Some things can never change

Dear Duane,

We did it, we continued on with our family tradition! Spring break arrived, fighting commenced, couch potato's sprouted, sleeping in once again reigned supreme, Guidry playtime occurred and hotel heaven happened. I contemplated whether or not to embark on this last one task without you, but Duane, some things can never change. Katie brought a little remembrance of you along so you wouldn't feel that left out. We did miss you horribly, especially when I had to run home at 11:00 to get the sleeping bag that Ben forgot(I didn't even get a ticket! Are you jealous?)

How could we give up hotel pizza, Mazzio's with a little root beer, yum! Do you remember that first year that we had hotel pizza, we had just come back from the zoo and surprised the kids with a night at the Springhill Suites, man that New Yorker was divine. I can see your face now, huge smile, downing that slice of heaven. Such a silly little tradition, but it was ours and we will always think of you while we down our slices of heaven.

Don't you love the smiles on their faces? These moments strengthen me Duane, through all the hard times, and lately we've had a lot of those moments, little smiles like Gracie's give me just that extra boost to keep going.

Can you believe how excited our monkeys can get when you explain that since we are on the first floor, no one is beneath us and that they can dance and jump as much as they want? What a bunch of nut heads, it was like a night club, but without the booze, scandalously dressed women and looser dogs.

Emma decided to boogie down too! She perfected the fine art of eating calzones and dancing at the same time, without choking and barfing. As a matter of fact I think she was even serenading us with her lovely rendition of Life is a Highway.

We played a few games, fought a few fights(did you know Duane that Home Improvement had ugly people on it?), watched a little American Idol, snuggled a few babies to sleep and enjoyed the evening at the hotel. It's quiet now, the kids are all asleep, now and then Emma stirs, I miss you painfully right now but I know that for our children, fun traditions must continue. I love you dearly because, some things can never change.

Love,

Beautiful