On the road...

I can't even tell you how many days we've been on the road at this point. I can tell you we've made it to:

Topeka, Kansas
Overland Park, Kansas
Random other KC suburbs in Kansas
Albany, New York
Loon Lake, New York
New York City, New York (ever so briefly)
Saint Albans, England

and tomorrow we're making our first foray into London (unless we passed through there as I dozed in the car from the airport to Saint Albans).

At the risk of jinxing us, Connor and Helen have been absolute rock stars.

Even today, when they could've been at their breaking points, they managed to keep it together. We walked around a Butterfly Garden and then headed to the grocery store. They were getting a little tired and hungry at this point.

I am simultaneously thrilled that Ed is the primary driver and also terrified - hourly. My heart may not make it through this trip, but for the comic relief from the back seat. Helen maintains an impeccable sense of timing as she warns Ed about "snail crossings" (aka speed bumps) and mocks Ed for hitting the curb and driving with the windshield wipers on, although no rain falls.

Ed exclaims with indignity when he misses a turn that it "certainly wasn't 400 feet" and Connor eagerly supports his claim. I laugh and point out that I'm not arguing with him and the GPS, to which he claims to mean no affront.

Helen even noticed that children in the UK don't appear to hold hands with their parents. Instead, they all wear leashes. She has a point here.

I have decided that the best part of exchanging homes with a family with kids is that Connor and Helen have new toys to play with, and it has been fantastic listening to them play. It has allowed them to go from drenched in rain to having a ball in a matter of minutes. This goes a long way to restoring my road weary nerves.

Elaine