When we went on our trip to Pittsburgh to pick up the mower deck for the John Deere, we saw this car in a parking lot where we stopped for lunch. Thought it was funny and had to share it… 😀
Vacation to Iowa!
Vacation to Iowa was great! It was nice to get away from the daily grind for once. No rush hour traffic. No cell phone. No worries!
We left at about 3 AM on Thursday night. It took us about 14 hours and two tanks of gas to get from Ohio to Storm Lake, IA. (Can you say “Empty wallet and pooped?”) Have you ever driven across the Midwest? It is sooo exciting!!! Here’s a picture I took through the rear view mirror with my camera phone to show you just how much fun we were all having… 😆
We stayed at a hotel in Storm Lake called King’s Pointe. We reserved a double queen suite with a crib and a lake view a few weeks before hand, but when we arrived we got a handicap double queen room with a parking lot view. 🙁
The handicap room would not work because it had no bath tub for Ace, and we really wanted the lake view with a balcony (the hotel was non-smoking and the balcony would be our smoking area 😆 )
After a bit of persistence they gave us the room we reserved and all was well.
The hotel had an indoor and outdoor water park! (I was so excited…I’m just like a little boy when it comes to this kinda stuff 😆 )
The closest Ace has been to going swimming was splashing around in the bath tub, so I was very curious to how he would react to the swimming pool. After a few minutes of scared-shitless-ness accompanied by a white-knuckled-death-grip on Dad, Ace started to relax and enjoy himself!
We had so much fun being in the water with him that we really didn’t get out to take many pictures of his first time swimming! Here is one that I managed to snap of Ace and Momma lounging in the pool…
Even though he thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pool, he was utterly amazed by the fountain…
…or was it the Bud Light sign? 😆
One reason we went to Iowa was to visit some old friends who’s daughter was graduating from high school. We went to the graduation, which was in a small non-air-conditioned (Can you say “Hot As Balls?”) gymnasium.
Ace has been self-propelled for a while now and really likes it that way. Ever since he has learned to move under his own power, he absolutely forbids to sit still. It was hot in the gymnasium… sweaty, and smelled like the locker room after football practice! So, I took off Ace’s restraints (joking!) and took him outside to play in the shade while Momma stayed inside to watch the graduation ceremony.
We get outside and there is no shade! So I’m chasing after Ace in the burning sunlight on concrete hot enough to fry an egg when I smell something a bit different than the sweaty smell I had become accustomed to in the gymnasium… You guessed it…I smelled a baby biscuit getting baked in Ace’s diaper!
Luckily I grabbed the diaper bag on the way outside, but there was no where to change him. So, Ace and I head off on a two mile trek to the car where we enjoyed a fresh diaper, a drink, and 45 minutes worth of gas wasting air-conditioned heaven! 😆
The drive back to Ohio was not so nice. Ace had some of his molars breaking through the skin, and he was not enjoying the car ride a single bit. So, we stopped half way and grabbed a hotel room in Illinois. Luckily, I travel a lot for work and earn TONS of hotel points, so we got a room for free for the night. The hotel had a pool where we spent most of the evening splashing around…
After a good swim and getting a good nights sleep we headed out in the morning to finish the last half of our journey home. We took our time. We stopped for a packed lunch at a rest stop with Mr. Smarty Pants himself…
…and then Ace napped most of the rest of the way home…
Despite the sore rear ends from sitting in the car for over 28 hours, the mix up with the hotel room, the incredibly hot gymnasium, the fried diaper biscuit, and the crying restlessness of a teething child strapped into the back seat of a gas guzzling SUV…we had a very good time and enjoyed the visit with our old friends!
Back to the grind… Ughhh… 😆
Do Crocodiles Actually Cry Big Crocodile Tears?
Vacation! It’s coming soon!
Do you know the last time we went on a real vacation? A real getaway? Me neither.
