Nebraska

Today was our long day for travel - 485 miles. For anyone who has traveled by car for any amount of time knows it feel more like triple the distance. So, our plan? We got up at 3am this morning and were in the car by 3:45 driving away. It would have been 3:30 but they screwed up our billing..... By the time Kiera woke up for the day we were already 1/2 way to our destination. We only had to stop twice - once for Kiera to eat her oatmeal and the other time for a mid-morning snack and pee time. All in all it was a great plan even though we were dog tired. It worked so well we are going to do it tomorrow. We figured, heck, at least by the time we hit DC and we actually get to sleep in, 6am will feel like a luxury!
We only had one episode (which is still on-going, btw) today with poor little Kiera. She started to have an allergic reaction (totally takes after her mommy) to the medication that they were giving her - hives and diarea. So, that puppy is in the garbage and on the list of allergies for Kiera. Paul went around and around with the all the "assistants" in the hospital trying to get them to get a doctor to prescribe a different medication for her so that she didn't go back down hill and get sick again. Well, that didn't work - at least not yet anyway - we got two call backs, both different people, both asking if we could come in at 1pm for a followup visit, even though we told them initially that we were in Nebraska and that would make it a bit difficult to make the appt. The next two calls were Paul trying to get a hold of someone to help K out, but he continued to get the run around....now it is past 5pm in Utah and "the pharmacy is closed but it doesn't matter because the doctor went home early anyway". YUCK! So, that story is to be continued. Tune in tomorrow when we find out if Paul will ever find a kind soul to help him out, if Kiera will get her medication, if Bo and Hope can make it through their tangled love triangle and if Victor will wake up from his coma in time to stop the wedding of the woman he loves...... anyway.....

Here's Kiera-bug and me playin' on the bed!

Okay, so here we are onto another Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. This one is called BrewBurgers and in the heart of Omaha. I was not as excited about this one as I was the other place we could have gone to but this one was closer and we had a baby that was just not into more driving.
The story is pretty much like many of the other Triple D's, he was uprooted from Canada to Omaha and missed his hometown's brisket sandwiches. So, he opened up his own place. Paul ordered the brisket sandwich (the DDD choice) and I ordered the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich. We say - save your money! The service was great and the staff was friendly but the food left something to be desired. I think that if you love sports (I think that there were over a dozen tv's in that little place with all the different sports stuff going on) and love beer, you'd be set....that way you could get a little tipsy and be distracted by all the shiny tvs enough that the food might taste good.
Paul & I gave it the same rating: 2 out of 5: "What?!?! I wasted my daily caloric intake on this place?"

Wyoming

Today was blissfully uneventful. Kiera was feeling better and we got a bit more sleep last night than normal. The only thing that we could do was take pictures of was the scenery as we passed it by.....we didn't stop too much as we were traveling 450 miles today and Kiera was being a doll and sleeping most of the day!

Paul doing our daily car wash. This way we save money in the long run - $3 a day for a car wash instead of $500+ for a new paint job because bug juice burned its way into and through our current paint job.
This is just from today's drive! YUCK!

No triple D in Wyoming so we had the tried and true Chili's. Can't go wrong there...automatic 4 out of 5! :)

See you tomorrow!

Utah

Miles traveled: 348
States "visited": 2
Hospital visits: 1
Triple D's hit: 1
Memories of long lost restaurants: 1
Sounds like an eventful day if you ask me!

At the beginning of the day, we asked Kiera, "Where should we go today?".....here's her response:

Here's the support I received from my family as I slaved away driving the whole 348 miles:

We stopped at Twin Falls, ID to give Kiera a rest. We decided to take it easy because she was not feeling well so we just found a mall and let her play for an hour.

We stopped again just outside of Salt Lake City at a rest area again because Kiera's temperature was rising again and she needed some fresh cool air. It was at this point we realized that she was going to HAVE to see a doctor. We was just not herself....actually, she hadn't really been her normal cheerful self for the entire trip but it was getting worse. The picture below is the ONLY one of her and me where she wasn't crying or on my chest just wimpering from feeling ill. So, we called up the local clinic and got an appointment at 4pm.....it was 1:30. Guess it was time to waste time.

The beautiful scenery we gathered in while waiting for Kiera's appointment:

This one made me miss Seattle so much!

So, since we were into killing time - we headed into town and found the Mormon Temple. Honestly, it was a lot smaller than I thought that it was going to be. Just like the picture below you think that it is monsterous.....I think that the "It's a small world" ride in DisneyWorld was bigger.....

Well, we were starving so we headed over to the next Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.....Moochies. This restaurant actually started as a pottery store. Actually, the pottery is still sold, it is EVERYWHERE. Even on the celing! So, the owner of the pottery store's wife, is from Philadephia, and if memory serves me right, she was bored and missed her Phillycheese steak sandwiches from back home. So, what does any normal person do when they miss their home town food, well, open up your own restaurant...duh!
Both Paul and I ordered the Philly, although, I hear that the Meatball sub is to die for. He got his plain: just the cheese and sliced steak. I got all the trimmin's: cheese, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and grilled bell peppers. It was DELICIOUS! It was the best Philly Cheesesteak that I had ever tasted, the steak was sliced so perfectly thin..... Paul said the same but we gave different ratings....how weird!
So, our ratings are as follows:
Christy: 4 out of 5 "If I lived here, I would be a regular"
Paul: 3 out of 5 "If someone offered to buy me dinner here, I wouldn't object"

