alternate which holiday we spend with each family. This year, we made the trek to OH for Thanksgiving - a long, 13 hour drive for the weekend since we couldn't take any time off work other than me leaving a few hours early so we could get on the road.

We got on the road about an hour later than I would have liked to, and then about halfway between Memphis and Nashville, we started getting low tire pressure in one of the tires which slowed us down even more. We stopped at a few gas stations along the way to put air in it, then stopped at a shop in Nashville to get it checked out. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a nail and (thankfully) it was in a spot that could be patched easily. Also good is that the place we stopped at was a location of the company we had used to purchase the tires 2 years ago, and they don't charge to do a patch. But, while that was great, being slowed down and having to stop meant we were getting back on the road on a freshly patched tire right at 5 in the middle of Nashville. Not fun.

Needless to say, we did not make the whole drive on Wednesday, as much as I would have liked to. We ended up staying in Cincinnati and then finishing the last 4 hours of the drive Thanksgiving morning. I think the kids wouldn't have cared less if we had kept going, since they were fast asleep:

We spent Thanksgiving night at my dad's and let the kids open presents from my younger sister while her kids opened the gifts we had brought for them.

Years ago, my mom started cooking on the day after Thanksgiving to make it easier on everyone not having to worry about hitting 2 or 3 houses on Thanksgiving. So after an early dinner on Friday, the kids got to open their presents from my mom & stepdad and my two older sisters. Too many pics to post here, so I'll put the two biggest (combined gifts to cover their birthdays and Christmas).

John Anthony and the great iPod Nano:
 
 
Alex and the Nintendo 3DS:


I think they were happy boys that day, don't you?

It was a short trip (we drove home on Sunday), but it was good to get out of Memphis for a few days and see my family. We didn't get to see all the friends we usually do since we were short on time, but hopefully we'll make it up there this summer and see everyone then.



December 8, 2012

Sadness

It's been almost a month since I've posted anything, but there's been a lot going on. I'll do a separate post to catch up on Thanksgiving and our trip to OH to spend the holiday with my family later on.

Today, I'm going to keep it brief. Please keep our family in your prayers as we grieve over the loss of my mother-in-law. She passed away early yesterday morning after a courageous 3 year battle with both breast cancer that metastasized to her liver.

This weekend, while comforting my kids while they each deal with their grief in their own way and my husband, his dad and brother made the arrangements with the church for the services, I am reminded of a comment Alex made on the way home from school the other day:

Alex: I like Mary, Jesus and God.
Me: You really like talking about everything you learn in church, don't you?
Alex: Yes, I do. And I love the Holy Spirit because if you like the others, you can't not love the Holy Spirit.

November 11, 2012

Life at 8

I realized the other day that I never posted anything after Alex's actual birthday and his birthday party. A co-worker of mine made the cake for me again this year, and she far exceeded my expectations. When I told her he wanted a cake with a tank on it for his party, I was expecting a sheet cake with a picture of a tank on it. This is what we got:


Isn't is awesome? And yes, those are Oreo's on the side for the wheels.

We had his party at Crossfire Commados the Sunday after his actual birthday and the kids had an absolute blast. Who wouldn't with a big ol' foam block pit to jump into:


And then a little trampoline jumping fun:


Followed up by a little zip line action where they got to throw foam blocks at the other kids who had to catch one and then run thru a mini obstacle course:



Yep, the kids all had a blast. Here are a few shots from the party room and Alex opening his gifts:



 



October 24, 2012

From 3 to 4.....

Hard to believe that 8 years ago tonight, we were a family of 3, preparing to become a family of 4. Even though my due date wasn't until November 4, I was induced 10 days early because of having gestational diabetes and the size of the baby. Alex was born on October 25, 2004, weighing in at 9 pounds, 15 ounces. Yes, you read that right. And no, I did not have a c-section. Imagine how big he would have been had my doctor not induced me?

I was extremely lucky that he slept thru the night from day one. There were a handful of times where we'd have to get up in the middle of the night, but for the most part, I got my sleep with this one. The nights I did have to get up with him, it wasn't uncommon for John to find us asleep on the chair in the living room in the morning. I think that is one of the things I miss most - relaxing in the chair with my feet up and my baby asleep on me. So relaxing and comforting.

I do miss those baby days and have my moments where I'd love to have another just for those days alone. How could I not when I look back at this picture, taken when the little guy was just 3 days old and we were home from the hospital?


