Sorry for the radio silence lately, but after two weeks of adult only time, I'm now in North Carolina for a week with my parents, after which the kids and I will fly home. It is as hot as Hades here. Seriously. I do not kid, it's been about 100 for most of this week. Thank the powers that be for air conditioning.
But...I digress. The kids seems so much older after two weeks away, especially Jack. My dad took him to the barber. I told my parents to get him a "little boy cut" because we didn't have time to go to his usual barber before he left on his trip. My mom called to say my father had taken Jack to the barber and his cut was very short. I said "As long as it's not a 'high and tight.'" She said, and I quote "Oh, it's not, but it's a lot shorter than it was before." When I got to NC, I immediately saw that Jack was sporting a high and tight, contrary to my mother's claim. He looks like a miniature marine. Fortunately, the cut is very cute on him and I'll probably keep it that way until the fall. It also makes him look older.
The kids have been getting up to all kinds of shenanigans at Grammy and Granddaddy's house. My father has a giant Peanut M&M figure that shoots M&M's out of it's side (forgive me, but it is very hard to describe) if you crank its arm up and down. Lily "pressured" him into buying M&M's for it (she asked once) and the kids love getting a treat. In order to keep the candy consumption to a reasonable level, my father took to hiding the Peanut Man and telling the kids he had gone away. Lily somehow interpreted this to mean that the Peanut Man periodically goes away to the M&M Ball. Jack isn't as fanciful and just started hunting for Peanut Man and quickly located him in the closet. My father now hides him behind some boxes.
Now that Peanut Man is sometimes AWOL, Jack tries to get him to come back by holding his hand up to his ear and telling my father "I think I hear candy!" For some reason, this cracks me up. Lily, on the other hand, was happy in the thought that Peanut Man was having fun at the M&M Ball until yesterday, when she caught my father carrying him into his office. She ran out to the living room and told me "Peanut Man hasn't been at the M&M Ball! Granddaddy has been hiding him and moving him all along!" She was very indignant, and immediately left to confront my father. I don't know what he told her, but today she said he was at the M&M Ball again. Ah, to be a child again. Any time one of the kids discovers that Peanut Man has returned to my father's office, they run out and tell us that he's back. It's really funny.
In other big, big news, Jack suddenly started to use the potty four days ago. My mom bought him some big boy underpants and showed them to him when he first arrived. Fast forward to the day I arrived. Jack asked me to give him a lolly. I told him "You can have a lolly if you pee in your potty." He carried on and whined and then went away to play. About four hours later, however, he told my mom "I gotta pee!" and ran into the bathroom. To our surprise, he peed into his potty for the first time ever! He got his lolly, and then he told my mom "I wanta wear my big boy underwear." She let him put them on, but he refused to put pants on and asked to have his shirt off. He ran into the living room wearing only the underwear and said "Ta-Da!"
He's been using the potty one or two times a day ever since. He's also been wearing his big boy underwear for most of the day without incident. Unfortunately, he still usually insists on wearing ONLY the underwear. He did grudgingly allow me to dress him the other day when he got too cold from the AC. He still comes out and says "Ta-da!" when he first gets them on. In order to encourage his potty training, I supplmented the baseball themed underwear my mom provided with Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder. He is very serious when he picks out which pair to wear and discards two or three options before settling on a design. It's hilarious!
I'm knocking on wood that this self-training will last and become a permanent habit. I never thought he'd train this early. I feel like singing and dancing with joy, but I hold it in because I fear the potty training gods will smite me and send him back to the diaper. I'll keep you all posted. Send good potty vibes to Jack.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Home Alone and Some General News
First things first. The kids are at my parents' house for 2 weeks! They left yesterday evening and (so far) they are having the time of their lives. Jack told me he was playing with Grammy and Granddaddy and that Granddaddy has a mustache. Lily told me she missed me at first but that now she was having "so much fun" playing she didn't mind.
With the kids out of the house, Jim and I are at a bit of a loss. We had to set the alarm clock for the first time in two years because Jim had a very early meeting scheduled this morning. Jack wakes us up no later than 6 am every morning (sometimes much earlier). Jim actually set his phone alarm and the alarm clock so that he wouldn't sleep through it.
I got up when Jim did and had breakfast, but decided to get back in bed around 7:30. It was nice to sleep without any interruptions and I felt refreshed and full of energy for the rest of the day. I spent about 4 hours doing heavy spring cleaning in Jack's new room (more on this later), the living room, dining room and kitchen. I also worked on my stole (see earlier post today). When Jim got home, we went to try out the Mexican restaurant that moved into Melrose a few years ago (we weren't impressed). We each had an adult beverage. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home because there was no rush, and picked up a few staples. We came home to a clean, quiet home.
It's nice, but I really miss the kids. I also feel really strange all day, like I'm forgetting something. I keep thinking I hear Jack crying upstairs. I keep planning everything around picking the kids up at school. Jim thinks that by the time we both fully realize that we can enjoy time on our own, it will be time for the kids to come home!
Now for some general news. We've been having lots of fun lately. We (well, mostly me) celebrated the Trifecta, which is what Jim calls my birthday/wedding anniversary/Mother's day weekend. Lily and Jack bought me a ball winder, and Jim bought me Wii Fit, fancy-schmancy hand-made chocolates and took me to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival, where he bought me two skeins of pretty sock yarn. The kids loved the festival -- Jack because he's fascinated by roving, and Lily because there was ice cream. Jim had a buffalo burger and we all shared french fries and kettle corn. Lots of fun.
My parents came into town last week for Lily's ballet recital. Their trip just happened to coincide with the big WEBS tent sale, so I convinced my mom to drive out to Northampton with me. We left early, had breakfast at Sylvester's, and then went to the sale.
I'd been told how big the store was, and that it was attached to a giant warehouse, but it was still pretty overwhelming to see it. I bought lots of yarn, most of which is earmarked for Christmas gifts. My mom picked out yarn she liked and asked me to make her a shrug, so that's one of the things on my list. I treated myself to some wool/alpaca sport weight which should make me a sweater and leave enough for a child's sweater as well. Anyway, it was lots of fun and VERY cheap.
The following day, we went to Lily's recital. She was excited all day. I put her hair in a bun and used hair spray, which she thought was pretty neat. I put real makeup on her (she told everyone "I'm wearing my mom's makeup!"). We bought her real flowers to give her at the end of the show.
Her ballet class gave the first performance. I've been watching them practice this dance for at least 6 months. Like snowflakes, no students have ever performed the dance alike. That being said, their performance at the recital was the most coordinated I've seen. Lily really impressed me. She followed the routine very closely and did the best I've seen her do. We thought she was the best performer, of course!
She was really excited to get a real flower and immediately put the vase in her room. We left at the first intermission and took the kids home so Jack could nap, then we went to Jim's boss' home for a barbecue with his colleagues. We got rained on, so the party continued in the house, but we still had a lot of fun. Jack apparently stole a finger puppet shaped like a whale, concealed it in his pocket and brought it home (at least, that's what Lily claims). I just now (as I'm writing) asked Jim about it, and it turns out that Jack handed the puppet to Jim, who concealed it (inadvertantly) in HIS pocket and accidentally brought it home. Oops. When I asked Jack about the puppet, he told me he "got it at the shiny house." We think he was talking about the shiny new floors in the house, which was recently renovated.
Anyway...the kids got cake, so they were in seventh heaven. We spent the next day (Monday) getting ready for the trip and they flew out last night.
Jim and I plan on doing some painting (living room and dining room), some nights out (dinner and movies, mostly) and may even take a couple of days off to drive to Montreal next week. We'll see how things go.
With the kids out of the house, Jim and I are at a bit of a loss. We had to set the alarm clock for the first time in two years because Jim had a very early meeting scheduled this morning. Jack wakes us up no later than 6 am every morning (sometimes much earlier). Jim actually set his phone alarm and the alarm clock so that he wouldn't sleep through it.
