The Second Half

I'm sure you are on the edge of your seat wondering what I did for the last half of the 4-day weekend. Am I right? HA.

Friday night, we rented Grown Ups and laughed our butts off before bed. I recommend it. Did you hear that Adam Sandler bought each of his co-workers from that film a Maserati? NICE.

Saturday, we did a some shopping in the morning. Then we spent the afternoon tidying up the house and enjoying a little more couch time. That night, Jenna and Jandi came over for dinner. We sat at the table and ate Wing Stop boneless wings. Aiden loves Jandi, and vice versa, so when Jandi came to sit at the table, so did Aiden. Funny thing was he went straight for the chair directly next to Jandi - not his high chair. It was so cute that we let him sit at the table with us.

We liked having him in a regular chair like us, so I think we are going to break down the high chair into his booster seat. It will be nice to have that huge chair out of the way. The only nice thing about it is that we can fit more people at the table when Aiden sits in his high chair. So we'll probably keep the high chair component handy. Especially with the Christmas holiday around the corner.

Aiden was quite cranky that evening. He only took two short 15 minutes naps during the day, so he was on edge by bedtime. I think we put him down a few minutes early. He was out within seconds. And when we went to check on him before we went to bed, he was laying in the exact same position as we laid him down in. Covered up with his blankets and everything. The blankets are a big deal because those usually get kicked off immediately. And he's too young to be able to cover himself back up properly. He was definitely tuckered out. I think it helped that Jenna and Jandi were there. He always does better when we are around other people. I've decided that's a good thing.

Sunday we did even more shopping. It was our annual family Thanksgiving shopping spree. My dad likes to give each of us $50. We get to spend $40 on our self and $10 on whoever we draw out of a hat. This year, I had Robert and Travis had Alex. I was able to purchase a new pair of boots that I so desperately wanted. My chiropractor will be so proud that I am no longer walking on those worn heels anymore. Robert lost his wallet right before Thanksgiving, so I found him a replacement wallet. Travis bought a few things from Academy for himself (hooray for Thanksgiving weekend sales!) and two 80's comedies for Alex. We will have to wait to exchange gifts when everyone gets here for Christmas. It's easier than mailing them.

My dad likes to do this little shopping spree to get us thinking about Christmas presents for ourselves and others. It makes it easier to get an idea of what everyone would like each year. Plus, I'm always up for a paid-for-shopping-spree. ;)

After Aiden woke up from his nap, we played outside and then went for a walk. The rest of the evening went by entirely too quickly...

A Very Merry Thanksgiving

Want to know the best part of our Thanksgiving weekend? Travis had FOUR DAYS OFF IN A ROW. That has got to be a record. Aside from when he asks off for Christmas. Psh.

This year, Ariel and Robert volunteered to have Thanksgiving at their house. In the past, we have always done it at our place. It was nice to take a step back and actually enjoy the day, as opposed to running around like a madman trying to have 10 dishes hot at the same time. Ha.

Wednesday, I got out of work early and took advantage of that child-free time to do what food preparation that I was in charge of. When I got up Thursday, all I had to do was throw the prepared green bean casserole in the oven and bake the rolls. After that, we had a few hours of chaos before we were able to relax a little. We decided to stay the night at Ariel's since Aiden's bedtime is 7:30. I didn't want to worry about running home to get him in bed on time, so we just packed ourselves up for a couple days "away".

Of course, that's not as simple as it once was. We have to pack our own overnight bags, Aiden's overnight bags (which include extra clothes, PJ's, sheets, blankets, Mr. Lion, food, toys, etc.), the travel crib, Callaway's food, Callaway, plus the food I was in charge of making for Thanksgiving. Puts a pinch in my shoulders just thinking about it again.

In the end, we didn't forget anything. THANK GOODNESS. We got to their house before Aiden's nap time so we could help out with anything they needed before all the guests arrived. They ended up cooking TWO turkeys. They invited eight people besides themselves, but that is still a LOT of turkey.

