Travels with Jeff and Brandi

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The "I Need a Vacation" Blues

Jeff and I are still a bit giddy over our recent accomplishment of seeing all 50 states. I guess "seeing" all 50 states isn't enough to describe it, really. We didn't just "see" every state; we went out of our way to venture to every state. Most of the travels came easily, but let's face it: Kansas is not in the most direct path between Texas and Massachusetts. And those bridges in Madison County, Iowa: not exactly on I35.

Okay, and there was that time we crossed the border into Alabama to eat lunch at a Captain D's, partly because Jeff had never been to Alabama, but also partly because Jeff was really nostalgic for the trips he used to take to Captain D's with his family in San Angelo and partly because it was lunch and we were hungry (And we did make an effort to see more of Alabama on our next trip east, so I really should be able to let go of the guilt. Ha!). Short little ventures aside, we really did make a planned excursion into each of the states.

I'm not sure we actually have bragging rights to seeing all 50 states, though. Lots of people do it. But for me it started with a long-shot dream in college, and it's taken some actual effort. I'm so fortunate that Jeff has been willing to play along, and we're both excited that we've been able to accomplish this goal together.

But there was something very bitter-sweet for me about crossing the "finish line" after our recent trip to Alaska. My first thought was, "Now what??" Well, duh. The end date for the 50-states goal for me has always been before I have children. And it's exciting that we succeeded in the nick of time, but now I must question whether our traveling days are numbered. THAT is very sad for me. I know people (mainly my cousin Gina) who have been to more countries than states.

Sure, it's very patriotic that we've been to all the states. But last year's trip to Europe (We had planned to see all 50 states and then go abroad, but opportunity presented itself. When in Rome, right? Well, we didn't make it to Rome, but we got pretty close!) meant we were just getting our feet wet. After faithfully seeing all 50 states we should be getting ready for that safari in Africa, right? Yes!

Until it dawned on me that we can't take an infant--or a toddler, or really even a preschooler for that matter--on a plane ride (or a safari) to Africa. Granbury, TX, maybe, but not Africa. Bummer! Jeff keeps saying we're not done traveling, and my mom has all but offered to pay for our first trip if she can have an entire week to babysit (Okay, not really, but I know she's very excited about the thought of being left in charge!). And Jeff's mom is so in love with her grandkids that I know we are in excellent hands either way we look at it. I'm not sure I'll be one of those moms who can leave her baby. Maybe I'll try it.

Then there's that other issue: money. The one part I won't miss about slowing our vacation schedule is the month after the trip when Jeff grumbles about all the unplanned incidentals that somehow made their way to the credit card and yells with such wrath that I'm convinced there will never be another trip (The best one so far: "Your trip to Europe was so expensive you could have paid for another degree." Ouch!).

But there always is another trip. Or at least there always has been. And don't get me wrong: I am very, very, very excited about our upcoming little arrival. He will be reason enough to consider slowing down. But even if we have the gumption to travel (time? money???), our life together will never be the same. Sure, it will be better, I know. And that makes me very happy.

I'm guessing it's normal at the start of the third trimester of pregnancy to start mourning the loss of things that may not ever be the same again. And as much as I rejoice each and every moment that Jeff and I have the opportunity to become parents, I can't help but say, in advance, that I need a vacation.

At least there's the chance to dream about the places we can go. And, thankfully, I know my mom has probably already started searching for trips to DisneyWorld. Hey! That's one place we haven't been. :)

Maternityland

I read somewhere that the pregnancy experience is, in some ways, meant to make the mother-to-be aware of some of the new feelings her newborn is likely to experience. I thought that was a little extreme. That is, until I started to experience my own pregnancy "side effects." Now that I think about it, it's probably true. Here's what I mean.

