Have you ever asked yourself, "What was I thinking?"

I just got home from a trip to see my sister and brother-in-law in Kentucky to celebrate my niece's first birthday. Boy did that trip give me a lot to blog about. Here's the short list:

• Driving a vehicle over 800 miles, and praying 7,987 times every mile that the thing wouldn't fall apart
• Seeing suspicious drips of liquid form puddles every time we parked (and it wasn't just air conditioner condensation. More like an oily substance.)
• Hearing sounds coming from under the hood every time I hit the brakes that sounded like a donkey playing bongos (hee-haw hee-haw bang bang)
• Turning left to go straight (I think the van's out of alignment)
• Feeling like the Israelites wandering in the desert for 40 years as we turned a 7.5 hour drive into a 9.5 hour drive
• Feeling a little like Goldilocks - we stayed in two different places while we were down there due to rooms being booked, etc. One bed was too soft and one a little too hard. No bed is like your own!
• Periodically giving Tylenol to Sam who decided to work on cutting a tooth during the big drive home
• Pulling over to the side of the road and having a nice old gentlemen almost stop to offer help before he realized what was going on - just a toddler sitting on a blue potty. (This was only out of desperation, as we were nowhere near a restroom of any sort!)
• Going to church and not doing anything - wow! weird.
• Hearing/Seeing a train go through downtown five or six times an hour the entire time we were there. Isaiah loved it!
• Went inside a caboose and Isaiah got to ring the bell. So fun!
• Experiencing the best of Southern hospitality and a great Southern breakfast
• Trying to manage two kids who are totally out of their routines - oy!
• Three little cousins playing together - very fun!
• Meeting my cousin's little boy, Ashton, for the first time - what a sweetie!
• Trying to figure out cousin-type relationships. What is Ashton to Isaiah and Samuel? (Ashton's mom is my first cousin) Are they second cousins or first cousins once removed, and what is the difference?
• An adorable, precious little girl who just turned one year old

Overall, it was a great trip, and once I fully recuperate, I'll look back on it fondly and be glad we went. =)