Here's Ariel's thinking: Robert and Mike wanted to fry a turkey for the first time in their entire lives. Since that very well could end in disaster, Ariel wanted to roast a turkey as a back-up.

Thankfully, there was no disaster. Mike thoroughly enjoyed injecting the turkeys with cajun marinade. He brought an extra turkey to fry for his girlfriend's family too.

The boys all stood around and stared for a good 10 minutes as the first turkey settled into the fryer.

The meal turned out great! Thank you Ariel and Robert!! (Pictured below: Wendy, Mike, Jenna, Ariel and Robert.)


We took in as many Thanksgiving-orphans as we could find. Jenna included!



The nice thing about having a bunch of people around is Aiden finds lots of people to entertain him. Brandon (on the couch behind him) read Aiden several books before passing into a tryptophan-induced coma.

After dinner, Travis fell asleep on the couch. Sadly, he was sick for the majority of the weekend. In a way, it's nice that this sickness fell on days he already had off, but then again, it would have been nice to have him around a little more.

The rest of us retired outside for the remainder of the evening. We just chatted it up for a while, but then Jenna had to head home. After a bit, we decided to play some games. We started with a round of Apples to Apples (I really need to get that game!), then took a break for dessert. After pie, we headed back outside for a game of Taboo. Ugh, it was so much fun!

Yes, I am wearing a Snuggie in this photo. It is literally a square blanket with sleeves. So strange. A cold front came in while we were outside playing Taboo, but we were having too much fun to take the time to move inside. Ariel's friends Tara and Kevin came just as we were sitting down for dinner, so they didn't eat with us. But they did stick around for leftovers and games! It was a blast.

Tara's birthday was at midnight, so we sang her happy birthday before they headed out to the bars. Ariel and Robert stayed up to watch a movie and I went to bed.

The next morning, we ate cinnamon rolls and lounged on the couch ALL DAY. Seriously. We came down at 8 to feed Aiden breakfast and Travis was astounded when I came back into the living room at 11 with Aiden's lunch. He could not comprehend that he had just sat on the couch for four hours. It was awesome. We watched Shaun of the Dead, ate leftovers, watched a Law and Order: SVU marathon and ate more leftovers. I'm pretty sure that it's been years since I did that much sitting all at once.


But! It was worth it! We had a great time with friends and family. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday!

Crappy Weekend

Early last week, Aiden's daycare warned us that there was a bug going around the school that involved fever, vomiting and diarrhea. Honestly, out of the three, vomiting is my least favorite. We have not had to deal with straight up vomiting from Aiden so far and for that, I am thankful. Other people's vomit always makes me gag. Generally I just get out of the way quick enough that I don't ever actually throw up at all. Once, I cleaned up after Travis and that was only because it was either that, or sit with the smell. UGH.

Needless to say, we spent the week awaiting the bug. Sure enough, Aiden came down with a fever and a LOT of diarrhea on Friday morning. I had to leave work early to pick him up. Then I spent the remainder of the day, changing his diaper every two hours.

Travis had plans already to work on Saturday and possibly Sunday, so I was absolutely dreading the advancement of whatever was ailing the baby. I got SUPER lucky and the vomiting never happened. Just lots and lots and LOTS of crap. Seriously. My weekend was FULL of crap.

By Saturday morning, Aiden's butt couldn't take it any longer and developed a full on diaper rash. He has never had one so bad. It wasn't to the point of bleeding, but it was enough to take his breath away every time I changed his diaper. I resorted to wiping with a warm, wet washcloth to cut back on irritation and switched over to Extra Strength Desitin.

I tried looking up a home remedy and the main one I came across was wiping on Maalox. I don't think that really helped any to be honest. Not to mention, it took forever because you have to wait for it to dry before applying the Desitin top coat. Otherwise, you're just locking in the moisture that is the cause of the diaper rash in the first place.

