April in West Virginia, looks a shockingly amount like March in West Virginia.  And February, for that matter.

In the beginning of the month, I had the following experience:

Last night I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard a huge crash-boom!  I sat up, panicked and immediately started to shoot of questions to Robert.  what was that?  Is someone or something in our house?  Did a meteor hit?

Robert calmly responded, eyes still closed..."It was a tree falling.  It landed somewhere between us and our neighbor, up on the road."  His finely honed echolocation was at work, even while he slept, as he lifted up an arm and pointed exactly to the place he believed the tree had fallen.  Then he let his arm fall leaden back to the mattress.  He rolled over and started to snore.

I scoffed, of course.  I tend to scoff when Robert does these things.  Talking like he had personally been standing on the road when the tree fell,  and then taking measurements and doing calculations during the aftermath.  He is just so darn sure of himself sometimes.  Even half asleep.

Naturally, when I took the boys to school, we were blocked by a giant tree crossing over the road, in exactly the same place where my dead-to-the-world husband had pointed.

It's infuriating.

seriously.

My question, of course, is where was that super power hearing every-time the babies cried out in the middle of the night?  He would 'sleep' right through their screams and when I kicked, um, I mean, gently nudged him into action, he would wake up, arms flailing, sputtering things like, "What?" "Where?"  But mostly, "WHY??"

The still-screaming child in the room next door, never seemed to give him the context he was searching for.

Weird, right?

So.  As Spring Break approached, I started to get antsy.  Robert had to work during the week, and I was feeling cooped up after a long and drizzly Spring.  Sitting around the house, watching the stir-crazy boys make mess after mess as the entertained themselves sounded like a nightmare. 

So I got the brilliant idea of jumping in the car and driving myself down to Lora's house for the week.  It would be awesome.  Her kids would be at school, and we could just lounge at her pool during the day and play with cousins at night.  Best part was, when I looked at my phone it said that the trip would only take 13 hours.  Well.  13 hours didn't sound so bad.  I could do that, no problem.

So I did.  I packed up the car, kissed Robert good bye and started my drive.  The first few hours went like a dream.  Then we started hitting random, and crazy traffic.  Then my phone stopped working right when I was suppose to take a new freeway.  13 hours later, I was no where close to Orlando.  It was past dinner time and already dark.  That's when the April Rain from Hades started.  The kind of rain that makes drivers flash their hazards and pull off to the side of what we all believed was the edge of the road.  Not that anyone could see it.  

This rain would come, let up, and come on back at the most surprising moments.  It was just a terrible coincidence that during on of these resurgence of hurricane force squalls that Emmett decided to break into a half-an-hour scream fest.  Not whining, to clarify.  Screaming.  The kind of screams that make you feel a desperate urge to join in.

By the time I was an hour away from Orlando, and I was working on my second Monster drink, my eye lids were so heavy that I had started to perform the stay-awake routine.   I'd roll down the window, slap my face, change positions a million times, shove down mouthfuls of food, down more Monster drink, stretch my arms out...and start all over again.  Just when I thought I'd have to pull over and sleep, I saw the signs for Universal Studios.  And then my phone connection broke again.  Right there as I was coming up to what I thought was the exit.  I debated, but went with my gut, and fortunately, it was the right exit after all.  I had made it.

It is, in fact, a nineteen hour drive.

Just so you know.