The Best Thing About Travelling

Some of you are probably sick of me talking about my impending trip to Scotland. This will be the last post until their is a real life on location update. I am leaving tomorrow morning. The next time you hear from me I will be typing amid the fog with the eerie cry of bagpipes as my soundtrack.

You all know that I am not looking forward to this trip. Leaving Arica and Braden behind for three weeks is going to be the toughest thing in the world. On top of that I am going to get my first stab at driving on the wrong side of the road. I am sure the car will be a stick shift as well. So there I will be driving on the wrong side of the blacktop trying to shift with my useless left hand. If anyone reading this lives anywhere near Glasgow consider this your warning.

Hopefully I can manage well enough to avoid any Griswolds stuck on the roundabout type moments. If I am lucky I won't run over any of the cast from Monty Python either. All these difficulties will pay off handsomely in the end. There is one truly great thing about travel. It is a constant. No matter where you go or how long you stay. The best part about travel is always coming home.

Before coming home I will be able to see my family at least. Using Skype and the web cams will allow us to have video chats every day. Technology really is an amazing thing. I am so thankful for the Internet, computers, and all the other whizzing little thingamajigs that make it possible for a regular Joe like myself to own what is technically a video phone. I feel like George Jetson.

While I will endure pain that many of you would be perfectly happy to avoid, I will also enjoy one of life's truly great pleasures. There is no way I can describe the feeling if you have never experienced it yourself. To see Arica's smiling face after weeks away is a truly amazing moment. This time I will get to add Braden's little smiling face as well.

My return will go something like this:

The embracer regional jet comes in low and fast just skirting the edge of the muddy Arkansas River. We touch down with a slight bounce then make contact with the runway again. The flight attendant pipes in with her welcome to Little Rock spiel, but I am too excited to even listen. Soon my tired aching body will be bursting forth into the terminal to see my family. The plane eases to the gate as all the passengers begin to shift in their seats. The familiar ding of the seat belt sign going off is followed by the hurried bustle of passengers retrieving their luggage from the overhead bins. Nearly everyone stands with hunched backs in the small cabin as we await the signal to exit.

The door finally swings open and we file out like good little soldiers. I have a hard time walking in the single file line up the jetway. I want to elbow everyone out of the way and run. I resist and enter the terminal in an orderly manner. Those awaiting their planes always give you a smug look. I can't tell if they are angry with us for reaching our destination or if they are looking down on us because we live in Arkansas. Either way I don't care.

The walk through the airport is only a few hundred yards, but it feels like ten miles. I hurry past all the sparsely populated gates and a few restaurants. Then I make my way past the security checkpoint and head towards the escalator. This is the big moment. I step on the stairs for my ride down one level. As we start down I scan the crowd. Where are they?Frantically my eyes dart from side to side checking each bench. Just as I began to panic they come around the corner. There smiling and beautiful is Arica. Perched in her arms like a giant teddy bear is our son Braden. This is the greatest feeling in the world.

There is no place like home.

Happy Anniversary

I am not back today to reclaim my position as a writer of plentiful posts. I am still very much enjoying my vacation rather than writing. This time with Arica and Braden has been amazing. It is the first time since Braden's first week of life that I have spent this much time with him. We have had so much fun.

I wanted to stop in to make a quick note. Today is my wedding Anniversary. Arica and I have been married three years. As a man that was single and alone into his late 20's I can surely appreciate the comfort and love that come with spending my life with someone.

I don't just have someone. I have "the someone." There is no doubt that she was put here on this rock just for me. No other woman could put up with my difficult and frustrating personality. She doesn't just put up with me. She challenges me every day. I am so grateful for the amount of love, patience, and understanding that she has given me.

Our meeting was a bit different. You can read about it here. From those beginnings things moved fast. The ride has not always been smooth, but it has been the best ride of my life. I am so glad that this amazing ride will go on forever.

Arica, I can't wait to continue living out every breathtaking moment of this marriage with you. I love you and Happy Anniversary!

Babies are Daredevils

It amazes me how babies learn. The come into the world a blank slate, and they start learning right away. The learning taking place at our house now is the build up to walking. Braden loves to stand up. He pulls up on the ottoman all the time. He pulls up on the doors, the gate, the tables, his toys, my legs, Arica's legs, and everything else he can find.

Braden pulling up on things all the time is great. I am glad he likes standing up so much. I am glad he is trying to learn the skills needed for walking. What scares me is his cavalier attitude.

In the beginning he would just let go of his support whenever he was standing. That led to plenty of collisions between his head and the floor. Finally Braden learned to sit down gently. This type of trial and error learning is crazy. It must be how the X-games nuts learn. They try to flip their bike over and over until either they break their neck or learn the trick. Those are really the only two options.