The rash waned off and on, but it was still present this morning, so I made sure to send Desitin to school with Aiden. The diarrhea was gone yesterday, but he is still having regular, soft poo, which does nothing to help the rash.

Anyhoo, Saturday we hung out at the house by ourselves all day. Travis got another set of tickets to go see the Houston Astros play, so he came home for a shower and went straight out the door. He asked if I wanted to go. By this point, the fever had been gone all day, but I wasn't up for diarrhea + public restrooms. Plus, I'd constantly be in the bathroom because I have been changing Aiden's diaper every hour to help get rid of the diaper rash.

Oh! AND I already had plans to have Jenna over for dinner! It was a nice night just the two of us. I made pork loin and then we went out to the gazebo to imbibe a few beers. We kept it an early evening, which was nice because I'm so not used to staying up late!

Travis ended up working Sunday morning but was home at lunch time. I had to teach him how to change diaper rash diapers and then we got on with our weekend. Since I had spent most of my weekend indoors with poop, I convinced Travis to take me shopping. Yay!

First we hit up Starbucks so we could walk with fraps in hand. Second, we went up to Old Navy to look for jeans, which was a mistake. I never fit their jeans. We did a quick run through at World Market before running over to the mall. I hit up the 5 for $25 sale at Victoria's Secret, then found a couple pairs of jeans at Charlotte Russe. I LOVE their jeans. They have such a huge inventory so it was easy to find the styles I like.

I bought my first pair of skinny jeans! They're amazing. I haven't been able to find a pair that I didn't feel absolutely ridiculous in. These have rolled bottoms so it feels like maybe they balance out my wide hips a little. Maybe it's all in my head. I dunno, but I like them!

After that, we rushed home to eat dinner. After putting Aiden down for the night, we went out to sit in the gazebo for a couple hours.

Despite the title of this post, it was actually a delightful weekend. ;) This poop-filled, single-mother weekend is the reason there was no post Friday and Monday's is late. I know, I know. My followers are upset by my lack of posting. They will survive, I know it!!

Baby-sized Recovery

Tuesday night, we had plans to have Jenna and her kids, Brian and Jandi, over for dinner. Actualy, we had plans for Jenna to bring us dinner. LOL! It's been so long since we have had a chance to spend any time with them, so we decided to go ahead with it despite Aiden's fever. Plus, the kids had not met him yet.

Aiden was sleeping when they arrived, so we caught up on what Jandi and Brian have been up to recently. Brian's football season just ended, which means they are about to have A LOT of free time on their hands. Jandi reminds me of myself at her age, carrying around two books at a time. My favorite place to go during the summer was the library. My dad usually kicked us out of the house during the day. The library was cool in the AC and they had the entire Nancy Drew series. Doesn't get any better than that, right?

Back to the present... We had to wake Aiden up for his dinner at 7:30pm, like always. Thankfully, he wasn't horribly cranky. Jandi and Brian were enthralled with Aiden. They couldn't wait until he was done with his bottle so they could try to make him laugh.

Jandi awaits her turn to hold the baby...

Finally!

I woke up at 2:30am and checked Aiden's temperature before immediately offering him Tylenol. His temp had dropped to 97.9F. Woot! I was glad to have all day Wednesday off for Veteran's Day so I could keep an eye on him all day.

Aiden had some fussy moments in the afternoon. I'm starting to wonder if his teething is really affecting him. I ran out and bought some teething rings just in case. He is drooling like crazy and his hands are constantly in his mouth. He's got this rash that comes and goes on his chin (from the drool) that is driving me crazy. I try to keep Vaseline on his chin all the time, but there is only so much they will do for him at the daycare. When it flares up, the doctor said I can use 1% hydrocorisone cream, but I haven't had to do that yet.

Taking the teething ring out for a test drive.

Nadya & Alexey's Baby Shower

OI, it was another busy weekend! This one started off with Nadya and Alexey's baby shower (she's due just five days after me). Rachel has spent the past month or so, preparing for this party and I think it was a success!

