We got up at about 4am on Wednesday, December 23rd for our holiday odyssey to Ohio. The plan was to get on the road by 5am and we walked out the door at 4:59. That was to be our only lucky break that day.

So far, Katie had generally proven to be a good passenger, and I’d hoped she wouldn’t totally freak out on a long trip. So when I had to quickly pull off to the side of the interstate after she’d thrown up almost a whole bottle, I was starting to have my doubts. As gross and, unfortunate for Brenda (in the backseat), as it was, it was the only real gastrointestinal event of the trip. Other than normal spit-up, Katie didn’t get sick again.

Onward.

Around 9:00 or so, we made our first pit stop at a travel center with a McDonald’s. Not exactly the best first dining experience for Katie, but she did very well. Walking out, Brenda said, “Your tire is flat!” Sure enough, my rear driver’s side tire was almost completely flat. This was the same tire that CarMax had repaired a few weeks before. Seemed totally fine up until then. ‘Course, I hadn’t put that many miles on it since the fix. I aired it back up and hoped it would hold out.

Onward.

Around noon, we stopped for gas again and the tire was really low again. I simply couldn’t risk it all the way to Ohio; we were only in Elkin, North Carolina. So I asked the lady at the gas station where I could get a tire fixed, and she pointed me to a shop off the next exit.

Got to that shop, and they didn’t have my type of tire (don’t ask me what that is, I still don’t know). So he gave me instructions to another tire shop off the next exit. Sounded confusing, so I got out the GPS and typed in ‘Wal-Mart’. There was one off the next exit as well.

Got to where the GPS led us, and indeed there was a building that once was a Wal-Mart, but was totally abandoned. Luckily just up the road was the tire shop the last guy told us about. At first, they said it would be an hour to replace the tire, but apparently I looked desperate and frazzled enough they took pity on me. In about a half hour, they’d jacked up the car (with us in it) and replaced the tire. So, $106 later, we were on the road again.

Onward.

A little over an hour later, Brenda and I had switched places and we were in the mountains of Virginia. Soon we were in the middle of a long traffic jam that backed up for miles. At first we thought it was just an accident; there were three of them as we inched along. But actually, there is a place on I77 where it splits between I77 and 64, with the former going down to only one lane. And of course everyone wanted to go the way we were. It took over an hour to go 12 miles.

Amazingly, almost the entire time, Katie was awake and didn’t fuss too much. I had to work pretty hard to keep her amused, but she did really well.

And with traffic behind us….onward.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful, just long. There was still some snow on the ground for most of the trip, but nothing major. A pit stop and Starbucks really helped. And then…we were in Ohio!

First stop was my sister, Amy’s. She was chomping at the bit to see Katie for the first time, and I believe I would’ve been murdered if we’d have passed her house and not stopped. Katie was no doubt happy to get out of that car seat for a while, but we couldn’t stay too long. Had to move on to the McCutcheon’s.

Our time in Ohio went as usual, half with Brenda’s family and half with mine. Very early on we told everyone we wouldn’t be doing presents for anyone but Katie, and asked that any presents only be bought for her. Not surprisingly, Brenda and I still got some stuff, but for the most part it was all Katie. She got all kinds of good stuff including dolls, teddy bears, clothes, books and about $200.

Katie started the visit pretty strong, but once we got to Mom’s in Newark, I think her schedule was really getting too far out of whack. Lots of new people, plus constant trips in the car, plus sporadic bedtimes really got things messed up. For about three nights it took forever for her to go to bed, something that was never a problem before. We’re just now getting her back in the swing of things.

As for Katie’s reception, of course everyone thought she was the cutest thing ever. And of course, we cannot dispute that. There were days when I barely had a chance to hold her myself. It was good for a break once in a while, but sometimes you just need to hold your baby.

I wish the visit could have been all good, but on Christmas Eve, my grandma Cooper developed pneumonia and ended up in intensive care. She was already in a rehab facility nursing a cracked pelvis from an earlier fall a couple weeks prior. We were in hopes she’d get out of rehab by the time we had our Christmas on Sunday, but then this latest development happened. Unfortunately, it also meant that she would not get to see Katie at all during our visit. Nobody under 18 was allowed in ICU, and I don’t think I would’ve risked taking Katie to a hospital in flu season anyway.

This was definitely a low point of our trip, as I think grandma wanted to see Katie more than anyone. She’s out of ICU and in her own private room as I write this, but it still remains to be seen what will happen. Mom doesn’t sound optimistic, and I’m afraid Katie may never meet her great-grandmother. I can only keep some optimism that she’ll battle through this as she’s done with everything else that’s come along. I was very happy, though, that grandpa Cooper and grandma McCutcheon got to spend some time with Katie.

All in all, though, we had a good visit, but it was time to hit the road the following Wednesday. We got on the road much later than the week before, around 9am. This was mostly due to the amount of time it took to pack the car. On the way up, my little Vibe was packed pretty full. Once we’d gotten gifts at Brenda’s folks, I realized we’d never get it all home without some help. So I picked up a rain-proof car top carrier at Wal-Mart (no choice in Marietta). It worked out really well and was totally worth the forty bucks. (I’m trying to get Brenda talking about minivans, but it’s a hard sell).

Once we’d gotten everything at mom’s though, I had to get a lot more strategic in my packing. Finally got everything jammed in there, it just took forever to do.

The trip home was fairly uneventful, but super long. The trip home is always longer, as we leave from Newark instead of Marietta. We got hung up by a ridiculously long line at a Burger King, and rush hour traffic around Lake Norman, NC. Once it got dark, it also started raining, so the whole thing seemed to take a ludicrously long time. All told, both the trip up and trip back clocked in at about 14 hours.

