Yesterday, Elijah and I spent most of the day with Adlani at the walk-in clinic and labs. We let the Motrin wear off and he was in pretty rough shape with a temp of 104.6. The doctor sent us for a strep test which came back negative, so she sent us to the lab at the hospital for a CBC (complete blood count) and blood cultures. The results of the CBC indicated something viral vs. something bacterial, so she told us to just continue with the Motrin and fluids. He seemed to be improving during the night, and he’s just about back to normal today. The amazing thing about the medical experience here (in Tennessee) is that it wasn’t completely overcrowded like the hospitals in Massachusetts. There was noone waiting in the hospital admissions area or in the lab. There were plenty of parking spaces right outside the door. There was even a nice young lady to walk us to the lab. Adlani wasn’t a big fan of the blood draw but with me holding his head while covering his eyes, his free arm, and one leg, and Uncle Elijah holding the other arm and leg, we got it done. The staff had a lot of fun with Adlani’s name…I guess they don’t see too many Benabderrazaks around these parts.

When I finally got the kids into bed last night we had a rousing game of Pictionary with the girls coming through slightly ahead of the boys. I had forgotten how much I missed playing games.

Today the kids slept really late – 10:30! – and then we took a trip down to see the rest of the goats and (giant) puppies. Aliya’s day took a turn for the worse when she stepped in poop of unknown origin, but after a bath and a nap I think they’ll be ready for the big party tonight.

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Adlani has been running a high fever (102-104 degrees) since yesterday afternoon. The fact that I have to hold him down and force-feed him Motrin doesn’t help. He’s fine when the Motrin brings down his fever but when the medication wears off he’s a mess – chills, aches, etc. If he’s not better tomorrow we’re going to take him to the walk-in clinic.

We had a very low-key day here with Auntie Kristin and Uncle Elijah, which was exactly what we needed. I got some work done and the kids had long naps. Grammy and Popi are here so there’s a houseful, but the house is beautiful and can accommodate all of us without a problem. Our big event of the day was a walk down to the barn for a visit with the goats, including Turner, a bottle-fed orphan. We’re going to go to the other barn to see the rest of the herd tomorrow. They have recently had 60 babies so there are LOTS of goats to play with.

The highlights of the day as related by Adlani to Ben were riding in the “trunk” (aka way-back) and wearing the helmet modeled by Norah below. They’re easily amused.

Click on any photo to enlarge:

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We completed the first leg of our trip today and passed the 1,000-mile mark! We are now in Crossville, Tennessee, and the countryside is so beautiful it makes me want to escape from the overpriced housing market in New England and live where life moves at a little slower pace. It’ll never happen but a girl can dream, right?

We started the day by heading to the Natural Bridge Zoo to get some of the crazies out before our long drive. It’s a small zoo but there were a lot of petting/feeding opportunities and they had plenty of animals to keep the kids occupied for an hour and a half. There were 3 tiger cubs (born in May), an elephant, 3 himalayan bears, 5 giraffes, camels, monkeys, 2 white tigers, lots of birds, and goats, llamas, donkeys and a few other animals to pet and feed. The tiny tiger cubs were my favorite.

We’re working on winning $250,000 (or an RV) in the Cracker Barrel Road Trip game, so that’s where we stopped for lunch.

Other cool things we saw today:

~ a yellow plane taking off on a runway parallel with the highway
~ a water tower painted like a hot air balloon
~ a silo going down the highway on a truck
~ a giant truck full of live pigs
~ and the most amazing thing…FOAMHENGE! So weird.

Here are two good sources for unusual roadside attractions:
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/
http://www.waymarking.com/

Another weird thing that happened is that I went to a Starbucks drive-thru for the first time and while I was waiting for my coffee the guy behind me kept honking for me to move! That would never happen at home even if someone REALLY needed their Frappucino. What if I jumped out of my car and attacked him because I REALLY needed my Frappucino too??

Hotel Review: Last night we stayed at the Country Inn & Suites in Lexington, Virginia. Pros: Very nice rooms, pool, decent breakfast including Belgian waffles. Cons: Walls so thin I could hear the people talking in the next room and later on I could hear one of them snoring. I guess it could have been worse. 3 stars.
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Defecation and its byproducts were the theme of the day. I don’t know how it happened but once it got rolling there was no stopping it. It began at breakfast when Adlani announced very loudly, “Uncle Josh…I can smell your fart!” So much for trying to sneak one out at the breakfast table. Actually, it started even before breakfast because Norah needed to poop but didn’t want to do it in her diaper. All signs are pointing to serious potty training readiness. Yay! As we entered Amish Country and saw the absolutely beautiful farms there, I kept hearing, “Who farted?!” from the back seat. We explained all about fertilizer (again) so they are now experts on the topic. We saw horse poop (that’s how you know a buggy has passed by), goat poop, and bird poop. When we were were playing Outburst and Uncle Josh was giving the kids a clue in the “Types of Cake” category, he said, “Angels eat angelfood cake, bad kids eat…” and Aliya shouted, “POOP-CAKE!” Defecation Day ended with Adlani in the bathroom of the hotel room we had entered moments before yelling, “Mommy! There’s poop in here!” With disgust I imagined a former guest’s remnants until I realized that he was talking about his own underwear. I hope they’ve got it out of their system.

