I've uploaded a whole slew o' California pictures to my Picasa account. You can either click on the slide show in the left-hand column, or follow the link at the bottom of this post. Some of the pictures are repeats of the beach pictures I posted in this entry but I wanted the album to be inclusive of the entire trip for any of my non-blog-reading friends or family who come to check it out.
Also I'd like to invite you to check out the other album I created today. It contains my favorite non-people pictures I've taken over the last few years. If I ever get my scanner working again I will go back into my archives (from prior to my digital days) and add those to the album, as well. As I said in the description of the album, I don't often take really good pictures but, once in a while, I'll come up with one that I think looks pretty well-done. I'll continue to update the album as (if?) I snap any more good shots.
Bye-bye, loves. The kids and I are off home today. We take off from San Luis at 12:55, spend more than three hours sitting in Salt Lake City (sigh), and then zoom off to arrive in Oklahoma City just before 11 p.m. Then, because we won't have traveled enough for one day, we're driving home instead of spending the night.
Good thoughts, prayers, chants, spells, animal sacrifices, etc. in honor of our safety and sanity would be appreciated. I won't be on again till tomorrow but I'll try to update as early as possible to let everyone know we've made it. (Or, as I've told my parents before, you can just watch the news. If there are no reports of plane crashes, we've made it okay. ;) )
UPDATE: We made it home, in one piece, no less, around 1:00 this morning. We all slept in and are now lazing around, recovering.
Prior to now, I have never been much of a beach person, despite growing up a mere twenty minutes from the Pacific Ocean. I don't like to be hot or sit in the sun, I'm not a swimmer and I don't tan. While we usually have managed to get to the beach at least once per California trip, our visits consist of dropping by while in the area for something else, in street clothes, walking around a while, and then leaving. I like the ocean to look at; I think it's beautiful and I'd love to live near it. I've just never been inclined to be an actual beach bum.
This trip Robert took the kids to Morro Bay one day (in their regular clothes) and they had a blast. First they fed the squirrels but then went down to the water and ran around. He promised they could go back to the beach a few days later and asked me if I wanted to go. We decided that we would actually take swimsuits and other supplies and go spend some time there. So, off we went to Avila Beach. And do you know? We had a great time! I was slightly dubious, being that Eliza is still pretty young. I didn't know if she'd try to wander off a lot, or keep trying to banzai into the water. But she was no problem. She walked around a bit but stayed in the vicinity of our spot. She did like the water but was happy to come back to our area and sit and play.
All in all it was a lovely afternoon and I came away finding myself very gung-ho about returning. This time, though, I wanted to really go the whole nine yards. I went out and bought a portable beach shelter, a beach umbrella, beach bags and various beach toys for the kids. We packed a cooler with sandwiches and drinks and we headed off to Avila again this past Saturday. We were there from 12-6 and, again, had a great time. I think we're going to be spending a lot more time at the beach in future trips, now that the kids are getting older. I'm even window-shopping for equipment for next summer -- a larger, easier-to-handle shelter and a beach cart to wheel our paraphernalia. Apparently I am more of a beach person than I thought. And well I should be. I mean, here we're coming from a landlocked state where our only "beach" options are lakes (most of which are full of drunk rednecks). We ought to be taking advantage of being here.
All this blah blah blah is not without reason, by the way. What I'm leading up to is, of course....beach pictures! Click below to view them.
Those who have known me for a long time will have at least a vague recollection of this, but for those who don't: have I ever mentioned how much we used to travel? Starting from the time Robert and I got together right up till JZ was a baby and our finances took a big dump, we used to travel. A LOT.
I was just looking through some of my old files I have saved and found a few lists of our yearly trips.
First off, check out this itinerary from 1999, pre-children:
January 22 - 30: California
March 4 - 7: Kansas City
March 7 - 10: Hot Springs, AR
March 26 - 28: Amarillo (cat show)
April 9 - 13: Vegas
May 3 - 9: Mom and Dad visit
May 22 - 23: Midwest City (cat show)
June 14 - 17: Atascadero
June 17 - 18: Hollywood (Poison concert)
June 18 - 19: Atascadero
June 18 - 22: Monterey (with Robert)
June 22 - 27: Big Sur
June 27 - July 3: Atascadero
July 27 - August 5: California
September 24 - 28: Vegas
September 30 - October 3: Chicago
October 7 - 9: Dallas
November 2 - 6: Disneyland; L.A. Beatles convention
November 7 - 16: Atascadero
And, yes, you're reading it right. I had a mere three weeks between two of my California trips.
