Monthly Archive for November, 2009

As most of you already know we are living it up in Texas right now. We arrived in Houston on Halloween morning around 5am. Trips to Texas and the Grotegut family are best pals, kinda like Satan and Jesus. Sure when we arrive a good time is had by all, its just getting there that’s the problem.

First I have to say that I came down with swine flu the Saturday before we left. It came out of no where. I was fine one minute and couldn’t move the next. So the whole week leading up to us leaving was rough. In between wanting to die and “Jesus please just kill me NOW!” I manged to pack a family of four everything they needed for two weeks in the Lone Star state. Thursday morning John came home from work, we finished loading everything, locked up the house (don’t steal our stuff while we’re gone!), and headed out. The first leg of the trip was fabulous. Our CD player in the car was magically working (Gavin stuck some pennies last year and she hasn’t worked since) and I was hooked on the audio book I was listening too (thanks Den!). We were about Seven hours into our trip, we had just stopped for lunch somewhere in Alfredo (Gavin’s name for Colorado because he can’t remember what its called). I started back on the road and twenty minutes later we were in the middle of a chaotic snow storm.

The snow was so deep on the roads everyone was sliding around. We figured once we hit Denver the roads would be in great shape, cause uh, its Denver, a major city, they plow in major cities right? Not the case, by the time we hit Denver (which should have been a 20 minute drive but took us an hour and half), we realized we were in deep shit. Two feet of snow blanketed the city in a complete white out. Every mile marker we saw at least 2-3 car accidents. I kept begging John to let us turn off but he was determined that we were through the worst of it. We were slowly making progress when all of a sudden a car slide into all four lanes of traffic and hit the barrier. Everyone stopped short and the Fuel truck in front of us jack knifed and we were literally 6 inches from hitting it. I have never been so scared in all my life. I continued to freak out on John and insist we stop. He was pretty pissed off with all the bitching I was doing.

Well God must have been listening to my prayers/complaints because when we got further up I-70 it was closed until Kansas. That didn’t end our hell though. John got off and exit and he thought he was following a line of cars to a main road. Instead he followed them into their apartment complex and we got stuck in the snow! We spent 20+ minutes trying to figure out how to reverse and get out of there. Once we were out we spent the next hour trying to find a hotel in our price range (which we have no price range cause John is a cheap bastard). We were lucky enough to find a Super 8 and get checked in. The boys were ecstatic. Staying in a hotel is right up there with Christmas morning for them. I actually like it too. Feels very vacation-y. Anyway, after spending $40 on a pizza dinner and planning an alernate route (which added 4 1/2 hours to our trip), we finally crashed for the night.

The next day there were still a few slick areas but once we hit southern Colorado it was a smooth ride. We spent the next 23 hours in the car. Where I got caught for speeding in TX, thankfully only a warning because I showed him my boobs. The driver side door lock is now stuck and we can’t get it open. Add in me getting 2 hours of sleep (cause who can sleep in a car?), and our check engine light coming on once we arrived. And well it beats out the last time we came out when the A/C went out and Gavin puked all over the car.

Since arriving in Texas we’ve had a great time. I got to meet my newest little niece Avonlea, and she is just the sweetest. I got to hang out with my 4 nephews whom i haven’t seen in over a year. I’ll make a separate post for the space museum and Halloween. We’re in San Antonio now having a great time with my sister Kara’s family and our sis in law Wendy. Its going to be sad when we leave Friday. Its so hard living away from family. The only bad part is how sick I have been. I probably have pneumonia now and I am back to wanting Jesus to take me now.

Its good to be back.