I got up when Jim did and had breakfast, but decided to get back in bed around 7:30. It was nice to sleep without any interruptions and I felt refreshed and full of energy for the rest of the day. I spent about 4 hours doing heavy spring cleaning in Jack's new room (more on this later), the living room, dining room and kitchen. I also worked on my stole (see earlier post today). When Jim got home, we went to try out the Mexican restaurant that moved into Melrose a few years ago (we weren't impressed). We each had an adult beverage. We stopped at the grocery store on the way home because there was no rush, and picked up a few staples. We came home to a clean, quiet home.
It's nice, but I really miss the kids. I also feel really strange all day, like I'm forgetting something. I keep thinking I hear Jack crying upstairs. I keep planning everything around picking the kids up at school. Jim thinks that by the time we both fully realize that we can enjoy time on our own, it will be time for the kids to come home!
Now for some general news. We've been having lots of fun lately. We (well, mostly me) celebrated the Trifecta, which is what Jim calls my birthday/wedding anniversary/Mother's day weekend. Lily and Jack bought me a ball winder, and Jim bought me Wii Fit, fancy-schmancy hand-made chocolates and took me to the NH Sheep and Wool Festival, where he bought me two skeins of pretty sock yarn. The kids loved the festival -- Jack because he's fascinated by roving, and Lily because there was ice cream. Jim had a buffalo burger and we all shared french fries and kettle corn. Lots of fun.
My parents came into town last week for Lily's ballet recital. Their trip just happened to coincide with the big WEBS tent sale, so I convinced my mom to drive out to Northampton with me. We left early, had breakfast at Sylvester's, and then went to the sale.
I'd been told how big the store was, and that it was attached to a giant warehouse, but it was still pretty overwhelming to see it. I bought lots of yarn, most of which is earmarked for Christmas gifts. My mom picked out yarn she liked and asked me to make her a shrug, so that's one of the things on my list. I treated myself to some wool/alpaca sport weight which should make me a sweater and leave enough for a child's sweater as well. Anyway, it was lots of fun and VERY cheap.
The following day, we went to Lily's recital. She was excited all day. I put her hair in a bun and used hair spray, which she thought was pretty neat. I put real makeup on her (she told everyone "I'm wearing my mom's makeup!"). We bought her real flowers to give her at the end of the show.
Her ballet class gave the first performance. I've been watching them practice this dance for at least 6 months. Like snowflakes, no students have ever performed the dance alike. That being said, their performance at the recital was the most coordinated I've seen. Lily really impressed me. She followed the routine very closely and did the best I've seen her do. We thought she was the best performer, of course!
She was really excited to get a real flower and immediately put the vase in her room. We left at the first intermission and took the kids home so Jack could nap, then we went to Jim's boss' home for a barbecue with his colleagues. We got rained on, so the party continued in the house, but we still had a lot of fun. Jack apparently stole a finger puppet shaped like a whale, concealed it in his pocket and brought it home (at least, that's what Lily claims). I just now (as I'm writing) asked Jim about it, and it turns out that Jack handed the puppet to Jim, who concealed it (inadvertantly) in HIS pocket and accidentally brought it home. Oops. When I asked Jack about the puppet, he told me he "got it at the shiny house." We think he was talking about the shiny new floors in the house, which was recently renovated.
Anyway...the kids got cake, so they were in seventh heaven. We spent the next day (Monday) getting ready for the trip and they flew out last night.
Jim and I plan on doing some painting (living room and dining room), some nights out (dinner and movies, mostly) and may even take a couple of days off to drive to Montreal next week. We'll see how things go.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Another Round of Photos!!!
This is a picture of "Princess," Lily's favorite fish in the koi pond at our hotel in San Francisco. She named it Princess because it had a sort of rainbow sheen to it. It doesn't really show up well in this picture, unfortunately.
Here are Lily and Jack riding the lambs at Grandma and Grandpa's house. They both got a kick out of the little statues.
Jack in his little fireman outfit at the children's museum in Paso Robles. He loved playing on the big fire truck they had in the first floor of the museum, which was a converted fire station.
Lily hugging her "cousint" Claire. Claire just wasn't that into a hug...I took several pictures trying to get a nice one of the two together to no avail.
Lily opening the camera Grammy and Granddaddy gave her. Do you think she liked it?
Jack eating his Christmas Munlie. Mmmmm, chocolate chips!
The kids reading Bambi with Grandpa.
Lily in front of a giant wooden propeller at the Aviation Museum. A better mom would be able to tell you where the propeller came from. Me, I have no idea.
Jack checking out the mock-up of a Blue Angels plane.
Jack pressing goldfish crackers onto his eyes at the airport (I told you he was strange). This shot gives a lovely view of the bandage covering his injury from Christmas Day, as well as the fresh bruise and scratch he picked up at the Aviation Museum.
That's it for pictures. I liked these the best of all the ones I took. You want to see more? You know where to go!
More Photos, Hopefully
Okay, I was relatively successful with the last post, so I'm going to try some more.
Here's Lily dancing on the wharf. You can see the San Francisco skyline in the background (or you will be able to if Blogger doesn't cut half of the picture off).
Here's Jack hugging Clifford (or CLIFF-oooool, as Jack would say). It was such a sweet moment, and he was jumping for joy and waving his hands in the air afterward.
Lily peeking out of the boat at the children's museum in Sausalito. I love this picture!
Lily waving from the same boat. You can see Golden Gate Bridge in the background!
Lily running up the stump steps. We really liked the outdoor features at this museum, and the kids thought they were terrific!
Jack staring at the bubble wall in one of the jumping areas at the museum. The floor of the little room was a waterbed sturdy enough to bounce around on. He really liked that area.
You know what, I think I finally beat Blogger on this post. Nothing appears to be too large or to be cut off! Yay!
Here's Lily dancing on the wharf. You can see the San Francisco skyline in the background (or you will be able to if Blogger doesn't cut half of the picture off).
Here's Jack hugging Clifford (or CLIFF-oooool, as Jack would say). It was such a sweet moment, and he was jumping for joy and waving his hands in the air afterward.
Lily peeking out of the boat at the children's museum in Sausalito. I love this picture!
Lily waving from the same boat. You can see Golden Gate Bridge in the background!
Lily running up the stump steps. We really liked the outdoor features at this museum, and the kids thought they were terrific!
Jack staring at the bubble wall in one of the jumping areas at the museum. The floor of the little room was a waterbed sturdy enough to bounce around on. He really liked that area.
You know what, I think I finally beat Blogger on this post. Nothing appears to be too large or to be cut off! Yay!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Christmas (and Why I Hate Photo Blogging)
I'm going to tell you all about Christmas Eve and Christmas, but I'm going to complain about freaking photo blogging first. AAARRRrrrrghhhhhh! (That was me screaming while grasping the hair on both sides of my head). I took 400+ photos on our trip. I spent an hour downloading them onto my laptop and honing them down to 24 photos that really represent our trip. Then I tried to upload them to my online photo storage account so I could blog them.
45 minutes and one computer crash later, they are still uploading. Actually, as I typed "still uploading" they "finalized" and now they are up. Still...after almost two hours of futzing about with the photos, don't expect to see them in this post. Typing is soooooo much better.
Anyway, I can't remember where I left off in our trip description, so I'll just start with Christmas Eve. Lily and Jack got to play with their "cousints" all day long. Lily and Claire seemed to get along very well, and the Buddha Baby (Andrew, who is delightfully baby-pudgy) kind of laid on the floor and laughed all day. Jack was his usual destructive self. He broke the little windmill he got from Grandpa and told everyone very sadly "Jackie Breaking RainMOOOO." He still speaks about it after more than a week. It was a sad day for him, because he now loves rainmoos almost as much as kites. Jack also fell down and clocked his head on the french doors TWICE. The second time, he got a scrape that bled and had to be bandaged. This becomes important later on, so remember it.