To celebrate his birthday, we took Alex shopping the other night to pick out his present. Think he likes it?

He was super excited to pick it out and take it home. Once we got home, he immediately started riding it up and down the street and got mad when we told him it was time to put it away and come inside for the night.

Fast forward to tonight, and he had a box waiting for him from my dad and step-mom when we got home from school. His words? "Look mom, that box is for me. It must be like a birthday present or something."

Yes, son, I think it was, and here's a picture of part of what was in the box:

So tomorrow, we'll celebrate by having lunch together at school and then going to soccer practice tomorrow night. We're having his party on Sunday, so the fun will continue on all weekend.

October 19, 2012

Insufficient planning

Normally, I'm the queen of making lists and knowing what needs to be done. If I don't, it just doesn't happen. Period. And sometimes, even if it's on a list, it still doesn't happen, but then I can at least prioritize and make sure what needs to be done is done.

So, Alex's 8th birthday is next week and his party is the following Sunday. Tonight, the kids are spending the night at their grandparents, so I decided to get a start on the treat bags for the party. I ordered some personalized stickers from Shindigz and then went and bought some small bags at Hobby Lobby that were 3 for $1.00.

 
It was only after I was halfway thru the stack of bags that I realized I hadn't bought enough. Argh! I ordered 24 stickers and only bought 21 bags. Looks like I'll be going back to get those last 3 that I need so I can get these done.

If only I had made a list before I went to Hobby Lobby to buy the bags.....

October 17, 2012

Planning mode

Well, we are deep in planning mode starting now until the end of the year.

October:
Alex's birthday is next week, with his party that weekend. Invitations went out to friends and classmates this week, cake is ordered from my co-worker who has made the last several for me. Next up: buy the ice cream and drinks, candy for the treat bags, and make sure I've got all the plates/cups/napkins/plastic ware that I need. Oh, and we're still going strong with soccer thru the end of the month, too.....

November:
Whew - lots going on here. John's brother's birthday, a good friend's sons 1st birthday, and visiting with my family for Thanksgiving. I'm not taking time off work this year and the boys can't miss any more school this semester without a doctor's note, so that will be a very quick trip this year!

December:
2 of my sisters birthday's, my sister in law's birthday, John and John Anthony's birthdays, and then Christmas. Oh, and throw in an 11th birthday party in there somewhere, too!

So, if you see me at anytime over the next 2.5 months, just ignore any odd, strange, stressful looks I may have on my face. Just know that it's that time of year and if you've known me for long, you'll know that this is normal!

September 28, 2012

Fun start to fall

This week, I got to travel to Orlando to work at a trade show for one of my clients. It was beautiful weather and a great hotel. If you ever get to travel here and want to be in the convention center/Universal/Sea World area, I highly recommend the Rosen Shingle Creek. This is the view from my room:

I definitely got my exercise this week. The hotel is huge and my room was located in Wing 4 on the 11th floor and the ballroom the trade show was in was on the first floor and down on the far side of the building.

We were done with everything by 5 yesterday, so my co-worker and I decided to go for a drive and do some shopping. We found one of the outlet malls that was only about 10 minutes away from the hotel - one of the Premium Outlets centers - and walked that mall for about 2 hours. First stop? The Coach store of course. I didn't see a purse that really just caught my eye, but I did fnd a case that the sales associate assured me would work for my Kindle, so I trusted him and went with it.

Ahhh. So much nicer than the cheap case I had ordered online a year and a half ago when I first got my Kindle. I had nothing to lose - the store was 10 minutes away and they were open till 11. If it didn't fit, I had plenty of time to drive back over and return it. I am kind of bummed about one thing - I had a found a cute little cosmetics bag in the Kate Spade store and meant to go back and get it but forgot about it until this morning. Oh, well. Guess that just means I didn't really need it anyway.

But, it's back to reality now. I have a noon flight today to head back to Memphis and need to get a few hours in in the office, as we have a full weekend at home. It will be non-stop for us all weekend, once again!

September 21, 2012

Just a little visit to the ER

What happens when you decide that the side of your head needs to get up close and personal with the gym floor at school?


You get a big knot on the side of your head and a killer headache for the day. Then you wake up the next day and say that you still have a headache, your vision is blurry and you are seeing grey spots. With that, you win yourself a trip to the ER and a CT scan!


