Away from home...and missing it

First of all, our short camping trip over the weekend went very well. It's amazing how well Mikias takes to the outdoors. Once we got him to sleep, we simply put him in his stroller and he slept the entire time we were sitting around the campfire. He even did a great job sleeping in the pack-and-play in the tent too. Of course he did wake up a few times during the night but that has become normal for us. One thing I do know is that we need a little bit larger tent...there wasn't a lot of room to spare. We went camping with some of my friends from high school in honor of Rich's 30th birthday (sorry that I had to mention that, Rich). They all have kids now too and it was cool to see them all interact with each other. We actually got a really good picture of the kids that I'll have to post later on. The reason I can't do it now is....

I'm on a trip for work right now and not at home with my family. I'm in Phoenix and will be driving around the Southwest US for the next 1-1/2 weeks testing vehicles in hot weather...yipee. This really kind of stinks. Actually, the work is very interesting and I do enjoy it, but right now I'd much rather be home. It was crazy how much harder it was for me to leave for the airport Monday morning when I knew that I was leaving Mikias. In the back of my mind I'm thinking that maybe he won't recognize me when I return or that I'll miss some real big milestone while I'm gone. I already know he'll have more teeth when I get back. I also feel bad about having Joanna completely take on Mikias 24/7. It definitely makes it a little easier when there are two of us around. I guess the good thing is that this is the only work trip I'll likely have this year. I had four trips last year.