there and back again...

We left 2 hours later than I had wanted to (on Sunday), but we still made pretty good time. Stayed overnight somewhere in Georgia, south of Atlanta. The first place we stopped at was a Motel 6. There was a cockroach running across the welcome mat of the office; I felt that did not bode well. Then the check-in guy was extremely rude and they didn't have any ground-floor rooms, so we decided to find someplace else. Just a block over was a Red Roof Inn, which looked nice. The rate was nice, too, and the lobby was new and clean. When we got up to the room, Kenshin asked, "When does Cooper get here?" I had to explain to the boys that Cooper does not appear every time we stay at a hotel, and that he's still in North Dakota. I'm certain Krillin knew that already, but Kenshin was really sad. After we read a book (P-chan was already asleep), we all hit the sack.

The next morning, I was awakened by Krillin, who wanted to watch TV. I asked him what time it was, and he told me it was 8:14am. WHAT?! Yep, the alarm clock said so. Then P-chan looked at his watch, and informed me it was actually just after 4am, so please go back to sleep. It took some convincing, but Krillin finally went back to sleep. At our wake-up call, the boys went with P-chan to get breakfast, while I got ready. Finding things to eat at the continental breakfasts is always a challenge (due to diabetes), but I had the same thing I usually have at home: 2 pieces of toast with butter. We were on the road by 9am, and the driving was good.

About an hour into Florida, we were pulled over by a cop. He informed us that the tinting on our front windows is too dark. What the? Keep in mind that we bought this car 2 years ago from a dealership, and the only other owner lived in Florida....where the tinting was done. No problem, officer, we can get that fixed! "Yes, you can!" was his cheerful reply. We got a warning, but no ticket. whew! I immediately called Penny to ask her to look up how to remove tinting.

Despite being "behind" in our time schedule, and the frequent stops (food, etc), we made excellent time. I think Google map's estimate was way off! We were "behind" by almost 2 hours due to starting late on Sunday, but still got to Penny's house by the time we intended. She is awesome! She had the tinting-removal instructions for us, helped us unpack the car, and then watched the kids while we went to the store to buy all the stuff we needed for the tinting-removal. When we got back, dinner was ready (lovely chicken pot pie) and the boys had settled in nicely. Kenshin wasn't even afraid of the Max the Chihuahua anymore! By 9pm, P-chan and I were both exhausted, and we had to be up early the next morning, so we all went to bed. Even Penny's family! I don't know what time they normally go to bed, but nobody complained. Thank you for letting us use your bedroom, Madison! Your bed is very comfortable.

We went to Florida because of the court hearing to end our guardianship over my sister. She hasn't lived with us for 2 years, and she's now living with dad. So we drove for 2 days and left our kids with Penny for most of the day while we went to the courthouse in Tampa. The end result? You would think that we've provided enough information and paperwork to show that we really are serious about not wanting the guardianship. That the judge would see that us taking the time and money to travel there would show our dedication to doing things the right way. That they would say, yes, this is good, you are free. NO! They want more paperwork. One is a "plan of person", which is basically a plan for my sister for the next year. This make no sense to me, because my sister doesn't even live with us! We have no information for it! The other thing they want is proof that a new guardianship is being filed by dad. That one shouldn't be a problem, since they've got their attorney working on it. But it has to be provided in 30 days.

So after the hearing, P-chan and I had to go to our attorney's office and fill out the Plan of Person. We also closed a bank account that had been dormant for 2 years. And I got to see my friend (and Mary Kay rep) Jeanette. It was so good to see her again! I could have talked with her for hours, but this wasn't a vacation; we had to get back to the kids, and still leave for home that evening. ugh!

We got back to Penny's in time to eat dinner with Madison before she left for dance with her grandma in the Pimped Out Truck. Penny is not exaggerating! That truck is Pimped Out! It has a bigger DVD screen that our first TV. Dinner was a delicious smoked ham (thanks, Michael! ), a spinach salad (with avocados and sunflower seeds), and yellow rice. Since the rest of the meal basically had no carbs, I had some rice. I know, I live dangerously! Then we packed the car....well, P-chan packed while I gabbed with Penny. We got some pictures, and then we were on the road by 6pm.

We drove until almost midnight, and stayed at a Best Western. Not the most comfortable bed I've slept on, but at least nobody woke me up in the middle of the night. They had advertised a "hot breakfast", so when everyone was ready, we packed the car and headed over to that. Pretty much still a continental breakfast, but they also had boiled eggs, and you could make your own Belgian waffle. I still had toast with butter, but also had an egg and a glass of milk (that's 3 carb choices total, in case you wondered). P-chan and Krillin played a game of checkers, then we checked out.

I drove for most of the day, as being the passenger still makes me slightly nauseous. We got caught in some traffic on the northern side of Nashville (due to an accident), so we stopped for dinner at McD's. The boys got to play, we got some free mini cones, life was good. P-chan did, however, get upset about McD's flag hanging by one end.

Kenshin started whining about being sleepy and wanting to stop at a hotel, but we told him we'd be home before it was time for a hotel. We were in the driveway at 9:30, and were all in bed by 10:30.

All in all, it was a good trip. I am still disappointed that that much time and money went into our trip, and the guardianship still hasn't been released. But it was also nice to see Penny and Jeanette again. And it was fun seeing how different Tampa is in just a short time. I give it a B+.