For the Love of Pete

Yesterday we got back from our first (sort of) restful, short break as the Armstrong Circus (meaning: just us 4 and Sirius) in Hocking Hills Ohio (about 2 hours northeast from here). We rented a quaint cabin on 14 acres -- quiet, wooded, peaceful. We did some hiking and walking and overall just relaxed in the country. It wasn't necessarily a "break" (anywhere you go with your kids isn't much of a break) but it was nice to completely disconnect; no cellphone signal, no internet, no phone. We had our fair share of Armstrong Circus moments -- Elliott freaking out about sand in his shoes, Abigail unable to sleep because of water in her ear; scrapes, falls and general childlike misbehaving. There are a few things I had forgotten about living in the country: 1) sulfur water --- no thanks; 2) getting somewhere --- takes no less than 20 minutes to get anywhere; 3) crazy country drivers; 4) dark and quiet; almost spooky quiet. When we got back we discovered the landscapers had run over and cut our cable -- meaning no internet or cable. Time Warner being customer minded, multi-billion conglomerate they are; decided they could fix it by the following Friday. After about 15 calls back and 4 hours on hold, they came out today and got us back up and running (and actually dug a hole and put the cable in it -- rather than just leaving it on top of the ground as they tried to do before they left and I had to point out "Hey, aren't you going to bury that" -- "I guess if you want to we can" --- "Uh ... yeah, that's sort of the problem; it wasn't buried and it got run over and cut" --- "Alright then") --- I'm hopelessly addicted to technology. So, look for a some pictures soon.