Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

That's kinda how I feel this fall, especially after the past two weekends. It's been wonderful - don't get me wrong - but this girl is ready to stay home for awhile!

Two weekends ago we were fortunate to be invited to attend the christening for the country's newest nuclear submarine, the USS North Dakota, in Groton, Connecticut. I can't even begin to tell you how cool that was.

[Side note: I can't ever say "nuclear" without thinking of the Simpsons and hope I'm pronouncing it correctly.]

At the sub museum

But back to the christening: our friend is the ship's sponsor and we got to see her break the champagne bottle. She was really hoping it would break on the first try because apparently it is bad luck if it doesn't. The North Dakota will be lucky now - broke on the first try! I gotta tell you, though, submarines just aren't that impressive above the water. (However, the next day, we went on a tour of the USS Nautilus, and were duly impressed. Those sailors live under some incredible conditions - but apparently the food is the best in the Navy!)

There is no one more deserving of this honor

And who should be at the reception afterwards but Mr. Rough Rider himself, Teddy Roosevelt.

In addition to touring the Nautilus that weekend, we got to spend a few hours in Mystic. I have never been in New England before, and that part of the country is absolutely gorgeous. We were about a week or two past prime leaf colors, but it was still lovely. And we definitely felt like we weren't in Nebraska!

We were home just four days when I had to leave on a ten-hour-one-way road trip:

My girls make fun of my love of maps. We had 3 iPhones in the car, after all.

This was such a fun trip! First of all, I got to spend the 8 hours from Des Moines to Grand Rapids with my two favorite daughters, and then got to spend the weekend with my favorite daughter-in-law!

Are these girls not beautiful or what?!

The reason for our trip was family baby shower. It was so much fun! I love how our family is growing with each addition - not just our little nuclear (nucular?) family, but all the extended families they bring along. The shower itself was just the women, but the dad-to-be joined us for dinner that night:

Moms, daughters, aunt, cousins. And Alex. As he said, "There's a lot of estrogen here."

Grandmas, mom, and baby!

Back to reality and our dull life here in Nebraska. Work, laundry, grocery shopping - it will be a great week. Seriously. I love dull!