Day Three Hundred Forty: Mom to a Licensed Driver

Well, I am officially a mother to a licensed driver, which is exciting and terrifying all at once!

I am so proud of this young lady!

Day Two Hundred Fifty-Eight: Non-Stay-At-Home Mom

Well, it wasn't really a First-filled day, but it was more eventful than usual. I dropped Jeff off at the airport at 8:00, so he could head to D.C. for his third round of FSO (Foreign Service Officer) testing and his in-person interviews. By 9:00, I had Ruth at the dentist's office to get her wisdom teeth removed. The procedure went well, and we were back at the house by 10:30. I was picking up the meals for my Meals on Wheels deliveries by 11:00. There was a little downtime in the afternoon before I had to take Max and Clay to their activities at 4:30. But before I brought them home, I stopped by the library to pick up a book for Weston. Finally, at the end of the day, I took myself to yoga, where I attempted to coax my body out of its almost permanent "driver position." It was a day that really made the moniker "stay-at-home mom" seem ridiculous!

Day One Hundred Ninety-Seven: Ford Expedition

Before my brother-in-law and sister-in-law moved to South Africa earlier this month, we bought their Ford Expedition, which immediately became Jeff's vehicle. Today, was my first time to drive it. My original Year of Firsts wishlist included "Drive a convertible," but, honestly, "Drive a Ford Expedition" is more in line with where I am in life, and I'm ok with that.

Day One Hundred Eighty-Four: Non-Optimal Drive from Austin to Dallas

Well, Weston's last game got pused back by an hour and a half, so we didn't leave Austin until about 5:30. By the time we got to Waco, Weston was starving and craving Italian food, so we stopped at Olive Garden. When we finished up there, the temperature had dropped to right around freezing, and it was drizzling. Weston fell asleep almost immediately, and I spent the rest of the drive home trying to convince myself, between deep, chesty coughs, that I was not getting sick. It was not my favorite drive, but we made it home safely, which it what matters.

Day One Hundred Thirty-Nine: A Beach Drive

We decided to take our Honda Pilot on its first beach drive today, trying out some of the features of the vehicle we haven't had a chance to explore, like "sand mode" and "mud mode." As we were driving along and being very proud of our little SUV for not getting stuck, we realized with a shock and element of sadness that this is the first vehicle we've owned in our married life we haven't named. We will have to see if we can remedy that.

The (unnamed) Pilot's first drive on the beach

The vehicle in front of us had some really cute passengers!

Day One Hundred Thirty-Three: Neighborhood Detour

There is a street that Ts into the street we live on, basically right in front of our house. We had never been down this street until this week because we never had a need to go that way. But, earlier in the week there was a major water leak on the street we normally use, and the city closed down that street and set up a detour through the neighborhood, which follows the street I was just talking about. It's silly, but it seemed like a bit of an adventure to drive past houses and other side streets that are so close to us but that we have never seen.

Day One Hundred Twenty Four: 830 Miles in Five Days

Since Friday, I have logged just over 830 miles behind the wheel. These are actual driving miles and not just snack-eating, nap-taking passenger seat miles. I took Ruth to Tyler for a horse show and then drove her down to Houston for a week of working with her aunt. Then, I headed up to Belton so I could catch my mom in a singing performance, before heading home this afternoon. We are a road tripping family, but Jeff and I usually either split the driving or he does the bulk of it, so this was definitely a record for me.