• Sleeping 8 full hours is going to have to wait a while. I got pregnant, and suddenly I'm sleeping for 2 hour stretches at a time.
• Eating a little bit every two hours really is the way to go. No matter how excited I get about a big, delicious meal, I take a few bites and I'm out of room.
• An attention span also takes time to develop. Reading past chapter 3? Forget it!
• Crying is easy. I do it everyday, it seems. When things don't go my way, usually. Sometimes when I'm hungry. (But also when I watch Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, so I'm not completely sure about that theory.)
• Clothes should come in three-month sizes, since that's as long as it takes to grow out of them.
• Other people have to do the big jobs. I'm not sure if this one is really necessary, but I find myself trying to get poor Jeff to do all kinds of things for me. Fortunately, he's both an amazing husband and a good sport.
• Drinking milk is usually a forerunner for spitting up. I'm not even going to talk about it.
• All babies want their mommies. And this must be true for pregnant girls, too. I get so excited when my mom calls, and I miss her more than I usually do. Mo-mmyyyyy!!!

I wonder which ones I'm forgetting. I also wonder if anyone can add to the list. Let me know!!

Brandi's Rules of Etiquette, Volume 1: Rules of the Pool

Our HOA has a great pool. Actually, we have two: one for families, and one for adults over 21. There are all kinds of rules posted outside the adult pool, both for the safety of others and for the enjoyment of all. I doubt that our pools are any different from other HOA pools, but sometimes I think it would be wise to add some additional rules to the mix. At present, my experience lies only with the adult pool, so I'm going to confine my rules of etiquette to the adult pool. In no particular order, here are my suggestions:

1. If you aren't 21, don't pay a mortgage in the neighborhood, and/or don't pay HOA dues, and you've somehow still made it into the pool, congratulations! Maybe you've got a future in one of those sneaky spy movies. Now, at the pool, you have extra important responsibilities. First of all, don't get in anyone's way. Second of all, don't be loud. Otherwise, you will be outed. Most people are too polite to tell you to leave, so keep practicing your sneaky spy techniques.
2. If you and your significant other have recently had a baby, then you are now a family. Congratulations to you! Now, get thee to the family pool. Your baby has a LONG way until he is eligible for the adult pool. No bars or nightclubs for him. No adult pools, either.
3. If the Disney character you most resemble is Shrek, and not Prince Charming, Prince Eric, Prince Ali, or Prince Phillip, you should probably cover up a little so as not to ruin the fantasy for the rest of us.
4. Likewise, if you're of the female gender and look more like Shrek than Ariel, Belle, Jasmin, or Cinderella, also cover yourself a little. Especially when you make long walks to the bathroom. And definitely if you live in another town. And on that note, if your consistently increasing talking volume does not run proportionate with others' in the pool (especially those who paid for your nice little visit), just be quiet. Our monthly HOA bill does not include entertainment, so don't worry about providing it. Especially if you look like Shrek.
5. If your parents pay the mortgage and you are lucky enough to still be living with them after you're 21 (most parents tell their adult children to go find their own homes), don't go to the pool with a friend and talk loudly (and incessantly) about your habits at the tanning salon (you're at the pool, for goodness' sake), your skill in digging up gold from rich older men at bars, or the guys you keep hanging around because they happen to let you ride on their boats. First of all, it's annoying. Second, you make the rest of us jealous.
6. If you intend to spend one hour on a phone conversation in a different language, stay home and do that. Don't sit in the pool and do it. That's just wrong.

Okay, so maybe they're my own personal pet peeves and aren't ready to be considered "rules" yet. And yes, I'm working to convince my husband that our next house should have a pool. :)

A Message from Jeff

I'm so excited that Jeff wrote this, and now I have to post it to our blog! Hope everyone is well! ~Brandi


Howdy Everyone.

I hope everyone is doing well. It's been a while since I've heard from many of you, and I must admit that I'm not the best with keeping up with old friends. Well, Brandi and I finally did it. We just got back from Alaska a few weeks ago. We've now been to all 50 states. Many of you probably know what that means. A few years back we made it our goal to see all 50 states before having kids…. And WE SUCCEEDED!!! Just barely. Yep, that's right. I finally got what I wanted and will now be forever changed. Of course most (if not all) of you are way beyond this. Brandi is going to have a little boy, or so we've been told, on November 17th. We're both excited and scared as heck. You would think that this upcoming arrival would be no big deal since most of our friends are way beyond this and we've already got 10 nieces & nephews. We are thrilled, though.

I think the best advice / feedback I've been given is that you can NEVER be completely prepared. We've accepted that.

