many mundane moments

off we went into the great brown yonder

We're home from the land of scorched earth and crunchy grass. I'm so bummed we missed the huge storm here.

A few points of note:

-Howie travels better in the day than he used to. so much so that the joys of overnight travel will be saved for scheduling necessities rather than screaming child avoidance.

-We're thrilled about this development. Especially because we hit no less than 6 rabbits on one 80 mile stretch in the middle of Wyoming. That's how many were suicidal enough to dart toward the car. There was no counting the number we actually passed. Luckily, the herds of deer stayed in the ditches. That, and the nap we took from 3-5AM in the back parking lot of a liquor store just off the interstate immediately after the rabbit stretch was a less than desirable experience. Add in the jet-lagged feeling for days and our drive there was sort of painful. Yay for no more night driving.

-It was hot at Matt's parents'. h-o-t. It was already over 95' when we arrived around 9:30 Friday morning. We saw a high of 119'F outside and 99' inside over the course of the weekend.

-there was one small storm Friday night. It resulted in less than 0.10 inches of rain and several fires.

-two of which could be seen from their farm, one much closer than the other. Matt and his dad went to check it out when it was hardly more than a glow between some trees in the distance. Before it was out, his mom and I had our car packed and all their important documents in suitcases outside. It grew fast and looked scary and close. They laughed at us when they returned because it was several miles away.

-we weren't the only ones being laughed at. They offered the assistance of two men with shovels, which the local fireman found amusing. They were given the task of moving cows from the burning pasture and then making sure all the smoldering cowpies stayed out. They only found a few fresh ones.

-Matt's classmates and their spouses are all very nice people. Apparently the jerks didn't show up and it made for an enjoyable reunion.

-an amusement park ride modeled after driving 70 mph on a hilly gravel road would be terrifying. I learned my lesson to not be late for church.

-Howie changed so much these last few days with my family. He loved chasing his counsins around and even figured out running in order to do so. He ate like a champ and turned into a climbing machine, scaling the high antique bed with pillow top mattress at my mom's house. He also picked up a few new words, his favorite of which were "go" and "big".

-I really don't like Wyoming. The cracked windshield we acquired in one of the 4 stretches of road construction only amplified that feeling.

pictures to come sometime soon. I need to recharge the batteries for the camera.

posted by Valarie @ 11:30 PM