Wow, a ton of stuff has happened since I last posted. I'll try to briefly go through most of the highlights.
Ok, so Wednesday we got everything packed and Thursday morning we dropped Gage off at daycare and headed to my parents. We got all of their stuff packed into the car and headed to Virginia. We got checked into the hotel and then headed to Tennessee to the Family Fun Fair. Terri and my mom went nuts over the free stuff. My dad walked around checking out all the cars and trucks they had on display. Then we headed back to the hotel. At around 9:30 Mark called my cell phone to let me know that he and Robyn were still awaiting Norah's arrival. Turns out she didn't show up til 12:15 Friday morning.
Friday my dad decided that he didn't want to go to the Busch race which I was a little disappointed with at first, but it actually turned out to be a good decision. There were two rain delays that kept the race going until almost 1 in the morning. So, instead we headed down to the track just to look around. My parents were surprised at how far away we had to park. At least it sort of prepared them for the walk the next day.
Saturday we headed down to the track early and had lunch at the church where we park. Then we rode down to the track on the shuttle and left my parents to their own devices for souvenir hunting. Once we headed into the track for the race and got to our seats my mother was ready for a nap. Everyone enjoyed the race though. They thought it was interesting listening to the driver chatter on the scanners. My mom was a little upset that her driver (Dale Jarrett) didn't race as well as she wanted him to. I was a little jacked too. I finished 60th out of 63rd for the week. I think at this point, Jarrett is about to be benched in favor of another driver. I was also a little ticked off at the woman next to me who chain smoked 11 cigarettes during the race. Most of the smoke went right up my nostrils. I'm not usually one to complain about that, my dad has smoked the majority of my life and I have been known to indulge in the occasional cigar, but I was wearing very thin on patience. If the race had been 10 laps longer she might have ended up eating the last cigarette.
Sunday Terri decided that she wanted to drive home so that we could see Gage sooner. Robyn would have been proud at how I packed everything into the car. That's usually her job, but I think I performed admirably in her absence. We stopped once for lunch and once for the bathroom and she made it from the door of our hotel in Virginia to my parent's front door in 5 hours and 5 minutes. I don't think my dad will ever ride with her again, at least not in the front seat.
Monday I headed back to work while Terri took an extra day to hang out with Gage who did pretty well with her parents while we were gone. At least they finally got a taste of what it's like for us around bedtime. Apparently it took them over 2 hours to get him to sleep the first night. Sweet justice. Halfway through the day Monday I hear Jacob running towards my desk. Mark, Robyn, Jacob, and Norah came to visit after Norah's doctor's appointment. She's so tiny. She was only 6lbs 15oz. when she was born. So, even though we weren't supposed to head to their house til Tuesday night I got a little preview of Norah. I also got to hear all about Jacob's first day of kindergarten. It's amazing. I can't believe that he's starting school already. That made me feel old more than anything else.
Tuesday night we made our way to Cranberry, picked up some dinner and hung out with Mark, Robyn, Jacob, and Norah. Well, ok, Norah slept the majority of the time, but Gage and Jacob had fun playing together. Jacob also showed me his new game boy that his baby sister bought him with the Star Wars lego game. That was pretty sweet. We also found out that on Jacob's second day of school he ended up riding around on the bus for an extra hour and a half since the bus driver didn't fully understand the new route and breezed right by Jacob's stop. Oh the trials and tribulations of school.
Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much routine and I think I'll end the post there and catch up on the next half a week in the next post. There's a lot of stuff for the next post and it's getting late and I still have 1/2 to go on the bike.