Rachel and Max

Nadya and Alexey (the parents-to-be)

I think there were almost 20 people there and there was no shortage of food! Sandwiches, bread and spinach dip, hummus and pita, chips, veggie tray, brownies, candy, cupcakes galore. Carbs and sugar - my favorite. I was amazed at how big I look in these photos. (I have a doctor appointment this morning, so I'll have the official stats later.) My pregnancy brain completely forgot that I was supposed to make a pasta salad and dessert for this party. I recalled this information on the drive to Rachel's house - about 24 hours too late. Oh and I forgot to bring chairs. We're lucky I remembered sandwich tray and cooler.

When I told Travis I couldn't believe I forgot about the food, he said, "I can." No softening the blow there. The next words out of his mouth were, "What's my name?" I got that one right though.

After everyone had arrived and had a chance to chat and eat for a bit, Rachel broke out the games. The first game was the Baby Food Taste Test. She passed around six jars of food and everyone had to figure out what "flavor" they were. I am dead serious when I say she picked out the worst flavors possible. I think that pureed meat is the most disgusting mush out there. And what did she pick? Stuff like Ham, pineapple and rice. And Lasagna and meat sauce. Even the macaroni and cheese was a little iffy.

The Russians seemed a little concerned that we feed this stuff to our babies. Kostya's face says it all...

That game was ridiculous, but the Dirty Diaper game was even better. Nadya was so disturbed by the contents of the diapers that she had to pass on that one. Ha! She has some meconium surprises awaiting in her near future...

These dirty diapers consisted of nothing more than a melted candy bar. While I do have to agree that some of them looked eerily like some adult doodies, I mostly wanted to eat the contents. What smells more delicious than a melted Almond Joy? Hm? Tell me that?!

Considering that the only sweet desserts my husband likes are Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and ice cream, he won the diaper game. Starbuck's gift cards are AWESOME.

Rachel breaks in for a minute to take some photos.

During the gift opening, Rachel had one more fun "game" that involved setting a timer and having the guests-of-honor open their gifts. Who ever gave them the gift they were opening when the timer went off got another prize. Easy and FUN game. I won a Dove chocolate candy bar in that game. Just what I need.

Nadya and Alexey got a bunch of gifts, including a diaper cake from Rachel.

At the last minute, I remembered that I brought our video camera. Hopefully the video I took is done converting by the time you try to view it.

Dinners with Friends

This week turned out to be much more entertaining than I originally thought it would. As I was driving home from work on Tuesday, I was thinking about how much I did not want to just go home. I have been sick since late last week and all I had felt up for was watching TV and reading. I spent six evenings in a row laying on the couch.

I tried calling Ariel Tuesday afternoon to see if she was doing anything I could come to. That didn't work out because she was just getting ready to leave for a friend's house. Then, Surprise! Jenna sent me a text to say she would have a little free time before she had to get home to the kids. That almost never happens because she has a long commute home to pick up her children from the daycare provider.

When I got home from work, I had time to run over to Sara and JR's to give Logan is very belated birthday present. I may have hit the jackpot with the dinosaur-shaped flashlight. I'll have to check in with Mom and Dad later to see if he played with it after I left or if he was just trying to be nice while I was there. ;) Then, I got to spend several hours chatting with Jenna over dinner.

Last night, Travis and I ran up to Chris and Alexa's for dinner. That's a treat we don't get very often either. Not the dinner part, but the hanging out with them during the week part. Blair has a scheduled bedtime routine that I don't want to mess up and prego-me is usually tired by 9 or 10pm. That makes the 30-minute commute to their house a little rough during the week. They fed us fajitas, fresh off the grill and after dinner Alexa and I addressed the invites for my baby shower. They are SO CUTE! I can't wait for this shower. BABY STUFF!! THAT WILL BE MINE!!! =D

Blair had tubes put in his ears on Tuesday but he seemed to be doing pretty well. He had a little trouble falling asleep, maybe due to some pain, so we got out of the way to let Mom and Dad do their magic. Oh, and I had to go to bed.