Now that Braden can go from standing to sitting easily he is more into trying to walk along the furniture while holding on. He leans more than he walks, but he is able to move a little bit. The remote and our cell phones laying on the ottoman is his greatest motivation. The crazy thing is when he tries to go from the ottoman to the chair. He lets go and leans. It is the equivalent of jumping from one roof top to another. Any normal person would be scared to death to make this leap. Braden does it as if there are no consequences.

This is how all babies learn to walk. The method is crazy if you really think about it. Trial and error is always a great way to learn, but learning anything by taking repeated blows to the head is a bit wacky. Such is the life of a baby. If they ever want to learn to walk then they must risk life and limb.

I can't wait until Braden Kenievel's next stunt.

Vacation at Home

Today is the second day of my vacation. I am enjoying some Sports Center, coffee, and the world wide web. I have not taken a vacation since the week Braden was born. Since virtually all my readers have children you can understand that the first week home with your new baby is not much of a vacation. So this week is my first week of true relaxation in well over a year.

What will I do with this golden opportunity. Will I go travelling? No. I am leaving the country next weekend so home is where I want to be. Frankly, I have no plans other than spending time with my family. I want to soak up every minute that I can with them.

This week is as much a vacation for Arica as it is for me. She will have help with Braden every day this week. I will be able to give her some much needed rest. I hope I am a good assistant.

Being on vacation leads me to think about the future vacations I will take with our little family. We are already planning on going to the beach next year. If you are from Arkansas the beach means the gulf coast a.k.a. the redneck riviera. That seems to be the thing everyone around here does with their small children. I love the beach so I plan on keeping the tradition. Jimmy Buffet is one of my heroes. I have always dreamed of living the beach bum life much like the leader of the parrot heads. I could wear shorts and flip flops every day. I could drink fruity drinks at the tiki bars. Life would be relaxing. Since that is very unlikely a beach vacation seems like the next best thing.

Of course at some point we have to take Braden to Disney World. I need to start saving now to make that dream come true. Maybe I can forgo a few fishing lures this year to get the savings ball rolling. I went to Disney World when I was about seven years old. I don't have a lot of memories of the trip. I want to wait until Braden is at least that old before going. I might even wait until he is a little older to make sure he remembers some of the good times at the happiest place on earth.

When I was a kid we didn't take many vacations. I played baseball every year and it always lasted nearly the entire summer. Even with the busy schedule my Dad and I always tried to find a weekend to go to St. Louis and watch the Cardinals. I certainly plan on keeping this mini vacation tradition. I hope to take Braden and Arica to a Cardinals game next summer. While in St. Louis we will visit the zoo as well. They have a great zoo, and I look forward to seeing Braden's reaction to all the animals.

Those are a few of my vacation ideas. I don't plan on packing the family truckster every year to trek across the country. Some years we will take shorter trips or fly to maintain our sanity. I do plan on doing my best to vacation somewhere every year. Hopefully our family will be able to forge some wonderful memories that will last us a lifetime. Even the Griswold-esque disasters could give us fun stories to tell forever. I am excited already, but for now we will start with a vacation at home. After all, nothing can be better than spending a week of quality time with my two favorite people.

Random Tuesday Thoughts: American Express

Another random Tuesday is upon us. Very few interesting thoughts are floating around my head right now, but I will do my best.

• What is the correct procedure for putting utensils in the dish washer? Do the business ends go up or down?
• American Express rejected one of my business purchases this week. They did so after calling to get my approval of the purchase twice and receiving my signature to OK the sales order. Afterward I thought maybe I should send them the card back since obviously I am not smart enough to decide what I can and can't buy.
• Braden thinks he can stand up on his own. He pulls up on different things and once standing lets go. Then predictably he falls on his butt or his head.
• Next time your husband or wife asks you to go to the store and get some milk look at them seriously and say, "Cow's Milk?"
• A lot of people seemed disgusted that I wanted to try haggis. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to eat this delicacy. You know haggis is ground up sheep innards, right?
• Having a crawling baby is a good way to gauge the dirtiness of your floors.
• Where do you think I can get some of those money bags with the dollar signs on the side of them?
• We have had at least some rain each day for the last three days. My grass has turned from brown to green. Now I have to mow again.
• I built a pillow fort last night and Braden spent most of the night trying to climb it. We had lots of fun. He is a miniature Sir Edmund Hilary.
• I am taking vacation for a week before I go to Scotland. Tomorrow is my last day of work for a while. Yahoo!