And since you’re the toothless wonder with 2 missing front teeth that fell out over a month ago and haven’t come in yet, you get every hospital staff member that talks to you asking what happened to your teeth. One even joked with him and asked if he knocked his teeth out when he fell yesterday.

What a morning! Everything with the scan came back fine and there were no signs of a concussion, which is what we were afraid it was. Now we're on to a weekend of whatever relaxation we can get and keeping an eye on Alex to make sure nothing else crops up and we don't need to head in to the pediatrician's office during the weekend clinic hours.

September 4, 2012

The top shelf

It's been a crazy couple of weeks around our place. And some crazy things coming out of my kids' mouths, as well.

A few weeks ago, I filled you in on Alex and his "request" to have a butler in the house. A few days later, we decided to take the kids to Sheridan's for some frozen custard. As we were leaving, the following conversation with Anthony ensued:

Anthony: I want to be your height when I grow up
Me: No, you don't
Anthony: Why, so I can make sure I reach the top shelf?


Have I mentioned how much I love my children lately? I should also point out that with me being just 4'11", my 10 year old is almost as tall as me and his 7 year old brother is not far behind.....

August 21, 2012

Random thoughts

Sometimes, I hear things that my kids say and I just sit back and think "where did that come from?"

Take tonight, for instance. After dinner, Alex comes over and tells me that he thinks we should have a butler. Yes, you read that right. And not just any butler. One that can do anything we need them to do around the house (except for homework, of course). And the best part? Said butler should get paid $20.00 a week for performing their job.

August 15, 2012

School, soccer and church.. oh my!

We've been pretty busy around here lately. It all started 2 weeks ago with school registration on July 31 and then school starting back on August 6. We now have one in 2nd grade and one in 5th - still can't believe we have one in middle school!

Also last week, the boys started back to soccer practice. We switched leagues this year, which they weren't happy about at first, but they are slowly warming up to it (not that they have much choice at this point). They are in a league that is a little closer to our house and has a later start time for practice. One has practice on Tuesday nights, the other has practice on Thursday nights, and they both have practice on Saturday mornings. So, until games start, our schedule is pretty manageable when it comes to soccer.

This weekend, they will start back to PRE classes on Sunday at church. So, between school, soccer and church, we now have something going on every day of the week.

Downtime....what's that? :o)

July 28, 2012

Growing up

The start of the school year is just a week away and with it comes something I am not ready for. Anthony will be walking both to and from school this year since they daycare we've been using does not bus to the middle school. Yep, that's right. I am officially the mom of a middle schooler. Where has the time gone? It feels like we were just getting started in kindergarten and now he's going into 5th grade.

So, to help alleviate some of the worry from my mind with him walking home in the afternoons, we took the step to get him a cell phone.

He is so incredibly happy to have it, even though we went with the most basic, pay as you go, 10 cents per minute plan that has texting blocked on it. I don't think I have ever seen him so grateful to have something given to him.



July 20, 2012

What a week

This week has been a bit of a rough one, with some good bits thrown in.

I had to travel on Tuesday for work, so Monday before the kids went to bed, I got lots of hugs and Alex didn't want to stop giving them to me. He told me if he didn't let go, then I wouldn't be able to leave and would have to stay home with him.

Speaking of Alex, we've been waiting for about 2 months for one of his front teeth to come out. Last month, we joked that it would come out while we were on vacation. That didn't happen. So Monday night, I was joking around with him and told him he better not lose it while I was gone.

Guess what happened while he was eating popcorn Tuesday night, while I was sitting in a hotel room in Cleveland?
He called me after it happened and was so happy. He also told me he didn't want to leave it for the tooth fairy because I wasn't home to see it. So, we decided that he would write a note to the tooth fairy explaining that I was out of town and that he would put it under his pillow after I got home on Thursday.

My work travel ended Thursday, and what a long day it was! I had a 7 am flight, so I left the hotel at 5:15 to get to the airport. I got lucky on that first flight and had no seatmate, so I was able to stretch out and get some sleep during the flight. My next flight was a pain - I had to go from one end of the Charlotte airport to the other and had less than 30 minutes from the time I got off the first flight until they were supposed to start boarding the next one. Thankfully, they were running behind, so I had time to rest a few minutes once I got to the gate. After 7 hours of being on the road/in the air, I finally made it back to Memphis and manage to get a few hours done in the office before heading home and getting some much needed sleep!

