Travel Anxiety

Tomorrow morning, I'll be driving to Salt Lake City and then flying to Boston for a week of work related training. I'm not afraid of flying and really enjoy seeing new places, but with two kids at home, I now get a bit of anxiety when I travel. As soon as the plane lands in Boston, I'll be perfectly relaxed until the flight home and will be fine again when the plane lands in SLC.

Being away for the week isn't so bad but the thought of a plane crash or other accident preventing me from returning home to Leslie and the kids really gets to me. I worry about Haylie and Zander growing up without me. I worry about Haylie missing me and about Zander not being old enough now to remember me later. I worry about Leslie on her own trying to raise two children and trying to explain that their father is gone. There's a LOT of things I'm looking forward to teaching and doing with my children.

Tonight, Haylie cried and asked me not to go. I want very much to say 'yes' and stay close to home this week and every week but the trip is part of work and part of providing for my family. I'm thankful for technology that will allow my to talk them each day and, if I can find the extra web-cam and some bandwidth at the hotel, to see them each day as well.

Loving (and being part of) a family certainly makes some of the ordinary things in life difficult but, I'm grateful every day to have Leslie, Haylie and Zander in my life.

Charlie Brown

Today, Zander "Charlie Brown'ed" his first kite. He managed to get it stuck on the backboard of a basketball hoop and then a tree less than two minutes later.

The kite was easily retrieved from the tree and both Haylie and Zander had fun flying their kites but, I decided that to have two kids flying kites at the same time, two adults are required - I just couldn't keep up with keeping both of them crash free by myself. Leslie missed all of the kite flying fun.

Funny Kids

Haylie and Zander just keep saying funny things. There are usually six or seven great comments from each of them throughout the week but here are three that sprang to mind tonight.

Many nights, Zander gets comes out of his room a few minutes after he goes to bed and asks for a drink or a snack, mostly as a way to stay up later. Last week, he came out and said "I need to go potty in the toilet." I asked, "do you really need to go or are you just trying to stay awake?" Zander answered honestly with, "I'm just trying to stay awake."

This week, Zander attempted to ask for "Go-Gurt" but apparently couldn't remember the name and so he said, "Can I have some yogurt? I mean gobert. I mean, whatever its called." The statement itself wasn't funny but to hear a not quite three year old use "whatever its called" in a sentence was pretty funny.

The next day, while I was changing Zander's diaper (yes, he still wears diapers because he is to stubborn to even try potty training), he lifted both legs high, looked toward his bum and said "hey, why is there a crack?"

While Haylie and Zander and I were driving today (okay, I was driving, they were apparently sitting back there judging), Haylie blurted out, "mom is a terrible driver." I now have some concerns over exactly what Leslie is doing behind the wheel of a car and what Haylie has established as criteria for driving skill.