Our family did some traveling recently to visit my family in Florida. We drove with 2 kids in the car and it actually started out OK. Until we got to I-75. There was an accident (at least I'm assuming that's what it was since we didn't actually see it) causing all the traffic to be diverted off the highway and into a small city called Live Oak. Nice little town, since we got to see so much of it stuck in traffic trying to get back on the interstate. However, with some quick thinking and Jen's map reading skills, we were able to get back on the highway faster than I would have thought. The detour still put us about an hour behind schedule, but it was OK. We weren't doing anything once we got to our destination anyway so there was no rush. There was traffic, as there always is going through Gainesville, but it was moving along nicely. Then we get to the Florida Turnpike, the most expensive toll road ever designed. Except there was a horrible car wreck (we actually saw the endings of this one) on the other side of the road which had traffic on that side completely shut down. People were actually out of their cars, chatting with each other, sitting in lawn chairs on the road, and other various activities that shouldn't be undertaken on a supposedly swiftly moving highway. So, of course our side of the road was slowing down due to rubbernecking. In fact, there was another accident on our side of the road among the rubberneckers (see that's what you get!), but everyone was OK. So then we got to go through Orlando basically at rush hour on a Friday, which was just as busy as it sounds. When we finally got to our hotel (about 2.5 hours after I thought we'd get there), we were all exhausted and tired of sitting in the car. Thankfully the kids did great and there wasn't too many melt downs. We got smart and brought lunch from home to make eating a little better. We had a little picnic at a rest area and it got the kids out of the car to be able to run around some.
We had a great visit with my family and it was nice to see everyone. The kids made out like bandits from being spoiled with toys and affection. We took the kids to a local children's museum and it was good for a 2 hour distraction. The kids warmed right up to everyone which was good. I guess video chatting with family far away does help! I wish we had more time to spend, but we had to make the drive home after only being there for 2 days. The drive home wasn't too bad and we made good time. We hit a little rain, but it was manageable.
Other than that excitement, there hasn't been much going on. Jen's work is going well and the kids are doing great in school. I am still enjoying my job and I just finished up with my last student for the year. Yay! She did very well and I enjoyed having her on rotation with me. We had very similar senses of humor, so she understood a lot of my off-color and weird jokes. Now I have some time to work on finishing up some book chapter and other projects I'm working on. I get to work on my posters for the CPNP meeting, which I am really excited to attend. I'll get to see a lot of friends and catch up with them as well as seeing a concert while I'm in Tampa. I get to see Evanescence again, Shinedown, Halestorm, and Five Finger Death Punch who I've never seen before. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the drive, but it should be OK because I'll have a friend there to share the driving and talk to. Also, we are rapidly approaching May, which is when Bekah's birthday is. Which she reminds us about constantly. Especially when we attend other kids' birthday parties from her class.... She's definitely my daughter since she is so impatient!
One other programming note: I'll be helping out at the Southeast Regional Conference of Phi Delta Chi in a week by facilitating a breakout session. Should be fun!
Anyway, I guess that's all for now. Have a good week!
