We've been away

Last week we drove to Nebraska to visit Dan's sister Amy.

I have to admit, I'd been dreading the trip since we planned it, which was sometime before Tabitha was born.

I mean, who really wants to drive across the country with two children, one 2 1/2 and the other 4 months old?  Not me.  I hate driving anywhere.  This may stem from the numerous car trips my family took when I was a kid, or my mild car sickness (which means I can't really read anything, since I get sick if I don't look out the front window).

But, Dan REALLY wanted to go, and he doesn't really want many things (besides the Wii we bought with our tax return this year, which he had been asking for everytime we would go grocery shopping anywhere that sold Wii's).  And it was for his birthday.  So, we went.

And our little blue car has been having trouble, so we drove Phil's car.  Which is a stick shift.  Which I learned to drive two days before we left.

The first day on the road, I was the one driving when we hit traffic that made us stop.  I stalled out the car several times.  Eventually the semi behind me got frustrated with my inability to get the car moving, and he and his buddies started driving around me.  Dan and I switched places.

I made him drive most of the rest of the way.  There and back.  I never realized how much easier it is to drive automatic.

But the drive out was worth it, because Amy and her family were awesome.  They have a cute house, on the north side of Lincoln, Nebraska, near the university where Devin teaches.  Emily loves spending so much time with her cousins, and she loved playing in their big backyard (with a white picket fence).  And she loved sitting at the table on a bench with her cousins.  In the evening, Amy and Devin successfully get their children to bed (usually by 8), leaving the adults lots of time to talk and play games.

It seemed like Emily started talking in sentences when we were there.  And she is really starting to get colors.  Tabitha is awake more than she has been before our trip, and I moved her up into 6-9 month clothing right before we left.  Including the cute summer dresses Emily wore when I first took her to Chicago a couple years ago.  Which made me all misty, that Emily wore them to visit family, and now Tabitha did, too.  We got some pictures on the iphone before we left, but I need to get them off it, and Dan probably took it to work today.  So, those will have to come later.