Home again, home again, jiggety jog

An optimist is the human personification of spring.

-Susan J. Bissonette

Well, I have now been officially 32 for a whole week. I'm not sure it feels much different than 31, but I like even numbers, so I'm hopeful that the year will be an auspicious one.

About three weeks ago, my husband started in on the "what do you want for your birthday" line of questioning. I, of course, have a long list of fun stuff I'd like, but I wasn't really craving anything for this birthday, so I hemmed and hawed. He continued to pester me for a week oer so and then finally said, "Hey! I know what to give you for your birthday!" at which time I of said, "What?" and then he said, "Let's go visit your mom and grandma!" So we packed the car last Saturday and drove through a few states and arrived at my Gram's house.

From the time I was eight, until I hit twelve and began to spend my summers at dance workshops (and occasionally after that), I went all by myself to stay with my Gram and Grandpa for a few weeks. My Gram has always been a special and important person to me and I really wanted her to meet Baby Bear and get some 4-generation photos of us with her.

The trip was an adventure from the start, since my little corner of the Northwest decided to have a terribly uncharacteristic late March blizzard! The roads were crazy because of the weather and so it took us almost 3 hours longer to get to half way than it usually does (including the stop to help stranded motorists on the freezing, slushy mountain pass), so we ended up at a Best Western in the the middle of nowhere at about 1 in the morning needing to rest.

These people had the BEST Continental Breakfast I have ever eaten at the sort of non-sleazy-but-still-cheap motel I generally stay at while travelling! Seriously, I should have taken pictures of those Belgian waffles. Yes, that's right, I said Belgian waffles. What is cooler than Belgian waffles at a Best Western? Belgian waffles at a Best Western you can make yourself! They had this nifty batter dispenser and a restaurant-style waffle maker that I now covet (in a healthy way of course). The batter tank dispenses into your paper cup the perfect amount of batter, and then you pour it onto the waffle maker, do this fancy twisty-turny thing to the handle (and yes, I stood there and stared at it for an extra 2 minutes before I figured out the twisty-turny thing the first time) and when the thing beeps, you open it and voila! Perfect golden Belgian waffles! I was enthralled as you can probably tell.


The rest of the trip was great. We went to the zoo, shopped, visited with family, ate at my favorite fast food restaurant which they do not yet have within many hours of my home, worked on a some genealogy projects and got some awesome 4-generation photos with me and the kids and mom and grandma. Princess got spoiled, Baby Bear grew hair, I got two birthday cakes, and my husband got to see huge amur tigers close enough to touch (if it wasn't for the tiger-proof Plexiglas between him & them). All in all, it was all good.