1.02.2009

Into the belly of the desert

[click here to see all of our El Paso/Sun Bowl pictures]

    [Scary Keith...]    [Cameron is napping]

 
[Before the car was too boring] [In uncle Neil's hat]


What a whirlwind the last few days have been. We left Monday for Phoenix. We [or probably just me] thought it would only be about 4 hours but it is actually more like 5 hours. BLAST! We made it safely and enjoyed our time catching up with Keith's aunt, uncle and their 2 kids - Melissa and Austin. Neil (Keith's br0) flew in around 10AM the next morning and we were off to El Paso.

Yet again I was duped. Instead of 4 hours like I thought it was 6.5. Not a big deal since there is tons of cool scenery -- cactuses [cacti...? Is that cactus plural?] and the like - right?. Not exactly! It was super duper boring and the fact that the drive was much longer than expected made it seem like an eternity. Keith definitely did not seem perturbed by the fact that this was taking so long. Maybe he just told me the trip was only 8 hours to make it seem easier to swallow. Once he got me in the car I was trapped. What a sucker am I! :)

 
[pre-game festivities]

So, after a 10-hour total trip we arrived in El Paso, Texas on new year's eve to watch the #25 Beavers of Oregon State take on the #18 University of Pittsburg Panthers in what would surely be a solid three hours of sheer football excitement. I thought,"even if it was a long drive - we did it for the game. The Beavers would never let me down! I came to be entertained. Work your magic, OSU." Now, I don't mean to complain. I would never in a million years want to be thought of as that person who is always complaining and never satisfied. Having said that, the score was 3-0. Not after the first quarter, not going into the 2nd half -- that was the score for the WHOLE GAME. WHAT?! Yup, I was dying! So boring! Oh well, I had fun screwing around with my camera and taking some fun pictures. And, the Beavs DID win and that's what really matters.


 
[Beavers take the field][can you see Cam on the big screen?]

I almost forgot - the best part? HALFTIME? The VILLAGE PEOPLE performed. Sound lame to you? I thought it was going to be so stupid but it was the most entertaining 26 minutes in a very long time. I had a blast. The Sun Bowl people were trying to set a record for the most people in one place doing the YMCA at the same time. I can't say it enough - so fun! Nearly everyone stayed in the stadium during halftime - which should say something...usually the stadium clears out! Have a look at this video! The village people are some seriously cool old dudes.



After the game we drove our tired butts straight from Texas back to Phoenix and made it in time to watch the ball drop. I was exhausted, but I know Keith just wanted to stay up and read Beaver-related news articles as is tradition after every game. Did you know we went to the lowest scoring major bowl game in the last 50 years? How did we get so lucky? ;)


[the road...]

It was not for me, it was Keith's big Christmas present and I know he had fun. That's the big thing, right? I keep telling myself that! It was a TON of driving but I know we will remember that trip always. We wouldn't have had a reason to go to Texas otherwise.

[some scenery on the way back to California]

The next day was time for Neil and our family to head back home. We decided to leave around 3:00PM so we would have enough time to get to the airport for Neil to make his flight. 3:00 rolls around and it's getting to be about that time to say our goodbyes. Cameron had other plans...

He has a 'poop face' - I don't think this really needs further explanation. I could tell he was doing work before we were going to go and was relieved we wouldn't have to deal with it after being on the road. Might as well get it out of the way before the road trip would start! But then...Neil sounded alarmed and was trying to tell us we had some sort of emergency on our hands. But before he could get the words out, what do I see? Freaking POOP in the middle of our hosts coffee table. Yes, that's where he sat as he pooped out the back of his diaper. All over his pants and shirt. Fabulous. How do you adequately apologize for your child who just crapped all over someone's furniture? There are no words.


[the very table he pooped on less than 10 minutes later]

We made it home last night at about 7:30PM safely. Despite being cramped in our tiny Saturn for a total of 20+ hours over a period of 4 days, it really was a lot of fun. Neil, Keith and Cam were a great source of entertainment. 

2 comments:

  1. wow! i missed your bloging while you were away! I can't believe he poooed on that table! I think I lol'ed like 4 times while reading this blog!
    Glad you're back!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow! Now that is one gift a hostess could do without!!

    ReplyDelete

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