So…today we traveled from Denver, Pennsylvania to Lexington, Virginia. We spent the morning touring the Amish House and Farm, and the afternoon meandering through Amish farmland. The farm was great, although I was a little freaked out by its close proximity to Target. When we went for a buggy ride around the farm we circled the corn field and drove right along the back wall of Target. It’s kind of sad when you think that the whole area used to be an Amish farm and now it’s filled with strip malls and discount stores (it was kind of cool when we needed deodorant and toothpaste, though). The tour of the house was very informative and Aliya learned a lot. I spent most of the tour keeping the posse from breaking anything. We were there right before lunch and when we went into the kitchen, Adlani was ready to sit right down and chow on the plastic fruit. Here’s a good FAQ site about the Amish: http://www.holycrosslivonia.org/amish/amishfaq.htm#how

After a lovely lunch at Cracker Barrel, we took the long way to the highway. The Amish farms are SO beautiful and Josh and I both enjoyed the ride, especially when the kids all fell asleep. Just before naptime we had a special surprise – “The REAL Thomas”. We didn’t go for a ride but Adlani was content saying hi to Thomas and his friends. Today was supposed to be a short drive but we stayed in the Lancaster area so long that we didn’t arrive at our hotel until about 10 p.m. The kids went right to sleep so we should be all set for a visit to the zoo and the drive to Uncle Elijah and Auntie Kristin’s tomorrow.

Today’s Favorite Sights / Activities:

Aliya – Amish house tour, buggy ride
Adlani – The REAL Thomas, buggy ride
Norah – dipping her cheese in Mommy’s blue cheese dressing
Josh – the goats at the farm, Cracker Barrel
Lori – seeing an Amish farmer cutting his hay with a mule-drawn mower, learning that Virginville got its name from the abundance of virgin land (I was wondering), the deer running through the field of hay bales, the beautiful full moon, bedtime
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This water tower was really cool too. It’s a bowl of apples.


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Hotel Review: Last night we stayed at the Econolodge in Denver PA. Pros: Close proximity to Dunkin Donuts. Cons: Outdated, not very clean, really bad breakfast, centipede in the bathroom. One star.

Hopefully it wasn’t an omen but we started out the day with Norah puking all over herself on the way home from the bus stop. She was crying hysterically and when I pulled in the driveway and opened the door, she said, “I pooped!” The poor thing. I got her and the car cleaned up and put her down for a nap which lasted 4 hours!! She woke up feeling much better so we continued as planned.

Today was the last day of school and also Aliya’s graduation from kindergarten (de ja vu). Aliya has been obsessing about graduation and whether anyone would make a mistake during the songs. I’m becoming very worried that she is a clone of me who will drive herself and everyone else crazy with her expectations. She swore that she was going to get all 4’s on her report card and I knew she was setting herself up for a big disappointment. She ended up with all 4’s except the Spanish where she got 3’s, and 4’s for effort. Anyway, someone did shout “O-K” at the wrong time in the song just as she had worried, but the show went on and it was very cute.

We picked up Adlani and after a half hour of throwing the last few things into the car and looking for the spare key (we’re still looking), we set off for Denver, Pennsylvania. Actually, we drove around the block once because after hours of loading music in the iPod I thought I forgot the cord. At that point Josh was so ready to get on the road that he said, “We’ll buy a new one!” I found the cord in my pocketbook and off we went (again). We avoided NYC this time and had great luck with traffic. We hit a very heavy rain storm which lasted quite a while, but thanks to the rain we saw the highlight of the day – a gorgeous rainbow!

We had lots of activities to occupy our time…

~ The Fox & the Hound and The Bee Movie
~ Lyle Lovett – Joshua Judges Ruth and the soundtrack from Alvin & the Chipmunks
~ Naps! (the first kid to fall asleep got to open the goody bag)
~ Snacks, snacks, and more snacks!
~ Road kill identification – a possible skunk sighting and 2 deer
~ Magnetic transportation and doll house sets
~ A baby and magic baba for Norah
~ Uncle Josh’s Rubik’s Cube demonstration
~ Attempts to take photos of points of interest, like the stack of squished cars on the back of a truck, mispelled signage, and the sign for Virginville PA.
~ A few rounds of Zobmondo with Uncle Josh as the host (“Would you rather…have 9 fingers or 2 toes?…be struck by lightning or bitten by a shark?…eat nose pickings on your cereal or an earwax omelet?”)

After a pit stop and tank of gas ($3.95/gallon!), we stopped at Pizza Hut and grabbed a very late dinner to take to the hotel. We got here around 10 p.m. Everyone was exhausted but I didn’t get Norah to sleep until 11:45. It’s a good thing we’re not in a hurry tomorrow morning. Four more emails and I’m going to hit the hay too.

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