Now check out this itinerary for 2000. Keep in mind I was pregnant most of this time:
February 14 - 22: California
March 8 - 12: Kansas City
April 6 - 14: Mom and Dad visit
June 20 - 28: California
July 13 - 16: St. Louis (Gateway sci-fi convention w/ MSTies)
July 29 - 3: Atascadero
July 3 - 4: Hollywood (Poison concert)
July 4 - 9: Atascadero
August 27 - 30: Vegas
September 23 - 30: California (returning less than a month before Madalyn was born)
December 23 - 30: California
I like how I begrudgingly took three months off to have a baby and then headed right back to CA again.
As if that wasn't enough, here is our itinerary for 2002. Madalyn was a baby/toddler and as of September I was pregnant with JZ:
January 18 - January 26: California
February 19 - 21: Eureka Springs, AR
March 8 - 11: Kansas City
April 3 - 6: Las Vegas
April 22 - May 4: California
June 21 - July 12: California
July 26 - 29: St. Louis
August 3 - 6: Las Vegas
October 21 - November 9: California (parents' house and also four days at Disneyland)
December 23 - January 6: California (parents' house plus overnight trip to LA for the Rose Bowl)
I remember that summer well. Madalyn was with me on all of those trips and by the time we got to Vegas we were both just DONE. We were worn the hell out. I needed the rest of August and all of September to recover!
So having spent the first six or seven years of my relationship with Robert traveling like this it was quite a change to be reduced, for a few years, to visiting California once a year, at best.
We are now on the road to recovery, though. Much of this isn't set in stone yet but here is a rough outline of my 2008 itinerary:
December 22 - January 4: California
March: either my parents visit or we go to California or somewhere else for Spring Break
May 22 - 26: Louisville, KY
June/July (to be determined): California
August 8-10: Minneapolis
October: possible Fall Break trip
November: North Carolina (or possibly another location -- meeting some girlfriends)
December: California
Not quite up to late 90s/early 00s standards, but a pretty meaty schedule, considering we have three times as many kids as we did then. I'm going to be pretty busy this year. And just as happy as the prospect of all these trips is the fact that we are in a position, financially, where they will all likely be possible. A couple years ago I wouldn't have been able to consider half this many.
*dusts off traveling shoes*
This weekend I will betake myself to a fine spa in Oklahoma City for a day of beauty and relaxation.
First on the list is to hack off this disgusting, stringy excuse for hair which is currently residing on top of my head. Color will be used; highlights will be applied. I am fully aware that it is a risky move, going short, and that I may well come away looking like a pinhead. However, sacrifices must be made. It can't possibly look worse than it does now so, there you go, I'm ahead already. Nowhere to go but up.
The other treatment on the agenda is called the Rescue Remedy. It involves me in a hydrotherapy tub, receiving a foot, scalp, head, neck and shoulder massage, then moving on to a full-body massage after. When I think about it I could cry. Especially when I think about the foot massage. My feet are so sore and/or tired all the time now.
As if this wasn't fun enough for the whole family (it isn't) we are going to spend the weekend up there and hit the State Fair on Sunday and Monday. The entire focus and purpose of my fair-going experience can be summed up in four words: Bavarian-cream-filled churros (click to read about my first experience with these little slices of heaven from a deep-fryer). I guess we'll probably have to quit eating for a few minutes and hit the carnival, too. Damned kids.
Happy weekend to all!
We're in California!
I have a new camera, which I heart very much.
The kids are having a great time with Grandma.
Madalyn has gotten way too many new toys (as usual).
Eliza has discovered the joy of diapers as headgear.
And Johnny, as usual, couldn't care less.
We're having a lovely visit. More later.
Okay, so we've established that I am, indeed, mad krazy.
Consider, however, that there are some perks. For example we will be making a side trip to Chicago's Field Museum to see none other than King Tut himself! Well, his stuff, anyway. For those of you who don't know, this is the first time any Tut artifacts have been allowed out of Egypt since the 70's. This exhibit is twice as big as the 1970's version; many of these items have never been outside of Egypt. It was a huge success on its previous tour; back then people stood in line for up to 8 hours to get in and see it. Thanks to modern technology that won't be an issue. The tickets are issued with an entry time on them so you just show up at your appointed time and go right in. The Field Museum has sold over 730,000 tickets to this exhibit!
So, you see, there will be some reward for the hours of torture....ah, I mean, "family togetherness". For an ancient Egypt buff like myself it will be worth the hassle just to see the exhibit. I mean, really, how many times in your life do you get to see something like this in person?
Still, though....would it have killed us to consider flying? Geez.
Hello from Louisville, lovelies!
I made it safe and sound. Met a fab bunch of like-minded nutsos on the plane and chit-chatted with them a bit on the way up. Exchanged first names with the lady sitting just next to me and we've run into each other a couple times since arriving and have made small-talk. Have definitely been eating better this time than last time, when I was on a shoestring budget and trying to save all my cash for souvenirs and the like. My plan this time was to buy Beatle boots and bootleg CDs. Well, the bootleg CDs are not here this time BUT I have found an appropriate (if more expensive) substitute. For those who know me well all I need to say are these six words and you'll understand the enormity of the situation:
Purses. With the Beatles on them.
