I can't put my arms down!

Yesterday, we took a road trip with Kimberly and Mark up to Old Salem. Let me preface this by saying that it was 15 degrees outside yesterday morning. That's okay, we're a hardy bunch. Our plan was to leave early so we were not too sad when Maggie woke up a little after 6. Oh, the days of sleeping until 11. I miss thee. We got Maggie all bundled up in her warm clothes. I was going to put tights under her pants but I thought that might be a pain to deal with. And yes, it would have been a major pain to deal with in light of events that happened later on in the day. Mark and Kimberly got to our house around 8:30 and we left. I am a very good driver in the morning and do not get sleepy. My working style is much like that. I would much rather work in the morning and go home after lunch. My planning period is last block this year and I have a tendency to waste every second of it either talking or looking at websites. Anyway, I digress. Maggie fell asleep in about 1 minute on the road and slept through Kimberly and I talking very loudly. She always falls asleep while I'm talking on the phone in the car too.

We got up there and bundled Maggie up to the gills in blankets and hats and mittens. Here she is. And this is the only picture we took the entire day.

Note Maggie's flipper-like hands. I don't think she got cold all day. We waited in line forEVER to buy tickets because we had a rather over-zealous saleslady who wanted to sell a family membership to this gigantic bunch of people, presumably related, who were in line in front of us. Also, we opted not to go to this folk arts museum because we thought the guys might revolt. There had already been some mutterings about us only going to Old Salem to eat lunch and buy food. Whatever. Then we went outside and it was COLD. I also walked right through this man's picture because I wasn't paying attention and I wanted to go on the covered bridge.

I don't think the Moravians used strollers because the roads were very bumpy and cobble-stony. I bet Maggie had some fun riding on that. She didn't complain though. We saw this huge line outside this building and discovered that it was the Old Salem Tavern, where we wanted to eat lunch and they would not allow me to make a reservation on Friday. So we decided to wait in line and then they started calling all the people who did have reservations and they had these huge parties of like 20 people. We debated trying to sneak in with the large parties but then we ended up getting a table and I was glad. I was hungry. I had to sit in a draft the whole meal though and my butt was cold. I had to put my scarf over it. Partway through the meal, I smelled something and had to find out where the bathrooms were. The hostess looked at me kind of weird when I asked her while holding Maggie. Then when I went upstairs, I discovered why because the bathrooms were about the size of a kitchen table and the Moravians apparently did not have diaper changing areas either. So, I went back downstairs and got the changing pad and changed Maggie on the floor of a bathroom stall. Nice. We went back downstairs and Maggie ate part of a brat and some of my chicken pie. Mark gave her some sauerkraut but it was rejected, taken out of her mouth and handed back to me. Then Maggie indicated that we might have to go back upstairs again. I gathered all her stuff together and we went back up. There was a line this time so I went to the landing on a flight of stairs and started to change Maggie there. I thought I would be all smooth and check her diaper before I went pulling her pants down. I got "stuff" on my hand as a result of my efforts. UGH. Then I didn't realize what I was doing and wiped my hand on the back of her onesie. Then I needed to visit the sink to wash my hands and this lady came out and she had a daughter from China and she kept talking and talking and talking about Maggie and adoption and her daughter and the whole time I was thinking, "I have poop on my hand. Ihavepooponmyhand. Ineedtowashmyhands." Anyway.

We left the restaurant and went touring but the stroller was not really welcome in most of the exhibits so Maggie had to wait outside for us while we looked around. Just kidding! We went in the Single Brothers' House and it did not look very fun to live in. I bet the Single Sisters' house was fun to live in. They probably had pillow fights and did each others' hair and stuff. Then Kimberly saw this store that sold candles and ginger cakes and tobacco. I thought that was a weird combination of junk to sell but we went in anyway. It was not a store. It was a house to tour and the tour guides were VERY excited that we were there. I think they could tell that we were not very excited to be there. We left kind of quickly. There were about a million people at Old Salem. I couldn't believe how many people were there. Then we saw another long line and it was for the bakery so David stood in line there while we did something else. Then we totally broke in line and took his spot but who cares? Kimberly and I had to wait in line there for a LONG time. We twisted around inside and it was about 150 degrees in there. We bought a ton of stuff though and saw real pound cakes made with a pound of each ingredient. They were extremely heavy. Maggie was asleep by then and slept through most of the visit. We went up to God's Acre, the cemetery, and Kimberly and I wanted to go poking around but the boys did not. Then Mark was standing on someone's grave and Kimberly scolded him and David and I about died laughing. Then we went home. It was still cold but not as cold as it was that morning.

I almost fell asleep while we were driving home so I had to stop and let David drive. Tomorrow I have to go score blooming writing tests with my co-workers after school and I do not even get to see Maggie except for in the morning. I'm sad. Oh yeah, and this morning, Maggie woke up at 5. That must stop. I was going to go get her back to sleep--HA!--and ended up putting her in bed with us. We all went back to sleep and I was sleeping with my face on the edge of the bed and I woke up with Louie jumping up to pounce at me. I guess that is all for now. If this were a paper, I would give it an F on its conclusion. Oh well, good thing I'm the teacher and not the student!