Friday brought a relatively normal day, followed up by Wine & Cheese night at Seize the Clay. I've never done anything like that before, but went with some friends who go pretty regularly. I had a blast and am looking forward to going back and doing some more pieces after I see how this first one turned out. I also am looking at planning at taking the kids in - I think they would have fun creating their own pieces. I'm thinking this is going to be a great idea for Christmas gifts this year. :o)

July 9, 2012

Monday, funday, birthday!

So, today is my birthday and I got to spend it at work. But, a friend of mine made me a batch of strawberry cupcakes with chocolate covered strawberries on top which were awesome and totally made up for me having to be at the office today.

Don't they look great? :o)

We had John's family over for dinner last night. After dinner, the boys were helping with presents when Alex gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek and said "I love you, mom. That kiss was your birthday present from me." He's so cute and adorable, I hate for him to grow out of this stage.

Then, Anthony says "Happy birthday, mom! You're what, 32 now?" To which I responded "I love you, son!" He was so proud of himself at first, because he thought he had guessed right. I let him know that he was wrong, but that it was great that he thought I was younger than I actually am.

July 8, 2012

Happy "pre" birthday to me!

So, tomorrow is my birthday. Kind of bummed that I have to work, but this morning totally makes up for it. My sister, her fiance and my 10 month old niece had a 7 hour layover here in Memphis while on their way back to Cleveland from a wedding in Missouri that they had yesterday. So, I was up bright and early to pick them up at the airport at 7:30 this morning to bring them to the house for a few hours.


The boys were excited to see Lily, too, and had fun playing and keeping track of her so Katie and Marshall could get a quick nap in while they were here.



July 3, 2012

Family, friends and free stuff....oh my!

When it comes to shopping and spending money, I tend to look for deals. No, I'm not one of those crazy coupon ladies (but I will use them - if I remember to take them to the store with me). But I do sign up for the email "clubs" of the restaurants we go to and some of the stores I shop at, as well.

Those email clubs are now flooding my inbox with coupons for free appetizers, dessert, etc. for my birthday. I've got a 25% off coupon for Payless, $5 off at Build a Bear (don't tell my kids about that one), and various restaurant coupons (free order of chocolate covered strawberries from Melting Pot, anyone?).

So, it looks like I'll be spending the month of July eating out at various restaurants with John and the boys or friends. First stop? Dinner this Saturday at Cheddar's with some friends. No coupon for them (yet), but we'll see if something comes thru before we go.

June 29, 2012

Hot fun in the summer

Well, not exactly. Why? Because it's too hot to go out and actually be able to do anything!



Yes, you are reading that right. At 6:15 pm, the temperature was 102 but felt like 105. It's probably a good thing I didn't look at this earlier in the day when those numbers would have been even higher.

We were supposed to head up to IL for a reunion weekend with a group of guys and their families that John went to school and played intramural hockey with at the University of Illinois. Unfortunately, I had a lot of stuff going on at work this week and we couldn't make the drive up for the weekend.

So, instead of hanging out with everyone in Champaign, I'll be spending my Saturday morning at work and then the afternoon at a baby shower for some friends. The rest of the weekend? I'm going to hole up in the house in the air conditioning and start the minor home remodeling/improvement projects I want to get working on. John's on board with what I've told him I want to do so far; I better make a list so he's fully aware of everything that's in my head that *needs* to be done. :o)

June 26, 2012

King of the Campground

Ever have one of those days? You know, those ones where you just kind of float thru your day, going thru the motions, but at the end of it, you can't really say what all you did?

Yep, that was me today.

Then, my dear, sweet, lovely sister posted a photo on Facebook of the view I'm missing out on for the next week and a half.

I swear she did it to torture me. For two weeks every summer, my dad gets prime real estate on the lake at Pymatuning State Park Campground. I usually try to take some time off work while they are there to take the boys up and camp, but couldn't work it in this year since we just got back from the beach.

We're also missing out on dad's first year as "king of the campground" in the new chair we all got him for his birthday.

Wonder if I can manage to finagle two weeks off next year to be able to go up there for the entire time?

June 24, 2012

Back to reality...for the kids

I love summer. I hate that I am cooped up all day and not able to be out enjoying various things around town with the kids. But, they've been happy this summer in that they haven't had to go to daycare (yet) and they got to to go the beach.


