I'm Ready to Burst

I just weighed myself on my scale and I have officially gained 10 pounds in the past 3 days. I feel like I'm going to explode. If I see anymore food this weekend, I think I'm going to cry.

Other than feeling like Thanksgiving's stuffed turkey the trip has been great. We took advantage of the after Thanksgiving's Day sales to buy a new gadget for our travels. We bought a portable GPS unit, something we've been talking about investing in for a while. This thing is great! It has the requisite touch screen, voice prompts, blue-tooth wireless phone integration and, best of all, it already has the maps for the U.S. and Europe loaded up in it. You can also set it to have famous people tell you directions, although, now that I think of it, it might be scary to have Mr. T yelling at you to take a left. We're looking forward to putting it to the test on the streets of Turkey, but, for now, we're happy with it finding every Sonic restaurant along the highway.

Right now we are in beautiful and scenic Oak Ridge, Tennessee; which is my home town. For those of you who don't know, Oak Ridge has quite the history. It was a secret government installation established in 1942 as part of the Manhattan Project to develop the atom bomb. For the first five years of it's existence it...well, didn't exist. It did not appear on maps, the roads were not paved and you could not enter or exit the city without passing through armed checkpoints. In addition, the city was broken up into separate communities which were barred from socializing with each other in order to prevent any one person from truly knowing what was going on at any of the nuclear installations. While the city no longer is a secret, it continues to play in important roll in promoting American innovation and competitiveness in areas such as science, engineering, physics and even medicine and is the home of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory which does important research in nuclear physics and nanotechnology. When people tell me I'm bright, it's for a reason, har har. Josh doesn't really think it's much to look at but I happen to think it's a pretty cool place and am quite proud to call it my home town.

Tomorrow we drive back to Virginia and back to life as usual. This has been a somewhat difficult two weeks for me so I'm looking forward to some normalcy.

Holiday Euphoria

Maybe it's the approximately five pounds of Thanksgiving dinner I ate tonight, but right now I'm positively euphoric. The drive down yesterday went really well despite a bit of a rocky start (we had our doors open so long packing the car that the battery died and we had to jump it...ooops). Indie barely made a sound the whole time and Maya and I had great fun listening to the music from E.T. and pretending we were flying through the mountains as we drove. Today was, of course, filled with lots of food, family and laughter. Maya looked positively adorable, too. Last year Jeremy and Heather had brought her back the cutest dirndl dress from Germany and she has finally grown into it so she wore it today, complete with pig tail braids. It made my German heart skip go all a flutter. Later on Josh, Jeremy, Heather, Maya and I went to the movies to see Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which was just great. It was a sweet movie and I smiled the whole way through it, something I haven't done in a long time.

I don't know. Maybe it's all the medicine I'm on right now but for some reason I just feel like life is good. I have a beautiful daughter, a wonderful husband, a great family, a great life and frankly I couldn't ask for more. Today is a day of thanks for us Americans and right now, I'm thankful for everything I have and everything that is to come. One of the lines in the movie tonight really struck me today and maybe that's what's making me so happy and just looking forward to what the future holds.

"Life is an occasion. Rise to it." Rise to it indeed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Long Road

Well it's Thanksgiving Week here in the states and that can only mean one thing for the Young clan. A fantabulous 12 hour drive to Bowling Green, Kentucky! Thankfully, I'm feeling quite a bit better so the drive shouldn't be too bad but can I still just say "ugh" to 12 hours in a car. And did I mention we are taking our dog, Indie, too? Sweet, 12 hours of mundane landscape AND the smell of dog. Quick, everyone hop in! This is gonna be AWESOME!

The good news is that we always have a great time when we go so it's at least worth the trip. I really do enjoy seeing Josh's family and it will be nice to see Heather and Jeremy in a more coherent state of being. We will be in Bowling Green until Saturday and then we will start the drive back, making a pit stop in my home town of Oak Ridge, Tennessee to see my family. That usually works out well because it breaks up the drive. We drive 5 hours from Bowling Green to Oak Ridge and then about 8 hours the next day from Oak Ridge back home. We'll go straight to Bowling Green on the way down only because we just want to get there as quickly as possible. Though, I'm not sure 12 hours can actually be counted as quick.

So far, I haven't even packed for me or Maya yet so I need to get cracking on that. We have the important things though...books on tape, DVDs, snacks, drinks, and, oh yes, directions to all the Sonic Restaurants along our route. Mmmmm, Sonic.

