Herding Cats!

I'm sitting at the computer trying to deal with last minute travel plans for a trip we are leaving on tomorrow. Yes, I like to plan ahead :) Actually I did plan ahead but need to make some changes and trying to avoid cancellation fees and such has become quite a headache. I'm a little stressed about this plus I have a lot of packing to do since it's almost a week long trip to three different cities and I haven't begun to pack for myself or the kids, which is adding a little more stress. And to top it off, my kiddos are not being very cooperative and are suddenly the most needy children in the world with request for milk, then sitting in my lap, then a diaper change, then a snack, then the "I'm bored!" statement reared its ugly head.

I gave up hoping they would just entertain themselves for a few moments and let them play in our bedroom with a big bucket of toys that are usually stashed in the closet. The bucket was full of all of those little junk toys from Happy Meals and party favors and such. Wow, it worked beautifully. They were laughing and playing well together and, most importantly, leaving me alone so I could get some work done. When I was finally done and feeling a bit more relaxed, I turn around to find this mess in our bedroom!



The toys were everywhere along with some blankets and stuffed animals. The bed had been made earlier in the day and the floor had been picked up. Now I had a little more work to do but honestly I really didn't mind. I was so grateful that they had let me get the important things done that this problem didn't really matter that much. Besides, they were cute as they were playing hide and seek under the covers!

Now on to packing. Ugh! Trying to pack with two little ones running around is like herding cats! If I have a suitcase open, someone wants to take everything out of it so that they can climb into it. If I leave the suitcase empty on the floor for them to play in and stack my things on the bed, then suddenly they want to play on the bed and everything ends up jumbled and on the floor. I might just have to let them destroy the office next so that I can move into the bedroom for some undisturbed packing time!

The Chin Buddies

Meet the Chin Buddies, Johnny and Grace! Just be warned, they can't sing worth a hoot but they have fun together anyway :)

Silkworms

Our neighbor is a teacher and her class has some silkworm caterpillars that they are going to watch them develop a cocoon and then turn into a moth. She is super sweet and offered to bring us some caterpillars to take care of too. They certainly aren't the cutest pet I've ever had!





The silkworm is the caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (Latin: "silkworm of the mulberry tree"). They were friendly and didn't need much work, except that they only eat leaves from a mulberry tree so Stuart soon made friends with another neighbor down the street who has mulberry trees in their front yard. They were fine with him picking leaves for our new friends anytime we needed them. Thank you, sweet neighbors! These little guys eat continuously so we had to get new leaves quite often. The silkworm is entirely dependent on humans for its reproduction and no longer occurs naturally in the wild.



The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 1,000 to 3,000 feet long. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk. Ten unraveled cocoons could theoretically extend vertically to the height of Mount Everest. It's so hard to believe because they are so small but the threads are very tightly packed in there. The cocoons don't feel like silk at all but instead seem more like a dense styrofoam packing peanut.



The adult phase of the silkworm, the moth, cannot fly. The silkmoths have a wingspan of about 1 1/2 - 2 inches and a white hairy body.



He's a sweet but funny looking guy, isn't he?



While the larvae is still in the cocoon, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so that it can emerge as a moth. This cuts short the threads of silk which ruins it for silk production. To prevent this, silk harvesters boil the cocoons. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Interesting but sad. We decided to cut open one of the cocoons to check it out. How neat!

A Little Dancing in Longview

Our trip home was rather uneventful. Fortunately the kids got to catch up on some sleep.





When we are on a road trip, Stuart like to get there with as little stops as possible. We have made the 8-9 hour trip from Dallas to Baton Rouge many times with only one stop for gas and lunch. But with two little ones with us, our trip now requires multiple stops for potty breaks, walking off the grumpies, diaper changes, etc. We have come up with our usual places to stop but now and then an emergency potty break has us stop somewhere new. So was the case today as we entered Longview and pulled off at exit 596. We could have stopped at the simple gas station but decided to stop at the larger gas station that also had a restaurant in hopes that they might have a larger bathroom that actually had a baby changing table. This was all in one building so I'm not sure what to call it but there was lots of stuff going on.