We got lucky in that one of my friends' daughters was interested in making some extra money this summer and has babysitting experience. So, for 3 of the 4 weeks of summer break so far, the boys have been able to stay home and be at the house during the day rather than having to spend the day at daycare while John and I work. It works out great since my office is less than 5 minutes from the house and John works from home, so he's in and out of the house all day. Makes them a little more careful of how they act, since he could walk in the door at any time without them knowing he is on his way. :o)


Things are about to change.


The next two weeks, the boys will go to daycare and they are not happy about it at all. But, we didn't want to make the sitter give up her entire summer to being at our house with the kids so that she didn't have any time to enjoy her summer break without "working." My checkbook will hate me for it, but it's a necessary evil since child #1 is not old enough to stay home alone yet, even though he thinks he is.


I'm also lucky in that the daycare the boys are enrolled in and have been at for about 6 years now does a "pay by the week" program for the school age kids over the summer, so I'm only responsible for paying for the weeks that they spend time there. This is what allowed us to create the schedule with the sitter to only watch the boys for part of the summer.


So, there's 6 weeks of summer break left and 4 of those will see the boys spending their days at daycare. I think it's safe to say that the boys won't be too happy with me for those 4 weeks since they'll need to get up and eat so they can be taken to daycare rather than being able to sleep until whenever they decide to wake up like they've been doing.

June 20, 2012

Vacation hangover

Yep, that's officially what I'm calling it. I need a vacation from my vacation. Next time, I need to make sure we plan it so that we are not coming home one day and going back to work the next. We definitely need a day in between to relax and get everything put away before we returning to our normal daily schedules.

This picture of Alex from the morning we left the beach pretty much sums up how we feel right now - ready to pass out!

June 17, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's out there.

I didn't realize when we scheduled our trip back in March that we would be driving home on Father's Day. As much as we didn't want to head back, we were up early and on the road by 8 to start the drive back to Memphis.

It was an uneventful drive (no idiotic semi truck driver sightings this time) until we got close to home. Once we hit Olive Branch, the kids started getting restless and excited that we were almost home. Especially Alex. Once we were about 10 minutes from the house, he was really excited. And showed it as only Alex can.

By dancing in his seat and singing "Sweet Home Alabama."

Um, wrong state there buddy. Maybe he's trying to tell us something and we should move out of Memphis and head to Alabama? We'd be closer to the beach that way, but that's just me being selfish.



June 16, 2012

Vacation, Day 5 - does it really have to end?

Sadly, our vacation is coming to an end, but it's been a great time for us. This is the first time that we have done a true "family" vacation. Most of our time off work is reserved for trips to visit family and/or friends, so being able to plan this week for just the four of us was a pretty big deal.

The boys changed into their "picture clothes" that I had packed and we headed down to the beach:

Of course, that meant I had to agree to a silly shot, which resulted in this:

Goodbye, Gulf Shores. Hopefully we'll be able to come back for a full week next summer.

June 15, 2012

Vacation, Day 4 - shopping!

We had some really nasty wind late last night and when we got up this morning, the water was really choppy and it was still pretty darn windy. So, I did what any mom who is worried about her children being in the choppy Gulf of Mexico would do.

We jumped in the car and went shopping.

Yep, just a few miles up the road is the Tanger Outlet Center in Foley, AL. With a Coach outlet. Oh, I've been looking forward to this for weeks. But, alas, I struck out in that store. I'm still stumped by that one. Don't get me wrong - there was a good selection and I saw several that I did like. But those, of course, were not part of the "extra 50%" selection that I was trying to pick from and I couldn't justify spending $200 on a purse, no matter what the original price of it was.

So, the majority of the shopping that was done was for John.

Yes, you read that right. I spent more while shopping buying things for the kitchen that my husband wanted than I ended up spending on myself. I think the best part of the morning was when I was in Coldwater Creek and Alex picked out a dress that he decided I just had to have. I told him I thought it would be too long for me and he agreed by saying "You're right. Maybe when you grow another inch it won't be too long for you and you can get it then."

Nothing like a little 7 year old honesty to make you feel even shorter than you already are.

After shopping, we made the hour drive over to Pensacola to take Alex to spend the night with his best friend who moved there from Memphis last summer. Joey had no clue we were on our way - think he was excited to see Alex?


That left us as a family of 3 for the night, so we let Anthony decide what we would do, which ended up being going to go drive go karts and play another round of mini golf. When we got back, we went ahead and walked down to the beach for a few minutes before heading to the pool for a little bit.

