Does It Qualify as a Day-Trip?

Sometimes John's work schedule causes him to be away overnight.  Yesterday was one of those occasions. John had to be in College Station to work on one of the facilities out there.  So, Cora and I decided to pack ourselves up and venture out to meet him yesterday afternoon.  Thanks to TomTom, we had a pretty easy trip, despite the fact that TomTom insisted that the hotel I was looking for was in the middle of an intersection.  And, when I proceeded through the intersection looking desperately for this invisible hotel, it kept telling me to "Turn around when possible."  After having thoroughly studied that intersection, I'm pretty sure there is no hotel lurking in the shadows!  I have TomTom preset to James the automated Brit, so even though he insisted the hotel was where it was not, at least he was polite and refined while doing so!

Anywho,  we decided to go cuh-razy with John's per diem and went to Haiku Sushi & Hibachi Grill.  (We ate at the hibachi grill for those of you who were wondering.  Fish = GROSS  Raw fish = I think I just threw up in my mouth a little!)  We were a little worried about how Cora would react with all the knife flinging and fire and such.  Turns out she loved it.  Then, we were worried about her getting any crazy ideas about knife flinging and fire and such.  In fact, our server commented on how she was the first baby he'd ever seen that did not freak out with all of the hubbub at the grill.  So, I think it's a really good thing she's too short to reach the knives and fire and such at our house - at least for now!)

After dinner, John drove me around his old stomping grounds. I wanted to get Cora some new Aggie gear, but it was a little too late and all the bookstores were closed.  We ended up at the mall because we thought Cora might enjoy some of those coin operated rides.  Turns out that's a big, fat NO.  We put her in one and started it, and she pretty much insisted on getting out any way she could.  Fortunately, there was this fabulous play area that was very soft and cushy.  She amused herself there quite nicely for the next half hour when she discovered that she could step on and off of the slightly raised up path.  She still has a lot of trouble with steps, so she was pretty proud of being able to get off and on of the path without our help.  After she had sufficiently tired herself out, we all went to the hotel for bed.

After our idyllic afternoon, I think we were all ready for some rest in a comfy, soft hotel bed/pack n play.  But, alas, at midnight something went dreadfully wrong.  Cora woke up crying, and after an hour and a half of both of us trying we could not get her to go back to sleep.  And, since we were in a fairly full hotel coupled with the fact that John had to get up at 4:00, I decided just to pack Cora up and go home.  After gathering all our gear, and purchasing a $3 Dr. Pepper (!) from the hotel, we headed for our own beds.  Yep, we drove home at 2 a.m. Believe you, me, I was praying the whole time!  But, God is good!!  We saw no animals.  We encountered few cars - all going the opposite direction.  Thank you, Jesus!  The funny thing is I don't think Cora slept at all during the ride. She played with one of her electronic toys the whole way.  I was so worried that she wasn't going to sleep when we got home, but thankfully, she went right down.  I guess she just wanted something familiar.  (Of course, the motrin I gave her when we got home may have helped to inspire her sudden sleepiness.  What, give a well child motrin just to make her sleep? Who would do that?  No, not me!!)

In summary, I met only one of my objectives of this trip.  We did have a fun dinner as a family.  I am still waiting to check off

• take pictures of Cora at what could be her future alma mater
• get new gear for Cora at Loupot's (and if something ends up in the bag for me, so be it!)
• visit the really fun looking antiques shop I saw on the way to College Station

So, those will be the objectives for next time. . .if I'm brave enough to attempt this again!!