Well, i have been away from the computer for a bit.... we traveled south to visit my folks. We made the journey this time in ONE day...
oh that reminds me... i don't think i told everyone about the LAST time we tried to travel down to CA...

Indulge my reminesince....

We had just found out that Dad was diagnosed with Cancer and was going to have a biopsy on his brain... so we changed our travel plans and came to Ca for Christmas. We were supposed to be here before the day he had the biopsy.... and then it snowed.
not normal snow.... crazy crazy snow. Snow in places that it doesn't snow kind of snow. The week before Christmas.... we decide to leave on a Monday... the road out of the state of Washington.... it was CLOSED!!!... so we didn't leave on Monday. Little did I know that this was soon to be a sign as to how this trip would go....
Tuesday... we are up and out of the house fairly early.... road that was closed with crazy snow... is now open, nice and plowed... i am in a 4-wheel drive suburban.... NO PROBLEM. I decide not to take HWY 97 south since the snow was so bad and lots of places on that road are not plowed. So flying down 84 i go... straight to Portland.... this is a piece of cake... i also decide that i will drive over to 101 and take it all the way down since HWY 5 has been a chain manditory from Portland to Redding.... i figure Hwy 26 over to the coast is going to be pretty easy..... lets just say i was WRONG!!! that road was a white sheet of ice that was so not plowed..... so we inch our way over the pass and get to 101 above Tillimook. I am a basket case at this point, the three kids are cranky... the baby is fit to be TIED... and i am fit to tie him to the top of the truck! So we stop for the night in Girabaldi............ next morning Wednesday, now we are on the road again after a nice breakfast and heading on down the road.... then there is a strange noise... and it comes and goes.... so i start to talk with the hubby on the phone and he is offering suggestions, mostly ones that consist of, it's fine.... just keep going.
this advice i decide to whole heartedly ignore (sorry honey.... this time i had too) so i pull in to the first town that looks like it has more than 15 people living in it... and into a Les Schwab, thinking that this is something to do with my 4-wheel drive. I am informed that it is my rear end... not my personal rear end mind you, but the one that make the STUPID TRUCK GO!!!
are you seeing how Monday was begining to be a sign?
Through lots of prayer, help financially, a small shop that dropped everything to get my truck fixed, and a motel with a kitchen and indoor swimming pool we manage to get the truck back on the road.... on Friday.
We eventually got to Castro Valley by Saturday afternoon.....and that was just because someone threw up with motion sickness, and it got dark.... and the baby had been tied to his carseat for 12 hours straight... i had to let him out to eat dinner.... and there was NO possible way to get him back in that seat with out someone in the parking lot calling CPS because he would have screamed so loud....... so yeah... we got a hotel and let the poor boy run around for awhile.

So when i say that we got here in ONE day this time... now you can fully understand the joy and excitement in that statement!
~oh yeah~ and no one barfed!