We all had a family photo, which you can look at through the Creston Deeds link at the side of this page. It was nice to be with everyone, and we were sad that Jon and Marcy had to leave before Christmas, although with their hectic schedules recently, we totally understood the need!
We checked into the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo. We were really happy with the room, especially since it had a bathroom that opened onto the living room instead of into the bedroom. The kids were pretty worn out from playing with their cousins all day, so they went to sleep just fine. When we woke up, we dressed them and drove back to Creston.
Lily loved her Mooshabelly doll and was so excited about her princess dressing table. She also loved her camera and the little pet shop toys her grandparents bought her. Jack didn't really get Christmas this year, although he knew the hot wheels set was for him. I'd love to give you a detailed description of all the wonderful things the kids got, but they were boxed up that evening and shipped out, and still haven't arrived here. It will be like Christmas again when they arrive (hopefully tomorrow).
We had a lovely Christmas dinner with a terrific soup that Aunt Nile made (please send us the recipe) and other dishes all contributed by everyone in the family. It was delicious. We left as early as we could to get the kids in bed before the five hour drive to San Francisco. The kids were wiped out by all the excitement.
The next day, we headed out to San Francisco. The kids were amazingly well behaved and amused themselves with some of their new toys during the drive. We had no set plans for a rest stop, so I asked Jim if we could stop at Fry's Electronics. I'd been there once about 10 years ago and wanted to check it out again.
It was such a bad idea. Fry's was packed. Lily wanted some little stuffed animals on a sale rack and we ended up having to wait half an hour at the register while our holiday temporary cashier tried to figure out how much they were. By the time we got into the car, everyone was cranky. We decided to stop at the Aviation Museum just outside of San Francisco, eat a late lunch and look at the exhibits.
The nice restaurant next to the museum only served dinners, so we ended up at Burger King. Then we went next door to the museum. What a fun place! They had a lot of exhibits and the kids loved running around the hangar and climbing in the hands-on exhibits. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until a hour before closing, so we didn't have much time for the kids to play.
Ten minutes before we left, Jack ran toward a mock-up of a plane in the kid's play area and cracked his forehead on the metal carpet transition. Remember how he cut his head in Creston? Well, now he had a bandage on his temple from his earlier injury and a giant goose egg right between his eyes from his fall in the museum. We ended up calling Dr. Brewer (our Melrose pediatrician) and asking if it would be safe to take him on the plane. Based on our description of Jack's latest injury, Dr. Brewer told us not to worry. Actually, my real concern was that someone would arrest us for child abuse because it looked a lot like Jack had been beaten about the head by someone.
We were really dreading the red-eye flight, but I think it was a good plan. Lily stayed awake for about an hour watching the Cartoon channel and then fell asleep. Jack fell asleep about 10 minutes into the flight. They both slept until just before landing. Jim and I even managed to catch a few winks. We got home at about 6:30 and all went to bed for a few more hours.
Anyway, I hope to show you some pictures in my next post. There are some great shots -- Jim at In-n-Out Burgers, Lily dancing on the wharf in San Francisco and Jack staring in fascinated horror at the laughing automaton are just a few of them. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get them all posted on here in a manner that makes it easy for you to see them. I've been having some trouble with Blogger and photos recently. It wants to either make them extremely large or to cut them in half. It took me hours of epic battle to post the last pictures, and I ended up just uploading them into Blogger. That option has limits, so hopefully I will be able to do a little fooling with HTML codes and work it out this time. Stay tuned.
45 minutes and one computer crash later, they are still uploading. Actually, as I typed "still uploading" they "finalized" and now they are up. Still...after almost two hours of futzing about with the photos, don't expect to see them in this post. Typing is soooooo much better.
Anyway, I can't remember where I left off in our trip description, so I'll just start with Christmas Eve. Lily and Jack got to play with their "cousints" all day long. Lily and Claire seemed to get along very well, and the Buddha Baby (Andrew, who is delightfully baby-pudgy) kind of laid on the floor and laughed all day. Jack was his usual destructive self. He broke the little windmill he got from Grandpa and told everyone very sadly "Jackie Breaking RainMOOOO." He still speaks about it after more than a week. It was a sad day for him, because he now loves rainmoos almost as much as kites. Jack also fell down and clocked his head on the french doors TWICE. The second time, he got a scrape that bled and had to be bandaged. This becomes important later on, so remember it.
We all had a family photo, which you can look at through the Creston Deeds link at the side of this page. It was nice to be with everyone, and we were sad that Jon and Marcy had to leave before Christmas, although with their hectic schedules recently, we totally understood the need!
We checked into the Embassy Suites Hotel in San Luis Obispo. We were really happy with the room, especially since it had a bathroom that opened onto the living room instead of into the bedroom. The kids were pretty worn out from playing with their cousins all day, so they went to sleep just fine. When we woke up, we dressed them and drove back to Creston.
Lily loved her Mooshabelly doll and was so excited about her princess dressing table. She also loved her camera and the little pet shop toys her grandparents bought her. Jack didn't really get Christmas this year, although he knew the hot wheels set was for him. I'd love to give you a detailed description of all the wonderful things the kids got, but they were boxed up that evening and shipped out, and still haven't arrived here. It will be like Christmas again when they arrive (hopefully tomorrow).
We had a lovely Christmas dinner with a terrific soup that Aunt Nile made (please send us the recipe) and other dishes all contributed by everyone in the family. It was delicious. We left as early as we could to get the kids in bed before the five hour drive to San Francisco. The kids were wiped out by all the excitement.
The next day, we headed out to San Francisco. The kids were amazingly well behaved and amused themselves with some of their new toys during the drive. We had no set plans for a rest stop, so I asked Jim if we could stop at Fry's Electronics. I'd been there once about 10 years ago and wanted to check it out again.
It was such a bad idea. Fry's was packed. Lily wanted some little stuffed animals on a sale rack and we ended up having to wait half an hour at the register while our holiday temporary cashier tried to figure out how much they were. By the time we got into the car, everyone was cranky. We decided to stop at the Aviation Museum just outside of San Francisco, eat a late lunch and look at the exhibits.
The nice restaurant next to the museum only served dinners, so we ended up at Burger King. Then we went next door to the museum. What a fun place! They had a lot of exhibits and the kids loved running around the hangar and climbing in the hands-on exhibits. Unfortunately, we didn't get there until a hour before closing, so we didn't have much time for the kids to play.
Ten minutes before we left, Jack ran toward a mock-up of a plane in the kid's play area and cracked his forehead on the metal carpet transition. Remember how he cut his head in Creston? Well, now he had a bandage on his temple from his earlier injury and a giant goose egg right between his eyes from his fall in the museum. We ended up calling Dr. Brewer (our Melrose pediatrician) and asking if it would be safe to take him on the plane. Based on our description of Jack's latest injury, Dr. Brewer told us not to worry. Actually, my real concern was that someone would arrest us for child abuse because it looked a lot like Jack had been beaten about the head by someone.
We were really dreading the red-eye flight, but I think it was a good plan. Lily stayed awake for about an hour watching the Cartoon channel and then fell asleep. Jack fell asleep about 10 minutes into the flight. They both slept until just before landing. Jim and I even managed to catch a few winks. We got home at about 6:30 and all went to bed for a few more hours.
Anyway, I hope to show you some pictures in my next post. There are some great shots -- Jim at In-n-Out Burgers, Lily dancing on the wharf in San Francisco and Jack staring in fascinated horror at the laughing automaton are just a few of them. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get them all posted on here in a manner that makes it easy for you to see them. I've been having some trouble with Blogger and photos recently. It wants to either make them extremely large or to cut them in half. It took me hours of epic battle to post the last pictures, and I ended up just uploading them into Blogger. That option has limits, so hopefully I will be able to do a little fooling with HTML codes and work it out this time. Stay tuned.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Creston Day 2
Here's a draft that's been sitting on my computer since before Christmas!