I will have pictures when I get home.
My dear friend Stacy is driving up to see me for a few hours this afternoon. I haven't seen her since she moved from OK to Kentucky, oh, I've blocked it from my memory.....a year ago, now? I'm very excited!
The money-grubbing bastards here at the otherwise-excellent hotel have changed the business center so I now have to pay to get online so I will save any further updating for another time. This may well be my only reporting from the field. I will do the full story when I return home Monday.
Louisville, here I come!
After a year of anticipation, the time has come. I'm off to the airport in the morning and will be in Louisville by 5 p.m., just in time to attend the preview concerts being held from 6-10 on the festival grounds.
I will be online once a day from the business center at the hotel -- I need to get away from the concerts and decompress a couple times a day and that's a good way to pass some quiet time. I will endeavor to do a little blogging if I can pull my head out of Strawberry Fields long enough to string a couple coherent sentences together. If not -- well, it will be Monday night or Tuesday before I pop up here again. It's about a 50/50 proposition.
Good holiday weekend to you all.
California is great. It's lovely and cool; a nice change from the unseasonably stupid-warm temps back in OK right now.
I've bought two pairs of shoes and a purse already.
The trip out was uneventful except that we had to rush to make our connection in Phoenix. But we made it and everything else was easy.
I lucked into a super-cool rental car. Check it out. (The one I'm driving is silver.) I guess they were all out of the Intermediate car I had reserved. A perk of not picking the car up until later in the day.
Kids are doing well. JZ is, surprisingly, not giving us any trouble his first time sleeping in a "big boy bed."
I'm doing well. The crazy pills are doing their job. I'm enjoying just relaxing and being in the moment of being here.
I will update more later but now I'm off to enjoy some Thrifty ice cream (rainbow sherbet and Chocolate Malted Crunch) and watch a movie with my mom.
It doesn't get much better than this.
Just a quick word to say I made it to Milwaukee. Other than being dog-tired (a lethal concoction of being preggers and being up since 4:20 a.m.) everything went swimmingly.
Having a great time...wish you were here.
By the way, I had a great time reading all my comments from my "Third time's a charm" entry. Unfortunately I have a feeling that Robert isn't too far from the truth with his comments. (Love ya', honey!)
On a more cheerful note, my birthday was somewhat salvaged, after all.
Well, not really, but my bananas have been tallied so it's time for me to skedaddle, nonetheless.
We're off to see the Wizard tomorrow. Our Yellow Brick Road takes us south on 101 then to the 405 and LAX. (3.5 hours if there's no traffic, so, in other words, on those days when hell is frozen over.) We will be rolling out of here no later than 8:30 a.m. The car is gassed and I'm going to dash out before bed and get cash from the ATM so we don't need to stop for anything on the way out of town. I am crossing my fingers that we'll make it at least halfway before the first potty break but that's equally likely to happen as not.
On the plus side, once we get to the airport it is pretty straightforward. We have one, 2.5-hour flight and then we're in Dallas, to be picked up by Robert -- who will drive the 2.5 hours home. The kids will sleep most of the way and dh and I will have a chance to chitchat so it should be pretty painless. (And a side note -- now that Robert has his breathing machine and gets an actual good night's sleep every night, I won't be fretting all the way home about whether he's dozing off at the wheel or not!)
So, there we go. I'm not exactly thrilled about going home, but it has to be done, I guess.
Think of us tomorrow!
As much as I'd love to say that my lack of updating is a result of a packed social calendar brimming with parties and events, the truth of the matter is more along the lines of me not being able to drag my sandwich-saturated mass to the computer, and, when I do manage it, I have a hard time gripping the mouse with my mayo-coated fingers.
We are having a lovely time here in California. It hasn't been unbearably hot. It's just 88 right now, at 2:20 p.m. And, of course, it cools way down overnight.
We've done loads of shopping, been to the beach once, and eaten at Denny's more times than I care to admit. The three of us went to see "Madagascar" with friends and then, last night, I took Madalyn to a late showing of "Herbie: Fully Loaded" (a.k.a. the Lindsay Lohan Skankfest. Obviously this was not my choice.)
Robert left to head out here yesterday. As of about an hour ago he was in Flagstaff, AZ, which will put him here tonight. We don't really have many specific plans for while he is here but we will certainly be glad to see him. The kids ask about him every day.
The kids are enjoying themselves. John-Zachary has finally warmed up to Grandma. Up till now he tolerated her, at best, and screamed bloody murder when she touched him, at worst. Finally he has come to the realization that she is not an axe-murderer in disguise and is playing with her and interacting with her by choice. This has enabled me to duck out on various occasions to go to the store, get a bite to eat, get my hair cut, etc. This has made for a happier household, in general.
