Deconstructing Jen

are we there yet?

And so begins the tale of our Adventure to Branson. I should begin our tale by explaining what kind of travelers Chris and I are. We are mellow. We don’t stress. And truth be told we don’t really like to plan – actually scheduling the vacation sucks up most of our ability to plan before we even leave. If it takes an extra hour or two to get there – so be it, there will obviously be a good story to tell afterwards.

We spent Friday packing, cleaning, laundering, bickering a little – the standard pre-vacation stress ritual. We went to bed with the intention of getting up insanely early. Night time Chris and Jen should really have a conversation with morning Chris and Jen about how lazy they are. We were up at 7 am and on the road by 10 am. Apparently we hadn’t packed as thoroughly as we thought we had.

With GPS in hand we were off. The kids were excited and happy to be playing with a new Elmo doll and a new Barbie. Chris and I each armed with a beverage of choice were pumped to be on the road. We knocked out 3 hours of the drive before we stopped for lunch. We decided to give Lamberts a try. It’s a quaint little place that declares itself to be “Home of the Throwed Rolls.” Interesting. Well apparently we were not the only ones to find it interesting. A 1 ½ hour wait at 1:45 pm on a Saturday, thanks but we’ll find something else. The trusty GPS pointed us in the direction of a Pizza Hut.

That poor Pizza Hut didn’t know what hit them. Ah, a cute couple with an adorable little girl and a handsome little blue eyed baby boy, what damage could they do. Muahahaha. Yes indeed, what damage could they do? We ordered a pizza. Our drinks came. Evey needed bathroom trip number one. Our pizza came. Ben needed bathroom trip number two. Uh-ho. No baby changing station in the broom closet sized bathroom. I head to the car to change his diaper. I get back to the table to take my first bite of now warm pizza as Evey spills her drink. Onto my pants. I make bathroom trip number 3. As I sit back down to eat my now rather cool pizza I notice Ben gumming up one of the Buzz Word cards that they had sitting on the table. I had a momentary flash that maybe I should take that card away from him but quickly thought nah, he’ll scream his head off. I should have listened to that original thought because within about two minutes I hear the tell tale sound of gagging which is immediately followed by the sound of Ben emptying his stomach onto his lap, the high chair, the floor, and my shoe. Chris and I exchange a horrified glance and burst into hysteric giggles. Bathroom trip number 4. Check please.

So it seems this may be something of a long vacation tale and as I don’t want to bore everyone to tears right up front I think I will pause for now. Stay tuned for part 2.

can I get a yee-haw?

So we made it back from the land of Hillbillies and country folk with only one near riotous moment caused by my dear husband. It was a GREAT trip. We all had a blast. I'll update more on that tomorrow. I just wanted to check in now that I'm sure all my faithful readers have gone the way of the dodo.

adios amigos

We are hitting the road bright and early in the morning. Cross your fingers the weather holds out and we don't get any snow on the way down. See ya on Friday.

raising her right

As I type my husband and 3 1/2 year old daughter are watching Star Wars (A New Hope) because she asked to watch it.

And Dad, if you know about this (and I'm quite sure you do) you can wipe that smug look off your face. *wink*

missing in action

I have not crawled under a rock and disappeared. I have unfortunately had some horrid strain of this cold/flu thing that is going around and my throat frequently feels like it's going to seal itself shut. And to add insult to injury grades were due this week and in some tragically karmic twist I had 3 art projects that ended up due on the same day. That's something like 345 projects to grade in 2 days. Excellent planning on my part. On the bright side I won't have anything to grade for quite some time.

Next week is spring break and we are heading out for a family vacation. We haven't taken a real vacation since before Evey was born so this will be fun. We are heading to Big Cedar Lodge and Branson, MO. It should be a good, mellow trip and some much needed family time. It's been a long year with so many ups and downs that we could use some quality family time.

cupcakes up to my eyeballs

Whew. That was a crazy busy weekend. This was bridal shower weekend extravaganza. My sister-in-law, Jen, and I were threw a bridal shower for our new sister-in-law to be Jenny. Yes, that's right, all of the females of my generation in my husbands immediate family are named Jen. Apparently all the other names were taken from 1974 to 1977. Well to hear our parents tell it, they thought they were picking the most original name in the world and there weren't things like the Social Security website to convince them otherwise. So I digress as I am apt to do...back to the shower.

Saturday was full of pre-shower prep activities. We made cupcakes. Loads and loads of cupcakes. We cut fruit, we cut veggies, we prepped the punch. We also managed to check out the most awesome burger place, EVER. Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Apparently we weren't the only ones who thought it was awesome because it was packed! They have a very small menu, they pretty much serve - you guessed it, burgers and fries but they do those extremely well. If you have one near you and haven't been I highly recommend it.

It turned out to be a lovely shower though there were some definite moments where it felt like there was no way we were going to get things finished up. We made numerous references to the last few harrowing minutes of a Trading Spaces episode where the furniture isn't even in the room yet and they have 2 minutes until the reveal. Thankfully we managed to pull it all together right as the first guests arrived. We served 3 kinds of tea sandwiches, hot crab dip with crackers, a fruit and veggie tray, an awesome punch (non-alcoholic), and super yummy white chocolate raspberry cupcakes. (Recipes to follow soonish in another post). Jen made up wedding Pictionary and a how well do you know the bride game - both were wonderful and non-embarrassing. We all wrote advise for various life subjects for Jon and Jenny on cards that Jenny and Jon opened later that day at home (I think).

It was a great day. And after we cleaned up I went home and passed out on the couch for a few minutes then tackled laundry mountain that some how never seems to go away.