Every Random Thing that I Can Think Of

1. We're in the first few weeks of our "Tour da U.S.A." and we've already clocked over 2500 miles in the car. It's going much better than I anticipated and, as usual, my children are much more flexible than I give them credit for. Give Eli a juice box, a Buzz Lightyear action figure, and a c.d. of old Vacation Bible School music and he's good to go for several hours. We've enjoyed telling people about our jobs in Turkey and we've had a great time hanging out with friends and family that live along our travel route. For example, see the people in the picture below? They're all friends of Zach's from college. But, take a second look at the girl in the orange sweater. We go way back. Like back to kindergarten. That is my childhood best friend who married Zach's good buddy, and we met at their wedding. They are responsible for bringing Zach and I together. Well, I suppose God's hand in our getting together trumps theirs, but you know what I mean. 2. In addition to seeing friends and family we're trying to do as many fun, non-car related activities as possible. Zoo's are always a nice treat, and at the Milwaukee Childrens' Museum we found a floor piano just like the one in the movie "Big." He also did some plumbing work at the Childrens' museum. Just moments after I snapped this picture he had to ask for forgiveness as he practically assalted a little girl for a fake welding mask. 3. Noah is now four months old. He's smiley and cuddly and I feel guilty having him strapped in his carseat for such long periods at a time. I'd rather hold him and love on him and freeze time so that he doesn't change so quickly. 4. Today we drove to snowy Minnesota. I'm not normally excited to see snow but today, for the sake of my 3-year-old, I was. Ankara gets a light dusting every year, so Eli has never really seen SNOW snow in the years that he's been old enough to play in it. So our first stop in Minnesota was to "Once Upon A Child" (a kids' re-sale shop) for some snow pants and boots. It took him about 2.2 seconds before he was dressed and ready and making snow angels. 5. In the last month Eli has discovered drinking fountains and the coil-like doorstops that are on baseboards. We don't have those things in Turkey. He pushes every water fountain and
B-O-I-N-G-S every doorstop until I go batty.