Day 17 South Bend Indiana

Last night as I was falling asleep, I was starting to feel a little bit of that grumpy what were we thinking mood set in: Sebastian still isn't sleeping well, the past few days on the road have been longer than I expected (thanks to road construction and my misunderstanding of time needed to drive between our stops), and the unsettling feeling that comes with being on the move and away from the familiar. So, I decided that today should be a blog entry of thankfulness, because in reality, we have much to be thankful for. And I need to remember that the frustrations are part of the adventure. So, I am thankful for:
1. Our hosts along the trip! We aren't paying for any hotel rooms, and we have been well taken care of. Thank you Kelzenbergs, Dana and John, Shelly and Otto, the Dolans, Christine and Anthony, Allocas and Becky and Jimmy!!
2. The McDonalds money that my mom sent: McDonalds is the Oasis for 21st century pilgrims, especially pilgrims with small children.
3. Our new laptop holster created by Bum Yong Kim: it makes a world of difference for the parent relegated to back seat duty.
4. The minivan: thank you Mom and Dad Kelzenberg! Driving cross-country in a Camry might be do-able, but not desirable.
5. The bag of goodies for children from Jean and Chiyang: every time Dora gets into the car for a day of driving, she opens a gift. What fun!

There are many more things I could be thankful for, but these are just the things that come to mind on little sleep and after a day of tooling around South Bend. We walked through Notre Dame campus this morning and went to the lake to see the ducks. Sebastian almost lost his finger to a mean goose, but he didn't seem too traumatized. Then we had lunch with Matt's friend Joan Crovello at a yummy Mexican restaurant, followed by a drive by Matt's old house at 615 Greenlawn. Then we made a brief stop at a park,
where Dora had her first experience with a Port-a-potty ("don't put your hands in the urinal! Yes, it is dirty, but you can go pooh-pooh in the blue water") and then we went to the Potawanami (spelling?) zoo. Phew! Now the kiddos are fitfully sleeping, and Matt is watching "Dharma and Greg" And I'm thoroughly enjoying this little bit of alone time. Adios!