The Cat is Out of the Bag

It's official.

At least for my wife.

I have been planning since October on a a December Christmas trip to Minnesota to spend Christmas with the Moon's!

Ultimately the trip was something Samantha and I have discussed since the summer. I had set my mind to doing it in September/October. However, I was hoping that it could be a little bit of a surprise for my wife and kids.

So step one was, inadvertently convincing Samantha that we "shouldn't" go. Now this was somewhat difficult. She needed to feel like she was making the decision. Like she was the one wearing the "pants" if you will! I even went as far as calling her family and letting them know that she would be calling them to tell them that we would not be coming... before she made her decision... but that in reality we would be coming.

My plan worked perfectly... with just some prodding Samantha had decided in about a week that we just couldn't do the trip. Money was a factor, roads were a factor, us just spending my break together was a factor. She just felt it best that we stay in Gillette. A phone call was made and the dissapointing news was delivered!

Now ultimately my plan involved us leaving on the 22nd or there about and taking a "trip" to Rapid City. Once we got to Spearfish... head North and then head across the Reservation! She would have figured it out about then!

Only one problem.... keeping that all a secret! I was having a horrible time since about Thanksgiving. About 30 different times I had said something that NO doubt was a story breaker. In fact I had reinforced the Rapid trip maybe a little to much... as I was having a difficult time putting it all together BEFORE Christmas. Samantha didn't catch on fortunately.

Samantha's family was probably having a tough time as well. It's tough when you talk to someone on the phone and ou can't "talk" about something that is coming up really soon. Her Uncle Glen even said something about us coming for Christmas on Thanksgiving. Samantha on her own immediately dismissed it as her Dad "forgetting". WOW. I spent a little while that day laughing inside.

Last Wednesday or so I did finally tell her. It was just getting to tough and way to much trouble for all involved! The biggest thing is I didn't want her to do the usually baking procedure. I can't imagine what she'd do if we made all that and then didn't even stay to eat it!

So anyways... we're off to Minnesota in a little over a week. I'm going to be flexible just based on the propensity for bad weather. It seems that most typically when we go back we end up fighting some type of incliment weather pattern. The fact that Southern Minnesota got around 20 inches of snow this weekend might mean that the State isn't due for any more bad weather for a while. I'm not going to hold my breath though! I am in disbelief that the Metrodome roof colapsed! Not sure if everyone has seen this video.

In other news...

This has been a tough weekend for our family. Tristan developed the sniffles Friday evening. Aundie and he were at Mom and Dad's spending the night. This is probably one of their favorite things to do. Skip swimming... skip skating... they'll chose Grandpa and Grandma's everytime if given the option. Plus with leaving in a little over a week, spending a little time with them will be a good thing.

The time with out the mess maker's gave Samantha and I a chance to have a little quality time. We went out to eat at Pokey's BBQ joint. It been a place we discovered only about 4 or 5 weeks ago. We always knew it existed just hadn't tried it out. Great BBQ done Wyoming style. Friday we even tried out their homemade potato chips. Mmmmhmmm!

Saturday was all about cleaning up the house. We spent all morning picking up, doing laundry and wrapping a few presents for the kids. The shopping for the most part is complete for our kids! Finally a Christmas that doesn't involve last minute!

Picking up the kids Saturday around noonish was fine for us! Upon getting home Tristan didn't appear to be looking really good. A temp check revealed a temp of 101. A few hours later and Aundrea was at 100.7 and not far behind. Tylenol and rest. Tristan got up a few hours into the night and found his way into our bed. Where at about 4 am we all got to wake up to him vomiting on our pillows. Yay.

He got a bath, I changed out the bedding and we all went back to bed. Although he was moved to his own bed with a "special bucket".

Sunday was spent being miserable for all. Tristan and Aundrea's fever returned to normal at about 6 pm. Mine and Samantha's did abour the same time as well. Tristan's appetite also returned sometime around then as well. It's tough not feeding him as he's typically a "starving" boy as it is!

I thought work would be attainable today. However after eating last night my fever returned and I spent until about 2:30 am with my own "special bucket". Thankfully the bucket remained clean.

Unfortunately one day of not feeling well tends to wreck our house! Back to square one.