June 14, 2012

Vacation, Day 3

Today was more of a "relax and hang out" kind of day for us. We started the day with some sausage biscuits (Alex ate 3 - I think someone is going thru a growth spurt!) and then headed to the beach to enjoy the view:

It was a great morning and we spent about 3 hours on the beach before heading in for lunch. The boys spent almost the entire time in the water and making friends with some of the other kids who were out. While taking a break from the water, Anthony decided that he needed to bury himself in the sand:

After lunch, we took a trip down Hwy 180 to visit Fort Morgan, then headed back to the condo to just sit back and relax. Which, for me, meant doing laundry and getting dinner ready while John and Alex played a game and Anthony read the new book he bought to bring on the trip with us.

We spent the evening playing mini golf at Pirate's Island Adventure Golf (www.piratesislandgolf.com). John and Alex played the Jean Lafitte's Original Adventure course while Anthony and I took on the Blackbeard's Challenge course. The kids lost, so it was off to the pillory for them!

June 13, 2012

Vacation Day 2 - we've arrived!

We've arrived in Gulf Shores!! Here's the view from one of the balconies in the condo we rented for the next 4 nights:


Our day actually started in Mobile with a visit to the USS Alabama Memorial park to do a tour of the battleship and the USS Drum submarine. The boys had a blast and loved every minute of the 2 hours it took us to get thru the battleship. Even better? While visiting the gift shop on our way out to let the boys each pick something, Anthony decided he wanted to get a book rather than a shirt. The author of the book "Hell's Guest" - Col. Glenn D. Frazier - was there today and was doing autographs. The inscription he wrote for Anthony says "This book will help you over come any challenge."


After a stop in Foley to have lunch at Lambert's (because who can resist their throwed rolls with molasses and/or apple butter and all those pass arounds?), we made our way to the rental company office to pick up the keys, head to the condo and get everything unloaded out of the van before heading out to the grocery store to pick up the stuff we hadn't brought with us.


Once we were finally fully settled in the condo, we went ahead and got our bathing suits on and walked out to the beach. We spent about 2 hours out there tonight with the boys trying to see how many "waves" they could break. We'll be back out bright and early tomorrow morning to catch some rays!

Vacation, Day 1 (AKA – driving day)

The start of vacation was going well. Too well, in fact. I told myself I wanted to be out of work by 11:30, so I told everyone else I was leaving at 11. Then I set my out of office messages for phone and email at 10:45, or there was no way I was going to get what needed to be done, done. Left the office at 11:20, got home and had the car packed and we pulled out of the driveway at 11:55. Woo hoo! We’ve never had that little time in between me getting home and getting on the road. This was a definite first.

I should have known better.

Went to McDonald’s to pick up lunch and while waiting for the food, realized we didn’t pack any hats. So, it was back to the house we went to get the hats rather than spending the money to buy new ones along the way. Finally get on the road, and we have intermittent rain for the first 3 hours or so of the drive. Not horrible, but I hate traveling in rain. At least it wasn’t the hail storm that rolled thru town the day before, so it could have been worse.

I should have known better.

About 2 hours into the drive, I was getting ready to pass a trucker when he started swerving into our lane. I hit the brakes and backed off, and then he got back into his own lane. When it looked like he was set, I went ahead and went to pass him again. That was when John noticed that he could see the driver in the truck’s side view mirror and the guy was lifting weights.  And we’re not talking about a small 5 or 10 pound dumbbell here that can be bought at Target or Walmart. This was a good size metal weight like you would see in a gym.


I wish I was kidding.

So, I got back in the left hand lane and started  to slow down, hoping that the truck would pass so we could get the “How’s my driving” number off the back of it to call in to the company. And wouldn’t you know there wasn’t one damn piece of identifying information on the truck for who owned it except a name and location in small letters on the side of the cab. A mile or so down the road, the guy passed us again as we were pulling in to a rest stop. We talked to the security officer there and she called highway patrol for us while we took the kids inside so that they could start looking for the guy. Not sure if they ever found him, but I never saw him again. Hopefully he didn’t cause any accidents along the way.

 
That was pretty much the excitement of the drive for us. We got into Mobile and took the long way around to the hotel we had booked so that we could take the kids across the bay and they could see where the USS Alabama was before getting up on Vacation Day 2 to go there before heading on to Gulf Shores.