We just got back from a week long car trip to Los Angeles, to hook up with my parents, and many of my relatives on my father's side. Julie and I haven't been down to visit since we moved up to Washington, and neither Micheala nor Elisabeth has met any of their relatives on that side. So we packed up the car, drove down, hung out for a few days, and then drove back. A few highlights:

• Multiple very large Chinese meals in restaurants and homes of relatives. As Julie put it, "we haven't eaten breakfast, lunch, or dinner in the same place all week"
• Michaela slipped on a rug and hit her head on a metal railing. We had a quick trip to the local hospital for stitches. Michaela is a *tough* kid. The ER doc barely gave the local anesthetic a chance to work before he started on the stitches -- she barely reacted at all (she said "oowee", and that was it, no moving, thrashing, etc).
• Meeting my nephew/cousin Eliot in person, and having a chance to chat about computers, school, etc.
• The kids now know the names of all the fast food chains available on I-5 from Seattle to LA. Elisabeth has learned to say "Burger King", the clear favorite.

The second leg of travel weary starts tomorrow, when I get on a plane for a week at the OSAF home office in San Francisco. Then a three day break for DaddyCon II, followed by a whole 5 days with the entire family at home. The last leg, ApacheCon commences Nov 13 and ends Nov 17th.