20 questions, 485 miles

We're on the road. In Summersville, WV to be precise. Nice hotel. Small, cold pool which seemed to work fine for the boys until they turned blue. A room with plenty of space but no way to get away from the boys while they were falling asleep except in the hall (where I am).

Today may have been our worst-- meaning longest-- drive of the trip. We didn't have anyone to meet at the end, no exciting destination to look forward to seeing. Just many hours of driving. We're a very low tech family for some reason- the boys have lived fine with little tv or computer games. We don't own and I'm not sure they've ever even used any of the small electronic games every other child owns. I've borrowed small dvd players two or three times for long drives, but hadn't even thought about it for our Indy drive. The road trip in June went so smoothly that I had high hopes for this one.

We played license plate tic-tac-toe and all won, eventually. We've seen GA, SC, NC, VA, WV, PA, NY, OH, and ON Canada, plus Pook's extra list which includes FL, TN, AL, MI, MD, and KY. We made a scavenger hunt list and gradually crossed off the yellow sports car, big bridge, road construction, brown cows, red barn, police car (seen from a distance, thank you) jet ski, pedestrian on a busy road, and much more. We have not yet seen a truck with a purple cab. You never know though; they're out there somewhere.

We guessed well beyond twenty questions for Bug. He can be "a bit inconsistent" with that game and is prone to changing his mind after we've asked 19 questions. This one stumped us, so we assumed he was either wrong about his answers or getting flaky on us again. He had an item that was "sort of" both vegetable and mineral, that was "sometimes" bigger than the car "but ours isn't" and was "sort of partly" flat and rectangular. He wasn't sure if it was useful, but claimed it wasn't a toy. We finally gave up. Do you?

my I serve you?

Pook made lunch for me. And not just anything for his first real venture as a chef. He decided he wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. I was busy with laundry, trying to prepare for our drive to Pittsburgh (Sister MD) and to Niagara Falls. I had dropped Bug off at a playdate (great timing!) and wanted to get as much done while he was out of the house as possible. I was into the idea of finishing up odds and ends in the fridge, and cheese was one of those items, but not into the idea of making it. I suggested he do it himself.
"I don't know how!"
"Sure you do, you just don't know you know how."
I continued to fold laundry as I gave him slow, step by step instructions. Get the cheese. Get the butter, the bread, the pan....

He sliced cheese alone, laughing at himself for the sloppiness of it, but assured that it would all melt in the end. He assembled two sandwiches in a preheated pan and kept and eye on them as they cooked. I joined him only to flip them over (he probably should have done that too). Then he plated them and brought them both to the table. Visibly proud. They were properly golden brown and oozed with melted cheddar. I'm sure I was cooking some by his age, so I will encourage this again.

schlurp

I believe that is the sound of Facebook sucking up my time.

I resisted for so long. And today I gave up. Our friends L&P are on a five week adventure driving around the US with their kids and CD knew where they were today. Today. "Well, they're posting on Facebook". No matter how much protesting that "that isn't fair!" it didn't change the fact. I am missing out.

For the past year(s?), the more I heard about Facebook the harder I ran in the opposite direction. Trendy? Hide. "But Everyone is doing it"-- run. But run no longer. I am deep into time suckage.

I spent hours today trying to find a head shot of myself. I seem to either be behind the camera or I have bad hair. In the summer I always have bad hair and on vacations I always have bad hair and before I shower when Santa and the Easter Bunny have just visited, I have bad hair. I passed on all those photos and found one with Bug that was acceptable. I cropped just my face and tried to add it to my profile. It was not to be. I messed with it on and off all day. I'm still trying to figure out why it won't upload correctly.

All of this while, for the first time ever, I'm having to decide whether to limit screen time for my kids. Having gone without tv without any problems, they have recently discovered some online games and also been introduced to Paint.net.