Checking in

You might have noticed (from the lack of posts) that we’ve had a BUSY summer. I don’t think we’ve ever traveled so much in so little time! The only thing that comes close is when Jarom did two back-to-back summer internships – a month in Korea (by himself), and then a month in North Carolina (Evan and I came; I was pregnant with June).

Since school got out, we have gone to…

• Cupertino for a niece’s baptism – mid-June
• Monterey for a week-long family reunion – late July
• Orlando (sans kids!) for a work trip/mini vacation – early August

We drove out to California both times – although Jarom couldn’t get time off in June, so I did the Cupertino trip with just the kids. The family reunion was awesome. We stayed right by the beach, went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, hit the Mystery Spot and the beach boardwalk, and enjoyed lots of time with family. I started crocheting a baby blanket on the drive out, and managed to get everything except the final edging done while we were there.

This past weekend, Jarom was asked to go on a business trip to Orlando – and his boss offered to have me come, too, if I would help out with a few things. Sold! My in-laws agreed to take Evan, June, and the dog from Friday morning until Tuesday night so that we could have a fun mini-vacation after the work trip was done (THANK YOU!!).

After we got to the hotel Friday evening, we went to Downtown Disney with the rest of our group – Jarom’s boss, the boss’s wife, and another employee. The contrast between the arid heat of Utah and the humid heat of Florida… I think I prefer the drier option. Orlando was so muggy! Yuck. But we did get to eat at the Wolfgang Puck restaurant (most amazing carrot cake, and I’m really picky!) and see some incredible Lego displays. My favorite was Prince Philip on his horse fighting Maleficent in her dragon form.

Saturday was the business portion of our trip. Most of the day was spent in or near the conference room. After our responsibilities there were done, we (as a group) went to a very disappointing dinner. And then I was worn out! Time for tv in the hotel room, one of the things I love most about traveling.

On Sunday the rest of Jarom’s group was leaving, so we went to lunch on the way to the airport. It was an incredible lunch, and if you’re ever near the Orlando airport you should seriously stop at Tony Roma’s. I know the name is generic, but the food was contemporary Southern-inspired and it was so good that Jarom and I went back on Tuesday before our flight out.

Once we got the group dropped off at the airport, we decided to go to the outlet mall. Apparently it was a tax-free weekend? So it was crazy busy. And while we thought that the cars parked on every single grassy curb, divider, or strip was a bizarre response to the weekend traffic, a cashier told us that it’s completely normal behavior there. When Jarom asked hr what was up with everyone parking on the grass, she seemed surprised that things aren’t like that everywhere. “Why wouldn’t you park there?” she responded. I tried saying that it isn’t a real parking space…but I doubt it matters.

Guess what we got to do on Monday?? The Harry Potter parks at Universal! In spite of the crowds (which make me anxious) and the Zoloft I forgot to take that morning, I had a blast. The shops are so fun, and the Escape from Hogwarts ride was amazing. I’m really afraid of heights and I generally hate roller coasters or rides of that nature, but for me, the scariest part of the Hogwarts ride was the sudden appearance of Dementors.

It was, overall, a great day at the parks, but I was so tired by the time we were done. Thankfully we grabbed a few pick-me-up churros on our way back to the car.

And yesterday, we ate lunch, caught a plane, and came home! Now it’s time to start getting ready for Evan to start school in two weeks…

Scratch that

The entire time we were in Greensboro, there was a horrendous heat wave. Heat + humidity = I want to stay inside all day. I was fortunate to have found an apartment that included utilities, so I did my part in ruining the earth by keeping the air conditioning on most of the time. But outside it was usually at least 95°F and often into the 100s.

…Until yesterday. On our last day in Greensboro, the heat wave broke (can you say that? Like a fever breaking?) and it was a comfortable, even pleasant, 80°F. It was also a LOT less humid.

When I woke up yesterday morning, my throat was killing me and my nose was stuffed up. By early afternoon I had a massive headache and (don’t take advantage of this opportunity to tell a joke at my expense) my face hurt. So much. After we left for Raleigh that evening, my ears were starting to ache and I was wishing I could just take a plane back to Utah instead of spending a week on the road.

Tylenol helped some, and we had some children’s Benadryl that I took to help me sleep. It worked until about 3am when I woke up with (possibly) the worst headache of my life. More Tylenol, a few more hours of sleep, and my favorite little boy was woken up by a door slamming down the hall at 6:30. Sigh.

When I brought the Bwun into bed with me, hoping he’d go back to sleep, the Romgi woke up and said now he was feeling miserable too. We talked about what to do, since neither of us wanted to try spending hours in the car and then being tourist-y in Washington DC when we felt like this. The Romgi suggested waiting until after breakfast and then seeing if we could stay another night in Raleigh (and cancel our reservation in DC). And, you guessed it, we weren’t any better when we finished eating, so the Romgi booked us for another night here while I canceled the hotel in DC. Then we all went back to sleep.

Instead of taking 7-8 days to travel up through Washington DC to where the Romgi’s dad grew up in New York, and then to Palmyra, Nauvoo, and finally back to Provo…it looks like we’ll spend today resting and then go back the way we came, through Colorado and all those boring states in the middle of the US. It will be shorter and we’ll probably drive longer every day.

Update: another day in Raleigh. I eventually got a good night’s sleep, and felt ok when I woke up just before noon (the Bwun was still asleep too, so it was fine to sleep in so much), but the Romgi felt worse. He seems to be a day behind me with this cold, so with any luck we’ll all be doing better tomorrow and ready to head home. Maybe we’ll do 3 12-hour days. Not fun, but at least we’d get home quickly!