As the wife of an academic, I find this time of the year to be quite trying at best. We are heading into the end of the spring semester, and my husband has been hard at work with very little break to speak of since early last Fall. His stress level is way high, and of course this is compounded by all of the life changes our family has gone through this year in addition to the regular academic cycle.

This is the time of the year when my husband gets very silly, almost punch drunk until after the last final exam is graded and his grades are turned in for the semester. He is much ruder than usual, but in a humerous way, saying things that he normally wouldn't be so bold to utter. He tells more jokes, he makes fun of situations, he laughs at everything, and he finds everything that much more entertaining in general.

This is all great for a while. As his wife I enjoy seeing my husband happy.

But then his happiness turns to rediculousness and that energy amps up until it reaches manic-ness as we get closer and closer to the actual end of the semester. Many of my friends say they experience the same thing with their spouce. It's fun for a while, but heads straight into bizzare very quickly.

While I love the extra playfulness around the house, I'm never sure that my husband has actually heard what I've said, taken what I've said seriously, or understood that he is responsible in some way for what I've said. "Remember to pick the children up from the sitter on your way home from work tomorrow," thus becomes some kind of challenge for me to get him to understand that it is he that is supposed to do this. The trash doesn't get taken out, doors get left open, tvs get left on..... I have to follow him around just to make sure the house is secure. It's a crazy time of year.

Can you think of any other profession that is like this?

Do I need to join some kind of spoucal support group?

There is either an oddly shaped piece of trash in the backyard, or a monkey.

I'm hoping for monkey.

We are supposed to go to a department picnic dinner for G's work this evening. Luckily they have an alternate indoor location planned because it looks like it is going to rain.

We had a picnic scheduled with new friends tomorrow evening but their littlest one, who is only one year old, is in the hospital today with pneumonia. Hope he gets well soon. Obviously that event has been cancelled.

Then we have plans on Sunday to head to the zoo and butterfly park. But it looks likr rain again.

My alternate plan for all of these events is to bake and cook enough to feed the boys later next week while I'm out of town. I'd love to freeze some hearty veggie/chicken/pasta dishes and soups. I'd also like to bake bran muffins and freeze them for G's snacks. You'll just have to trust me that I make the most tasty, edible bran muffins around.

Oh, and I'd love to sleep in this weekend, but that's always tricky with two little ones.

What are your plans for the weekend?

We're home again. Travel back to SD was really good - no hiccups along the way, and both children were really quite well behaved. Jackson slept on both flights again, and Geo, though a little bored, behaved beautifully for a four year old.

This is the first time I've "come home" to South Dakota. I've now lived here since mid-August. It was really a strange feeling to get off the plane in Sioux Falls and drive to our town. Home has been redefined, certainly, but I'm not sure I'm used to the whole thing. This could be influenced by the fact that I was most recently at my childhood home and also at my "other" house - the one from which we just moved but still own since it hasn't sold yet. An odd feeling; not one of regret or anything, just strange and not entirely comfortable just yet.

I'd post pictures but neither of my CD-ROM drives seem to be cooperating today.

Today Geo spent the day digging up worms in the backyard, planting flowers with Pop Pop, playing in the sand box, playing with the 5  year old next door, and playing with my ex-boyfriend's children.

Yep, that last one kind of threw me for a loop.

Facebook (yes, you can find me there) connects me to everyone apparently. I wrote that I'd be visiting my childhood home and if people wanted to see my family they could contact me there. So my exboyfriend called up and asked if he could visit with his family.

It's cool. Just a little weird. I was really done with him when we broke up a decade ago. A decade ago? I guess it's been that long. Funny to think in those terms. I've been with G now for 10 years, so....

So my kids played with his kids this evening, I met his wife, and we caught up a little. G was at the conference again today so he missed out.

It's really weird to suddenly be confronted with the prospect of visiting with someone whom I wasn't really planning on seeing ever again. Not that there's anything wrong with this man. He's a good person. I was just really DONE when we were done.

Funny.

Prairiecowboy asked what it felt like for me to go back to my old home, and basically if we made a good move or not....

I'm not all that attached to my old home, odd as that may sound. While it was interesting to go back and see the actual house, I am not nearly as emotionally attached to it as my husband is. I do miss my good friends, though.

Part of what helped me seperate myself from living in the house in the old town was the fact that I spent the last part of my pregnancy packing up everything in it, which was extraordinarily trying, tiring, and frustrating. I think there was a part of me that wound up feeling angry about the process of moving itself, so walking away from the whole ordeal when it was over wasn't hard for me. I also got to throw out, give away, or get rid of many things that I no longer wanted (or never wanted in the first place). My husband had already moved to his new job, so I was left to sort through things and make decisions. I mostly decided to "get rid of" if there was any question at all.

It was time to move on. Both my husband and I felt the same way and had been strategizing for a couple years to make sure that G would have the right experience and such once the right job came along. We have always been on the same page as each other on this. He is much happier in his new position, and this means he is much happier as a person. He spent 15 years at the last institution and it was time to move forward with his career.

I'm at a point in my life where I can move...I can raise my children wherever we live. The nice thing about our new town is that we don't feel like we have traded anything about our lifestyle. Our new town is also very family oriented and kid friendly. The cost of living is about the same. If anything, there is possibly more to do for us as a family, and while I have moved farther from my parents, I am closer to my aunt and cousins.

I doubt I'll be anxious to visit our old town in the future. I would love to see my friends, of course, but once our house sells, it will be out of the way by a few hours from my folk's house.

Ack! Baby is crying. Must go.....

