What do you get...

...when you pack up two chicks and two little boys first thing in the morning and send them off into the big city? Read on!

Went to Dallas this morning for Alan's monthly transplant clinic checkup. This is only the second time Mom and I have driven ourselves over. We only felt brave enough last time after choosing our own route, avoiding some of the major hair-raising traffic areas. Last time proved to be pretty succesful, so our confidence was up this time, even if our concentration was down.

Long story short, we missed a very important highway split-off and didn't notice for quite some time. We ended up on a pretty major road, the highest up on a big stack of roads! I held my breath the whole way over! We pulled off (calmly) at the next exit and consulted our map. Turns out we were in the perfect place to correct our "mistake" and loved the new route! We even took it on the way home! I don't see things like this as luck or coincidence. I see it as God pointing out a new, better, shorter (safer?) route for us. :)

Even with our new, faster route, we had made a couple of stops and other things that ended up putting us pretty close on time. After getting Alan's blood drawn (NOT a good experience. We were in a different lab in another part of the hospital from usual. It took 3 sticks - the old lab ALWAYS gets it in one! - and the second poke involved some digging. >:-( I wasn't happy. In the future, we will be going back to the old lab, even if it means more walking) ...anyway, after the blood draw we had a follow-up EKG from Alan's evaluation in May. That went perfectly. By this time, it was 12:10, and our GI appt was at 12:30. We decided to go down to the cafeteria and get something that we could eat pretty quickly, since that wasn't much time. Of course, the cafeteria at noon was PACKED. All the 'real food' lines were very long, so we got a healthy (ahem) little snack:

Yes - that is a donut...with sprinkles!!! :) But notice Dale is also eating goldfish crackers. Cheese is healthy...right? The best thing about the cafeteria is the train track suspended from the ceiling. Dale loved it!

We made it back upstairs to our appointment in plenty of time. We ended up waiting in the exam room for a really long time - and it was a really little room! Alan chilled out in the stroller for a while:

We put a stool behind the exam table so Dale could watch out the window:

He decided the table was a better idea:

Both boys were really sleepy by the time we got to leave. Alan was asleep almost before we left the parking lot. Dale was awake for a little while. We were coming up on the big overpass section of our new route and Dale commented that we were about to go over the 'bridge'. Once we were over and back on level ground, I checked the rear-view mirror to see how he liked it. He was asleep!

Since it was nearly 4:00 and we had only had donuts for lunch, we went through a drive-through for a burger. It was the best burger I've had in a long time, and we all 3 ate every bite! :) (Whataburger, for those who might be curious)
It was a nonstop day, and we were all tired. When I turned off my lamp and laid my head on the pillow, the clock said 8:51!!! :)