Welcome to El Paso!

I was trying to upload some pics from last week - Alex's birthday and Aaron's graduation - but the connection from the hotel is a bit slower than what I'm used to. I'll get to them soon. Sorry.

I saw a t-shirt today that said, "Greetings from Hell Paso!" I laughed a little bit. We've been here for 24 hours now, and they've been a bit rough.

First, we decided on Saturday night that we were exhausted, and leaving on Sunday wasn't really going to happen. We went to church with my parents, did laundry, and located all of our stuff that has floated around my parents' house for the past week. We got up early on Monday. Aaron rushed off to the Toyota dealership to get the tire pressure light turned off in my car. I made some calls that have needed to be made for a week, and finished packing stuff. By the time we were actually loaded, everyone went potty, and we were heading out the door, my parents showed up. So we took the time, said goodbye. It was about 1 pm.

I had Ben and Audrey in the van, and Aaron had Alex and Jeannie in the elantra. We arrived in Tucson without too much incident. Aaron only had to make one potty stop. We went to Auntie Bekah's house and dropped off the dog, the kids played a little, Audrey ate, and we got gas. (Total sidenote: GAS IS CRAZY CHEAP IN TUCSON!!! $3.69/gal.!!) Then, we got food and headed back out... around 5 pm. How did it take so long? I'm not really sure!

We drove on, and finally got to Lordsburg, NM. Getting out of Arizona is the longest part of the trip. Aaron was talking on the phone to his family when I motioned for him to pick the place to stop. Not paying attention, he stops at this slimy-looking gas station and takes Allie in to go potty. Gross. I crossed the street and went to the KFC, ready to feed Audrey, and Ben says he has to go. Oy. Then, I feed Audrey, and we decide that we should go and get our cars weighed - a req of the Army travel office - so they can pay us for our move. But we have to fill up with gas first. So we go a mile up the highway, fill both cars a quarter of a tank, and then head a mile back to the weigh station. We waited for a few minutes in line, only to find out that the scales are broken. By then, Audrey is mad about being put back in her seat, and I'm pretty sure that she had a hurt-y burp stuck. I stopped, got her out, calmed her down, and tried to burp her. It was loud outside, with all the big trucks around, so I'm not really sure that she actually burped, but she was quieter. For about 20 minutes. Then she screamed.

I am a very talented driver. I managed to gather the supplies and make a bottle while going 80 on the highway. Ben fed it to her in her seat, and she threw it back! But, then she really did need to burp. I pulled over and stood out in the middle of no where burping my baby. The stars were really pretty. EF

And then they slept. We arrived in El Paso, or rather, at the Army base, at 12:30 mountain time. (We add an hour.) We had a reservation at the hotel on base, and they gave us a family room - with a living room, 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen with an actual gas stove. Sounds good, right? We had to drive across the entire base to get to the building with these rooms. Then, we walk in and the evap cooler is blowing full blast directly at the one couch in the living room. Allie sat on it and her hair was waving in this hurricane! There were two bedrooms all right - with a very solid, full size bed in each. Now this was fine for the kids, but Aaron and I are not little people! We were exhausted, and uncomfortably fell asleep - with Audrey in bed with us. Even worse. I was so cold in the middle of the night (the sheets were too short to cover all of me!) that I took the blanket that was in Audrey's crib and covered myself and laid on the floor -away from the vent- in the living room. Aaron woke up and got me off the floor around 6 when Audrey woke up. He took a shower and discovered the science experiment that was growing in the shower ceiling. I think that was the final straw. He got dressed and went back to the main building and complained. He brought the kids continental breakfast from the other building too. It's hard to eat toast in the wind. Oh, then the tape on Audrey's diaper broke. We just laughed.

So we are in a regular old hotel room, with 2 queen beds in the same room, a little fridge and microwave. After that room, not a single complaint!

We made it to El Paso, but not without an adventure!