Keep in touch…. Better than I've been doing.

My Hubby, Farmboy (Ponderings and a Confessional)

We don't have any pets. In 8 1/2 years, we have been "parents" to some fish. The fish were nice, until their home got too slimy, and that was enough for me to put up the CLOSED sign on our pet shelter. I am perfectly okay with this. Jeff says one day we'll have to get a dog (you know, for the kids). I have already practiced putting my foot down.

My family did have pets growing up: two dogs, "Bucky" and "Molly." I couldn't tell you what breed they were, and I do admit to being secretly relieved when my sister (though you could NEVER tell now) was so frightened as a child by Bucky that he had to go live with my grandparents. It's not that I hated all animals. I just didn't want them around me.

Is it horrible for me to not want pets? The way things are in this world (i.e. We may, conceivably, be the only people we know our age who don't have a pet to take with us to the Home Depot.), you would think we were horrible people for not wanting to open our home to pets. Don't try to change me. I'm not afraid of them, and I don't need one of my own to change my mind. I am just not an animal person.

Jeff's not a pet person, either, and he can be frequently heard saying, "Why do people have to take their dogs everywhere with them?" This is music to my ears, really. But Jeff's case is a little bit different than mine. He grew up on a farm. There's a big trophy in the garage with a pig perched atop from the time in high school when he took his grand champion pig to state.

Recently his mother gave us a bunch of his 4H ribbons, and Jeff said I was not to even think about getting rid of the blue ribbons he had for showing animals in junior high school. And, of course, we just spent 13 hours on a bus in Alaska trying to catch video of a wolf, some bears, and a moose in Denali National Park (That part was pretty cool, I must admit.).

So Jeff, despite his shared interest in not having to clean up doggie doo on our carpets, really amazes me with his fascination for animals. Not the tamed ones, mind you; he'd rather spend an afternoon feeding the cows on his parents' farm than teaching any pet of ours to "roll over." And on our recent trip to Alaska, I really did think Jeff might start crying if he didn't get to snap a photo of a certain bald eagle we saw perched in a tree. You should see our photo albums; they are full of strange animals that would never have a place in our home.

Then it should probably come as no surprise that, since we live a block from the lake, we randomly have "wild" animals around our house. We've had ducks in our front yard on occasion. We've had sea gulls flying overhead. Squirrels: check. A snake: check. Rabbits: too many to count. And yes, there was that time when Jeff managed to secure a skunk in a foot trap who had burrowed underneath his shed in the back yard. I think we have pictures of all of these creatures.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when Jeff came charging into the house recently, asking for the camera. "This is so cool!" he said, with the enthusiasm I would expect from one of our preschool-aged nephews. The subject of the photo: the turtle, in the picture above. And yes, that is a quarter next to the turtle. I love my husband!

And We're Off

Testing.... Testing.... Well, we're about to start blogging. At least I am. I'm sure Jeff will read it, but I suspect I will be in charge of the writing. Jeff is a good writer, but I suppose I should get my money's worth from my fancy English degree. :) Jeff is a much better picture taker, anyway.

Today we are one month from our sixth wedding anniversary. We've had such a good marriage! We're excited that we've had so much time together before we've chosen to expand our family. I mean, when I first met Jeff I told him I wasn't going to have kids until I had been to all 50 states (I was probably 2/3 of the way there on my own at that point--he had been to four.); at first he told me I wasn't practical. Now, just over 8 years later, we have together been to 49 states and Europe! And, we are excited to be venturing to Alaska, our 50th state, in a few weeks! While visiting the 50 states may not seem like the most exciting thing ever (I mean, really!), we see our travels as a testament to our dedication to our goals and to each other.

And now that we've made plans to see our 50th state, what's next? Well, we have news! While Jeff has often made fun of the anniversary of our first official date (dinner at NXNW in Austin, btw) as I've attempted to celebrate it (He's a very generous accountant--oxymoron, I know--but he almost always balks at the idea of buying me gifts, sadly.), this year we will be celebrating by becoming parents! That's right, our first child is officially due on the ninth anniversary of our first date. We are so excited!

So, with that, we are off and ready to start our next adventure....

Welcome to our blog. Stay tuned for more!