Happy Birthday to Eve and Hamster today. Eve is 30 and Hamster is 3. I thinks it's great that my last baby and one of my best friends get to share a birthday. It's almost as cool as Pickles sharing my birthday. Cool present, huh?

So we made it to GA. It was 850 miles of me driving exclusively. It's one of those things you have to do when you're married to a blind guy.

It was an 850 mile trip that took 16 hours. To put it into perspective, it's a trip that takes me 12 hours when I do it alone. So it took a long time.

This is because I was traveling with:
My husband, who is grouchy after 2 hours in the car, but is also good at making balloon animals when needed.
My 4 kids, who don't like each other after 4 hours, but are amazing at coming up with creative names (which always include 'butt') to call each other,
2 snakes, who were very quiet and didn't argue at all,
and 1 dog, who wasn't quiet and kept putting nose prints on everything.

Did I mention this was in a minivan? I rented a mini because my Suburban has nearly 300K miles on it. Fat Tony, what we call it when it's naughty, has to last 3 more years. 2 years for school and for one year after. Don't look at me like that - like your car doesn't have a name?

In the first 2 hours, we saw 7 cars in the ditch on the side of the highway. After we got a few hours farther south though, the roads were ice free and it wasn't snowing. Those first couple hours are what really slowed us down. I drove 11 hours the first day/night. And 5 today. I'm OK with that though, because where I am, everyone is complaining about this freezing 40 degree weather, but I'm loving how "warm" it is. Sick, no?

And I am so glad to be here. With family. And old and close friends. It may not always be relaxing or sane, but it's home. Just don't be surprised though, if I come back with my accent intact. It's always a little stronger for a few days when I've been steeping in it for awhile.

Yee-haw!