For further entertainment this week, Jenna is dropping off her dog Halen tonight for us to watch over the weekend while she takes the kids on a trip to San Antonio. She has this tiny, long haired dog that they say is a cross between a chihuahua and a german shepherd. I try not to think about the process that was required to make that one! He is such a sweetie though. We love having him around. It will help change up our weekend no matter how things go.

I realized early this week that we have less than three months until this baby is born. I'm freaking out, people. I have SO MANY books I want to read and I'm afraid I don't have enough time. Alexa has recently showered me with books she read and I want to get through them all BEFORE the baby is born. I want to be educated on c-sections, in case I have to have an emergency cesarean. I want to read up on breastfeeeding, since I obviously have no personal experience with the process involved. I suddenly have a million questions for my OBGYN, so I feel like my next appointment can't come fast enough (it is scheduled for this next Monday).

I am trying not to get too anxious before the baby shower (May 2nd). I feel like we have so much stuff to get, but I don't want to buy anything until after then. There are some decorative items I could buy before then, but I feel guilty buying that sort of stuff before we purchase the functional items. You know, like bottles and a rocking chair. Ahhhh! Decisions, decisions!!!

Weezer

Thursday night, Travis and I went to a Weezer concert with Jenna and Seth. They bought us the tickets months ago as a combined birthday gift for the two of us. The opening bands were Tokyo Police Club and Angels and Airwaves. Travis had to work late, so we missed Tokyo Police Club.

The band was fun to watch - the lead singer was a goof ball! Loved it. At the end of the show, they had a bunch of local people get up on the stage to play a couple Weezer songs. The local radio station The Buzz pulled together the group of muscians. They had a banjo, tuba (which had a mini solo of a Mario underground song = awesome), flute, sax, the list goes on. The funniest song they played was Beverly Hills and they got the crowd, males vs females, to do the vocals. It was a lot of fun actually. Check out all the locals:

Inadequacies

I was talking to Jenna yesterday about going to her son's football season that just started and what she thinks of the other parents. She said they are all nice and most of them dedicate their lives to their child and this sport (football or cheerleading). It took a few minutes to work out the exact feelings she had about this topic, but it basically came down to this: "I feel like I'm not doing the "right" thing by not buying team shirts and being at every single practice and game." Jenna does go to almost every practice and I'm pretty sure she goes to every game. This takes up about four nights a week for her. THEN, the other parents basically force her into feeling guilty that she does not want to spend an extra night with them making banners for the games. Jenna said that most of these people are wealthy and the moms don't have to work, so they have plenty of free time to be doing these sorts of things.

I hate that Jenna feels guilty about not wanting to spend every waking moment dedicating her life to her son's football team. That is just not reasonable. And then, to have to talk to these wealthy women on a regular basis that she doesn't really have anything in common with, aside from the fact that their son's are all on the same team. I started to think about how I would feel in this situation and I think I would be uncomfortable around the "wealthy women". That is silly! They are not better than me and I am not better than them. For some reason I always end up feeling inadequate around people who have significantly more money than me. Why do I feel this way? I don't feel jealous. I have absolutely no desire to own Prada and Gucci. It's just not my thing. Even if I had all that money, I still wouldn't be buying beaded, embroidered shirts with my child's name and sport number on the back, in each color of the rainbow. There are more ways than that to support your kid.

I noticed on my way into work this morning that I have this issue with more than just people with money. I work at a teaching hospital, which means I am constantly surrounded by doctors or people becoming doctors (PhD and MD). Maybe this goes back to the fact that they probably have more money than me, or will have more money than me in the future. I do need to mention that I don't feel this way about anyone in the lab I work (despite the fact that I am the ONLY one without a PhD or in the process of getting one). Maybe because researchers tend to actually not have very much money? But then again, this is not something that I consciously consider.

