I have truly discovered the cat....

Norma and I have had some interaction over the few months that I have been on this Earth...but recently, I have become interested in her in ways that have my parents paying a bit more attention to me and her...this past week, I began grabbing her fur in large chunks as she walks by me. She has been sniffing at me, and lingering a bit longer than she usually does. This of course, doesn't necessarily concern my parents TOO much, but they are a bit more aware of the two of us when we're near each other...

Dad always tells me "Pet the kitty NICELY like THIS" and shows me how he pets her, but really, grabbing a big old clump of fur is a lot more fun! So, I think that's what I'll do for now.

Home Sweet Home...

Well...after an intense 3 day visit to Louisville, I'm back home, safe and sound. The trip back home was a lot harder than the trip out there, and Mom and Dad quickly learned that when I would like to stop and take a break, that means that right then, at that very second, I would like to stop and take a break.

I try and give them some warning...I'll wake up, be happy for about fifteen minutes or so, and then get a bit fussy. The fussiness is the warning. I'm fussy for about 10 minutes, and that's the time you have to stop. After that, I melt down.

I wouldn't even look at Mom when she sat in the back and tried to console me. I didn't want to read, or play with my stuffed animals. I wanted to be out of the car, taking a break from driving.

Once my parents figured that out, all was right with the world!

The trip was still long, but the scenery was again quite lovely. Mom and Dad talked and enjoyed the trip, while I tried to take in the natural beauty of the world around me.

Well, that and sleeping for several hours at a clip.

It was an exhausting trip, but well worth it, and I hope we get to do it again sometime soon.

A Very Baseball-y day....

Our last full day here in Louisville was all about baseball! As you can see above, Mom skipped out during lunch to join Dad & I at the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory.

Yes...we are standing in front of a HUGE Louisville Slugger bat.

The bat towered over the building, as was very cool to see. The glass factory next door had a large baseball smashing through the window. Who puts a glass factory next to a bat factory? Especially with that huge bat sitting outside...not very smart, if you ask me.

The tour of the factory was VERY cool! It was actually the working factory where all the Louisville Slugger bats are made. Due the fact that there may well have been baseball bat maker spies amongst us, cameras were not allowed in the actual factory, but believe me when I say it was amazing to watch a piece of wood magically become a baseball bat in 30 seconds. Dad was amazed to discover that each player uses his own bat in the Major leagues, and Mom noticed that several players including Alex Rodriguez had "Rush Orders" listed on a white board in the factory. VERY cool! Below, we are taking a quick stroll through the museum, and Dad let me try and pull the baseball off the wall, knowing full well it was glued on there pretty tightly. What a meanie.

At the end of the tour, everyone received a free Louisville Slugger mini-bat. Even me! Here, you can see me scrutinizing the bat to make sure that it was the exact measurements and weight that I requested. Major League players can tell differences in bats that machines can't even pick up. So can babies.

Or maybe players are being babies, since if a machine can't sense it, why can a human? Silly baseball players....

All in all, it was a very cool tour, and it really made you appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into making these things, and how precise it all is from player to player. A lot of fun.



Dad met up for lunch with an old friend from DC who happened to live in Louisville now (Dad has a mild stalking problem) While I slept through some of lunch, I was told that they went to a very cool BBQ place, and that they had a lot of fun catching up...I woke up towards the end, and I got to meet her. I also met a couple kids at the BBQ place that were talking to me. They were a lot of fun. Dad's friend Kristen seemed nice, and I even threw some smiles her way to humor everyone, but really I just wanted to go back to sleep, which I soon did just in time to drive back and meet Mom at the hotel.

Mom was finally freed from work, Dad and I took naps, and then it was off to Louisville Slugger Stadium for my first baseball game!! It was the Lousiville Bats (as in little flying ones) versus the Gwinnett Braves. Where the heck is Gwinnett, you ask? It's in Georgia! (Thank you, Google!)


Mom and I are having a blast, though you can tell I'm getting a bit warm and tired. Below, this is Dad and I earlier in the game. I wore my requisite baseball hat, as did Dad.

A random surprise first tonight: I took my very first swig of water! I was parched, so Mom let me have a little water, which surprised Dad, since he figured that I would just let it dribble down my chin (He still thinks I'm a doll, or something...) But lo and behold, I drank a little bit, swallowed it down, and enjoyed every drop!! Thanks, Mom!

Final score was Lousiville 5, Gwinnett 0! The team I was rooting for won! NICE! We left during the seventh inning stretch, since I was beat, but we didn't miss anything exciting. We caught up with the game online.

Tomorrow...the long drive home, and then back to old grind...

Louisville-Day 2

So today was a bit crazy....

Dad and I knew that there was supposed to be some crazy weather moving in, but we didn't know that it would be THAT crazy!

We hung out with Mom in the early hours of the day (OK, Dad was in a sleepy haze, and I was eating...) and then she went off to work.

Part of her day was giving a talk about an aspect of her job. Her nametag had a little ribbon stuck to it that said "Speaker" and Dad thought that was awesome. From what it sounded like, she did very well. She even got to answer some questions. Dad and I were very proud of her.


