Back from Vacation

I've never been much of a traveler. Truth be told, I prefer the comforts of home ... sleeping in my own bed, using my own potty. Our home isn't much but I like it. My lack of lust for travel is probably why our vacations will never be written up in a travel magazine. David had to work so I dropped the basset hound off at the vet's to board, and arranged for a neighbor to feed the lab, loaded up approximately 3 tons of child-related paraphenalia and headed for Oklahoma with Zoë and Sadie. We had planned to leave no later than 8 a.m. so of course at 10:30 a.m. we finally exited the city limits. There was a planned stop in Nacogdoches to visit with Aunt Patsy and refuel. Sadie was ready for a stop by Cut-n-Shoot which is approximately 5 miles outside of Conroe. She fussed for about 1/2 an hour and then passed out only to wake up again in Livingston and scream all the way to Diboll (a good 50 miles of parental hell in a red Ford Windstar). We made our scheduled stop and were off again for the remaining 3 1/2 hours of our journey. She made it across the state line before screaming again. Needless to say, it was good to reach our destination - Broken Bow, OK. We stayed with my mom up there while she is caring for my grandfather. We got to have a picnic up in the mountains by a river and then we drove into Arkansas and mined for diamonds at the Crater of Diamonds State Park. We were encouraged by the fact that when we entered the park the buzz was that an 8 year old girl and her dad had found a 1 carat gem quality diamond. We made sure we got the extra big bucket to carry home our haul o' diamonds. Zoë and I both were designing our diamond encrusted fall wardrobe in our heads as we made our way into the sweltering diamond fields. My mom accompanied us so she and Sadie were perched on a bench in the shade watching us. A hour later and 3 applications of 50 SPF sunblock yielded us nothing but a contempt for that lucky little *&%$! and her father who scored the diamond right off the mark earlier in the day. We made a pact to get our diamonds the old fashioned way from that day forward and we wen to the conveniently located water park next door.

All in all it was a good trip. I got to read and Sadie got to experience country life which she loved and apparently it exhausted her because she slept constantly. Of course, now that I think of it, perhaps it was her non-stop screaming on the way up there that just tired her out. Zoë got to meet the grandchildren of my mom's high school friends and play with them and appreciate our life in Conroe a little more. I'm happy to report that Zoë really loves Broken Bow and loves to visit there. Honestly, I dreaded my childhood trips there. I hated just about everything about it. I'm happy to report that I am no in Zoë's camp and look forward to our time there. We'll be back but only after we have Sadie either sedated or fitted with a muzzle.