We had a fun time celebrating Aidan’s birthday. He woke up at 4am on the big day, shot out of bed, and said, “Two is coming! Presents is coming!” He talked for about ten minutes about all his expectations for the day, which included his cousins coming over, eating a ‘coco’ treat, and having uncle Brock sing a song! Now that it’s all over, I’m not sure he understands that he is now TWO years old; if you ask him how old he is, he will usually answer ‘one’ or ‘four’. But he definitely enjoyed the day:
Aidan is quite fascinated by all the Christmas lights. We took him for a drive tonight to look for some. I took this picture on our phone and thought it was pretty cool. Dueling candy canes. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Roadkills: We stopped counting after a hundred. And that was just Illinois, Missouri, and half of Kansas.
Tom Cruise sightings: 1 (well, he may have been wearing a mask). Our other brush with a celebrity was when we got stuck behind Alan Jackson’s tour entourage at a toll booth-which led to Becka’s confession that she once owned an Alan Jackson cd.
Worst Bathroom: Shamrock, Oklahoma at the Phillips 66 station. We stopped there in the middle of the night. I think they would be better off digging a few holes out back. They may need to soon, since two out of the three toilets were out of order.
Best Bathroom: Basspro Shops, Springfield, MO
Mike and Ike’s consumed while driving: Too many to count
Starbuck’s stops: Maybe 3 or 4. This number is low because I brought some nice coffee along and brewed it myself whenever we weren’t driving.
Best view: Laguna Beach, CA, and the Utah desert. I think the beach was definitely one of Aidan’s highlights:
Worst view: The Inland Empire. At least the smog isn’t too bad this time of year.
Most surreal moment: Staying with total strangers in a house by a cemetery in the middle of nowhere in Kansas.
Best Lunch Deal: $5 footlongs at Subway
Questionable Logic/Marketing Fail/Sad Commentary on our Society:
Worth the stop: Denver surprised us in a lot of ways. It snowed and sleeted while we were driving in, but the next day was in the 60s and sunny. We stayed with a wonderful older couple who spoiled us, and hung out with Becka’s sister who now lives there. We walked around the city center (which was beautiful). The public library was amazing, and there was a free museum across the street. I accidentally left my water bottle in a park bench in the city center, and when I came back a few hours later, it was still there. But one sad thing: there were literally hundreds of homeless people hanging around the city center.
Most redeeming moment: We forgot to bring any books with us, which we instantly regretted. Then I found a Michel Foucault book at Goodwill for $1.99, and Becka found the entire James Herriot series at her parent’s place.
Biggest disappointment: we picked out a really nice camping site by a lake in Arizona, but when we showed up, it was closed for the winter. Aidan took it pretty hard (we had been telling him the whole time we would set up a tent by the water-two of his favorite things). But we still had a good time an alternative place:
Weddings Attended: 1
Successful Dental Operations: 1 (thanks Beth!)
Trips to In n’ Out: 3
Best meal: The Market Broiler (thanks Greg). But all the amazing Mexican food we ate was a close second.
Worst meal: a $1.50 polish dog from Costco. I don’t know what was in that thing, but I still felt queasy four hours later.
Best Aidan moment: While camping in Arizona, Becka pointed out all the stars to him. I asked him if he could count them all, and he looked up and said, “One, Two, Free” over and over again.
Rudest Strangers: The employees at the New Mexico welcome center. Not very welcoming.
Kindest Stranger: An elderly man offered to pay for our meals “because that boy of yours is such a nice little fella.” That made us feel pretty good!
Most played song while driving: Southside of Heaven by Ryan Bingham
Best way to pass the time in the car: This American Life. This is one of our favorite podcast/radio programs…
Most Disturbing: Listening to hours of right wing talk radio while driving through the heartland. Apparently fear sells better than corn.
I could’ve cried moment: When we decided to drive straight through on the way back after spending one night in Arizona. We started driving and less than an hour later, our ancient ipod’s battery died, with 24+ hours left to go. This is the first time it occurred to me that maybe it is worth spending $30 on a car charger. When I got home, I discovered that they don’t cost $30, but you can get one for a few bucks. Man. But it was kind of nice driving in silence through those vast stretches of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma.
Best part of the whole trip: getting to see all our friends and family!
We are in California, and will be for at least another week. We’ve been moving around a lot, so posting a lot hasn’t been an option. But here’s some pictures from the last few weeks:
Just before we left, we (or I should say Becka!) broke down and gave Aidan a haircut. Here’s what he looked like before we cut it:
This is in-process. Becka cut it herself on the front porch:
We took our time driving to California. The Mennonite Your Way program was a great experience-I’ll write more about it later. We stayed one night in Kansas with a nice family and then stayed with an older couple in Denver for a few days while we visited Becka’s sister and explored the city. It snowed the first day we were there, and was in the 60s the next day. The Denver Capitol:
Aidan really liked these giant cows:
Driving into Las Vegas:
A family wedding in California:
Aidan taking a break:
Becka’s parents are moving. We stayed at the old house for a few days and boxed some of our things up. It seems very empty! The end of an era, I guess. Becka taking a break, while Aidan plays in a box:
We’ve had some beautiful weather. Some hot days, but mostly mild and sunny. Aidan has been asking to go to a park every day:
