A smattering of thoughts from the last few days:
Prius: Suprisingly, the travel to and from Ashtabula was non-eventful. Arrived in Erie ontime, and at the rental car counter, was asked if I wanted to drive a Prius. Very different car....the key is just the 'fob' that you use to lock and unlock the car, and you insert it into a slot on the dash and then hit the 'power' button to turn the car on. And hear nothing when you do it, because it is so quite. First couple of times I came to a stop were wierd too; the engine shuts off, so, you get this shudder in the car like you've stalled. But, for drive-a-bility, it was pretty awesome. Didn't like the view from the rear mirror (you have this split view because of some metal for the trunk...) and the dashboard took some getting used to (there are no displays, nada, directly in front of you....it's all electronic readouts up near the windshield or over in the center), but, a very cool little car.
Madison: It's been almost 48 hours without a Madison sighting; we realize now that, before we leave on a trip, we have to confine the cats in the house at least 24 hours before we go to make sure we have all of them in the house. We thought that, since we were leaving at around 2 pm, that just having Kevin collect them as they came in and out in the morning would work out well, and by 10 am he had Marino and Daphne. But, Madison didn't turn up later, didn't turn up when Ashton came down to feed the cats and check on them late Friday night, didn't turn up when he came down Saturday morning before he left for a day or two. So, we asked Ashton to leave some food and water near the back door, and hopefully, she'll turn up tonight when he comes down to check after he gets back.
Chik-fil-a: Suzanne and I haven't been to this southern institution of chicken greatness, so, when we stopped for lunch in Alabama (north of Montgomery), we decided to check here. This Chik had a indoor playground as well, so, a bonus for Christopher and Matthew. We pull in, and realize, that this Chik may be the most popular location in and around Montgomery....you wouldn't believe the crowd! They had a man out directing traffic; we walked inside and had to wait for someone to leave for a table....and the crowds kept coming and coming. I mean, lunch was ok, but, was it really the be all and end all of lunch goodness?
Rock Band: Purchased Rock Band for the Wii; had it shipped to Florida and the kids got to try it out last night. Learned that Kevin does pretty well with the singing, Matthew is pretty good at the guitar, and Christopher doesn't seem to have the same musical sense his brothers have; his experience on the drums was mostly banging at whatever he percieved to be interesting, any attempts to hit the beat weren't very successful. Oh well....
