Driving Tanks Across the Country: Part 2

If you missed the first few days of our trip, you can catch up by reading Part 1

Day 4:

I awoke the next morning around 10:30 and decided I had slept long enough. Grig was next to me asleep, but Kevin wasn't upstairs with me, so I went downstairs to look for him. I found him wide-awake and playing with his grandma. She told me that he had slept briefly, but then he had woken up again.

We proceeded to have a very relaxed day. We spent the majority of this day recovering from our trip.

Kevin really enjoyed exploring the property and seeing the many different kinds of animals. He especially loved the cats. He just would not leave them alone.

Grig also found a toad, and Kevin enjoyed that as well.

That night we had Family Home Evening with Grig's parents and we played a fun game. It is an Italian game I guess. Basically, one person (the wolf) stands out in front of everyone with their back facing them. Everyone else stands on the starting line and they yell, "Wolf, what time is it?"

The wolf will then say a number, and everyone takes that many steps forward. The wolf continues this way, until eventually the wolf, instead of saying a number, responds, "I'm hungry." Then, he/she turns around and chases everyone else. If he can catch someone before they reach the starting line, they become the wolf. However, once they get to the starting line, they were safe. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was a nice recovery day.

That night, we also kind of planned out our week. We were trying to decide what we wanted to do and when. With a plan in mind, we went to bed. I was still exhausted, but feeling better.

Day 5:

It seems that I didn't take any pictures or videos for this day. Whoops. 

For a large part of this day as well, we spent our time relaxing and recovering. Kevin really enjoyed playing with his aunts and uncle. His grandmother enjoyed the time with him as well. Grig took Kevin into the woods with his mom, and they had a nice walk.  The camera was charging, so they didn't take it with them.

Later in the afternoon, around 5:00, Grig, Kevin, and I went to visit Grig's grandmother and a few other people. She was really nice and Kevin had a really good time at her home. As we arrived, I realized that I had forgotten the camera! Oh, no! I reassured myself that we would come visit again and I would definitely bring the camera. We talked for a while, and then we went to visit a couple of older men who are kind of pseudo-grandparents to the family. We enjoyed visiting with them as well. 

By the time we finished, it was nearly time for Kevin to go to bed, and he was ready for it. 

I put him to sleep, and then we watched a couple of episodes of River Monsters with Grig's siblings.

Day 6:

This was now Wednesday, June 11. Grig's sister who lives in Richmond had the day off from work, so we went to Richmond to visit her. Maybe we were crazy for getting back into the car, but the short two hour drive seemed like nothing. It was over lickety-split!

We had decided that we would pick up his sister, and then go to a place called Maymont Park. After a little bit of confusion, we were able to find his sister's apartment and pick her up. We then drove to the park.

Kevin and his aunt. They had a great time picking flowers.

Kevin was pretty excited to find geese there, but they were actually in the wrong direction of where we wanted to go. It was hard to convince him to go the other direction. As we started our journey into the park, dark clouds hung ominously over the horizon. Someone worried that it would storm, to which I replied, "We just need to pray about it, and it will wait until we're done."

I don't know if anyone else prayed about it, but I said a quick prayer.

Some of our group from the back. Kevin holds hands with his grandma and grandpa.

Kevin loved Maymont

Maymont was incredible. Frogs were in every stream and Grig's brother found a huge dragonfly!

As we walked along the path, we came to a miniature aviary. It contained native Virginian species. I was especially interested in the black vultures. I had never seen them before. I used to work in a zoo that contained turkey vultures, but I had never seen the black variety. Evidently the farmers don't like them because they will attack live animals as well.

Kevin and his grandpa enjoy looking at the bald eagles

Black vultures

At the end of the aviary, there was a giant bald eagle head where you could look through the eyes to get an eagle's perspective of the world, but it cost money to activate it, so we just took pictures of the head instead.

After that, we walked along a path and climbed trees. There was supposed to be a waterfall, but the waterpump had broken, so the waterfall wasn't turned on and all of the water looked kind of gross. However, it was still beautiful.

There were also a few other animals there that you could look at. There were some bears, but they were fairly far away. We did enjoy a bear statue though.