Thus summarizes our exploits, so far. Now, as promised, here are two of the shots from the kids' photo session the other day. Not a bad-looking pair, if I do say so.
We're here!
I don't have time for a full run-down right now, so, quickly, three things:
1) Los Angeles should just give up the charade and declare the 405 one massive huge parking lot. Freeway, my ass. A blind, three-legged dog with rheumatoid arthritis could travel faster than my car did on that black-topped slice of Hell yesterday.
2) I totally hate peas? And yet I am in love with, and quite possibly want to marry, the pea soup at Pea Soup Andersen's in Buellton, CA. You know, if the whole Robert thing doesn't work out....I'm just saying I'm open to exploring other avenues. It looks like phlegm but it rocks my world.
3) Target card + first day here = maxed out. Already. Oops.
Come tomorrow we are off to Dallas to spend the night near the airport. It's the difference between getting up at 5:30 and getting up at 8:30 so I am thrilled out of my gourd that we are able to do it.
We leave Dallas at 11 a.m. on Tuesday and arrive at LAX around 2:30. Then there's a (minimum) 3.5-hour drive to my folks' house, not to mention 30-60 minutes to pick up the rental car, numerous potty stops and probably a stop for a bite to eat. I imagine we won't arrive at the Incorrigible Homestead much earlier than 7:30.
I spend maybe a third of the time online there as I do at home. It's not because my social calendar doesn't leave room for computer time; it's that my mom's slow computer accesses the internet with a slow dial-up connection -- which also happens to be the only phone line in the house. My dad spends a lot of time asking me if I'm still online while I'm there.
Also, my first full day there just happens to be my best friend's day off, so I imagine I will be running the streets with her for at least part of the day.
What this all boils down to is that I probably won't be on with a new entry until later in the week -- let's say Thursday, at the earliest. I do, most definitely, intend to keep on blogging from California. They will just be fewer and further between. But stick with me -- I'll be around. I will regale the internet with stories of late-night grilled cheese sammiches at Denny's and how my mom bought half the merchandise in the Carter's outlet store for my brats. Now, won't that be fun? (That is SO rhetorical, by the way.)
Have a lovely week, everyone.
A few footnotes from the trip:
1) I am a freak. No, really. If you haven't figured it out already from all the entries filed under this category this will do it for you. Read on.
2) I bought a bootleg CD of unreleased material and I cried....yes, CRIED...over the stereo version of "I Should've Known Better" the first time I listened to it. In my defense, it really sounds so much better than the mono version, which is the only version I'd heard up till now. John's voice is so vibrant on this version I almost feel like I could reach out and touch it. And I can hear his little intake of breath before he sings each line which, for some reason, rips my heart out. With it being in stereo the vocal track is dead center when I listen to it on the headphones and it's like his voice is inside my head instead of just going in my ears from the sides. (I know that sounds weird but anyone who has listened to a really good stereo mix of a song on headphones will know what I'm talking about.)
3) 50 bands/artists performed at Abbey Road on the River this year. I did not see all of them but I saw/heard a good many of them. And, after all of that, my absolute favorite is STILL 1964: the Tribute -- whom I had seen three times already before seeing them at AROTR. They are just superior to anyone else I've seen so far. I look forward to seeing them again when they come back to OU (as they do every year).
4) On the subject of 1964: I am fascinated by the "John" in the group. It's not so much that he looks like John as he acts like John. He has John's mannerisms and speech patterns down pat. The other guys in the other tribute bands that I've seen come across as trying too hard. It's them doing a John Lennon impression. The 1964 guy seems natural when he's doing it. I usually end up spending 3/4 of the concert just staring at him because he seems like he's channeling John.
5) When one is traveling and is tempted into buying two new (enormous and hard-bound) atlases from Borders' markdown shelves, one should also take into consideration the considerable weight of said atlases and whether or not this will put one's luggage over the checked-baggage weight limit when returning home. Because, you know, it would totally nullify any savings one had secured if one had to pay an extra $25 to get the frigging bag on the plane. I'm just saying.
6) Ooh, just checked 1964's website and they'll be playing in Tulsa at the end of July and Ft. Worth at the beginning of August. Also they already have their dates for Norman scheduled for January '06 -- three nights in a row! Robert had better be prepared to come up with quite a bit of ticket money.
Goodbye and God bless, people. I'm out of here. I'll be back Monday.
Um...so Robert has decided that he needs to stay here and not go to Dallas with us? So I get to drive three hours by myself with both kids? To a hugemungous city where I always get lost on the highways?
Oh yeah...this is going to be a blast! Will update when and if I make it back....
On the morrow Robert, the kids and I will be heading to Dallas for an overnight trip.
The object of this trip, besides getting ourselves lost at least twice (what, don't you do that every time you go to Dallas?) is to meet up with some friends we haven't seen in a very long time.