Monarch Migration

Monarch Migration
Originally uploaded by maryriedl

Tonight I took a walk with the baby. While the dog was pulling the stroller, (she's fat and needs the exercise anyway) I donned my camera and took photos as the monarchs swarmed around me. It was an absolutely beautiful end to what started out as what I thought was going to be a terrible day.

This morning the baby woke up in a terrible mood. He was whining, crying and clinging to me ALL morning. I had hoped to go to church with the in-laws, but we didn't get out the door in time. We were going to be 30 minutes late. So I gave up and just dressed in normal clothes. We went to leave the house and it was about 20 degrees cooler than I thought it was, so I had to get jackets. We left and got most of the way out of town when I realized that I was almost out of gas. So, I stopped at the last diesel (I have a Passat TDI.. great mileage, but takes diesel) station in town. It is a truck stop. The pumps did not take Credit Cards. The baby was sleeping. I drove around the station trying to decide what to do. I really didn't want to get the baby up, but I didn't want to drive around forever looking for gas either... I finally decided that I was going to just pump, drive up to the window, and bring the baby in quick. He'd go back to sleep. Then a truck pulled up behind me and got all huffy. So I left and drove up the road and found another gas station. This station was in the middle of the twilight zone. I have never been stared at so much in my entire life. I have no idea why they were staring at me, (perhaps they thought I was stupid for putting diesel in a car) it was just really incredibly creepy. I finally got on the road. We left the house at 11:00, it was noon. An hour later.. We should have been to the in-laws at 11:30. By the time I got there, no one was at the house. I drove by the church. Their car was still there, church was at 9:30. I would have been 30 mintues late for church even if I thought I was on time! So I parked outside of the Subway in town thinking surely the baby was ready to wake up any second. No luck. I finally decided to drive to the next town to Grab Runza. The baby woke up the second the smell of those french fries hit the car. At any rate, we got to my in-laws house and I shared my lunch with the baby. We hung out with them for a while (they were home by the time we got back). When we came home we ate dinner. The baby wasn't too much in the mood for anything but raisins. I think he ate about 3 cups of raisins. Not really 3 cups, but way more than I normally would have given him. It wasn't quite time for bed yet, so we went for a walk. Mommy, the fat dog Kleenex and the baby. It was absolutely gorgeous. About one block down the road. That was what I saw. I immediately returned home to get my camera and I took pictures as I walked around. It was crazy and beautiful. So, like I said. It was a beautiful end to what I thought was going to be a terrible day.