Day 26

Well, a few things have happened. Sam had to have his colon untwisted laporascopically. Is that spelled right? I'm typing on Jeff's work iPad in the car. I really hate it. He's got limited 4G, so I just have a few minutes. Anyway, Sam is healing well, and we didn't have to delay our trip home. It could happen again at any time though, so I am a little nervous about traveling so far in the middle of nowhere for so many hours.

We're taking him to see the surgeon on Tuesday. I guess we'll really have to have that redundant part of his colon removed this time for sure. Apparently there's a whole lot of extra length, and it's still  impressively stretched out. I just can't have him or us worried about that all the time, and it is a safety risk walking around with that about to twist up at any time.

It was so hard to leave Wilson and Kamille and that sweet little bug, Eliza. We took a walk the other night and I wore her in the carrier. It was the sweetest thing. She's so cuddly. Now I don't know what I'm supposed to look at all day long. Right now I'm looking at Wyoming. And as beautiful as it is, it's not doing it for me. Besides that, it's raining; and it doesn't look as if it's going to stop any time soon. Like today.

I guess I'd better stop using Jeff's iPad. I'm hoping to be able to blog a bit more at hotels at night when we stop, but we've seen how well that plan works out on this trip.

See you soon!

Day 25

I'm not really blogging tonight. I don't know what made me think I could do it every day during our trip. Our family always has something. Right now, Jeff is on his way to a city an hour and a half away with Sam to the children's hospital. We found out in November that Sam has a redundant colon, and we were trying not to have part of it removed. So now here we are a couple thousand miles from home and it's twisted. It twisted in November; that's how we found out about it. So the rest of the kids and I are going to go meet them in the morning, but I feel like I sent them off the edge of the world alone. I'm usually wherever one of them needs me, taking care of all the details. But I was getting a headache and I have to make sure we all have food for however long we'll be there.

So that's why I'm not really blogging tonight. Mostly what we did today was hang around with Sam in pain and try to figure out how to make him feel better before eventually deciding to take him to the doctor. I suppose there's some learning in there, but it might be more for me than the kids.

But here's another sweet baby picture.

I hesitate to say see you tomorrow, but hopefully it won't be too long!

Day 24

That baby is unbelievably cute! We've been here at Wilson's about 2 days, and I still can't believe I'm a grandma. I had thought it would become more real when I got here. So far we've just been hanging around holding Eliza, which suits me.

I think I'll just stay here. Oh my goodness, that was a long drive. There are some states in our country that just never end. Like Nebraska. It's amazing to look at, but it does go on. We stopped writing down interesting things to look up. It was all just hills, and what looks like tumbleweed. Or what might be tumbleweed when it dies. Oh, and cows. We did see one person tending his cows, but he was very far away. Did I mention you can see forever! Nothing's going to stop you.

I'm limited on pictures and actually on blogging, because Wilson's internet won't let me use my own computer. So I'm using his. It's identical to mine, so I'm not sure why it's so much of a pain. But it is. I guess it's because my computer knows all my stuff; his just knows his stuff.

As far as learning goes for today, the kids have learned to hold a baby while standing, change dirty diapers, put together a crib, what a college campus, lecture hall and library look like, and how Wilson works. He teaches English to Chinese kids online through video conference at 3:00am. We can hear him, but we're dying to see the kids while he teaches them. Sounds like he does a great job.

I'll try to get myself more organized for blogging tomorrow. I miss it!

See you then!

Day 23

Just a quick update. I totally forgot to post yesterday, because we got to our hotel at midnight.

We decided the theme for our trip would be, "So Much to Discover." So we started writing down things we think are interesting or that we want to look up or do research on. So far we've seen things like a massive indoor football stadium, the world's largest truck stop, grain bins bigger than we've ever seen, tons of windmill type generator things (and one of their giant propeller shaped parts on a huge truck on the highway), more corn and bean fields than I thought could have existed, and lots of motorcyclists on their way to a bike rally.

I can't post pictures of any of these things right now, because I'm on my way to bed!

We've driven about 1000 miles I think, and we have 1200 more to go! Two more long days. It hasn't been as hard as I expected, but we have to get up and do it again tomorrow. And again.

See you tomorrow, and maybe I'll have a few pictures!

Day 22

I'm falling asleep on my feet. I'm not sure when I've had a more ridiculous day. First thing this morning, I took the car to the shop to see if they could fix it. I really didn't want to go and I was sure it was going to cost a fortune or they wouldn't figure out what was wrong. But they did! We have air conditioning! That means we can take it on our trip and not have to rent a van. What a relief.