So, the story that I am sure all of you have been waiting for: Kiera's doctor visit. Just to calm all fears: she is just fine, turns out that she has a bacterial infection and just needs to be on antibiotics for the next 10 days....That's a first for Kiera, she was drug free for so long.
Anyway, Kiera started out with a temperature Saturday night. It calmed down a bit on Sunday and she seemed to perk right back up so at first we thought that maybe another tooth was breaking through. The temperature flared back up Sunday night, we took her temp: 100.9. Hmmmm...We called up her doctor to see what was going on because there were NO other symptoms with her fever. They told us to monitor it for tonight and if it was still going strong by Monday afternoon to see a doctor. Well, it was and we did. Turns out that poor baby K had a temperature of 102.8 and had lost TWO POUNDS from not eating the past two days. (docs: that was normal b/c of the sickies....just as long as she was getting enough water, me:check.) They did the normal tests and if you've had kiddos you know that they DO NOT like being messed with when they are feeling bad. The first two tests were swabs: one in the back of the throat and one up the nose. Two tests: one for influenza, one for strepp throat; both negative. On to the next tests - the doc needed to find the reason for the fever seeing that the first two norms were negative. So, poor Kiera, was poked and proded again - this time a blood and urine sample. Let's just say that I couldn't hold her down while they were doing these tests because I was a wreck: sitting on my little blue chair, hair disheveled and weeping "dramatically" because I couldn't make it go all away for Kiera. Turns out she just has a simple bacterial infection and antibiotics will cure it! HOORAY!

Okay, so we were off to our hotel when we realized we shut the place down, it was late and we were hungry for dinner. Kiera was a happy girl now with drugs swimming through her little body helping her "fight the man", so we drove through a little place called Fazoli's. Paul picked this place saying it had the best food and we just had to eat there. The last time he ate there was when his family lived in Indiana for 6 months back in 1995 so you can see why I was a little skeptical. Surely, a fast food joint can't stay that good for 14 years....boy was I wrong. For those who are able to hit this fast food joint - DO! The food was the farthest from "fast food" tasting and I would bet some of the best Italian food I've ever had. I mean, come on, who doesn't love a salad that comes with salami and pepperchinis? Paul had the Lasagna and I had the Chicken Parm. DELICIOUS and honestly, we could have fed three more people with the amount of food they give you! So, even though this wasn't a Triple D, Paul and I still gave it a rating:
Paul: 4 out of 5, "If I lived here, I would be a regular"
Christy: 4 out of 5, "If I lived here, I would be a regular"

Okay! That was quite a post! Thanks for sticking it out - see you tomorrow night! :)

2 days, 3 states and 502 miles later.....

So we have begun our travels to become East Coasters. Kiera was a perfect doll as always....and she was even a bit on the sick side. As you can see, we were loaded down with all the things we needed for the next 8 days on the road and the 3 days before our stuff would (possibly) be delivered to our new home. We have a bag of clothes for all three of us in a small blue carry-on suitcase, Kiera's pack-n-play for sleepin', stroller, pillows, air mattress (during the 'layover' of space waiting for our stuff to arrive), toys for baby k plus 5 new toys as a present for the new days, heirloom keepsafes, and a ton of snacks for k (green beens, carrots, bananas, cherrios, etc).

We spent our last few days at my sister's place, honestly, I don't think I had a choice. She would have run me down and taken baby k from me if we hadn't. It was great to hang out with her, let her have as much Kiera time as she could, she is one of the best aunties to Kiera! ;)

Here is Kiera all snuggled up, getting ready for her nap. Doesn't it just make you wanna take a nap?

So, to make our VERY long trek accross the US a bit more interesting we are going to hit all the "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" as possible. If you are unsure as to what I am talking about, GOOGLE IT! I have had great success in finding new places to add to my favorites list of places to eat, of course most of these make it into the "artery clogging" places, but way worth it. On the days that we can hit one of these (some days we will hit mulitple!) we will give our "Large Rating" just in case you decide you wanna try one of these DDD's.

The first on our list was the Westside Drive-In. Paul was a bit bummed that we couldn't make it yesterday, because every Friday and Saturday is the Prime Rib Steak special.......at a Drive-In!? I guess the owner of this place was once a chef at those fancy restaurants, got tired of it and decided to buy one of the local places that was going under. This place was hopping and there was never a break of cars and walk-ups while were there....

I ordered the Cheeseburger and one of the specials of the day: "Buffalo Wedges". And Paul ordered the special of the day: Fish and Chips. I guess when you open up the plastic bag to pull out your food and your paperbag looks like this:

It's probably going to taste pretty darn good.

Paul gave his fish and chips a 4 out of 5. He says that the batter on the fish was definately chef quality.....I shouldv'e ordered the fish and chips.

Ok, so mine wasn't that bad but I felt like it was like any other burger; the fries were a bit over cooked and there was not enough sauce. So mine got a 3 out of 5.

Over all we gave the place a 4 out 5; which we call the "If I lived here, I would be a regular". I think that I just ordered the wrong thing - my guess is to stick with the "specials" menu and you can't go wrong.

Rich Man's Aquarium......we're in!

Because of a generous gift from the Gantenbein family (thanks!) for Kiera's first birthday, we (and her auntie amy & uncle b) were able to visit the very exclusive Seattle Aquarium. Kiera was absolutely mesmerized by all the different animals to look at. Here are some photos from that day and a great little video of her talking to the fishies.

90 degrees in Seattle?

One day in Seattle we hit over 90 degrees, so what better way to celebrate the sun than to splash in the water!

The things that we do for our children

Because of the large time difference between the two Washingtons, Kiera was a little bit grumpier than normal (even with this grumpiness, she was still a delight). On our way home from dinner one night, she was just spent from the long day and was NOT happy about sitting in her carseat. So, we did the only thing that we knew would make her happy and content. We handed her my box of klennex ---- nearly full box of klennex. By the time we got to the hotel, the entire box was on Kiera's lap and she was tearing it into itsy, bitsy, teeny, tiney pieces. Too cute!