On the Road

I know I've been a lazy blogger lately, but I was just so busy being lazy in Arkansas that I didn't have time to write anything. But I'm back now from our 15 days on the road: the suitcases are unpacked, the goldfish and raisins are emptied from the carseat, and I've stopped humming "The ants go marching ten by ten, hurrah, hurrah..."

I am proud to say that I accomplished my first solo Texas-Arkansas drive with the girls in both good time and good humor. It's about a 10-hour drive, give or take an hour, and the girls were truly champs. Okay, who are we kidding: I was the snack-passing, eternally-long-story-telling, singing, safe-driving champ, if I ever saw one.

The time really flew, and we had a pretty good time. I discovered a charming little pitstop outside of Dallas called Bass Pro Shops (haha). It really was perfect timing when I saw the billboard after 3 hours of driving. Ava was antsy, PJ was hungry, and I wanted a change in conversation (How many versions of the story about Ava, Daddy, and the flying pony named Glittery can I tell?). So I said to Ava, "Do you want to see some fish?" She looked at me with big astonished eyes and said, "REAL fish?" It was almost like the zoo, but better, because it didn't smell, the goats didn't slobber on us, and there were luxury pontoons to climb on. And somehow I resisted buying PJ a camouflage onesie. Somehow.

We had a great time in Arkansas. My parents are terrific hosts (complete with a freezer stocked with a variety of Ben & Jerry's) and it is wonderfully relaxing to be at home. We also traveled to Memphis to visit my brother's family while I was there. My sister-in-law Cheri was recently diagnosed with breast cancer, and she is 7.5 months pregnant. Though she began chemotherapy the week before we saw her, she was still feeling good and looked fabulous (see below--yowzers!).

I know she has a rough road ahead of her, but she has the most incredible attitude you could imagine. She is so strong and optimistic; I really admire her so much. We loved seeing her and the rest of the family. While there, Ava and her cousin explored their inner princesses:


In other news, PJ is seriously starting to crawl, though she can barely sit up unassisted (this is one of her first successes). More pictures to come of the crawling, no doubt...

The Arkansas River flooded at Toad Suck Park while we were there. We took several drives to the river to check out the rising waters, the most exciting trip being the one in which we spotted two water moccasins floating near shore on debris. Oh, and the two centipedes ("Daddy" and "Baby"), which Ava was just as impressed by. This pic shows the flooded road leading into the park.

And we celebrated the true meaning of Easter with new Easter dresses (just kidding, Mom). Here, Ava is being tormented by her baby sister, while Grandma is stealthily assisting with the failed photo op.



We miss you, Grandma and Granddad! Thanks for all the cuddles for the gals and the breaks for their mom!

While we were gone, Derek soothed his lonely soul with movies that he reckoned his wife wouldn't be as eager to see, such as Night of the Lepus, Zu Warriors, Grave of the Fireflies, and Ikiru. Perhaps Derek will grace us with some movie reviews one of these days...