Fish out of water

The 12 hour drive from NC to AL was about as exciting as any drive with a dog, a cat, a 3 year old and 4 fish could possibly be. Daddy drove my car pulling a u-haul with all the essential baby gear in it. It's amazing that an 8lb baby could ever need so much stuff! The stops were not as many as we had anticipated but even so, it was LONG and boring. Somehow the scenery never seems to change on that road. We did have the honor of passing the Taladega Super Speed Way on race weekend and had a great roadside view of the worlds most redneck campground. We actually saw a pick-up truck with a tarp covering the bed and extending out to form a makeshift tent. I guess that's taking the "bed" of the truck literally! We saw flags of every color (mostly U of A and TN, of course), tents, campers and always a converted school bus or two! It is truly a sight to behold. I have actually been once. It was my first and last race at the same time. I quickly learned, racing is NOT the sport for me. Anyway, we arrived home around 9pm and had to unload the u-haul of baby gear, clothes and check on the fate of the 4 fish Jackson insisted on bringing with us. They were carefully placed in a pitcher with a top on it for the ride. As Daddy rose the door slowly, water started leaking out of the u-haul. This was not a good sign for the fishes. As he continued to raise the door, the pitcher they were in turned completely upside down and dumped the little remaining water and 4 fish onto the concrete driveway. Things were not looking good for Doggie, Penny, Bug and Hummer. They were in fact still ALIVE! Though their water had been significantly reduced during travel and then ultimately made their AL entrance with a pretty hard landing we picked them up and rushed them inside to greet mom with a "fish emergency". Luckily she'd brought home a tank and set it up so that they could be rescued. I'm happy to report, that all the fish are happy and healthy in their new AL tank. They've even been upgraded to a 10 gallon tank for the summer at least. We're contemplating what to do about the return trip. How many lives does a fish have anyway?

As an update on Jason, speaking of fish out of water...His unit has arrived at their base but have found it to be a little less than accomadating. Yes, it is a war zone but living conditions in his words are "either crap or non exsistent". I know they will get better as his unit builds up the base there but for now they are sleeping in 3 areas of 100 man tents and have virtually NO internet access. On a better note, he does have an international cell phone using calling cards that he can call me on fairly often. The calls of course are priceless but to keep us out of certain financial ruin, we'll have to space the calls appropriately. The weather there is more humid than his last deployment and temps are in the 80-90's. He is making plans to take the GRE which is offered there in June. Hopefully after this fun filled year, Grad school will be our next stop on this roller coaster we call Army life.