Here's what happened to me this morning: I was walking into work and there was this young woman getting out of her SUV. She looked up and saw me and asked if I thought another car would have enough room to fit in front of her. I decided yes. Then we both took off in the same direction. Once we had crossed the street, she asked if I was a first year or second year, referring to my year in school. I explained that I was not a student and that I "just" work here. She asked me a couple more questions about where stuff is on campus. This is common this time of year because there are students starting their first semester and don't know their way around yet. She was very polite to me and never said anything negative, but for some reason I all of a sudden felt inadequate in the fact that I "just work here".

I honestly have no desire to go back to school right now. Partially because I don't know what I would go to school for exactly, and partially because I don't feel like dealing with the costs and the time it would consume. Why do I feel this way?

All Play and No Housework

This weekend was all play and no work. Actually, I did go into work both days, but I didn't do anything around the house. Friday night I went straight up to Jenna and Seth's after work. Travis spent the whole day up there with Seth helping him do some work around the house. We had pizza for dinner and then hung out until a few other people from work showed up. They bought Rock Band on sale recently, so they broke that out. I lost track of time and didn't leave until close to 1 in the morning. That was BAD because I had to be at work at 8am Saturday. Thankfully, I was only in for three hours, so I had time to run home and take a nap before driving up to Houston that afternoon.

Saturday evening, some old friends from college, Josh and Clarissa, got married at the Hyatt in Houston. We decided to share a room at the hotel with Sara and JR, that way no one had to drive home at the end of the night. We got there a little early so we could drop off our stuff and change into our wedding attire. The wedding and reception were both beautiful. I am SO angry because my camera broke somehow between the wedding and reception. The lens was stuck and wouldn't come out properly. I've been having trouble with it for some time now (even though it is brand new), but this is the first time it went completely kaput.

This is the best picture I got during the whole 15 minutes my camera was working. I'm so bummed because there were lots of great photo opportunities. Our friends Scott and Ashley were there also, along with a few people I haven't seen since college. It is crazy how time flies. Towards the end of the night we went to a bar with the bride and groom and a bunch of their followers. I think we got back to the hotel around 2 in the morning.

I had a really bad weekend when it comes to my technology, now that I think about it. Before leaving for Houston, I dropped my cell phone into the toilet. I was quick to retrieve it (thankfully it was a pee and poo-free toilet) and turn off the phone. I took everything apart and left it to dry. It wasn't back to full working form until yesterday morning. At least it is back to working form. I have insurance on it, but it is always such a pain to deal with that.

The best part of the whole weekend is that I took a nap on Saturday AND Sunday. That is crazy for me. Of course, both days I woke up groggy and feeling like crap because I had to get up right away and get back on the move. I think it helped in the long run though. I feel pretty good today, despite how busy we were.

Aside from running into work for a little bit, I did absolutely nothing yesterday. I spent the day surfing the web and reading magazines. Travis mowed the lawn and began the laborious process of removing the rusty clotheslines from our back yard. He decided to cut the posts down to the concrete and then just bury the concrete blocks. Travis almost broke his shovel attempting to lever the block out of the ground. It will be just as easy to bury it and let the grass grow over. I'm just excited to make use of the pile of dirt that has been marring our driveway for months now!

Rollin' on the River

I finally got the photos back from the river. Just like last year, they mostly turned out blurry. The lens was either covered in condensation or there was a drop of water obscuring the view. This is the best I could get with a disposable camera.

We got on the water around 10am. The water was FREEZING. After a couple minutes, someone said we should have just brought a bag, filled it with beer and let that hang in the water. It was that cold. After my ass went numb, I applied sunscreen and cracked open a beer. Yes - we started drinking at 10 in the morning. And it was awesome.