Jinx

So, I think I jinxed myself by writing about what to do in a medical emergency while on travel a while back. As I said in my previous posts, the trip to Chicago definitely took a turn for the worse but the worse wasn't over for me. Wednesday morning I woke up feeling moderately OK. I was still tired but I thought I could make it going to work and I had an appointment with my allergist who is downtown so it was easier to just go in. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to my doctor's office I was in serious trouble. I couldn't breathe, my pulse skyrocketed and I was quickly becoming incoherent. My doctor was afraid that the previous breathing problems and the fact that I had flown the night before were pointing to a possible pulmonary embolism. He immediately sent me to the emergency room which was thankfully only two blocks away. I safely made it there and after 12 hours of uncontrollable coughing and several instances of nearly passing out they admitted me to the hospital. Initially, it was only to be over night but I ended up being put into the pulmonary care unit for three days under constant observation. I had to receive IV steroids, round the clock breathing treatments, supplemental oxygen as well as a barrage of other medications and testing. The final diagnosis is that, as in Chicago, it was a severe uncontrollable asthma attack. I'm now at home but it seems like it is going to be a long road to recovery as I'm still not "recovered."

They cleared me to go to Kentucky for Thanksgiving, but this means that I am going to have to severely limit where I can go when I'm there as two of the three houses we hang out at are unfit for me to be in at this time just because of previous allergic reactions I've had. I have to admit that for the first time I'm afraid of what might happen on a trip. I don't think I'll be wacky but I think from now on Im going to have to be hyper-vigilant about my allergies and my asthma. I've also considered getting a medic-alert bracelet so that if anything does happen people can have access to all of my important medical information. The hard thing to admit is that there is the potential that I could have died if I hadn't gotten medical attention. I literally could not breathe. My lungs were working but I could tell I was not getting enough oxygen. When I realized that I just couldn't even think in a coherent fashion because of it I knew I was in trouble. Had I let it go who knows what would have happened. I hate having to change my life around, I hate having people worry about me and I hate having to worry this much about what might happen, but this is life and you can either choose to throw in the towel or keep on going. Just for the record, I've still got my bags packed.

All in the Family

Well amidst all the laziness we have actually gotten some things done and had a pretty good time doing them. Saturday we spent the morning just catching up, watching some TV and playing with these little remote controlled helicopters that Josh brought for Jeremy as a late birthday present. That afternoon we all headed out to the German Christmas market in Oak Brook, Illinois. It ended up being a little disappointing as there were very few booths but we still managed to get one of the best bratwursts I've had since going to Germany last year. Heather and I found a nice little booth with lots of beautiful jewelry and ended up getting rings that almost match. We've dubbed them the wonder twin rings, har har.

Yesterday was pretty quiet as well. The boys watched Maya while Heather and I went to the bookstore for some girl time which was very nice. Heather and I are pretty close and really enjoy spending time away just the two of us. We are very similar and us getting away by ourselves is alway a recipe for lots of laughs and even some mischief. While we were out we talked about important issues like whether or not, when ordering an egg nog latte from Starbucks, you should even bother worrying about figuring out how you can get it low fat and how children's book titles like "The Day My Butt Exploded" could possibly be good for your kids to read (disclaimer: I haven't read it so I don't really know). You know, the real hard hitting subject matter.

Last night was suppose to be the big lasagna dinner but, unfortunately, it didn't end up that way. Jen and Steve had come out to visit and I slowly started not feeling good as we all sat around the living room and talked. As it turns out my dizziness and fatigue was because I was having a severe asthma attack. After making it up the stairs, I suddenly got really bad and ended up almost passing out in poor Heather's arms. So, rather than hanging out and eating some good food I ended up being taken to the hospital. I'm not sure how many people know this, but getting multiple albuterol breathing treatments is WAY more fun than hanging out with friends. I was really excited about it :P! Anyway, this means that today is probably going to be filled with lots of nothingness as I continue to try and recover a bit. That's it for now. I'll try to get some pictures up soon!

'Scuse Me While I Cough

We made it to Chicago, YAY! I'm sick, BOO! One thing I haven't mentioned before is that I have severe allergies and moderate asthma...and yes, I was one of those lame kids with glasses sitting on the bench during gym class because I couldn't run. I have to be careful because when I have an allergy attack I don't get the sniffles, I often get severe complications with my asthma which makes life pretty miserable. Around the time Maya had to go to the hospital I got bronchitis and haven't been able to kick it. I woke up yesterday with a horrible cough and had to go to my allergist for a check up and a breathing treatment. Now, I sound like one of those old people who have been smoking for 50 years with a cough I think they can probably hear from down the street and it's tough to breathe. The good thing is that we're in Chicago, so if I have to laze around it's not a big deal but still it's disappointing. Asthma can be pretty debilitating and I just hope I don't continue to have problems the rest of the winter especially since we've got several big trips lined up.

