from Southern California...

I'm typing from Southern California this evening. We've been here visiting David's brother and his family about an hour outside San Diego. Ben is wandering around, toddling unsteadily with his hand stuck in one of his cousin's cowboy boots. Cousins are playing trains and knights in one of the bedrooms. I hear the sounds of dinner preparation in the kitchen. (Don't worry, I have helped, but I've also gotten chased out to rest.)

We've been here for almost a week, and we leave in the morning. Yes, we flew our entire family of 3 boys 5 and under across the entire country, and we hope to live to tell the tale after the flight home. I feel a sense of accomplishment to go along with the head cold and the exhaustion we're nursing.

This house of 4 adults and 7 children (ages 10 years-17 months) has steadily fallen ill. Our little family has colds. I was the last to fall. We've also had assorted fevers, puke, and sore throats. And yet, we're all still playing so nicely together... kids and adults! =)

I'm going to tell this story now because I'm proud of us, and I'll probably forget to mention it later. We decided to take just our family into San Diego on Wednesday morning to picnic at Balboa Park. Before we left, our snotty sons ate yogurt for breakfast. And then we put them in a car on winding mountain roads to drive for an hour.

I think you can see where this story is going.

5 minutes from our destination, Seth started crying and saying, "I need help! I need help! I want to go home to bed." And then he puked all over himself- shirt, pants, seat. We looked for the next exit in a strange city that we don't know, and we took it. And God provided a gleaming red bullseye.... yes, Target, shining like a city on a hill to the frustrated pilgrim. :)

We took the whole crew inside, Seth still covered in puke. I washed out his shirt, and then David washed off his pants. I spent a frantic 10 minutes buying him another shirt and pants, as well as saltines, Clorox wipes, and saltines.

By the time we had him dressed, he was happy as a clam. We cleaned up the rental van with Clorox wipes, and we kept going. Yes, we did. We didn't let a little puke rain on our parade, and we had a great picnic, tram ride through Balboa Park, and fun at a playground. And Seth got to see more of his beloved palm trees.

Traveling with young children is really hard. It just is. But you do it anyway, and you relish the fun moments in the middle of the crazy and the tired. We're glad we came. We've had a blast. But I'm ready to sleep in my own bed. The great pictures and the fun stories will come later when I get a computer on which to load and post them. Signing off for now...

See you tomorrow night, oh bed of mine...