The river was at a complete standstill, so it took us at least an hour to get around the first bend. At that point we didn't mind though. We were just chilling outside, sipping on a beer. Chris got frustrated after a while and said he was just going to walk home. Here's Chris walking home (behind Jenna):

It really is very pretty there. We enjoyed the majority of our toob trip. It wasn't until the last couple hours that we were miserable with sunburns. I swear to you that we had group sunblock time, where we passed around the sunscreen so everyone could have a go. And yet none of us made it out unscathed.

There were people on docks on the side of the river, mooning us. There were people down stream throwing jello shots around. I think Shannon even caught one. There were people with their dogs on their tubes. There were people with radios built into their coolers. There was even a woman who I am pretty sure was doped out on some sort of drugs. She was squirming around in her tube, with vomit stuck in her hair. And then Jenna and I got wedged between her and another group of people. Disgusting. There were SO MANY people there. Do you see all these people behind me?! INSANE.

About half way through our trip (probably because that's when all the partiers finally got up for the day), the river suddenly became filled with all these people. Towards the end, we passed a campground called Rainbow Campgrounds. Ha! There were some very butch looking women sitting in chairs in the water. And do you know what happened? Jenna, Shannon and I (all drunk), ran RIGHT INTO THEM. I'm sure they thought we were trying to start a conversation. They just looked at us and said, "you gettin off here?" Ahhh! Noooo! She didn't seem to hear us and asked again. Again, I said NO. After accepting our decision, she got up and gave us a good shove back into the flow of traffic. Narrow escape.

Ladies, it's time to be jealous. Yes. This is my sexy husband and I am damn proud of it. Some girls even talked to him about his tattoo. Silly girls. Don't they know he's with me?

We're all still nursing our burns... Except Travis. Boo on him.

**Update** I forgot to mention how we nearly lost the cooler for the second year in a row. We lost it last year going over a three foot waterfall. This year, a bunch of us were tied to the cooler tube. At some point (after plenty of beers), Jenna and Shannon went on one side of a rock, and Travis and the cooler went on the other side of the rock. The result was a torn rope and a spilled cooler of beer. I tried to grab a rope that was tied to the handle to right the cooler, but I just tore off the handle. The top got knocked off and all the beer spilled out. Along with our bag full of IDs, clothes and snacks. I was more concerned with the beers floating away than our bag (drunkenness is bad) so I focused on collecting those. There were a bunch of people standing on the side of these "rapids", and they helped us grab everything. Nice people. When we got to the end, we had everything. Thankfully someone thought to grab our bag. We found out later that the same thing happened to our neighbors at the campsite. But whoever grabbed their bag, also took the liberty of removing all of their debit cards. Not nice people. That's what started that whole fight that I mentioned several days ago. We made it away WITH all of our stuff. Including the beer!

The Guadalupe

Toobing and camping this weekend went great! We left Friday afternoon for the campground with Shannon and Chris. I think we got to our site around 6pm. I could not believe it when we got to our site and it was the exact same two we had last year! What are the chances? Well, it turns out the chances are pretty good. I guess they try to put people who reserve two or more sites together at this location. I'm guessing its because one of the sites is pretty small compared to the rest and it is on a hill, so there is no place to park. Next time we go I'm going to request a different site because the slant of those sites really gets to you after a while. Not to mention you have to arrange tents and beds according to the slant so you don't spend the entire night rolling over your significant other. Anyhoo. We had plenty of sunlight hours to put up our tents and set up shop. Jenna and Seth borrowed our other tent, so we set that up for them before they got there.

Chris brought two hammocks. Of course he and Travis had to test them out immediately.

The boys started up the fire and the grill so we could get dinner started - hamburgers and brats. We ate dinner and even had time for S'mores before Jenna and Seth finally made it to the site. They had to work until 4pm and then they stopped for dinner on the way. We all stayed up until 1am and drank a little too much cerveza. Despite the late night, we were all up by 8am. I guess we're all used to our daily routines. Travis made breakfast burritos and then we packed up for the river.