The kids slept pretty well, although Jack was ready to get up at 6 am. It was another relaxing day. The kids went for a hike in the morning and played with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jill and Uncle Steve while Jim and I ran into town and did our last minute Christmas shopping for stocking stuffers.
Shortly after we arrived, Uncle Matt arrived. Jack seemed a little confused to see two uncles looking so alike! After lunch, Uncle Jon, Aunt Marcy, Claire and Andrew got into town and we all met at the Paso Robles Children's Museum. It was built in an old firehouse. Jack loved dressing up in a fireman jacket and hat and climbing all over the firetruck. He also found a lawnmower and was content to push that around for a long time. The upstairs portion of the museum was much more fun for the kids. Lily did several arts and crafts projects at tables laid out with materials to decorate paper bags and cards. Jack like sitting at the easel and drawing with crayons. Both kids put on a little puppet show, with some help at various times from me, Jim, Aunt Jill and Uncle Jon. There was also a little market with all types of play food and a big cart with vegetables organized on one side and fruit on the other. The kids really liked weighing the fruit and putting in the shopping cart. Jack played for a long time with the cash register, too.
Once we got ready to leave, we noticed Andrew had a black eye! No one knows how he got it. Weird. It was pretty much gone by the next day though.
Lily started calling Claire "Cousint." We explained repeatedly the word was "cousin," but she told us she preferred "cousint." She would yell "Cousint! Cousint!" at Claire constantly during the visit.
I'd write more about the day, but almost a week later, I can't remember much. More about Christmas in the next few posts, I promise.
The kids slept pretty well, although Jack was ready to get up at 6 am. It was another relaxing day. The kids went for a hike in the morning and played with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jill and Uncle Steve while Jim and I ran into town and did our last minute Christmas shopping for stocking stuffers.
Shortly after we arrived, Uncle Matt arrived. Jack seemed a little confused to see two uncles looking so alike! After lunch, Uncle Jon, Aunt Marcy, Claire and Andrew got into town and we all met at the Paso Robles Children's Museum. It was built in an old firehouse. Jack loved dressing up in a fireman jacket and hat and climbing all over the firetruck. He also found a lawnmower and was content to push that around for a long time. The upstairs portion of the museum was much more fun for the kids. Lily did several arts and crafts projects at tables laid out with materials to decorate paper bags and cards. Jack like sitting at the easel and drawing with crayons. Both kids put on a little puppet show, with some help at various times from me, Jim, Aunt Jill and Uncle Jon. There was also a little market with all types of play food and a big cart with vegetables organized on one side and fruit on the other. The kids really liked weighing the fruit and putting in the shopping cart. Jack played for a long time with the cash register, too.
Once we got ready to leave, we noticed Andrew had a black eye! No one knows how he got it. Weird. It was pretty much gone by the next day though.
Lily started calling Claire "Cousint." We explained repeatedly the word was "cousin," but she told us she preferred "cousint." She would yell "Cousint! Cousint!" at Claire constantly during the visit.
I'd write more about the day, but almost a week later, I can't remember much. More about Christmas in the next few posts, I promise.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Road Trip to Creston
It went really well! We didn't even have to break out the DVD player. We had originally planned to stop in San Jose at an amusement park/zoo and wear the kids out. I realized last night that the amusement park portion was only open on the weekend during December, and neither Jim nor I was that excited about going to a zoo. Unfortunately, there weren't many kid friendly places open between San Francisco and Creston.
Once we got everything loaded into the Gold Behemoth, we set the kids up with some cold drinks and snacks and set off at about 9:30. By the time we hit the San Jose area and got near the zoo, both kids were having a great time entertaining themselves. We decided to skip the zoo and keep going until either the kids got fussy or it was time to stop for lunch.
Shortly thereafter, Lily had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped in Gilroy (the Garlic town) at a little garlic store off the highway. They had a lot of neat stuff in there! After a bathroom break, we bought some garlic stuffed olives, garlic chips, a lip gloss for Lily, some lollies for the kids, and some terrifying hot sauce from one of Jim's colleagues called "ANALize this!" They had some other ones, like "Fire in and Fire out!" and "See Dick Burn." You get the general idea.
After our pit stop, we hit the road and headed toward Salinas, where Jim and I always stop for In-n-Out burgers. We did briefly debate eating somewhere else, since we had In-n-Out on Wednesday, but both of us knew what the outcome would be. Lily only wanted the french fries, but Jack immediately grabbed his burger and said "BIG BITE!" A man at the next table saw him and pointed him out to his buddies, because he kept saying "BIG BITE!" each time he ate some burger.
The kids started to get a little fussy about twenty minuted before we drove into Atascadero. Poor Lily got car sick and threw up into my (giant) soda cup. Jim foolishly took the cup away too soon, so Lily also ended up throwing up on her jacket and into the open carry on bag that was stored on the floor under her feet. Yuck. It was my happy job to clean up all of the vomit as soon as we arrived in Creston, of course! Fortunately, she didn't get it on the car.
The kids immediately settled in with their Grandpa and Grandma. Lily was in heaven because Grandma played Polly Pocket with her for what I'm sure seemed like hours to Grandma! Jack entertained himself with a wooden train and some foam toys, but his favorite activity was the bus that winds up and goes. He shrieked with joy every time that it ran and said "FUNNY!" I think he wore Grandpa out making the bus go about 100 times in a row.
We all slept in the rig, which Jim named the "Night Night Truck." Both kids did fairly well, although Lily wanted to go to sleep in the big bed and had to be moved later, and Jack woke up twice, and wanted to stay with us the second time. The first time he woke up, I think he was confused because he didn't know where he was. When we was in bed with us, he kept reaching his hand up and patting my cheek throughout the night to make sure I was there.
Once we got everything loaded into the Gold Behemoth, we set the kids up with some cold drinks and snacks and set off at about 9:30. By the time we hit the San Jose area and got near the zoo, both kids were having a great time entertaining themselves. We decided to skip the zoo and keep going until either the kids got fussy or it was time to stop for lunch.
Shortly thereafter, Lily had to go to the bathroom, so we stopped in Gilroy (the Garlic town) at a little garlic store off the highway. They had a lot of neat stuff in there! After a bathroom break, we bought some garlic stuffed olives, garlic chips, a lip gloss for Lily, some lollies for the kids, and some terrifying hot sauce from one of Jim's colleagues called "ANALize this!" They had some other ones, like "Fire in and Fire out!" and "See Dick Burn." You get the general idea.
After our pit stop, we hit the road and headed toward Salinas, where Jim and I always stop for In-n-Out burgers. We did briefly debate eating somewhere else, since we had In-n-Out on Wednesday, but both of us knew what the outcome would be. Lily only wanted the french fries, but Jack immediately grabbed his burger and said "BIG BITE!" A man at the next table saw him and pointed him out to his buddies, because he kept saying "BIG BITE!" each time he ate some burger.
The kids started to get a little fussy about twenty minuted before we drove into Atascadero. Poor Lily got car sick and threw up into my (giant) soda cup. Jim foolishly took the cup away too soon, so Lily also ended up throwing up on her jacket and into the open carry on bag that was stored on the floor under her feet. Yuck. It was my happy job to clean up all of the vomit as soon as we arrived in Creston, of course! Fortunately, she didn't get it on the car.
The kids immediately settled in with their Grandpa and Grandma. Lily was in heaven because Grandma played Polly Pocket with her for what I'm sure seemed like hours to Grandma! Jack entertained himself with a wooden train and some foam toys, but his favorite activity was the bus that winds up and goes. He shrieked with joy every time that it ran and said "FUNNY!" I think he wore Grandpa out making the bus go about 100 times in a row.