In a few weeks we are going to pack 900 pounds of stuff into the back of Momma’s truck, and guess what…it is all Ace’s!
Seriously, how can such a little guy require so much stuff? The list of stuff to pack is 3 or 4 pages long!
Anyways, if we manage to successfully drive the overloaded vehicle (at what point are you required to stop at the weigh stations with the semis?) halfway across the country, we are going to be in for some good fun in the sun!
So you are probably imagining a beach somewhere, South Carolina? Florida? Nope, and nope…Iowa! Yes, I said it…Iowa!
Seriously! We are driving to Iowa to visit some old friends, and we are staying at one of those hotels that have the indoor water park! I’m excited! (I’m really a 12 year old in a…man I hate to say it…almost 30 year old’s body)
Not only do they have an indoor water park, the hotel is located on a lake for some outdoor water fun as well!
I’m so excited!
Even though all of this puts a big smile on my face there is one thing about the trip that I’m sure will make me cry big crocodile tears…
I think I cried 23.743 gallons after filling up my truck. 🙁
I plan on taking a record number of pictures on our road trip, as long as I remember the camera (and we don’t have to pawn it off to pay for gas to make it all the way home) 😆 . I should have some good shots to show all of ya’s .
Oh yeah! If the weather cooperates, Ace will be visiting the zoo for the first time this weekend! Please don’t rain! 🙂
This summer is going to be sooo much fun! 😀
Ace’s Nemesis
I thought that up to this point Ace was fearless. He has never backed down from anything…ever.
You can throw him up in the air, dangle him upside down, let him fall off the couch and catch him inches from the floor, run the vacuum cleaner right next to him, be mounted by the dog, walk him through the pitch black of a basement with no lights…nothing phases the little guy.
Well, we have found his nemesis…
It was late Sunday night. It was dark. The only light was from the parking lots surrounding us. We pull in. A light mist starts covering us, followed by a plethora of multi colored goo.
A short pause intensifies the moment. Then WHAM! We are being blasted on all sides with water! It’s everywhere! It’s loud! The noise cycles around us with a taunting gesture!
I look at Ace. As the noise approached him his eyes and mouth open as wide as I have ever seen them open. The intensity builds as the noise gets closer and peaks when it is beating on Ace’s window. It gets a bit quieter as it moves away from him and he lets out a horrifying scream as tears roll down his cheeks.
After the noise circles us a few times, it all ends as quickly as it began. We leave this terrifying place. Ace calms as he realizes it’s over. With tears resting on his cheeks he looks at me as if to say, “Never again Dad! Never again!”
You probably guessed it. His nemesis is the automatic car wash!
My Stuff Is Not Your Stuff
Why do people think that what is mine, is theirs?
I went out to my truck at 5:30 this morning to get in my truck to drive to the airport and found the inside of my truck to be trashed. The center console was tipped up and everything was thrown into the back seat. The glove box was open and everything was on the passenger side floor.
Luckily I had nothing of value in my truck. They got away with my change and a bag full of hotel brand ink pens. Woo hoo!
It was partly my fault because I forgot to lock my doors, but this still pisses me off to no end. I live in a decent neighborhood in the burbs and still I have to worry about people taking my stuff! This is the second time in a little over a month that someone has broken in to one of my vehicles!
I remember growing up in the country. We never locked our doors to our house or cars. We left the keys in the ignition at all times. Nothing ever got bothered. Maybe I should move back out to the country…
…or maybe I should invent a lethal alarm system for our vehicles. If I could figure out a way to rig a tazer to fire when the door opens I would do at this point. How about rigging the door handle to provide a nice jolt of electric?
I’m going to figure out something. Time to put that $40,000 electronic engineering degree to good use. 🙂
So, thief beware! My truck might be the last one you attempt to break into! 🙂
Update: When Momma came home last night she found my bag of hotel brand ink pens lying in the neighbors front yard. Looks like I just lost about $1.50 in change.
