All Around the Town

I am driving around and it's such a hilarious experience! I laugh a LOT as I drive around, thinking of how many times I should be pulled over for a DUI or simply put in jail... Here, quite literally, the only rule on the road is don't hit anyone. That's it. You don't have to stop at the one stop light, especially if you're on a motorcycle. You especially don't stop when the police try to pull you over. (That's FUNNY!! I feel so evil when they try to flag you down and you just go faster...I keep expecting to have one of those high speed chases you see on films...but they're just trying to get money from you. They don't usually pull over cars with our license plates, though.) There are no stop signs or lines painted on the roads. You just go when you can and use your horn a lot to let people know you're coming around a corner or passing. My goodness it's different! Scarier than downtown D.C. in rush hour! :P I went to two new places today...WHEW!!! Man, I am telling you, the hardest thing about going to visit the states will be re-learning how to drive!! Every time I get in the car and start to get giggly, I feel sad that I forgot my camera again!! This Friday, we're going to the wedding of our housekeeper, so I will definitely have my camera on-hand for all kinds of road rage and new cultural experiences! SO FUN!!!

Josh came up to me this morning and said: "MOM! There's something bad and scary downstairs in the living room!! It's a mouse or a rat!!" Well, that was something new! So I run downstairs expecting something along the lines of the Secret of Nimh--a huge lab rat about ready to attack us all and take over our electricity! Well, it turned out to be a teenie tiny little mouse crawling around in the curtains and the little recliner by the piano. I was still nervous, as I'd rather not have mouse bites to deal with. Yes, we've all had our rabies shots, but it's better to be safe than sorry, eh? I called Devin, and he sent someone over with a mousetrap. Well, while we were waiting, we discussed different ways that we could capture a mouse without the mousetrap. Here are the kids' ideas:

Claire: Spank it really hard...with paper!

Josh: Pour water on it, then salt! (I think he was thinking about snails...)

Josh: Throw one of Andrew's onesies on it when it gets close to you.

Claire: Put a glass on him and then lock him up and then throw pictures at him.

Josh: Stab a fork on him (Oh gross!!)

Josh: Make a cage: Find an oak tree, make it into tiny squares, and then glue it together. Let it dry and put a lock on it. Then go downstairs and open it up. When the mouse crawls inside to take a rest from running, close it and lock it!

Those were all good ideas.

(Next day-- I think we should have used them, as we set the little mousetrap yesterday [the old fashioned kind with the snap and a dab o' peanut butter] and the only thing we caught were an army of ants!! Oh well)

Well, I will be fairly busy for the next few days. We have friends coming over on Thursday night, then Friday our housekeeper is getting married, so we're going to go to the wedding and the reception...that will definitely be interesting!!! Then Saturday we're going to a Gorilla sanctuary. So, I'll have all kinds of stories and pictures on Sunday!! Hopefully, Andrew gets better. He has a fever again. So strange. All he has is a fever...nothing else...no one knows what it is. Poor little boy!!