The next area we visited was a Japanese garden. Aside from the murkiness of the water, it was gorgeous. I had never been to a Japanese garden before. I was super impressed by the design. It was very artistic and it nearly took your breath away. 

We then explored some beautiful old buildings. Evidently Maymont used to be a plantation and many of the original buildings are still on the property. They were beautiful. 

Kevin and his aunt.

Family picture

Who knew Kevin's hair was this curly?

The rain held off the whole time we were in the park. We also visited a farm area with farm animals, but at about this point my camera's battery began to die. Grig and I went for a walk by ourselves through a bamboo forest while Kevin stayed with his grandparents. We had a great time exploring and chasing toads and frogs.

We had a fantastic day. However, Grandma Tank had to pick up Grig's sister and brother-in-law from the airport that night, so we had to leave. As we got into our vehicles, it began to rain. I know that Heavenly Father held off the rain until we were done. We dropped Grig's sister back at her apartment, and then went back to Grig's parents' home. It poured the whole way, which made it difficult to see the car in front of us. We thought we saw them turn off an exit and we followed. A few minutes later they called to see where we were. We had taken the wrong exit, but it would eventually take us home anyway. We stopped to grab some food, and eventually we made it there. 

Kevin went to bed, but Grig, his brother, and I stayed up for a while. I was partially waiting for Grig's sister and husband to arrive, but as it got later I decided to go to bed.

That's probably enough for today. For the next part, read Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

Driving Tanks Across the Country: Part 1

Here is part 1 of our grand adventure across the country. I'll be putting up correlating videos as well!

Day 1:

We began our trip on June 6, 2014. We had intended to leave at 4:00 a.m. in the morning so we could get some hours under us before Kevin woke up. However, preparations had taken much longer than we had intended and we didn't end up going to bed until 1:30. We had printed off our instructions the night before from Google Maps and we had a road atlas, so we felt pretty prepared. We slept in until about 5:30 and left about 6:15 a.m. instead. We had a 12 and a 1/2 hour trip that day, so we wanted to get an early start.

Kevin slept for a couple of hours, and we had a pretty peaceful beginning. We drove past the Great Bear Lake which was absolutely stunning, except for the fact that we couldn't really look at it. The sun was glinting off of the waters, so we had to look away or go blind. It was still beautiful though.

After a couple of hours we came to Little America in Wyoming. We had heard (and seen) a lot about this place and my grandparents had told me that you could get ice cream for 50 cents. It turned out to be an awesome stop. We went inside and looked around. It had a lot of really neat things on sale, and we bought a piece of bismuth crystal.

Pretty cool, huh?

We had been intending to get a type of native stone from each state we went to, but Wyoming was the only state where we had success. Oh, well.

After we purchased our crystal, we went out to their playground and found a large life-sized bison statue. Kevin was a little worried about it at first, but after a while, he began to enjoy it. 

They had a little playground out there, and after he finished waking up he really began to enjoy running around. 

After Grig and I finished using the restroom, we purchased an ice cream cone. They were a pretty impressive size for only 50 cents. 

I had started off driving, and Grig wanted to take over next. However, he didn't want to try to eat ice cream and drive at the same time, so we hung around the front of the building for a while and shared our ice cream with Kevin. He wasn't sure he liked it at first, but eventually he decided it was pretty great. 

As we waited for Grig to finish eating, we saw a cicada on a wall, which surprised us because we didn't think they were this far west. 

As we were leaving to get back on the road, I spotted something ahead of us. It had a tawny back and I said, "Is that a cow?" We drove closer and realized it wasn't a cow.

It was an antelope.

This is the picture Grig took of the antelope.

We drove pretty close, and it got a little nervous, but we got a couple of great pictures. Then, we drove away and left it in peace.

Once we got back on the highway, we presented Kevin with a gift that we had purchased for him. It was a small laptop computer. It had only been about $20, but he instantly loved it. That purchase was phenomenal! Kevin kept himself entertained for a long time just pushing the buttons and singing along with the songs. 

Eventually, he got tired, and fell asleep. 

With a cracker in his mouth, I might add.

We switched drivers again after a while, and kept going. People tell me that Wyoming is the worst state to drive through, but I found it to be one of the greatest! There were pronghorn everywhere! I counted over 60 pronghorn antelope. That was quite delightful for me. We saw at least two mothers with their fawns. One gave a little leap as we drove past, like a giddy lamb. It was really cute. 

