March 11 & 12, 2010 - Tempe, Arizona

My goal is to update this blog daily. Unfortunately, at this point, that means that I don't have a lot to say however, and I dislike being boring. Nothing much happened yesterday or today. Cousins came over to play today, which was a lot of fun for our kids. They end up playing a game called "Spies" which essentially involves sneaking by me without me making eye contact with them. At least, the boys do. The girls get tired of it pretty quickly. The boys get less bored of it because it inevitably ends up in a rousing rendition of "Pummel Uncle Paul", which they adore.

The problem is that they're getting older and bigger and stronger, so the pummeling from two nearly-8-year-olds and one nearly 4-year old boy is getting to be more intense. On the plus side, it's a better work out. On the downside, the importance of blocking and flexibility is increasing. It may be time to hit the Pilate's workouts again as well as more robust and manly strength-training. Of some sort. Eventually.

It's kind of surreal that we're leaving Phoenix Sunday around 10am and we haven't really thought too much about how to pack the mini-van. Part of this is due to the fact that for the better part of three years we were going cross country with (eventually) three kids (and occasionally one eighty pound dog as well) in a Toyota Echo. Comparatively, driving our Toyota Sienna is like driving the Grand Canyon. Because we purchased a used 2004 Sienna, we aren't worried about any of the recent issues Toyota vehicles have been having with sudden & unstoppable acceleration.

Other than my lead foot.

So, we have lots of space and not a lot to take with us so we aren't very worried but that seems horribly negligent of us in some fundamental way that we've yet to pin down but are sure will become obvious once we leave. Our camping gear is in a very stylish roof top carrier in case our journey extends into camping season. With about a week's worth of outfits for each person in the family, we shouldn't have to cram too much to get the clothing in the rear of the van. Leaving the kids' backpacks with toys and books, a small cooler, and a snack bag to join us in the main cabin. I haven't decided whether or not to try and take my guitar along and attempt to get better at it. I ought to, though.

That's about as much of a cliffhanger as you're going to get at this point in the journey. Stay tuned in a couple of days to find out whether or not the guitar makes the trip or not.

Try not to wet yourself in anticipation.