Next thing that happened was Bubby cat went outside his litter box. We've had him almost 2 years, and that has never happened. Well, we can't just go off on a huge trip and leave him like that, so we took him to the vet (as soon as we picked up our car). He didn't seem sick, so they didn't test his urine; but he was acting strange around a blanket the other day and that's where he went today. So I double washed it, and got rid of any smell so he won't do it again. My dad and brother are taking care of him while we're gone, so they're just going to have to come over every day for a few days to make sure he's ok. I think he'll be fine. The vet said it could be stress, which I totally believe!

Then I tried to buy my special flour that I'm not allergic to, but they didn't have it today. That's never happened before. They said it was coming in on a shipment in a few hours, so I called. No. They said to check back at 5:00. No. So I had to order it online and have it shipped to my son we're going to visit. Here's a video from a youtube channel I have with my sister showing recipes using alternative ingredients to deal with allergies or health problems.

Then I realized that when I bought some mineral supplements the other day, they gave me the wrong ones. I hope I'll have enough to last for the whole trip.

We didn't get all our food cooked, and I don't see how we could possibly leave when we're planning on it. We think we're going to burst if we're delayed by a day. We need as many days visiting as possible! Rachel was being cheerful and trying to push us through, but the rest of us were so tired. We sat down and after a while I was falling asleep. Which brings me to right now.

Of course we never planned to have any school today, but we can always learn from problems. In a few weeks, we'll be able to have normal days again--I hope.

See you tomorrow!

Day 21

The air conditioning in our van hasn't worked in 2 or 3 years, but we thought we might try to get it fixed and take our own car on this trip instead of having to rent one that has air. We had someone working on it, but he ran up against a problem he couldn't fix. And it's making disturbing noises today. I have to take it to the garage tomorrow and see if they can find the problem, but we're running out of time! I'm thinking we'll have to rent a van. Of course that's the most expensive thing to rent. I don't have the heart to stuff 3 teenagers into the back of an SUV for 30 hours. They are so uncomfortable. We'll see, maybe ours can be miraculously fixed and we can take it. Although I'm not sure I want to rely on it without any days between fixing and leaving!

So, today we mostly worried about the van and the trip. I did make several phone calls about it, but I'm not sure what the kids learned from that. There must have been something. They were involved in several conversations about it. They got to listen to the sounds it was making and help me describe them--hey writing! Not to mention real life experience.

Sam was thinking about not having his legos for so many days while we're gone (he doesn't like to take them out of town), and he found some software online that would let him build virtually. We downloaded it, and he and Rachel played with it for just a few minutes. But the next time we tried to open it, it wouldn't work; so he's a little sad. I don't know how to make it work, and I especially can't think about it while I'm so worried about the car and the trip. Maybe his brother Wilson can help him figure it out when we get to his house.


Wilson and Kamille and Eliza moved to a new place yesterday. He's doing some more undergrad work so he can be accepted into a Marriage and Family Therapy grad program in the next year or so. Here are some pictures of Eliza smiling at Kamille's mom. I can't wait til that smile is for me! She looks so much like Kamille. Too adorable!

We made treat bags for each of us for in the car too. That was pretty productive. We have food allergies, so we can't eat too much that's prepackaged or convenient, but we have a few favorites and we got them all! We did open some chips this evening in hopes of cheering ourselves up, but they gave me a gall bladder attack. It didn't really cheer me up.

Well, there's always tomorrow. See you then!

Day 20

Rachel's cover

The kids worked on their covers for Rachel's book today. They all started with the cover art. Of course, that's the most fun part. I'd rather write than draw, so I wouldn't have started with that. But that's me.

We downloaded several audio books for our road trip. I've never used any before; I prefer to read aloud myself. I'm not sure I understand the library website I got them from, but we'll see. Here's the thing about audio books. When I read aloud and I come across any swearing, I just scratch it out. So I'm hoping when we listen to the audio books, there won't be any swearing that we're not expecting.

Sarah's cover

It's not that I think my kids are never going to hear words I don't like, but I don't want to provide them. I figure that when we read a book, it's like inviting someone to tell a story to my kids. If I invited someone to my house to tell stories to my family and they started swearing, I would politely ask them to stop. The fact that someone is an author and has their stories published doesn't give them permission to swear in front of my kids. Anyway, I hope it works out.

Sam's cover

Tonight for Family Home Evening (we spend each Monday night together doing something as a family--spiritual lesson or activity) we planned our road trip. My dad got an old fashioned Trip Tik from Triple A, and we went over it to see where we might stop and what kind of hotels are there. It's going to be very long, but fun. And we can't wait to get to that baby and not put her down for days and days!

Rachel's sitting near me writing another book right now. I'd better get busy doing a final edit on her first one. I asked her what this new one is about, and she doesn't want to tell yet. Not just you, but me! I guess we'll all have to wait.

See you tomorrow!