Today we were off to the town from which we recently moved. It was a rainy, coldish day, which was great for going off since we couldn't really play in the yard anyway. A number of good friends met us at an traditional arts museum from 10:30 am to noon. We were able to see a number of people that we never really got to say goodbye to this summer, which was really nice. We also got to show off Jackson, and met a friend's baby as well. Then we ate out with some of my best friends at one of my favorite restaurants, and, other than Jackson's fussiness enjoyed catching up with them.

We met our new real estate agent at our house, which is still for sale, FYI. We have only ever spoken to each other on the phone, so it was nice to actually meet the guy for real. It was strange to be back on our old house, which we now refer to as our "Vacation Home in the Mountains". We saw some of our neighbors as well.

After all that we walked around our former campus and were able to show off our kids some more. We wandered until Jackson was thouroughly worn out, then headed out to dinner at our favorite local diner.

I enjoyed running into the occasional person who didn't even know we had moved. It was admittedly a very long winter, and if we had been in town still we wouldn't have seen some regular town folk simpy because everyone spent months hunkered down in their warm homes instead of being out and about.

Favorite experiences?

1) Running into a friend on the sidewalk while putting some things in our car. He offered to walk me to lunch under his umbrella because it had started raining. I enjoyed the brief walk, it was an unexpected pleasure.

2) Seeing an old friend of mine who has always liked me and my family despite his normal gruff personality. He melted when he saw how much Geo has grown and how cute Jackson is.

3) Jackson was given handmade booties.

4) Geo was given a Christmas ornament that said "I Love You" on it.

This morning was spent in a leisurely fashion.... Although G was going into the city for another day of conferencing today, he decided to head in via Metro after rush hour. We dropped him off at the train station and then headed to the mall with the boys for a little Stride Rite shopping for Geo. He now owns new tennis shoes and water sandals for the summer. Kid keeps on growing....

Geo played in the children's play area in the center of the mall for a while, and Jackson loved being shuttled around in the stroller. Both boys had a lot of fun and everyone cooperated. Kind of a low-stress morning, all said and done.

This afternoon  has been spent outside in the beautiful, warm, fresh air. Geo and I tromped around with Jackson in the Bjorn, picking up sticks, pinecones, and clumps of mown grass. We hosed off the Radio Flyer wagon for later use and filled the wading pool. Geo was a funny guy. He stripped down to his underwear to go in the pool, but refused to pee outside because the little girls (our nextdoor neighbors in SD) might see him peeing. Modesty is a varied thing at four.

Photos to follow at a later date. They are on my mom's camera.

Next: Lazy afternoon followed by a visit from friends this evening. I will pick G up at the train station late tonight when he calls. He has a meeting at 7:00 p.m. today, so I don't expect to hear from him for quite a long time. I feel badly that he is missing all this fun with his children, and he is feeling badly that I am missing all the fun at the conference.

Tomorrow brings a trip back to our old house and friends in the mountains. By Wednesday I hope Jackson is settled enough that I can go into the city with George for the day. We'll see.

Yesterday's travel went really well.

We took a noon flight rather than a ccrazy-early-in-the-morning flight. We had a little over an hour to make our connecting flight, which was just enough to be relaxed about getting to our gate, stretch our legs, but not get bored and antsy. And the shuttle to the rental car place was waiting for us right outside the baggage claim area. Seamless!

Traveling with two small children?

Perfect, oddly. Well, I wasn't worried about Geo. He has flown once before and loved the experience, so he was excited, although pleasantly excited, not manic excited...big difference. Jackson slept through most of both flights. I had him strapped to me in the Baby Bjorn and I fed him his bottle at take off and landing. He totally zonked in between. I was a little concerned when we realized that our family was going to be seperated during the first flight, but luckily I was seated next to a grandmother who genuinely loves babies, so I was set (much better than uncomfortable business man in suit). The second flight was similar in that I was seated next to another wonderful grandmother, but I also had G and Geo across the aisle from me.

We also had a nice upgrade to an SUV at the rental car place, which means I'm driving a high end Ford Explorer at the moment. Funny - it's much nicer than anything I'll ever own, I'm sure. It has all the bells and whistles, including a tow hitch and 4x4 capability. I probably shouldn't use either on this trip, but you never know..... I did promise Geo a "cool car" because he wasn't clear as to why we had to rent one when we had two in our own garage. Mama delivered.

The only real mishap was at the rental car agency when Jackson, who was in the Bjorn while I was credit carding and signing, peed out on me. I kind of realized something was amiss because of the warm, wet feeling I had on the front of my shirt all of a sudden. I later realized that he had been changed at our connecting airport into a size 6 diaper (Geo's backups) rather than his own size 3 by someone who will remain nameless (who wasn't me). That'll do it. So we changed Jackson on the front seat of the Explorer, which must have seem roomy and luxurious to the little man.

The drive on the Beltway was uneventful. It was a Saturday evening, so traffic was as light as it gets.

All is well.

Today's adventures included a trip for the boys to Adventureland, which is a small amusement park in the area. Geo and I rode the Merry-Go-Round together and played Skee-Ball, and he also rode the helicopter ride and played air-hockey with my mother. We all shared Dip-N-Dots, and Jackson discovered the feeling of frozen treats is a good one. Jackson enjoyed being wheeled around in the stroller. Both my boys love to go.

G spent the day at the Political Geography Pre-Conference, which I am unfortunatly missing, and I don't expect to see him until late tonight. He mentioned catching dinner downtown. I'll join him at the conference as soon as I feel like Jackson feels comfortable at my folk's home. I'll stay back tomorrow, then head to our former town on Tuesday. Hopefully I'll get into the City with G on Wednesday. I look forward to seeing all of our friends at this particular gathering. I'd hate to miss all of it, although hanging back with my boys is good, too.

Off to Washington, D.C. On Saturday, then Chamberlain, South Dakota of all places. Maybe Omaha in June.