The menu and order board for Sonic was out at the gas pumps so you could order and pay for your food, pump your gas, and have your food delivered to you so you are back on the road in no time. What a neat idea.



Of course, this would never work for us since every possible stop requires a bathroom break for either a potty or a diaper change. So we all headed inside. As we approached the door, the kids started dancing to some country music that was playing outside. Now that's a good way to let them get the wiggles out after sitting in the van for hours at a time!



Inside we found a delightful place to stop to get our minds off the road. Of course, there was tons of food!





Texas Smokehouse BBQ ribs or sandwiches and all the great fixin's to go with it.



A full bakery with fresh breads, pies, cakes, cookies, and kolaches.





Cases upon cases of all different flavors of beef jerky and free samples given with a smile. We had to get some Honey Bison Jerky.



There were walls of refrigerated cases with every kind and color of drink imaginable.



And then there was the Beer Cave. We don't drink beer and Nicholas has no idea what beer is. But at the sound of "cave" he just had to check it out. That was all he could talk about as he went to the bathroom, "Where's the beer cave?" I'm sure other parents were giving us a curious eye as our 6 year old was asking for the beer cave!

We tried to explain to the boy that it isn't going to be the kind of cave he was imagining but there was no point in trying to dissuade him. So we let him check out the beer cave. The doors magically opened for him.



The cave was quite cold and Nicholas loved the cardboard delivery guy that had icicles hanging off of him.



Ok, cave was confirmed to not be as exciting as he expected so he was off to find more fun things to look at. Everywhere you looked in this store, there was something neat to see.



Caramel corn shaped like a real ear of corn. I really almost bought it just because it was so cute.



There were rows and rows of branded snacks like trail mix, banana chips, gummy bears, etc.



And what Texas home would be complete without a wine bottle holder like these!


And just in case you feel the urge to buy a cowboy hat as you travel through Texas...



Nicholas found a bell with a sign that read, "If you are WOW'D with the place, Ding the Bell", so he did!



Sitting in some rocking chairs before getting back in the van for a few more hours...



We loved this rest stop and will certainly try to plan a stop here next time we go to Louisiana. I can just see it now. I'll tell my kids, "Can you please just hold it until exit 596?"

Time To Say Goodbye

It's our last night in Baton Rouge. It's always sad to have to say goodbye to our families. So we squeeze every last minute we can out of every day here. Instead of packing this evening, we were visiting with family and letting Nicholas and Rachel get some last minute fun with their cousins.








Jessica and Nicholas are always playing together and they are great about letting Rachel play with them. But Rachel is drawn to Alyssa who sits quietly in her wheelchair. Rachel will play with the big kids for a while then go over and talk to Alyssa for a few minutes then go back to playing. And she looks at Alyssa with such a sweet look in her eyes.



Now that it's time to leave, Rachel has finally gotten used to Lucy, her grandparents' little poodle. She will pet Lucy if she's in someone's lap, which is usually Grandfather's lap.



She also likes to peek into the laundry room where Lucy sleeps and talk to her or at least stop by to say, "Hey, Lucy".



Grandfather opened up a bottle of Opus One for us to enjoy. He even let us play with his new wine opener and Vinturi aerator. I know what's on my Christmas list!



Nicholas sleeps in Grandmother's office when we stay here. I don't know where she stashes this twin bed while we are gone but when we arrive, "his room" is always neatly set up and ready for him. Obviously he sleeps well here.



We're completely out of diapers and we're hitting the road first thing in the morning to go back to Texas. It's 10:30 at night on a holiday and we're on the outskirts of town where there aren't any big grocery stores or much of anything open past 10:00. I drove all over looking for a Walgreens type stoer to find some diapers. Then I got desperate and started stopping at any gas station. Finally I found diapers! Look at this!



2 paper thin diapers and 3 baby wipes for $3.59. Ouch! It will get us through Rachel's diaper change in the morning and we'll have one extra diaper on hand until we can stop somewhere for real diapers. Off to pack and hit the hay.