We also saw two female elk, but we were driving so we didn't get a picture. I love Wyoming!

Our next stop was at Laramie, Wyoming at the Lincoln Highway Monument just off of I-80.

We actually didn't know we were stopping at a monument. We just saw a sign for a rest area, and Kevin had just woken up, so we decided to take a break. We had been driving for about 6 hours at that point. It also had a nice visitor's center and we enjoyed taking a break from driving. 

Shortly after that, we passed out of Wyoming. We started off the trip listening to Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, but the audio book we had borrowed from the library only worked through the third disc, and then it stopped working. We then switched to Jonathan Stroud's Amulet of Samarkand which I had read before, but Grig hadn't. That book kept us going for a long time, and we really enjoyed it.

We made another short rest stop in Nebraska before reaching our destination at about 10:00 at night (partially due to the time change). We were staying with family who live in Nebraska, and the day went really quickly. We enjoyed talking to them for a while, and then we went to sleep. 

Day 2:

 The next day, we started off about 10:00 a.m. It was our short day, and so we weren't as worried about leaving early. We were traveling to Nauvoo, IL which was only about 8 hours away. As we drove away from my uncle and aunt's home, we had only been on the road a little over 2 hours when we saw a sign for a dinosaur museum at Milford, Nebraska. Grig was driving, and he asked me, "Should we stop there?" I wasn't sure. We both love dinosaurs, but we weren't sure if it would be worth it.

Then we saw the life-sized statue of a tyrannosaurus rex, and we couldn't resist. We pulled off the highway and turned at a gas station just off the exit. We could see the dinosaur museum from the gas station, and you take a little dirt road through the back of the gas station parking lot to get to the museum. As we looked at the size of the building, we both thought, "This isn't very big."

We decided to go in anyway. We asked them how much it was, and they told us about $9 each. Again, we kind of looked at each other. From the outside, how much could there be? Was it really worth the price of admission?

Again, we decided to go for it, and we were so glad we did. It ended up being one of the highlights of our trip. I don't know how they fit so much into such a small-seeming building, but we were very impressed. The woman later told us that the sculptor who owned the building was tired of having nothing to do with his kids when they went on roadtrips, so he decided to make this museum so people would have something to do when they were driving along I-80 in Nebraska. He doesn't live anywhere nearby, but I think he had an excellent idea.

At first, Kevin was rather terrified of the displays. They were huge with rather large teeth, after all. Who could blame him?

However, he quickly got over it, and soon he was right in the middle of the dinosaurs as cool as a cucumber.

Museum's Facebook Page (in case you want to check them out)

We all had a fantastic time. In fact, we had a really hard time wanting to leave.

There was also a mirror maze, which neither Grig nor I had ever been to before. It was rather exciting and difficult. That was one of our favorite parts of the museum. We had to go through it twice. There was also a cinematic area where you could watch Walking with Dinosaurs (which we own, so we didn't need to watch it). At the end, we took Kevin back to the beginning to see if he would touch the teeth of the carnivore who had first terrified him.

He did.

Our boy is awesome.

We bought him a tiny dinosaur toy who squirts water, and Kevin drank water from its mouth for the next little while during our travels. The people in charge were super nice, and they let Grig go through the Heartland Haunt. While Grig was going through, the lady told me, "He's going to be so scared! He's totally going to jump and to be wide-awake to drive after this."

She was right. the haunt made Grig jump, and the adrenaline kept him going for a while.

Our next stop was in Omaha. We stopped at the Cabela's there. Grig had never been to a Cabela's before.

They have some incredible displays. Grig especially enjoyed the wolverine and I really liked the wolves. However, our favorite part was probably the aquarium with the live fish. They had some huge and incredible specimens there! Grig's favorite was the blue catfish that was close to five feet long. 

We tried really hard to find a native stone there, but there was nothing available. So, we decided to buy a fishing net for when we went to the beach in Virginia.

After these two stops, we found that it was around 4:00 in the afternoon and we hadn't even left Nebraska yet. Whoops. We were staying in a hotel that night, but we had been intending to visit Nauvoo before we went to bed.