We all slept in the rig, which Jim named the "Night Night Truck." Both kids did fairly well, although Lily wanted to go to sleep in the big bed and had to be moved later, and Jack woke up twice, and wanted to stay with us the second time. The first time he woke up, I think he was confused because he didn't know where he was. When we was in bed with us, he kept reaching his hand up and patting my cheek throughout the night to make sure I was there.
San Francisco, Day 2
Jack did much better today and woke up at 4 instead of 2.
Today was a lot of fun for the kids. We met Marcy and her friend at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. The place is amazing. We started out in the Clifford room, where Jack's favorite activity was climbing a giant Clifford statue and sliding down his tail. Lily enjoyed writing letters to everyone in Clifford's down and delivering them to the various mailboxes in the exhibit. Unbeknownst to Lily and the other letter-writing children, Jack spent quite some time checking each mailbox, taking out anything he found and throwing it into the wastebasket in the letter writing area! I think he felt he was helping out the cleaning staff.
As we left the Clifford exhibit, who did we see but Clifford himself! Jack got really excited and started yelling "Cliff-FOOL! Cliff-FOOL!" We went over and Jack went right up and gave Clifford a big hug. Afterwards, Jack was jumping up and down and waving his arms with excitement as we walked over to the next area. I guess he really likes Clifford.
The next area we visited had a bunch of activities set up. Jack most enjoyed the moon sand table, where he used a pizza cutter-like tool, a rolling pin and a cookie cutter to play in the sand. Lily made a special peace flag that we took home with us to use in our top secret art project. She also played with the moon sand for a while. Both kids tried out the painting area, but thankfully grew quickly tired of it, as there were not enough aprons to go around. As it was, Jack ended up with green paint in his hair.
Next, we ate some lunch, and then went to play in the outdoor area. The kids really enjoyed this part of the day the most. There was a real boat that the kids could play on. It had a little galley and a room below deck at the front, and it also had a second story accessed by a little ladder. There were about twenty kids on it at once, and they were yelling "Abandon Ship! We're being attacked by a giant fish!" Everyone would either jump of the "ship" or hide below decks. It was pretty fun to watch. I did have to yell at an older boy who shoved Lily right down to the floor when she tried to steer the boat. After I said something, Lily turned to him and said "Yeah, my mom is trying to take a picture of me driving the boat, so you better share!"
There was a cave and a series of tide pools nearby, where the kids could look at the different types of animals and sea creatures that live in those areas. The tide pool was filled with plastic crabs and had a periodic rush of water to mimic the waves splashing in. Lily and I placed the crabs in different patterns to see how far we could get the waves to push them. There was a little boy next to us who screamed like a tea kettle every time the crabs were pushed toward the end of the pool. For some reason, he was really excited by the whole process.
There was a tower to climb, and Lily, who is usually nervous about things like that, actually made it up and then climbed down the rope ladder unassisted. I was so proud of her. Jack climbed up like a monkey -- he has no fear of climbing.
The next area had some broken ships buried in the sand, with the tools to allow kids to dig through the sand and find treasure. I found doubloons and Lily uncovered a tea set (the treasure was not removable). Jack enjoyed sweeping with the brooms and trying to clean up the mess.
Jack's favorite outdoor area was the construction zone. He used a shovel to fill up a dump truck with gravel and also enjoyed shoveling gravel into a funnel that shot gravel out the other side. While he was doing that, Lily and I climbed up some tree stump stairs and found a big bell to ring. Then we met Jim and Jack, who took us to this amazing house woven out of sticks. It was like a little maze inside and we all enjoyed chasing each other around in it.
When everyone was tired of playing outdoors we went to the tot area where they had a bunch of sturdy water beds for the kids to jump on. One of them was in a little round room that had a goldfish tank for a ceiling. Another one had padded lily pad pillows on it. The whole room had big round buttons with various animals, insects and birds on them, and when you hit the button, it made animal sounds. Jack really wore himself out in that room, let me tell you. At the end, he would come out and you should have seen me trying to run after him over the water beds while he laughed and laughed.
Lily, Jack, cousin Claire and her baby brother Andrew were very worn out by about 1:00, so we decided to leave and head back to the hotel. After some down time. Jim and I took the kids to Chinatown for dinner. The kids enjoyed the food and I had some of the best fried calamari I've ever tasted. Then we visited a few of the ticky-tacky Chinese souvenir stores and picked up some fun things for the kids. All in all it was a pretty fun day.
Today was a lot of fun for the kids. We met Marcy and her friend at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in Sausalito. The place is amazing. We started out in the Clifford room, where Jack's favorite activity was climbing a giant Clifford statue and sliding down his tail. Lily enjoyed writing letters to everyone in Clifford's down and delivering them to the various mailboxes in the exhibit. Unbeknownst to Lily and the other letter-writing children, Jack spent quite some time checking each mailbox, taking out anything he found and throwing it into the wastebasket in the letter writing area! I think he felt he was helping out the cleaning staff.
As we left the Clifford exhibit, who did we see but Clifford himself! Jack got really excited and started yelling "Cliff-FOOL! Cliff-FOOL!" We went over and Jack went right up and gave Clifford a big hug. Afterwards, Jack was jumping up and down and waving his arms with excitement as we walked over to the next area. I guess he really likes Clifford.
The next area we visited had a bunch of activities set up. Jack most enjoyed the moon sand table, where he used a pizza cutter-like tool, a rolling pin and a cookie cutter to play in the sand. Lily made a special peace flag that we took home with us to use in our top secret art project. She also played with the moon sand for a while. Both kids tried out the painting area, but thankfully grew quickly tired of it, as there were not enough aprons to go around. As it was, Jack ended up with green paint in his hair.
Next, we ate some lunch, and then went to play in the outdoor area. The kids really enjoyed this part of the day the most. There was a real boat that the kids could play on. It had a little galley and a room below deck at the front, and it also had a second story accessed by a little ladder. There were about twenty kids on it at once, and they were yelling "Abandon Ship! We're being attacked by a giant fish!" Everyone would either jump of the "ship" or hide below decks. It was pretty fun to watch. I did have to yell at an older boy who shoved Lily right down to the floor when she tried to steer the boat. After I said something, Lily turned to him and said "Yeah, my mom is trying to take a picture of me driving the boat, so you better share!"
There was a cave and a series of tide pools nearby, where the kids could look at the different types of animals and sea creatures that live in those areas. The tide pool was filled with plastic crabs and had a periodic rush of water to mimic the waves splashing in. Lily and I placed the crabs in different patterns to see how far we could get the waves to push them. There was a little boy next to us who screamed like a tea kettle every time the crabs were pushed toward the end of the pool. For some reason, he was really excited by the whole process.
There was a tower to climb, and Lily, who is usually nervous about things like that, actually made it up and then climbed down the rope ladder unassisted. I was so proud of her. Jack climbed up like a monkey -- he has no fear of climbing.
The next area had some broken ships buried in the sand, with the tools to allow kids to dig through the sand and find treasure. I found doubloons and Lily uncovered a tea set (the treasure was not removable). Jack enjoyed sweeping with the brooms and trying to clean up the mess.
Jack's favorite outdoor area was the construction zone. He used a shovel to fill up a dump truck with gravel and also enjoyed shoveling gravel into a funnel that shot gravel out the other side. While he was doing that, Lily and I climbed up some tree stump stairs and found a big bell to ring. Then we met Jim and Jack, who took us to this amazing house woven out of sticks. It was like a little maze inside and we all enjoyed chasing each other around in it.