Here's our camp during daylight (it is so pretty there):

We had a couple run-ins with "nature" during our first 20 hours. A little before Jenna and Seth arrived, Mr. Skunk decided to pass through our campsite. We all stayed calm in hopes that the animal would leave us alone. Until Chris threw a rock at it. UGH. Thankfully, he was just scared off. I would have ripped Chris open if that animal would have sprayed us. I have never been sprayed, or had a dog that was sprayed, in my life. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Our second run-in, was with a creepy, crawly poisonous creature - the Texas Giant Centipede. !!! While we were waiting for breakfast to be ready, he ran under my chair. I didn't even notice until Jenna pointed him out. We got a photo and then Chris set him back in the forest.

YIKES! Gives me the jitters just looking at the photo.

Our plan for tubing, or toobing, as it is spelled down here, was to do the same schedule we did last year: take the bus upstream, float back to our campsite to stop for lunch, then get back on for the other half of the ride where we would be picked up and brought home by the bus again. Unfortunately, water flow was at an almost complete standstill. It took us 7 HOURS to do what took us 3 or 4 last year. The huge bummer for me is that I did not pack a lunch since I thought we'd be back by that point. I at least brought a few snacks. I usually eat every two hours, alternating snack and meal. 7 hours of crackers and granola bars just didn't cut it for me. About an hour before we finally made it to our campsite, I completely ran out of juice. I decided I would just float it out and hope I made it there before I passed out. Luckily, there was a random hot dog stand on the side of the river. Chris got out and grabbed me some chili Frito pie. Not my favorite, but desparate times call for desparate measures. About 15 minutes after scarfing that down, my energy came back and I was able to paddle myself the rest of the way back. We were all burnt to a crisp by this point, so we were ready to get back. I don't have the photos back from the river yet. I brought a waterproof disposable camera with, so I'll get those up later.

We were all so worn out after the river that the evening quickly fizzled out. There was a fight between two drunk dudes at the campsite next to ours. After one of the guys left, Chris invited the rest of them over to help finish our food for dinner. While dinner was cooking, I decided to run and take a shower. Despite the peanut butter sandwich I devoured when we got back, I felt dizzy while standing in line. I had to postpone the shower to lay down in the tent while I waited for dinner. I've found that when I'm this far gone, the only thing that will bring me back is protein. Travis was awesome and brought me a fajita to the tent. I was able to eat that and drink a bottle of water while I waited for life to return to my body. It was horrible. I got up and ate a little more, before heading back to the showers. I was still dizzy, but I think it is mostly because I was still getting my land legs back. I felt like I was floating in a toob for the rest of the night.

I'm sad I felt so crappy because it sounds like I missed a lot of fun. Everyone played washers with the neighbors while they waited for dinner to be ready. Then afterwards, everyone headed down to the pavillion to watch Seth sing karaoke. He's known for his amazing skills at the mic. Actually, that's how Jenna and Seth met - at a karaoke bar. He prefers to sing Prince, but the DJ didn't have that. He settled for Lisa Lobe. I know that sounds strange, but you've gotta know the guy to understand. So sad I missed it...

Sunday morning we all got up and assessed the damage. Everyone was sunburnt. Bad.

Shannon and Seth

We had camp coffee and then loaded up the trucks.

Jenna, Chris and Seth

Jenna and Seth were ready to head home. Sunday was Seth's birthday and they didn't want to spend the whole day on the road. We, on the other hand, headed to a local German restaurant called Oma's Haus. I guess the area is known for it. It was awesome. I tried schnitzel for the first time ever, which brought to mind Tenacious D. Good stuff. After we picked up some extra sausage links for our neighbor, Cowboy Willy, we started the ride home. It seemed a lot quicker than the ride there. Despite the three feet of grass growing in our lawn, Travis and I took the night off to rest. Why is it that we always need vacations from our vacations?