We did our best to get there early, but we didn't arrive until about 9:00 p.m. We decided to get groceries in Keokuk, Iowa for the next day and go to bed. At the Wal-mart there, I was surprised to run into someone from Idaho who knew my aunt. Small world. Grig also felt prompted to get some cash when he was checking out our groceries.

We were tired, and everything was already closed in Nauvoo anyway. As we drove to our hotel, I contacted my cousin.

Our original plan the next day was to get up early, go see the sites, and then go to church at 10:00 and leave after Sacrament Meeting to drive the 14 1/2 hours to Virginia. However, my cousin who has lived in Nauvoo more recently than I had told me that the missionaries met for church at 8:00 a.m. and then they went to open the sites.

We decided to go to church then instead, and we went to our apartment. We stayed that night at the Rivers Inn in Fort Madison, Iowa. It was inexpensive, but fairly nice. We'd probably stay there again. We relaxed for a little while and then we went to sleep.

Beautiful sunset

Day 3:

We got up early and quickly packed our belongings. Most of our stuff was in a larger suitcase, but we packed three days worth of clothes (including our church clothes) into a duffel bag so we only had to pull that out of our car at night. It made packing and unpacking much easier. Then, we took the toll bridge across the Mississippi (which was awesome) and went to church with the missionaries. The cash that Grig had taken out the night before suddenly became essential, as they only took cash on the toll bridge. A blessing from the Lord. I was worried we wouldn't make it on time, but we did great.

As we walked in, I glanced through the doors into the chapel, and saw my kindergarten teacher! Randomness. They had some really good talks about following the prophet. It was a wonderful meeting. Afterwards, Kevin played outside and then we walked around Nauvoo a bit. I changed into pants for the walking part (and the drive afterward). I didn't feel like wearing my skirt and Sunday shoes. 

We walked up to the temple and the Joseph and Hyrum Smith statues across from it.

 It was beautiful there, and I've really missed it. Back in 2005, I'd lived there for a few months through BYU's travel study program. It's a small town, but it has a lot of significance for Latter-day Saints (Mormons). After we visited the temple, we decided to go back to our car and drive around. We didn't have much time and we had a long drive ahead of us.

We took a quick tour of the historic sites (which were all closed because it was Sunday morning and they didn't open until 12:30), and then we went and visited Joseph and Hyrum's graves.

Kevin is always adorable

As we were leaving the graves, we spotted some geese. Kevin and Grig decided to go see how close they could get. I was filming and they were getting pretty close when suddenly we heard a loud racket. A new group of geese was creating quite a commotion in the sky, and they soared in and landed right in front of Kevin and Grig. They were only a few feet over their heads at one point. It was rather exciting. (Look to the video to see this scene, it was pretty cool.) 

After that, we went back to the visitor's center briefly to use their facilities, and then we took off. 

The drive was pretty long, but we had a few exciting moments when we thought we'd missed our turn off. We would pray, and soon we would find out that we were still on track. As the day grew later, Kevin eventually fell asleep and Grig and I continued to travel from state to state. We crossed from Illinois to Indiana to Ohio to Pennsylvania to West Virginia to Virginia. It was a long trip. We stopped for a rest stop at about 10:00, and then we kept going through the night until we reached our destination. We passed through some heavy rain at one point, but for the most part we had fantastic weather. As we entered Virginia, I began to feel claustrophobic. Mist was all around us, it was dark, and trees loomed out of the darkness like ghostly figures. It was kind of creepy. 

At one point, we were traveling through a national forest, and we didn't know where we were. We thought we had missed our turn, and it was kind of scary. A couple times we saw deer just off of the side of the road and we were grateful that they hadn't jumped into the road. We prayed, and soon we found that we were right on track. 

A little while later, Grig began to grow tired and I took the wheel. We knew we were on the right road, but then the signs for the town we were heading to disappeared. I shook him awake and we found that we had missed our exit a few miles back. I turned around at the next exit and went back. Grig slept and I drove through the mist listening to our book on tape. Sometimes as I would dip down a hill, the fog would form a lid over my head, and it looked like I was driving into a wall of mist. It was kind of eerie.