When everyone was tired of playing outdoors we went to the tot area where they had a bunch of sturdy water beds for the kids to jump on. One of them was in a little round room that had a goldfish tank for a ceiling. Another one had padded lily pad pillows on it. The whole room had big round buttons with various animals, insects and birds on them, and when you hit the button, it made animal sounds. Jack really wore himself out in that room, let me tell you. At the end, he would come out and you should have seen me trying to run after him over the water beds while he laughed and laughed.
Lily, Jack, cousin Claire and her baby brother Andrew were very worn out by about 1:00, so we decided to leave and head back to the hotel. After some down time. Jim and I took the kids to Chinatown for dinner. The kids enjoyed the food and I had some of the best fried calamari I've ever tasted. Then we visited a few of the ticky-tacky Chinese souvenir stores and picked up some fun things for the kids. All in all it was a pretty fun day.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
San Francisco, Day 1
We decided to visit Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman's Wharf today. It was sunny and breezy. Although we started off with coats on, it was soon warm enough to walk around in just a sweater.
We took a trolley to Ghirardelli Square. Jack loved the trolley, and kept repeating "TRAin! TRAin!" for the whole ride. We walked the short walk from the Trolley stop to Ghirardelli. Five minutes into the walk, Lily informed me that her feet hurt and she was too tired to keep walking. It seemed like it was going to be a really long day.
Once we got to Ghirardelli, Jim thought it would be a nice break to stop at a cute little cupcake shop and have a snack. We needed a snack because we ate our complimentary breakfast when the hotel restaurant opened at 6:00 am, since we were all awake. We let Lily pick out the cupcake she wanted, we picked a vanilla cupcake for Jack (I figured the light colors would make for less mess), and Jim and I each ordered a cupcake. We all sat down outside.
As soon as we started to eat, Lily said her cupcake tasted bad and asked if she could trade. Jim gave her Jack's cupcake and tried to give Jack a piece of Lily's cupcake. Sadly, Jim was unaware of Jack's keen desire for independence. Jack is going through a stage where he wants to be given a regular portion of food and eat it himself. Once the cupcake was broken, he didn't want it and asked for Jim's whole cupcake. I told Jim to give him the whole cupcake, but I guess Jim didn't want Jack to make a mess with it, because he tried to offer Jack a bite of the cupcake. Jack had a major meltdown and grabbed the cupcake out of Jim's hand and smashed it into the table, saying "NO CAKE-ee!" He also grabbed a portion of the smashed cupcake and threw it on the ground. As a result, neither Jim nor Jack really got to enjoy their treat, and I had to clean up Jack's mess.
That was the only meltdown we had today, though, so I think we're pretty lucky. We went to a few stores in the square and got a free sample of chocolate. Then, Lily came up with a great idea for a secret art project that she plans to give to Jim for Christmas. She told me about it, but warned me not to tell any boys. We then walked down to the maritime museum and looked at the rehabbed boats. Both kids really enjoyed the museum, especially the house boat that we got to walk through. I was at my wit's end, though, because the railing along the wharf had gaps large enough for one of the kids to fall through and Jack made a beeline for the railing any time he was loose of our grasp.
Next, we walked over to In-n-Out Burger, Jim's favorite California eatery. Jack ate most of a burger by himself, and Jim got the opportunity to order something called "animal style" french fries. I tried them and thought they were gross, but he loved them! Apparently you can order things that are not on the menu if you're "in the know."
After lunch, we walked over to the Musee Mecanique. It's a huge building filled with old mechanical games. We made Laughing Jill laugh, got fortunes from a couple of animated fortune tellers, made an entire amusement park go, road on a mechanical horse and learned how to pick up bubble gum balls with a mechanical crane under the kind tutelage of the proprietor. Jim was only able to get one, so he kindly scooped out about 10 for us! I took some hilarious pictures. Jack's face as he watched Laughing Jill was priceless. He had a look of fascination mixed with terror!
After the Musee, we checked out the submarine display and then walked over to visit the sea lions. Both kids loved the sea lions, and I was relieved to find that the railing along that wharf was child-friendly. We even saw a guy out swimming. I can't imagine how cold he was -- it was only about 60 degrees out!
By that time, everyone was tired, so we headed back to the car. I thought I could see the wharf across from where we parked, so I encouraged everyone to walk. Needless to say, I was looking at the wrong wharf! After about half an hour, Jim convinced me to pay the $3.00 it cost to go on the trolley, because he said we'd only walked about half way. We got on the trolley and went 1 stop! I guess we were both wrong.
Getting home was a little hairy. It was almost 4 o'clock by the time we picked up the car (which we parked for a mere $29.50), and Jim left the map in the back of the car. He assured me we could just drive back the way we came. Of course, half way back we came to a road that was one way only! He said he knew how to get around that problem and directed me to make a few turns...and we ended up back at the parking lot! After a few more mistakes, we made it to the 101 and headed home.
I took so many great pictures today, but I left my camera in my coat pocket, and my coat is down in the Great Gold Behemoth, so I haven't downloaded them yet. Tomorrow, we are headed out to Sausolito where we will meet Marcy and her kids at a children's museum.
I just noticed Lily has fallen asleep on the floor. She was going to tell everyone a story, but we'll have to do it another time.
We took a trolley to Ghirardelli Square. Jack loved the trolley, and kept repeating "TRAin! TRAin!" for the whole ride. We walked the short walk from the Trolley stop to Ghirardelli. Five minutes into the walk, Lily informed me that her feet hurt and she was too tired to keep walking. It seemed like it was going to be a really long day.
Once we got to Ghirardelli, Jim thought it would be a nice break to stop at a cute little cupcake shop and have a snack. We needed a snack because we ate our complimentary breakfast when the hotel restaurant opened at 6:00 am, since we were all awake. We let Lily pick out the cupcake she wanted, we picked a vanilla cupcake for Jack (I figured the light colors would make for less mess), and Jim and I each ordered a cupcake. We all sat down outside.
As soon as we started to eat, Lily said her cupcake tasted bad and asked if she could trade. Jim gave her Jack's cupcake and tried to give Jack a piece of Lily's cupcake. Sadly, Jim was unaware of Jack's keen desire for independence. Jack is going through a stage where he wants to be given a regular portion of food and eat it himself. Once the cupcake was broken, he didn't want it and asked for Jim's whole cupcake. I told Jim to give him the whole cupcake, but I guess Jim didn't want Jack to make a mess with it, because he tried to offer Jack a bite of the cupcake. Jack had a major meltdown and grabbed the cupcake out of Jim's hand and smashed it into the table, saying "NO CAKE-ee!" He also grabbed a portion of the smashed cupcake and threw it on the ground. As a result, neither Jim nor Jack really got to enjoy their treat, and I had to clean up Jack's mess.
That was the only meltdown we had today, though, so I think we're pretty lucky. We went to a few stores in the square and got a free sample of chocolate. Then, Lily came up with a great idea for a secret art project that she plans to give to Jim for Christmas. She told me about it, but warned me not to tell any boys. We then walked down to the maritime museum and looked at the rehabbed boats. Both kids really enjoyed the museum, especially the house boat that we got to walk through. I was at my wit's end, though, because the railing along the wharf had gaps large enough for one of the kids to fall through and Jack made a beeline for the railing any time he was loose of our grasp.
Next, we walked over to In-n-Out Burger, Jim's favorite California eatery. Jack ate most of a burger by himself, and Jim got the opportunity to order something called "animal style" french fries. I tried them and thought they were gross, but he loved them! Apparently you can order things that are not on the menu if you're "in the know."
After lunch, we walked over to the Musee Mecanique. It's a huge building filled with old mechanical games. We made Laughing Jill laugh, got fortunes from a couple of animated fortune tellers, made an entire amusement park go, road on a mechanical horse and learned how to pick up bubble gum balls with a mechanical crane under the kind tutelage of the proprietor. Jim was only able to get one, so he kindly scooped out about 10 for us! I took some hilarious pictures. Jack's face as he watched Laughing Jill was priceless. He had a look of fascination mixed with terror!
