The Minnesota Trip

As many of you know I (Linda) drove my parents to Minnesota for Dad's 65th high school reunion. 1200 miles. Did you hear me? 1200 MILES!!! EACH WAY!! Dad is blind in one eye, Mom has dementia. Some highlights:


Day 1: Mom and I go in a restroom. She takes forever (lots of times she falls asleep on the pot) in her stall. I keep asking if she is okay, is she finished, etc. Finally she says she needs help standing up, she's too weak to stand by herself. "Can you unlock the door" "no" "mom, you need to try to unlock the door" "I can't" "Mom I am not crawling under, you have to do something". After about 5 minutes she finally is able to stand up and unlock the door. For the remainder of the trip I wouldn't let her lock the door.


Day 2: Dad took the early morning driving shift because I don't drive well in the dark (dark would be 5am). He drives better with one eye than I do in the dark which is a very scarey thought. He kept saying he was having a hard time getting his eyes to adjust. I stayed awake and helped him watch for signs, deer, cars, his lane, etc. We stopped and ate breakfast. I drove til we stopped at lunch. We sat down at lunch and when I looked at him I said "Dad why do you have Mom's glasses on?". Yep, he really did. Mom had his on. He wanted to know how I noticed - duh, it's the little frilly things on the sides of the glasses.

Day 3: Robin and Reegan flew and met us in Buffalo. Her 2nd day she wanted to go to Mall of America. I didn't want to leave Mom and Dad without a vehicle so we tried to rent one. They didn't have any but assured us they would have one the next day. Next day - no vehicle. Finally Dad insists we take their car. It was a 45 minute drive so I told Robin we could only stay 2 hours because I didn't want to leave them without a car too long. When we left the mall it started pouring rain, really heavy rain. When we returned to the motel, Dad said the weather people had said there was 2 to 3 inch hail at Mall of America. Did he call to warn us? No, he went next door to the new car dealership and looked at cars!! He thought he might get a good deal on a hail damaged one! He really thought his would be a mess. Thankfully that didn't happen. But on the way home from the mall the check engine light came on in the '96 Lincoln town car!(picture this, no rent cars available, we have to get back to the 83 year olds, and Robin has to leave for the airport by 6am...AND THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT COMES ON!) Luckily the guy at the shop said it was a false alarm. Whew!

All days: Because Dad is blind in one eye he has no depth perception. I didn't know you have to have both eyes to have depth perception but that's what the doc told us. He gets SO close to things on the right side, I mean INCHES from things - cars, curbs, signs, it doesn't matter. He scared the crap out of us.

The motel in Buffalo MN: Dad and I had gone to the swimming pool - don't be alarmed, I was fully clothed. When we went back to the room, Mom had turned the deadbolt lock inside. She can't hear ANYTHING. We knocked, banged, then just waited. About 30 minutes later she opened the door and looked ouside.

Day 4: Robin went and knocked on the door of the house that Dad grew up in and asked if we could walk through! With some hesitation the lady did let us come back the following day. This made the old folks very happy to reminisce!

OH back to day 3...Robin woke up about midnight itching all over. She's watched way to many 20/20 specials on bedbugs and insisted on climbing into my bed! the next morning 2/3 of her body was covered in a huge itchie rash (despite popular belief it was not bedbugs)! We had to go to a random Doc. and get meds!! Still not sure what it was. Rash doesn't quite describe it, it was huge welts. We'll post a picture later.

Anyway we lived through the whole trip....I think only because there was a Target in Buffalo!

Note to Mike: If you think you are getting half the inheritance you are WRONG!! You owe me for this.

The last few weeks...

Ashley (Koby's niece) and Blaine's wedding. Koby walked her down the aisle. It was so sweet!

Reegan in the motel in Rosenberg. She was excited that the TV was at HER eye level!

Heather and Reegan swimming in the Veil's pool

Heather, Jonathan, Mere, Ryan and I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter! (Mimi stayed home with the kids!) We got to bed about 3am! I haven't intentionally been up that late in a long time! We had fun!

There were tons of people that dressed up for the movie!!!

Reegan and Koby's favorite thing is to share a pop-ice!

This is my school....It burned last week... no kidding!

This is where it really took off! Apparently a fireball chased some people out of the building!

Obviously we wont be having classes in the High School! We will be in portable buildings for at least the first semester. I am hoping that I will have a computer lab...and they won't "assign" me to do something else.....seems to be a possibility....uuuugggg.

I have a new backyard! Ok so just more concrete and a pergola(sp?).

If you look where the white posts are thats where the porch use to stop. It is so nice and roomy out there now!!! Woo-hoo!

Reegan and I are going on our first plain ride in exactly one week...just the 2 of us! We are meeting my grandparents and my mom in Minnesota (they're driving...can you imagine!!!)for my granddads 65th class reunion....Poor Koby is going to stay home and work...I wish he was going with us.

1. Who was your first prom date? Matt somebody. He was a consolation date because my original one made it to state and it HAD to be the same weekend!
2. Who was your first roommate? Angela
3. What was your first alcoholic drink? Margarita I'm sure
4. What was your first job? Snow Castle snow cone stand
5. What was your first car? 1986 blue Mercury Cougar
6. Who was the first person that texted you yesterday? hmmmm i think my mom
7. Who is the first person you thought of this morning? Reegan. She slept all night and woke up and just played in her bed! It's a great sound to wake up to!
8. Who was your first grade teacher? Mrs. Gilly. Meanest teacher in the world! I'm sure she buried some children in the playground!
9. Where did you go on your first ride on an airplane?I think to Disney world with my mom and the Cuellar family
10. When you snuck out of your house for the first time, who was with you? I enjoyed my sleep to much to sneak out!
11. Who was your first best friend and are you still friends with them? I would have to say Amy, and yes we are still friends and she is buying the house next door!!!
12. Where was your first sleep over? hmm not sure. prob at Amy's. Wed morning was sausage gravy and biscuits morning! It was the BEST night to sleep over!
13. Who was the first person you talked to this morning? Koby
14. Whose wedding were you in the first time? not sure....
15. What is the first thing you do in the morning? go get Reegan out of her bed
16. What was the first concert you ever went to? Willie Nelson
17. First tattoo or piercing?Piercing in the ears - 6, second hole - 4th grade, first tattoo 21
18. First foreign country you went to? Mexico(walked across the bridge to Acuna if that counts), otherwise Germany
19. First crush? hmmm...not sure. I remember a guy named Mike that had a crush on me in Elementary. He brought me flowers that he had picked in a wadded up paper bag! He was clingy....and I was NOT interested!
20. When was your first detention? 7th grade English, the whole class got detention for talking
21. What was the first state you lived in? Texas
22. Who was your first kiss with? Patrick
23. Who was the first person to break your heart? Grant
24. Do you still think about that person? nope.

the trip

Well I am quickly learning that a 20 lb 9 mo old requires more room in the suitcase than I do! In fact her stuf almost takes up all of the suit case!

We are headed to the Needvilleish area for Ashley's (Koby's niece) wedding! It will be good to see everybody and for Reegan to see them. However, I do dread the drive! I thought I would never be the Mom that did it, but I am borrowing a friends DVD player for Reegan's road entertainment!

I considered going to work this summer, there's a lot I could be doing. But about the time it pops in my mind, it pops right back out. Imagine that. I'm sure in August I'll be sorry I didn't go.

I wish Meredith would blog more...so tha I could keep up with her pregnancy better. I guess the main reason is I enjoy looking back over my blogs when I was pregnant. It reminds me of my uncertainties, and how clueless I really was!! It will be great for Reegan to go back and read someday.