Finally, we reached a place that Grig recognized and the last 45 minutes seemed to take forever. It was not after 4:00 in the morning, and we were exhausted. On the second to the last road, I glanced at the trees to the side of the road for an instant and didn't see the skunk in our path. We hit the already dead skunk and a pungent odor filled the interior of our car. The smell clung to our car for days. 

We reached our destination at 5:00 a.m. Grig's parents were already awake because his dad had to leave for work in a couple of hours and Kevin woke up as we arrived. Carmen, Grig's dog, didn't recognize us at first, but she soon remembered him. Grig, Kevin, and his parents talked for a while, but I hadn't slept at all and I was exhausted. I stayed up for a few minutes, and then I went upstairs and collapsed on our bed. I quickly fell asleep, grateful that our long drive was over.

Carmen

That's it for part 1. I'll write more about our trip tomorrow.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4
Part 5

Mormon Monday: Fatherhood

We're back!

I'll start posting information about our trip starting tomorrow, but today I wanted to get back to the normal schedule and talk about fathers, since I missed Father's Day.

On one of the last days of our trip, we were sitting in a hotel room flipping through channels. We don't have a television at our house, so we were trying to see if anything was worth watching.

For having so many channels, there really wasn't anything worth watching until we got to an episode of the Twilight Zone. It was the old version, and I'd never seen it before, but Grig recognize it. We watched it, and I rather enjoyed it.

After it finished, we didn't change the channel and a commercial came on for an old western. In the commercial a young boy was talking to his manly-looking, cowboy father, and the father made the comment, "There's no place I'd rather be than with you."

As I heard those words, the thought hit me that fathers haven't been portrayed that way in years. In general, fathers are portrayed as idiotic, absent, or abusive. It is very rare anymore that a father is seen as a vital part of a family.

 My husband, Grig, is a huge part of our family. I have chosen to be a stay-at-home mother, and I love it. I love teaching my son all the time and seeing him grow and develop. I can't imagine leaving him to the care of anyone else. Obviously not everyone has the opportunity to raise their child this way, but I'm so grateful that I have been able to.

This would not be possible if Grig wasn't an amazing provider. He worries about making enough money and spending time with us. Early on in our marriage, we discussed what kind of career he wanted to have and he impressed on me that the most important thing to him was to spend time with his wife and children. He wanted to have a good job, but not at the cost of never seeing us.

We've been blessed with a good job and we've been able to spend time together. We try to have a weekly date night away from Kevin, and constantly try to strengthen our love for each other and our son.

According to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, fathers and mothers have very important roles in the family. A while ago, the church issued a document called, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World."

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. “Children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed.

Though the proclamation states that fathers are to provide the necessities of life, it emphasizes that in these responsibilities, "fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners." As Grig and I have tried to live by these principles, we've found ways to encourage and aid one another in our responsibilities. Every family needs to seek the Lord's guidance as they determine how the Lord wants them to individual adapt.

For those who no longer have husbands or fathers on this earth, I encourage you to turn to your Heavenly Father. He loves us more than we can possibly understand. I have felt a tiny bit of His love for me, and it was almost more than I could handle. The Lord wants what is best for us and our families, and as we try to live our lives in the way He wants us to, we will experience happiness and peace in these turbulent times.

Fathers are an essential part of the family. I can't imagine what my life would be like without my husband and my father. I have learned so much from them. However, if something were to happen to them, I know my Heavenly Father would continue to guide me.

We are not alone. There are others around us who the Lord sends to help us. We are not meant to go through this life alone, and if we put aside our pride and really try to listen, our Heavenly Father will guide us to a better path.

I'm still learning to listen. It is a life-long journey and sometimes it can seem difficult. What I want and what the Lord wants doesn't always mesh. However, when I heed my Father in Heaven, I am always happier and I end up right where I am supposed to be.

Earthly fathers can be imperfect, but our Heavenly Father will never let us down.

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there. Know that you are needed, loved, and appreciated. The impact, good or bad, that you make on your families will last for generations. Try to be the kind of father that your children will try to emulate, and spend time with your family while they are young.

Grig and Kevin are best friends, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Relearning Spanish

As of yesterday, I was suddenly overcome with the desire to brush up my Spanish (i.e. relearn it). I learned Spanish during my mission to San Antonio, Texas, but I never really got an opportunity to be completely immersed in it. I shouldn't complain, after all, I was able to serve in an area where I did get to practice my Spanish, and my mission was rife with opportunity to speak the language. I am grateful for those opportunities.

