What are you having?

This week we bring you some great ways our friends and acquaintances have used to tell if we are going to have a boy or girl. We are including these below in case anyone else out there wants to use these ancient and highly reliable methods as opposed to a boring ol' ultrasound to find out what they are having.

From the book, What to Expect When Your Wife Is Expanding (courtesy of Mark Wiggins)...

-Carrying high and long means a boy; low and wide means a girl.

-Easy pregnancies are boys; difficult ones, girls.

-Food cravings mean boys; chocolate cravings mean girls.

-Italian old wives believe that if you go for the heel of a loaf of bread, it's a boy.

-A clear complexion means a girl; a poor complexion means a boy. But girls will cause more headaches during adolescence, so it all evens out.

-Pump some stereophonic Motown into the womb. Girls "dance" to music; boys go to sleep. This holds true up to and including junior high.

-Smooth hands mean a girl; rough hands mean a boy; dry, scaly hands mean you should be doing the dishes for your wife more often.

-When the mother gains weight, you're having a baby, but when Dad gains weight? He's having too many helpings.

-A dream about trying to pick out a prettier postage stamp means it's a girl; a dream in which you really don't want to stop and ask directions means it's a boy.

From our travels...

-If the baby moves around a lot it's a boy (a Guatemalan mother).

-If the baby stops moving when a male child touches your belly, it's a boy (a Colombian mother).

-If you can't tell that you're pregnant from the back, it's a boy (a Mexican mother).

-If the baby is down low, it's a boy (our Asian post lady).

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Please add any more other ideas you might have in the comments below.

Cakes & Camping

Michelle decorated her first cake at her Wilton class this week. Here you'll see a picture of it next to one of the cake she made two years ago when she
first got her decorating tips. See if you can guess which cake is which. She has wanted to take a cake decorating class since she was an
undergraduate student, but had to wait until she completed her last degree before she could take a "fun" class (not that Advanced Lipid Metabolism wasn't fun . . .).

On Wenesday camped overnight at the Louisville State Recreation Area on the Platte River, a quick 30 min drive away on Nebraska country roads. One thing nice about going on a weekday is that it's just you and and a few perma-campers in their land yaughts. There was a nice hiking trail along the river and we were watched over by a pair of formidable Canada Geese. There were a few small fishing ponds scattered around the park, and Michelle, The Turtle Hunter guided us to some fine specimens. See some of the award winning footage below. Little did we know that the train tracks 50 yards away from our campsite would be in use every half hour around the clock - those train engineers make sure that everyone knows where they are regardless of the time. Now we know that this is a day visit only park.

Bellevue or Bust

In order to understand the excitement of this week, I think that everyone should know that Ryan loves to drive and decided a long time ago that if medical school didn't work out he would learn to drive 18-wheelers across the country and "Keep America Moving." This week he got as close to driving a big-rig as he has ever been. In fact, he even got to rub elbows with fellow truckers at the CAT weight stations where he weighed the truck before and after we filled it with our furniture. I have to admit though that both Ryan and our moving truck were much smaller than the real trucks and truckers. Keep reading below for highlights from my exclusive interview with Ryan about his 2 day trucking experience.

Michelle: "Thank you for joining us Ryan, we know your schedule is very busy. How did you feel driving the truck across the US?"

Ryan: "It was like living a dream: sitting high above the other cars, going zero to 40 in 2 minutes off a red light, and singing On the Road Again as I ignored cars merging onto the highway. It was beautiful."

Michelle: "Were there any challenges that you did not anticipate that you had to overcome?"

Ryan: "Yes, the wind moves a big truck around a lot more than a car. I had to learn to keep a good grip on the steering wheel and not to over-correct when a strong gust of wind tried to push me out of my lane. I'm a fast learner though, and by the time we were in Iowa I was down to running only 1 car off the road an hour."

Michelle: "Do you feel that you fit into the trucking world?"

Ryan: "I'm not sure, but I got a lot of headlight flashes from other truckers to let me know I was clear to switch lanes after passing them. I think that's their way of slowly inviting me into their circle."

Michelle: "Are you ready to do it again?"

Ryan: "No, but I will be when our next move comes up in 3 years. I need to take my skills up a notch, and I figure if I start spending Saturdays at the auto parts store and subscribe to Truckers Monthly I should be ready."

Michelle: "Thank you Ryan for your time and good luck with your future plans."

We also got to visit Emily and her family half way to Omaha/Bellevue. It sure was nice to have a day to rest after packing and before unloading. Here are some fun pictures that you can click to see more.