From City Mouse to Country Mouse

I  finally have some time to share this story on my blog, so here it goes! We recently took a mini vacay over Spring Break and celebrated our youngest son's 6th birthday in the city. I was uber excited to get out of the small town where there is nothing to do and is often referred to as hickville in my house. We loaded up our suburban with overnight bags and hit the road. Our first stop was the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson,Ks...Damion's birthday surprise from mom and dad. We had a lot of fun viewing the museum and of course taking lots of pictures, a hobby I am sure my guys wish I would get rid of!!!!! After the museum we decided to go ahead and drive into Wichita and find a motel room, so we could get to the Sedgwick county Zoo early in the morning...this was the surprise for all the boys. We got to Wichita and quickly was overwhelmed by the traffic....and realized we had no clue where we were even at! My husband kept up with the traffic pretty good, while I sat in the passenger seat shaking and holding my breath everytime somebody whizzed out in front of us. After two rounds of driving on Kellogg and a few near accidents I was honestly ready to click my heels three times and start saying "there is no place like home!" I decided to text Becky and get directions, her and Danny both saved the day by giving us directions to the zoo. We then decided after over 2 hours of  lost driving we better get a motel room. Of course we forgot that the NCAA women's tournament was in town and the nicer motels were full. We were directed to the Best Western Airport Inn and got a room. As we were unloading bags to our room we noticed security guards patrolling our hallway, my husband asked the guards what was going on and we were informed that they had rooms with individuals being deported back to Mexico. In all honesty my husband shouldn't of told me that!!!!!! After over an hour of reassuring I settled down and decided we can do this! We ordered pizza from Pizza Hut and started having some fun by going downstairs to the conference room where the game room was and the pool. This place was packed with softball tournament groups! I reminded my boys to use their manners and to be polite, but with every "please","thank you", "excuse me", and smile I began to think we were speaking a foreign language. The next morning we went to the zoo and had an amazing time, despite the rain and chilly temps. This experience in the city put many things into perspective, you see for quite awhile I just didn't feel like I belonged. After being thrusted out of my comfort zone on several levels I now can say this is MY HOME. I love laid back lifestyle, sitting on my bench and drinking my morning coffee, enjoying the quiet evenings and embracing all the sounds of nature, watching sunsets that take your breath away, random conversations with neighbors or people walking by, my kids riding their bikes and letting their creativity flow on a warm summer's day. Yes, I AM a country mouse, the city mouse has been long gone for quite awhile and that is OK with me!