I have used Spanish pretty consistently since then. When I worked at a gas station/farm store after my mission, I often was called to talk to people in Spanish and figure out what they needed. My Spanish is less than adequate, but I was always able to figure out what they wanted and with the Spanish I knew (plus gestures), I was able to help them understand our response to their questions and assist them with what they wanted.

After all, they never taught us how to say pheasant on my mission. ;)

On our honeymoon, one of the places we visited was Cozumel, Mexico. The people there really liked me because I spoke to them in their own language. They gave us some incredible deals and were very helpful. I think they were surprised that I was trying. I guess most tourists don't do that.

Now that we live in Utah, I get to use my Spanish occasionally as well. We have free public transportation here, and often when I use the bus I get to sit by people who only speak Spanish and talk to them.

However, my greatest struggle with Spanish is the grammar. I never learned it really well, and though I know quite a few words, I often confuse people with my incorrect placement of words.

We kind of want to raise Kevin to be bilingual. However, if we're going to do that, I need to start speaking it more and correctly. My dad speaks Spanish really well, and four out of the ten kids have served Spanish-speaking missions. I have opportunities to practice that I need to take. The hard thing is fear. I like talking to native Spanish speakers, because they are always so nice about it. Even though I know they're nice, it's pleasant to hear that my Spanish is wonderful.

However, in order to improve it, I need to talk to people who will criticize my Spanish and help me know when I'm saying things wrong. I'm also working on reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish. I've heard that helps, and it's true. As I started this morning, I was surprised to find the knowledge coming back to me rather quickly. I was able to comprehend what I was reading after only a few minutes.

That was encouraging.

Maybe my Spanish isn't as bad as I thought, but at any rate, there is room for improvement.

Maybe I have too many goals.

On another note, I finished animating the next Dragon and the Wolf, and I've started adding sounds to the animation. I don't think I'm going to finish it by tonight though. You'll have to watch it when we get back!

!Ciao!

Giving Blood

Last night, we went and donated blood to the Red Cross. Kevin obviously can't donate yet, so I had to wait until Grig was entirely finished for my turn.

So, I had to find some way to entertain him while we sat and waited. First, I pulled out the mirror that I keep in my purse and let him play with that. He was pretty happy with that for a while, and then he started kissing his reflection. It was super cute!

After that, we played Ring Around the Rosie on my lap. He spun around in a circle as I sang the song and when I said, "All fall down!" he would say "Duh!" and sit down on my lap. We played that for a while and entertained the other people who were waiting around us.

After about an hour, Grig finally finished and it was my turn. He took Kevin, and while I got my blood pressure taken he and Kevin went outside and found a bee's nest. Yikes.

Anyway, I quickly answered the questions and then had to wait for a bed to empty out. It didn't take too long, and soon I was laying on those chair recliners they have. The guy who was marking up my vein on my arm filled up the arm pressure thing way too much. I had pain spiking down my arm and I could see my fingers turning purple. When I made a remark about it, like, "That's pretty tight," he just laughed and said, "Yep, it will only be a moment." Then he took his time magic marking around my vein in the pit of my elbow. I probably should have said something, but I figured if I just endured the pain for a while, he would release it.

It felt like it took a long time as pain began to shoot down my fingertips and I felt my arm going numb, but in reality it probably was only a couple of minutes. I've had my blood drawn a lot in my life, as well as my blood pressure taken, but I've never had anyone pump it up to the point where it hurt before.

Crazy fun.

After that, everything went smoothly, and as always, they hit my vein on the first try. I finished filling the bag within 5 and 1/2 minutes, and then we ate a few snacks, went and looked at the bee's nest, and then went and got pizza. It is difficult when you're leaving soon, because it is hard to want to cook more food when you're trying to get rid of all of your food before you go.

The pizza was an excellent way to end the night.

I'm pretty excited for our vacation. I love road trips, but Grig doesn't like driving as much as I do. Hopefully he has a good time anyway. We're going to be in the car a  lot, so we've been planning on doing some fun things.

Tomorrow might be my last blog for a little while. We'll see how much I feel like blogging while we're on vacation.