After the Musee, we checked out the submarine display and then walked over to visit the sea lions. Both kids loved the sea lions, and I was relieved to find that the railing along that wharf was child-friendly. We even saw a guy out swimming. I can't imagine how cold he was -- it was only about 60 degrees out!
By that time, everyone was tired, so we headed back to the car. I thought I could see the wharf across from where we parked, so I encouraged everyone to walk. Needless to say, I was looking at the wrong wharf! After about half an hour, Jim convinced me to pay the $3.00 it cost to go on the trolley, because he said we'd only walked about half way. We got on the trolley and went 1 stop! I guess we were both wrong.
Getting home was a little hairy. It was almost 4 o'clock by the time we picked up the car (which we parked for a mere $29.50), and Jim left the map in the back of the car. He assured me we could just drive back the way we came. Of course, half way back we came to a road that was one way only! He said he knew how to get around that problem and directed me to make a few turns...and we ended up back at the parking lot! After a few more mistakes, we made it to the 101 and headed home.
I took so many great pictures today, but I left my camera in my coat pocket, and my coat is down in the Great Gold Behemoth, so I haven't downloaded them yet. Tomorrow, we are headed out to Sausolito where we will meet Marcy and her kids at a children's museum.
I just noticed Lily has fallen asleep on the floor. She was going to tell everyone a story, but we'll have to do it another time.
We Managed to Get to San Francisco
The traveling wasn't awful, but it wasn't terrific, either. Jim and I both thought we were leaving Boston at 7 am. It turns out we were leaving NY at 7...we left Boston at 5:50 am. That meant getting the kids up at 3:15 am. Basically, no one except Jack got enough sleep. Jack often wakes up at the crack of dawn, so to him, the only difference was that everyone else got up as well. He was probably thrilled to have company.
It was a little difficult to manage the two large suitcases, the small suitcase, the booster seat, the car seat, the stroller and the two carry on bags, but we made it through check in with no problem. Getting through security was another matter. There was a large, angry female TSA agent who said "Oh, great, another family. I hate this job!" as we started to put our stuff in the bins to be scanned. She had a lot of rules: no shoes in the bins. Computers and any other electronic devices have to be removed and placed in separate bins. Large bags may not be placed in a bin. Coats must be in a bin. If you have an liquids, you must removed them from your luggage and put them in a bin. She barked out these commands every time we put something anywhere near a bin.
We had to take off our own shoes, and then the kids' shoes. As soon as his shoes were off, Jack grabbed both socks, pulled them off and threw them on the ground. Apparently, if he's not wearing shoes, he refuses to wear socks. At the same time, I was trying to convince Lily to put her stuffed animals in a bin. As I put the diaper bag in the bin, the lady yelled "Do you have liquids in there? Because if you do and I see them, I'm going to have to search all of your bags." I was so flustered trying to get everything in the right bin that I couldn't think, and I said "I don't know..." She yelled "You better find out now!" I had to rummage through both carry ons and I did find a bottle of cough medicine. I'm glad she didn't have to search our bags, because she was so angry she might have beat me up. When I walked with the kids up to the scanner, she yelled "One person at a time!" Lily ran though okay, but Jack was scared -- whether it was the angry woman or the scanner, I'll never know. She yelled "Fine. Carry him and get through!" Then she said "Where are your boarding passes???" Well, as we had just shown a man our boarding passes and ids at a little station set up just before the conveyor belt thing, I'd put them in my bag. She did NOT like that. She yelled "This woman doesn't have boarding passes! Don't let her through until you check them!" to one of her colleagues.
Then she started complaining about me and my family to another passenger and talking about how she hated her job. I finally said "Do you think your attitude is helping to make the situation better? Because I don't." I'm surprised she didn't order someone to strip search me.
The flight to NY was a snap, with only one snag. Unbeknownst to us, if your kids use a car seat on the flight, they have to be seated next to the window. We were booked for two aisle seats and two middle seats. Lily's car seat fit in the overhead bin, but we had to ask someone to switch from the window to the aisle in order to accommodate Jack's seat. Since we knew we had similar seats booked for the next leg of the trip, we decided we would gate check the seats in NY.
When we got to NY, we learned we would have to take a shuttle bus to another terminal for our flight. We had to trudge down a long ramp to the outside and I'm sure we looked like overburdened gypsies with all of our stuff. Once we arrived at the right terminal, we were told our flight to San Francisco was delayed for one hour.
Now you have to understand that any time we are waiting for a flight, Jim has to wander away somewhere. For reasons still unclear to me, he always waits to do this right before boarding. Normally, I just suck it up and wait, but with all of our baggage and things to be gate checked, I didn't want to miss the preboarding on this flight. I begged him not to take the kids for a walk 10 minutes before boarding, but he said "We'll be right back." Of course, when they called preboarding ten minutes later, he was at the opposite end of the terminal and didn't hear the announcement. I had to lug everything up to the desk and let them know we wanted to preboard. I could see him moseying along with the kids, completely oblivious. He finally saw me waving frantically and they started to run. Thankfully, we made it in time.
The kids were great during the flight. That was probably the best part of the day. Jack even got in a long nap. We did have a lot of trouble in the airport when we arrived, though. For some reason, there were no obvious signs leading us to the baggage claim. We had to ask for directions twice (and we weren't the only ones lost). On the bright side, we were able to grab our bags really quickly, because by the time we found the baggage claim area, there were only a few bags left on the carousel!
We are staying at the Embassy Suites Hotel in South San Francisco. If anything, the hotel is even better than the last time, because they recently renovated. It has a gorgeous atrium filled with live plants and a huge koi pond. The kids love to look at the fish. We did have one small incident. After taking the kids down for a swim in the pool and hot tub, we went upstairs to dry off and get ready for bed. Lily, Jim and I were all in the bedroom getting dressed, and Jack was playing in the living room...or so we thought. All of a sudden, we heard the door open and close. Lily yelled "Jack went outside!" All three of us ran out into the hallway to see Jack running down the hallway in his pajamas. At the same time, the door slammed shut, locking us all out. Lily was wearing nothing but underpants (!), I was wearing pajamas and no shoes, and Jim was wearing pants, with no shoes or shirt. He had to go downstairs and get another key like that, while I stood by the door with my almost naked child and her brother. Then we got locked out this morning after breakfast, because when they issued him a new key, the other two were deactivated. We were fully clothed that time, so it was much less embarrassing.
We all went to bed between 6 and 8, so it was no surprise that we were all up at 4 am. Actually, Jack woke up at 2, but was content to lay in bed until 4. I'll blog about our day in SF later. We are having a great time!
Oh yeah...there were no compact cars available when Jim went to pick up the car rental. They told him to take whatever midsize car was in the lot. The only car available that had 4 doors and room for all of our baggage was...
...a gold PT Cruiser HHR. I don't know what "HHR" means, but it looks like a pimp mobile and it is larger than a regular PT Cruiser. People actually drive past us laughing and pointing. Seriously, who buys a gold car? I'm not talking champagne or something pale, I'm talking shiny, metallic gold. And it has tinted windows.
It was a little difficult to manage the two large suitcases, the small suitcase, the booster seat, the car seat, the stroller and the two carry on bags, but we made it through check in with no problem. Getting through security was another matter. There was a large, angry female TSA agent who said "Oh, great, another family. I hate this job!" as we started to put our stuff in the bins to be scanned. She had a lot of rules: no shoes in the bins. Computers and any other electronic devices have to be removed and placed in separate bins. Large bags may not be placed in a bin. Coats must be in a bin. If you have an liquids, you must removed them from your luggage and put them in a bin. She barked out these commands every time we put something anywhere near a bin.
