Day 1

Day 1a: Failure to Launch
So we thought about starting the trip Friday afternoon/evening. Seemed to make good sense. I had plenty of hours at work and was able to leave by the early afternoon, and it wouldn't take that long to pack.

Problem was, I am (temporarily) sort of, well, actually changing jobs at Circle since budget stuff is so tight (Not going to explain it here for the sake of time and staying on point). I hoped to get most of the loose ends tied up with the mentoring job before leaving for vacation so I could hit the ground running with my new responsibilities when I got back. So I ended up working later than expected. (I've been back for a few days and am still trying to get those loose ends tied...)

Packing is never a fast process for us. I blame it on the kids. And Sara. (Another rabbit trail...While my preference is to throw some things together and hit the road, Sara is quite thorough. She thinks through all the contingencies so that regardless of the situation, we'll be prepared to take care of the boys. Which is great. Really, it is. ) By the time it got to be 8 or 9:00 and we were still packing, we knew the trip would have to wait for Saturday morning. I think we finally had the car fully loaded by midnight or 12:30.

I don't have any pics to share from this (rather boring) part of the vacation story. I bet you're glad.

Day 1b: Buffalo Hurds
We finally hit the road around 8 or 9:00 on Saturday morning, bound for Buffalo, NY. A high school friend of mine lives there with her family (The Hurds) and extended the invite for us to crash there for a halfway-to-Maine break. Sara and I gratefully accepted.

Sidebar: I think we were not even through Indiana before Gabe asked for the first time if we were almost to Maine. I must have told him it would take like 7 movies before we got there because he kept asking me, throughout the week, if he had watched 7 movies yet. Thank goodness for the car DVD player...really don't think a cross-country road trip could happen without one.

Sidebar #2: I explained to Gabe that we were going to New Hampshire, not Maine first. He thought a "Hampshire" was a fuzzy rodent that runs in a wheel...I think he said something like, "I don't like Hampshires" and proceeded to describe a hampster. First the turd (see a couple posts below) and now the hampshire. But I digress.

The Hurds (Amy & Tim) actually have two boys almost the exact same ages as Gabe & Caleb, each just a little older, and they all got along really well. I love seeing Gabie come out of his shell to make new friends, and he definitely did just that. (Caleb, on the other hand, is a lot less shy with peers.) It was cool to see how similar each of our boys was to their counterpart in personality. Funny thing was that instead of pairing off by age, Gabe played more with the younger sibling and Caleb played more with the older one, and they had a blast. It was great, too, catching up with an old friend and getting to know her husband. We really enjoyed their hospitatlity. And can I just say...they made this steak for dinner that was off the chain (Parents, that means "really good"). (Amy/Tim...if either of you happen to read this and wouldn't mind leaving the recipe as a comment, that'd be great :) ) After a great night's rest and a delicious breakfast, we loaded up and hit the road for our destination in New Hampshire.