OCTOBER 11th THRU 23rd- MAN DOWN

For nearly two week our family was down one man. The very next morning after Brooke’s birthday party, Nathan had to go to Minneapolis, Minnesota for training. He was told he would be going to this very intense training almost a year ago. Not very many people in his company get chosen for this so it was a pretty big deal. He had to do all kinds of homework months before he even got there.

We knew it would be tough to not be together for that long because we’ve had to do it several times before, but we’ve never done it while living so far away from all of our family. He was so busy that I think we spoke maybe an hour if you add the bits and pieces the entire time he was gone. We were both so stressed out but in very different ways. The first week wasn’t near as bad for me, but when the second week came around I was about to lose it with the kids. Oh my gosh, I love them, but they sure know how to make me nuts. It made it so much harder because I just wanted to talk to Nathan so bad. It was not fun at all.

I would try to sleep with about eight pillows surrounding me and hold my burning eyes open staring at the TV for as long as possible. One night I was startled by a crashing sound around 3 a.m. I sure did grab that TV remote ready to swing and cause some serious damage. I finally found that the long mirror in our bathroom fell off the wall. I totally did not expect that, but it was a huge relief to find that it was just that. Then the next night a trash bag, that I was too lazy to take to the garage, fell over in the kitchen and caused me to jump for my trusty remote again. Not cool to hear all those little bumps in the night when my husband is away.

Nathan took lots of pictures with his phone during his trip.

Here are a couple from the plane...Obviously.

He woke up to snow his first morning there and never saw the end of it. So VERY jealous.

Inside the fabulous and famous Mall of America. This would have been so cool for the kids to see in person.

"Ohhhhhh....Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?"

"SPONGE! BOB! SQUARE! PANTS!"

Gotta love Spongebob and Patrick...Once you give the show a chance, you actually find that you often giggle more than the kids.

The mall was built on the site of Metropolitan Stadium where the Minnesota Twins use to play. They have the original spot of home plate in the middle of the atrium and amusement park.

Nathan was assigned to a team for a case study and they spent countless hours together. They worked so hard and all agreed that they had never been under so much stress work wise. The guys were his team members and the lady was their instructor.

Here is just a sample of their ramblings. They were trying to figure out how to cut man hours to increase productivity. Very exciting stuff...And what not. (he said everyone up there said "and what not" all the time)Nathan enjoyed this view for hours during the dreaded day of case study presentations.

On the last day before everyone went their different ways flying across the country, they got to tour the Supervalu distribution center that is 80% automated with robots and conveyor belts and such. Supervalu is Save-A-Lot's parent company....I know you were wondering.

We were so happy to go pick up Nathan from the airport. At least until his flight kept getting delayed because of the snow in Minnesota. The kids thought that we would be leaving right after school to go get him, but we ended up having to wait for 2 hours due to the delays. That was such a bummer because I was looking forward to doing some shopping and such at the much larger and nicer malls in Memphis. We are very limited on the amount of stores here.

The kids and I ended up having to drive an hour and half in the rain to the Memphis airport just to pick him up. Normally, the places we go in Memphis are just an hour away, but the airport is on the other side of Memphis so you have to drive all the way through it. We were all starving at headed straight to On The Border to get our fill of some good Mexican food that we'd been craving for over four months. There are a few small Mexican restaurants here that are horrible and give you stomach pains that you wouldn't believe.

This is the best shot I could get of their reunion at the airport. The airport only allows curbside pick up and you have to make it quick...How rude.

I was disappointed to only have about 20 minutes before the mall closed, but I was so happy to have my husband with us again. Before dinner the kids were arguing over who was going to sit by Daddy. We normally can't stand a table and always want a booth, but this time it worked out great to get a table because then both Cole and Brooke got to sit by their daddy. Nathan's head was going back and forth between the two of them constantly wanting to tell him something. He said he felt like he was watching a ping pong match.

It's so great to have him back home...And now our family is no longer one man down.