SOS

I haven't really written about what we're actually doing here in Montgomery. But our friend Lance wrote about it pretty eloquently on his blog. So, if you're interested in what these 5 weeks entail, check out his post about it here.

For the Love of Guthrie's!

For those of y'all not in the know, Guthrie's is this chain of restaurants specializing in chicken fingers and fries (think Zaxby's, but lower-class). When Grant was a student at Florida State, he and his roommates basically lived there. So that's when the love affair started. For him. He tried to get me to fall in love with the place, but the trash on the floor and tables, along with the security guard stationed there full-time and the complete lack of friendliness by the staff kind of turned me off. Grant didn't care about all that - he just loved the food. And the sauce...the secret sauce. It also didn't help me that he and his roommates called a box of fries and chicken fingers from there a "Gut-box." I mean, really.

Anyways, while we're here in Montgomery, one of the things that Grant was most looking forward to was going to Guthrie's regularly (which I don't think is good for anybody). We all went together as a family a few days ago, and Grant was the happiest I've seen him in a while. And he's a pretty happy guy! He kept telling Kendall, "Kendall, this is the BEST flavor in the WHOLE WORLD!" Kendall wasn't convinced. That didn't stop him, though. With every bite, he went on and on about how good it was.

For what it's worth, Grant says that particular Guthrie's in Tallahassee was especially messy and unsafe. And also for what it's worth, they have fantastic sweet tea! The rest of it is not that special to me.

Once we got back to our room, I called Melissa. I briefly mentioned us going to Guthrie's, and Melissa started her love talk for the place..."Oh, I love Guthrie's. The way they dress the bird - it's just so...so...blah, blah, blah." That's when I handed the phone over to Grant so he and Melissa could share in their mutual love for the Gut-box. It went on for a while.

As for me - I'll stick with Chick-Fil-A.

Checking In

Grant has a 5-week long class in Montgomery, Alabama, and the girls and I tagged along with him. I haven't had a lot of access to the internet since we've been here, so that's why the blog hasn't been updated in a while, in case anyone's wondering.

Anyways, I hope everyone is well!

Rose Parade!

Grant's mom was kind enough to get us all tickets to the Rose Parade on New Year's Day. Here's the recap...

On the 31st, we made our way to Ontario, California, where our hotel would be. Ontario is not really on the way to Pasadena, but Grant's mom got this as part of a tour deal and that's where the tour was staying.

I should back up to say that New Year's Eve is Grant's mom's birthday. So once we all got to Ontario, we had a nice dinner there to celebrate that.

The rest of the night was a little dramatic. We didn't get to the hotel until after 9, and Kendall didn't get to sleep until after 10. She fought going to sleep, too. Lots of crying. Lots of tears.

That's how we welcomed in the new year.

Then, we woke up around 4:30 the next morning. Kendall was wearing her new Curious George pj's that Peter had gotten her for her birthday, and because of her lack of sleep the night before, she decided she ABSOLUTELY did NOT want to take off those cute pj's! So, we let her stay in them for the car ride to Pasadena, hoping it would help her get a few more minutes of much-needed sleep. Which she did.

We got on the road about 5:30 after a little breakfast, and we were pleased to find no traffic until we got to our exit. We got parked aroud 6:30 or so. Then we got Kendall and Cam dressed and bundled, because it was pretty chilly.

Then we waited in line for the port-o-potty for at least half an hour. For some reason, at the intersection closest to our seats, they only had 5 port-o-potties. Doesn't make sense. But we waited anyway. And we're glad we did, because it would not have been easy to go during or after the parade.

We got seated just minutes before the parade started, which was perfect, because if we were pretty much packed in like sardines. Not too comfy.

Our seats were really good. We were on the 4th row up from the bottom, so we could clearly see all the floats.

Kendall loved it. She really got into the spirit of it all, and waved at everyone, and danced when the marching bands passed. Cam slept through most of it, but did wake up to eat. Nursing a baby when you're packed in shoulder-to-shoulder with people is an adventure, to say the least.

Then it was all over.

We had a great time, and despite all the crying that morning and the night before, it was all worth it.