WAY Past Due

We're Home! Made it to Kentucky on the 14th and haven't fully unpacked YET! More to come, hopefully soon.

What's Your Pet Policy?

Ryan called early this morning. It was so good to hear his voice. He was finally able to get a good night's (plus) sleep. He says it's so hot, he feels like he's setting tobacco in the heat of the Kentucky summer. He doesn't have much free time, but he'll try to stay in contact as much as possible. He did mention meeting up with some other guys he knows. That's good. We miss him.

Today's drive started out from Laramie ("Tony & Tanya's Alma Mater"). We spent a wonderful, whopping 24 hours with the Pirtles in Providence, Utah before we reluctantly headed East. We were originally going to drive from their house to Cheyenne, Wyoming. As we got closer to Cheyenne (about two hours out), I started calling hotels. Stupid hotels. I was on the phone for over an hour-- that's right! over an hour!-- trying to find a hotel that allowed pets and wouldn't cost us well over $100. Cheyenne is ridiculous! Sheesh. Although we wanted to take advantage of Elayna's awesome attitude, we decided to stop an hour early and stay in Laramie for the night. Mainly because Laramie didn't ask us to sign away our souls for a night's stay.

So tonight, I'm so happy to report that Kansas City, Missouri is much kinder to their visitors... or at least the La Quinta is, where "Pets are part of the family. They stay free." Tomorrow, we'll sleep in for once, take advantage of the continental breakfast, hit the road, and visit with Elayna's Great-Grandma and Great-Grandpa O in Illinois. We're almost home!

Goodnight!

Wish We-- Were On a Jet Plane

My and Elayna's most favorite soldier deployed yesterday. We're very sad that Ryan will be away for the next while, but we understand it's part of his job. (Or at least we're trying to understand.) Regardless, we're so proud to have a Husband and Father who significantly contributes to make this country free and safe. Ryan, we love you!

It still feels like yesterday, which was an absolute whirlwind of emotions and craziness. Rachel helped me make the deadline to pack our PODS container by almost two hours. Whew! That was a close one, especially considering that I called and asked that they delay our pick up by as long as possible. We (and when I say "we" I really mean "Rachel" because she did most of the work) cleaned the house and it passed inspection with FLYING COLORS. Ryan wonders why I was so worried about it. (Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was all of the horror stories I've heard that had me scared witless that we'd end up practically buying the house.)

Anyway, the walk-thru was completed by 10am. We ran a few, I mean a lot of errands and were FINALLY on the road by noon. Two sedated cats (one of which behaved completely sober all of but a few hours-- Juju you satan kitty), a sometimes screaming baby, and an awesome dog later, day one of Operation: Make it Home in One Piece is complete. Elayna and Mati acted as though they'd made cross-country road trips a million times before. They were both so cool, it surprised us.

It's 11pm and we've made it to Boise, Idaho. Tomorrow, we head out early to spend some time with the Pirtles (sans Aub) before finishing the road trip. Okay, my quick update turned into much more. I'm heading to bed!