Back in the States
We've been back in the States for a little over a month. The fog is lifting a bit, but probably just a bit--the past two weeks have been "hiding out", enjoying the quiet of Nebraska farm land. We drove from my parents' (Jenny's) in Pennsylvania to Joel's parents' in Nebraska. It was a long trip. It made driving from Maputo to Beira look like a short distance. The difference, though, here was despite the distance being longer and the time we drove longer, the roads were nicer--no pot holes(!) and plenty of gas stations and very little fear of other drivers driving crazy  and baby changing stations in restrooms and places to buy a cup of coffee and tea(!). I think all together our travel took 27 hours but we went 1200 miles--and that with a 3 year old and a 4 month old. In our family, so far, some of the keys to such a long trip is starting early in the morning (like 2 AM), fun little snacks (peanuts, craisins, etc) and lots of children's music.

Some observations about the States:
- America is BIG! Not just in miles and time it takes to travel, but cars (think double cab full size pick-up trucks and SUVs) houses, stores (big box stores), yards,  restaurant portions, cups (20oz cups), etc
- Alot of food is sweet--salad dressings, salads, cereals, juice
- High fructose corn syrup is in almost everything (Coke, for the record, in our opinion tastes much better made with sugar cane than high fructose corn syrup)
- America is very violent--not just the shooting that happened this past week in Aurora--but it seems like guns and other violence is norm in movies and on tv (I knew this before but am struck by it again after years of being away from it

I think that's all for now...excuse me as I go get a cashew-craisin-white chocolate cookie (homemade by my mother-in-law)