In other news, Maya once again did excellent on the plane. I think she's also learned that if she asks the flight attendant the second she gets on the plane that she can get into the cockpit. It's so hilarious to see her in there asking a billion questions while sitting in the pilot's seat. What does this do, what beeps, what's this thing, can I press this? At one point the co-pilot let her talk on the intercom long enough to say "Hi, Mom!" for the whole plane to hear. She also once again had everyone in the airport ooh-ing and aah-ing over her Trunki especially parents. Everyone wants to know if it really is a suitcase and where they can get it. The ticketing agent was asking us all kinds of questions and thought it was great. Hopefully it will really start to catch on here in the states and we'll see more of them around!

Getting Ready for the Windy City

I am so ready for this trip to Chicago. Things have been hectic, crazy, frustrating, tiring, and several other adjectives that I probably can't post in a public forum. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my family and having a good ol time doing nothing of real value. My sister in law and I talked about going to one of the German Christmas markets that they have every year in various places around Chicago which I'm very excited about as my family is quite proud of our German heritage. I can't wait to see all the good food and trinkets that are surely waiting for me with my name on them.

Josh also found out about an exhibit at the Field Museum called Maps: Finding Our Place in the World. Given that we're pretty much always looking at some kind of map and have actually grown to be quite fond of them as some can be quite beautiful, we are definitely going to head over to that at some point. The exhibit as is turns out is actually part of a citywide event called The Festival of Maps which celebrates some of the greatest discoveries, discoverers, and explorations that the world has offered throughout history. Actually, I was just looking and the famous Adler Plantarium is even doing an exhibit on historical maps of the cosmos throughout time called Mapping the Universe. I wonder if we can go to that?! Oops, my inner nerd is coming out. I should go before I scare anyone.

Anyway, the trip should be a lot of fun so be sure to start checking in because I'll be posting a lot in the coming days!

When First Class Just Isn't Good Enough and Other News

I'm not sure if anyone else saw this but Singapore Airlines announced recently that they have now installed First Class Suites on their A380 jumbo jets. These things are ridiculous. Not only do you get an Italian leather lounger, but you also get meal service on hand painted china, your own wide-screen LCD, turn down service and a restroom that's actually the size of a real restroom. Oh, and did I mention that there's a bed. Yes, folks, that's right...a BED. Now, granted, the cost of the trip will only set you back $10,000 USD but who's counting?!

Check it out for yourself at http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/content/exp/new/suite/index.jsp.

For those of us who function in the real world, here's a tidbit you can actually use. I was trolling around the Dollar Store the other day killing some time and saw all kinds of great things to take on flights for entertainment. Usually my rules for in-flight toys are that they are flat, they don't have anything parts that will roll all over the place, they can quickly be put away and that they can fit in the backseat pocket. I saw things like sticker books, some simple crochet crafts, ink stamp kits, small coloring/activity books, etc. At a dollar a piece it's a cheap way to keep her entertained and if it somehow ends up getting lost I'm only out a dollar. Obviously, these are more for the older set but right now, that's what I've got. When Maya was a baby I generally stuck to the same rules but made sure that the toys were age appropriate. I usually took soft sided books, relatively quiet rattle toys and, my personal favorite, a mini child sized back pack filled with some of the animals from her Fisher Price zoo set.

The Young family travel calendar is starting to look full again! Our trip to Chicago is coming up fast and I can't wait. I love seeing my brother in law and his wife so it is sure to be lots of fun. After that it's just a few weeks until Thanksgiving which involves driving 8 hours to Tennessee to see my family and another 5 hours to Kentucky to see Josh's. Then we're on a crash course for Christmas and our big trip to Turkey! I never believed my mom when she would tell me how fast the time goes when you're grown up. Now I know what she was talking about. My head is already spinning!

Also be sure to check the Where We've Been section for new links. I've been slowly going back and posting about old trips so if you want to see what we've done in the past be sure to click on those!

Totally Unrelated

This has nothing to do with travel unless it's travel to Fantasyland! Here's pictures of Maya's Halloween costume! Can you say ARGGGGH?! Hope everyone had a great one!