Road trippin'

Several times each year Jarod has to attend work conferences around the state. At these meetings he sits through hour after hour of information on housing codes, tax forms, and other unimaginable excitement. In addition to these pleasures of the conferences it usual will entail a several hour drive.

So, since Jude and I have nothing else pressing in our lives we often accompany him. It makes the drive and hotel stay more pleasurable for him and provides us with some great adventures.

These little excursions have taken us to museums, zoos, libraries, botanical gardens, art showings, and parks around that state. And I must say I have a new appreciation for the small things after having a toddler as my main traveling companion.
We are in no hurry so we spend time watching buildings under construction. When I allow myself to enjoy things through his eyes… some of these towns in Kansas have as much to offer as a journey around the world. He is always seeing something new. (For example on a trip to Manhattan, Ks – a less arid and more diverse part of the state he thought the town was a “forest” because it had trees, and he asked a little black girl why her skin was that color… we gotta get out of town more!)

Even better than our “tourist” adventures are when Jarod’s meetings take us close to family members I love to visit but rarely do. We have spent an afternoon with my cousin at her daycare and a day with my uncle at his quarry.

This week found Jarod at a conference on rural rental housing for low income and Jude and I with my Grandma Gerri and each of my uncles. (By the way I am sure that we are headed toward the collapse of the entire global economy but I’m not too freaked out because my Uncle Bruce’s garden and fishing escapades will supply for us all.)



Other news this week… we have a spider crawling around in our LCD screen and Apple can’t decide what to do since our nearest Mac store is a 3 hour drive away. So if we are disconnected from technology in the near future it is due to a short in our computer caused by the spider we have named Hugo.

Oh – and Jude is pretending to be pregnant by sticking out his belly REALLY FAR and strutting around saying, “I have a baby” (with a poochy lip and deep voice for effect.)