We had to take off our own shoes, and then the kids' shoes. As soon as his shoes were off, Jack grabbed both socks, pulled them off and threw them on the ground. Apparently, if he's not wearing shoes, he refuses to wear socks. At the same time, I was trying to convince Lily to put her stuffed animals in a bin. As I put the diaper bag in the bin, the lady yelled "Do you have liquids in there? Because if you do and I see them, I'm going to have to search all of your bags." I was so flustered trying to get everything in the right bin that I couldn't think, and I said "I don't know..." She yelled "You better find out now!" I had to rummage through both carry ons and I did find a bottle of cough medicine. I'm glad she didn't have to search our bags, because she was so angry she might have beat me up. When I walked with the kids up to the scanner, she yelled "One person at a time!" Lily ran though okay, but Jack was scared -- whether it was the angry woman or the scanner, I'll never know. She yelled "Fine. Carry him and get through!" Then she said "Where are your boarding passes???" Well, as we had just shown a man our boarding passes and ids at a little station set up just before the conveyor belt thing, I'd put them in my bag. She did NOT like that. She yelled "This woman doesn't have boarding passes! Don't let her through until you check them!" to one of her colleagues.
Then she started complaining about me and my family to another passenger and talking about how she hated her job. I finally said "Do you think your attitude is helping to make the situation better? Because I don't." I'm surprised she didn't order someone to strip search me.
The flight to NY was a snap, with only one snag. Unbeknownst to us, if your kids use a car seat on the flight, they have to be seated next to the window. We were booked for two aisle seats and two middle seats. Lily's car seat fit in the overhead bin, but we had to ask someone to switch from the window to the aisle in order to accommodate Jack's seat. Since we knew we had similar seats booked for the next leg of the trip, we decided we would gate check the seats in NY.
When we got to NY, we learned we would have to take a shuttle bus to another terminal for our flight. We had to trudge down a long ramp to the outside and I'm sure we looked like overburdened gypsies with all of our stuff. Once we arrived at the right terminal, we were told our flight to San Francisco was delayed for one hour.
Now you have to understand that any time we are waiting for a flight, Jim has to wander away somewhere. For reasons still unclear to me, he always waits to do this right before boarding. Normally, I just suck it up and wait, but with all of our baggage and things to be gate checked, I didn't want to miss the preboarding on this flight. I begged him not to take the kids for a walk 10 minutes before boarding, but he said "We'll be right back." Of course, when they called preboarding ten minutes later, he was at the opposite end of the terminal and didn't hear the announcement. I had to lug everything up to the desk and let them know we wanted to preboard. I could see him moseying along with the kids, completely oblivious. He finally saw me waving frantically and they started to run. Thankfully, we made it in time.
The kids were great during the flight. That was probably the best part of the day. Jack even got in a long nap. We did have a lot of trouble in the airport when we arrived, though. For some reason, there were no obvious signs leading us to the baggage claim. We had to ask for directions twice (and we weren't the only ones lost). On the bright side, we were able to grab our bags really quickly, because by the time we found the baggage claim area, there were only a few bags left on the carousel!
We are staying at the Embassy Suites Hotel in South San Francisco. If anything, the hotel is even better than the last time, because they recently renovated. It has a gorgeous atrium filled with live plants and a huge koi pond. The kids love to look at the fish. We did have one small incident. After taking the kids down for a swim in the pool and hot tub, we went upstairs to dry off and get ready for bed. Lily, Jim and I were all in the bedroom getting dressed, and Jack was playing in the living room...or so we thought. All of a sudden, we heard the door open and close. Lily yelled "Jack went outside!" All three of us ran out into the hallway to see Jack running down the hallway in his pajamas. At the same time, the door slammed shut, locking us all out. Lily was wearing nothing but underpants (!), I was wearing pajamas and no shoes, and Jim was wearing pants, with no shoes or shirt. He had to go downstairs and get another key like that, while I stood by the door with my almost naked child and her brother. Then we got locked out this morning after breakfast, because when they issued him a new key, the other two were deactivated. We were fully clothed that time, so it was much less embarrassing.
We all went to bed between 6 and 8, so it was no surprise that we were all up at 4 am. Actually, Jack woke up at 2, but was content to lay in bed until 4. I'll blog about our day in SF later. We are having a great time!
Oh yeah...there were no compact cars available when Jim went to pick up the car rental. They told him to take whatever midsize car was in the lot. The only car available that had 4 doors and room for all of our baggage was...
...a gold PT Cruiser HHR. I don't know what "HHR" means, but it looks like a pimp mobile and it is larger than a regular PT Cruiser. People actually drive past us laughing and pointing. Seriously, who buys a gold car? I'm not talking champagne or something pale, I'm talking shiny, metallic gold. And it has tinted windows.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Leaving on a Jet Plane
This is day two of the Marathon O' Packing. Why is it that I have to do all of the packing? Is there some handbook for husbands out there that says "The wife shall pack while the husband watches TV?"
This is the first time I've had to pack for four people going to a place where we have to bring EVERYTHING. Going to my parents' house? Easy. They have car seats, a pack'n'play, toys, a stroller and a high chair. We just bring a few outfits and the kids. For this vacation, where we will be staying in three different places, we have to bring the car seats and the stroller. We're borrowing a pack'n'play, thank goodness. We'll also be bringing three suitcases because we won't necessarily have convenient access to a washing machine for most of our trip, and we would like to bring as many of the presents back with us as possible.
And, then there's the plane trip itself. This is the first time we will be flying with two kids on a 6 hour flight. We've packed a bunch of small things to entertain them. I got enough little presents to give one each hour. We have a portable DVD player. We won't necessarily use it on the plane, but it will be crucial on the two 5 hour drives we have to make during the trip. We're definitely bringing our computer, because, well, how can you not bring the computer? I basically had to beg Jim not to bring his work computer.
So, if you are in a Boston, NY or San Francisco airport tomorrow, look for us. We will be the family schlepping along with:
2 large suitcases
1 carry on suitcase
1 umbrella stroller
1 booster car seat
1 toddler car seat
1 laptop bag
1 carry on bag
2 small children
We will probably be the family with two cranky children, one harried father and one stressed out mom. Pray you don't get seated next to us!
If I could fast forward to the part where we are settling into our hotel room, I would. Got to get back to packing. I'd give you a list of everything we have to bring, but you would probably die of old age before you got to the end of it.
This is the first time I've had to pack for four people going to a place where we have to bring EVERYTHING. Going to my parents' house? Easy. They have car seats, a pack'n'play, toys, a stroller and a high chair. We just bring a few outfits and the kids. For this vacation, where we will be staying in three different places, we have to bring the car seats and the stroller. We're borrowing a pack'n'play, thank goodness. We'll also be bringing three suitcases because we won't necessarily have convenient access to a washing machine for most of our trip, and we would like to bring as many of the presents back with us as possible.
And, then there's the plane trip itself. This is the first time we will be flying with two kids on a 6 hour flight. We've packed a bunch of small things to entertain them. I got enough little presents to give one each hour. We have a portable DVD player. We won't necessarily use it on the plane, but it will be crucial on the two 5 hour drives we have to make during the trip. We're definitely bringing our computer, because, well, how can you not bring the computer? I basically had to beg Jim not to bring his work computer.
So, if you are in a Boston, NY or San Francisco airport tomorrow, look for us. We will be the family schlepping along with:
2 large suitcases
1 carry on suitcase
1 umbrella stroller
1 booster car seat
1 toddler car seat
1 laptop bag
1 carry on bag
2 small children
We will probably be the family with two cranky children, one harried father and one stressed out mom. Pray you don't get seated next to us!
If I could fast forward to the part where we are settling into our hotel room, I would. Got to get back to packing. I'd give you a list of everything we have to bring, but you would probably die of old age before you got to the end of it.
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