Turning Corners

Well, we're home again & what a treat it is every time. I used to hate spending time at home. I was the furthest thing from a "homebody"; I wanted to be out & about. Now, I enjoy every aspect of my beautiful house & appreciate the fact that I get to clean it. (Please don't judge me.)

This last trip was far more relaxing than the first. Although my back hasn't healed, we didn't have to rush home for pain relief.

After several windy trips up & down the highway to the mile-long, steep dirt road, Shad called it quits with the Lake Oroville Bed & Breakfast. In addition to his 30-minute commute, he wasn't able to get cell service to make business calls, Cashe & I were so far away that he was worried something might happen to us & he would come home to find us missing or eaten by the black bear. I was fine with it since I was packing on the lbs from Mary's scrumptious breakfasts (guess that's bound to happen when you stay at a Bed & Breakfast).

Mind you, Shad's markets are in towns with less an 15,000 people so our hotel options were a little bleak. There was a Holiday Inn Suites or the Gold Country Casino. We chose the Casino.

Thankfully, when we do travel, Shad always gets suites, so our room was fabulous! It was probably bigger than any of the apartments we lived in when we lived in California & we had a jacuzzi tub (with bath salts!), a fancy glass shower, & a great view!

The weather was nasty & rainy the majority of the week, so Cashe & I relaxed in the room & read a lot. When Shad came home, he & I would do our workout & have dinner together while Cashe napped in our glorious bathroom.

Over the weekend we went & saw the Oroville Dam & toured the Sierra Nevada Brewery in Chico, CA ("you have a baby ... in a bar.") I can't say my opinion of beer changed any either. I wish it did because I would like to be a beer snob, but I just can't do it. We ordered a sampler of all their beers & each one I tasted, I made a face (Shad was mortified; I was seriously acting like a child). They all tasted like stomach acid to me though. Who would choose to drink that to quench their thirst on a hot day or who would choose to drink that & ruin their dinner? It'd make me vomit, doubling the stomach acid flavors I had goin' on.

Enough of that though.

We headed home Friday afternoon & hit several storms; one in Tahoe & one in Oregon, so it took almost 12 hours to get back. Cashe was a trooper though & we have officially mastered the whole traveling scene. Put us on an airplane & we might be singing a different tune, but as far as car rides go, we ROCK. Cashe is an excellent passenger & he sleeps super well in hotels.

Cashe really turned a corner this last trip (literally, we turned a few corners) & cried a lot less & started smiling a bunch & talks like there's no tomorrow. He's such a morning guy. I truly feel blessed to wake up to a bunch of boys & their morning gas (note the sarcasm); like father like son (sorry, honey). Cashe is the happiest after he's relieved himself of all his gas (& who wouldn't be!) & tells us all about the dreams he had the night before. He can talk for hours in the morning - sweet goos & gahs, but come afternoon, he's a little more stressed out & sounds like a taradactyl screeching as if he's coming in for a landing.

Aside from that, he's also a fantastic swimmer. If he was good during the day, he was rewarded with a swim in the jacuzzi tub (not sure he gets the whole recognition/rewarding concept yet). He love love loves to kick around in the water. I have never seen him more happy. I can't wait to take him to our neighborhood pool this summer! He should have the backstroke down by then! (I'll spare you the horror of viewing photos of our swimming time because he certainly isn't swimming laps on his own in the tub.)