Did I mention Katie did really well in the car? Well, almost the whole time. About two thirds of the way home, she finally decided she’d had enough with this driving crap. She fussed and cried pretty much the rest of the way home. Can’t blame her really. I’m sure it seemed to her like every time she opened her eyes she was either in a new place with new people or still stuck in that stupid car.

It was almost 11pm when we pulled in the driveway, and it was cold and sleeting. There were places we could see a dusting of snow. I really wanted to just get inside and collapse, but I had to unload the car and the carrier. In the freezing rain. Fun.

Long story short (too late), we had a good visit and I’m glad everyone got to see Katie. But I think we’d both decided before we even left Ohio that we simply can’t do this very often. Not while Katie is so young. Frankly, I think we probably had a screw loose even trying to do a 1200-mile, 7-day trip with a 2-month-old baby. But again, several family members would’ve had a posse looking for us.

While there’s a whole year ahead of us, at least for right now, I think we’re staying home next Christmas. Katie will be 14 months and we really want to have some family Christmases with just the three of us. We want to have memories of Katie running down our stairs on Christmas morning.

Plus, there’s the expense. There’s gas, food, and all the incidentals like new tires and car carriers that always come up. Plus, we have two cats and a dog to board. Those critters just cost us just shy of $900!! We’ll be months paying that off. Right now, with Katie’s expenses and Brenda only working part-time, we just can’t afford that kind of thing anymore.

Again, things may change over the course of a year. I’m hoping to make some changes that will lead to more income soon, but for now, everyone should start planning for plane tickets next December.

So that’s the big Christmas update. Special thanks to everyone that got something for Katie, it really helps a ton.

Also check out all the latest photos here, and videos here.

More updates coming soon.

Click here for the full article about Donnie’s big day!

Edit 12/12/2009: Sorry, but Disney has apparently shut down the site that generated this video. Kicking myself for not capturing it when I had the chance.

Also, I’ve added all my Christmas photos to Flickr.

So geez, where to start. Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had a good one. As with last year, we stayed at home, and Brenda made a small turkey. Everything was fabulous as usual. Even had a couple pies, pumpkin bread, veggies and shrimp for me!

We watched the Macy’s parade and the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special, and then a couple unexciting football games. Then we decorated the apartment, which is way faster than decorating our old house. And capped it off with the Opus & Bill Christmas special, and Mickey’s Christmas Carol. This year, we’re committed to getting through all our holiday videos   I’ve also resolved to read the original Christmas Carol by Dickens.

Speaking of reading, I’ve been doing a ton of reading since I started taking the train to work. I have an Audible account for audiobooks, and it was great when I was driving. Unfortunately my mind wanders when listening to audiobooks on the train and I realize I haven’t been paying attention for a few miles and have to rewind. I hadn’t really read anything but computer books since high school, so I’m really loving getting back into it.

Books read so far:
Watchmen (graphic novel)
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (graphic novel)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
The Bourne Identity
Neverwhere
Joomla Development (okay, this is a programming book)

Currently I’m reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman (who also wrote Neverwhere and Stardust, which is also a fantastic movie).

On the work front, things are going as well as can be expected, given the current economy. We’ve had some layoffs and some people quit, but we seem to be weathering the storm so far. And I’m on my sixth desk, but I now have a fabulous spot with a window! I’ve learned to not get too comfortable in any one spot, though.

Besides our recent loss of Sasha, the animals are doing just fine. We had to deal with a flea problem over the last couple months, but I think we have it licked. Apparently fleas were particularly bad this year.

I’ve also been trying to do more artwork, or as much as my schedule will allow. Been crazy busy at work and I often work late, or work at home. I haven’t posted anything in a couple weeks, but gotta start thinking about this year’s Christmas card.

To follow my artwork, just go here. I’ve got ideas for more stuff, just gotta find the time.

Amazingly, there’s little else to report. Seems we’ve just been working and that’s it. Upside is that we both have the entire week of Christmas off, probably 4-5 days spent in Ohio (and on the road). I really prefer to fly, but with the flight and car rental, we’re probably looking at almost a grand, as opposed to a couple hundred to drive.

More updates as soon as something remotely interesting happens.

Overall, we had fun. Being able to take the train directly to the Dome was really nice, although we’ll be more prepared next time for the thousands of other people that feel the same way. I’ve been taking the train to work for months and had never seen cars so full.

I think I need to go again to get a better feel for it, but overall I’ve enjoyed Braves games much more. I think the worst part of a football game is as you get higher up, the seats get smaller and closer together. Plus, nobody came by selling beer. What’s up with that? Also, football stops and starts a lot more than baseball, and there’s less entertainment going on during breaks. And I REALLY missed the giant video screen Turner Field has.

But all in all, a good day, and we’ll definitely try to get to at least one game a season.

Now I just need to get to a hockey game

Here’s a recap of the game we went to.

Over the last few months, our once fat cat had become skin and bones, despite her still eating like a horse. A week or so ago her stomach started getting bloated and the vet removed quite a lot of fluid from her stomach. She also noticed a mass near her lung. The vet was almost positive it was cancer, probably lymphatic. Unfortunately the proceedures for finding out for sure would have been too hard on Sasha’s body.

So they put her on another medication and we debated about giving her kemo drugs. But today Sasha just seemed to collapse and was unable to stand or hold her head up for a half hour. We got her to the vet and she’d lost even more weight and was unable to hold her temperature. The vet said her systems were shutting down and only gave her maybe a couple more days.

It was really, really hard, but we felt it best to spare her from suffering through it, so we decided to put her to sleep. Sasha was 14, but we’d only had her for about six years. We wish we’d had her longer, but are thankful we were able to give her six good years. We truly enjoyed her and will always miss her.

Here are more photos of Sasha in better health.

Boy I really hope this is a sign of a Muppet comeback.