Call of the road

There's been a lot I've wanted to post here but haven't had the mental toughness to sit down and get the thoughts into words. I seem to have a spare minute here, so I am going to try to get a little something done.

First of all, Steph and I both have the travel bug BAD. Several reasons - in a couple weeks, EVERYONE is going to Hilton Head except us...and also because it finally got HOT HOT HOT here in Cinci. Yesterday, walking out of the house totally reminded both of us of being at the beach. Those muggy Hilton Head or Sanibel or Key West mornings when you know it's going to be a scorcher, so you get out early while it still feels more humid than hot. And of course, one of my favorite feelings in the world, and one of the best things about a beach vacation - that feeling of coming back into the crazy-cold A/C after spending too long in the sun.

Sigh...

Yeah, we haven't been to the ocean since 2006 - and that's hard on Steph more than me. I mean, I love going to the beach, but I mainly love travel - as long as I go SOMEwhere, I satisfy the need. Steph in some ways feels like she didn't even have a real summer if she doesn't get to the beach.

But, we both know it's not possible this year. So we are looking forward to our Tennessee trip in August, but even that's a ways away. So I've started idly looking for minor trips that we could take...but it's not practical, logistically or financially. Trying to escape for a couple days with just us and the kids would be a loony enterprise, and even if we found a great deal somewhere, the price of gas is just too sobering.

So we're stuck. Still a chance that there might be an RV shakedown trip sometime in July, but mainly it's just us and the house...and that's the sacrifice you make for the blessing of these kids.

What else...

Faith is doing well. She's gotten really good at fetching the pacifier whenever someone starts crying. The other day she even put her fingers in Hannah's mouth to suck on...and that's okay since she's developed a hand-washing obsession.

Mari is mostly well, but she's starting to have some weird things happen. Twice she's come out of her room telling us that the bed was wet, but it wasn't. She still has moments when you can tell she's gone into "Nasty Took Land" and is about to push Faithy or pull her hair, and when she's just going to laugh when you try to discipline her. But I'm starting to just think that that whole act is on some level a play for attention, since she often gets lost in the mix. So I'm going to talk to Steph about us just casually removing her from those situations and not making a big fuss about them. And of course, we have to keep making an effort to do things with just her whenever possible.

Twins are good, although 2 not-so-good nights in a row. A little early to tell for sure, but I think it's mainly GAS. I also wonder if they're getting fed up with swaddling...oh well, the nice thing about summer for us is that we're free to experiment, and if there IS a bad night, we can deal with it the next day.

There's more I want to say, but Faith is up and talking to me. Gotta run.