While she was doing that, Dad and I packed up, and went for a walk around Louisville. He clipped me into the Baby Bjorn, and we were off. Above is a photo of the view of our hotel from the 18th floor, which we're on. It's a little nuts! Also, the elevator drops fast enough that it feels like you're falling, which is fun and scary at the same time (Dad says that's a natural way to feel in a situation like that) Dad discovered that whenever I seem scared, all he has to do, is make a happy sound like "Yayyyy" or "oooooooh!" and I tend to calm down...fine work, Dad...



Above is a picture of "Fourth Street Live", a section of fourth street that serves as a strip of bars, restaurants, and in the summer months, a free streetside concert venue. Pretty cool, huh? Dad walked through here, and we found a nice coffee shop (and two baristas to fawn over me...Dad is still getting used to people smiling at his chest and talking to it when I'm strapped there...it's like having a little celebrity attached to you.)

So, at this point, the rain began to fall, and while Dad had the big umbrella, he was unprepared for the monsoon which was to follow. He was going to take shelter under the covered section of "Fourth Street Live" but the wind was so bad, it just blew through the covered area, and there was no real cover. So, we snuck off into a little alcove for a stairway, and hid in there while the storm raged oustide. It was SO loud, but I stayed calm (Partially due to Dad's "oooooh" whenever there was a loud clap of thunder...he told me later that it was some of the craziest lightning that he had ever seen..) We just stood there and calmly watched people from the outdoor restaurants chasing after tables and stuff that was getting blown around...

When we deemed it safe, we exited, and walked across the street to the hotel, and went upstairs. We watched the storm from the hotel room window, which was quite a view. It was a lot of fun, and quite a little adventure!

Later, after the weather all calmed down, Dad and I walked to the waterfront, and even though I had my little hat on, we both got pretty hot. It was a really nice walk, though some parts of Louisville are pretty beaten up. Generally, though...it was very nice!

Since I was so warm, and a little red from our walk, Mom was nice enough to press a cool wash cloth agaisnt my forehead when we got back to the hotel room, and it felt SOOOO good! She also fed me, which felt even better.

This is Joe's Crab Shack, with a bridge to Indiana in the background. The waterfront was quite lovely.

Mom and Dad went out to a little restaurant close by, and ate dinner, while I finally fell asleep. The waitress marvelled that I was able to fall asleep with all the noise, but hey...when I'm tired, I'm tired!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Louisville, and then I'm told we have another long day in the car on Saturday. Outrageous!

I can see Indiana from here!

So...after 12 hours in the car...we have arrived in Louisville!! The city just kind of sprang up out of nowhere...one second we were in the woods, the next we were in a pretty decent-sized major city!

The drive was long, but exquisite...we drove several hours through picturesque Maryland (turns out, once you get far enough from Washington, DC, Maryland is quite lovely) including The Alleghenies, which Dad has always wanted to see. Huge mountains, deep valleys, all covered in trees as far as the eye can see.

There was some severe weather along the way (Dad had to actually stop singing and talking to me, to concentrate on the road which he could barely see in front of him.) but just as quickly as the storm came, it left. Blue skies all around us. (Until the next random rain squall showed up a couple hours later)

Once, during part of the Alleghenies leg, we were in a pass cut through a mountain, and the fog was so thick, you could barely see in front of you, and it looked like there was a ceiling above us...

But generally, the weather was nice. In the pic above, you can see Dad and I having fun at what is easily the prettiest rest stop I have ever seen. And trust me, I've seen a few.

Dad and I carried on, stopping periodically to give me a break (though, I was angry and felt betrayed at the last break, since I thought we were done...I cried for ten minutes, but Mr. Lyon helped keep me calm...more on him later)

While the drive was long, West Virginia, Kentucky (both of which Dad had never been to, and was very excited to see) and Maryland were such beautiful places. We can't wait to share the trip with Mom on our way home.

Finally, we arrived in Louisville, and after having some trouble locating Mom, reunited with her. (Yes...it felt so good) she was very excited to see me, and I was thrilled to see her. She had been bragging to everyone about how awesome Dad is to make the trip, and they threw mad props to the both of us for making a difficult journey.

More on my trip as it develops!

ROAD TRIP!!

So...Mom is going on a business trip to Louisville, KY. Dad had to take a few days off work to take care of me anyway, and thought, "Hey....it's been awhile since I've been on a business trip with my wife...we have to take Sam to Maine in August...why not go on a mini road trip to Louisville to prep for it, and see how Sam does on a long trip!"

Dad will be driving 10-12 hours today through Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virgina, and Kentucky. Hopefully the trip goes smoothly. The longest I have been in a car thus far has been some of the longer car trips to Connecticut when Mom or Dad has to stop a lot to take care of me.

It's possible that I will be seeing my first baseball game, and it's almost definite that I will not enjoy being in a car for half a day.

Dad is bringing the laptop along, and I will be blogging from Louisville, and along the way if we have a web connection. Follow along, and enjoy!!

My hands, feet and mouth....

So, in case you haven't heard, I got sick this week. The little germ factory known as "Daycare" had a spat of Hand Foot and Mouth disease...it actually sounds worse than it is: I get little blisters on my hands, feet and mouth, and run a bit of a fever. I also have a sore throat, and am pretty miserable lately...

I was sent home from daycare, because of this contagious little bug, and unfortunately you really have to just wait it out. I felt awful, but Mom took really good care of me when she had to stay home from work...

Dad helped when he got home, but at least he didn't have to stay home from work...

Sorry this post is kinda lame, but I feel awful. :-(