August 4, 2005 at 10:08 am · Filed under vacation
Before we left for this trip, Moon mentioned that what she’d really like would be some “alone time” on vacation. So Wednesday we left her in the hotel room with the room service menu and went looking for indoor activities. First we went over to Enterprise to rent a car. Then we drove around a bit while I consulted the map and the attraction booklet. We headed to Balboa Park, which is adjacent to San Diego Zoo and houses many, many museums.
The Reuben H. Fleet Science Museum was a perfect destination for us. Not only we were out of the midday sun, but Peter also was able to check out a host of hands-on exhibits. We took in an IMAX movie about an expedition up the Nile (foreshadowing of our kayak tour the next day?) and a deep sea simulation. It was amazing to me how watching a movie while being jostled around could make us feel so nauseated. By “us” I mean Pete and myself. Peter thought we were lightweights.
When we came back to the hotel, Moon seemed pretty refreshed, although she had thought we were going to the beach. She was a little bummed that she’d missed the museum instead, although I don’t know that she would have enjoyed all the day camp kids running all over the place. Peter, on the other hand, is king of the short people.
August 2, 2005 at 8:35 pm · Filed under vacation
Moon did not want to get out of bed this morning. She wasn’t any more motivated when we told her our destination for the day was the beach at Coronado Island. But being the good sport she is, she finally showered and dressed. Her sunburned nose and cheeks were blistered and oozing clear yellowish liquid. By no means was she planning to go near the water. Pete and Peter packed up their towels and swimsuits because they knew they wouldn’t be able to resist the waves. I’m a wader, so I wore a t-shirt with swim shorts.
We walked to the Broadway pier, where the ferry leaves for Coronado Island on the hour. After we docked, we walked toward the beach. It was a much longer walk than it appeared to be on the little map we’d picked up. Peter was complaining big time. We stopped for pizza at Alexander’s (Coronado’s best pizza!) and started looking for a place to buy sunscreen. Finally we entered a surf shop, where a cute surfer boy named Ryan sold us sunscreen, after-sun lotion (refrigerated!) and a pair of Crocs each for me and Peter. (Peter’s mood improved dramatically after that. His feet had been hurting.)
The beach was only a few more blocks away. Moon curled up on a bath towel (borrowed from the hotel) wearing her black t-shirt and jeans. Peter immediately headed for the water and Pete followed. I wandered in a few inches of surf and succumbed to the adventure of beachcombing. Looking for treasures of the sea was completely addicting. I spotted a woman walking by with a few sand dollars, and I wanted one like you wouldn’t believe. When a little girl a few feet away plucked one from the sand and yelled, “Daddy! A sand dollar!” I felt robbed… that was my sand dollar, dammit.
But by the time we left, I had four sand dollars in my hot little hands. Unfortunately, the ocean demanded an offering in return.
Peter joyfully ducked under the waves…and surfaced without his retainer. My beachcombing took a more serious twist. News of the loss spread to the point where strangers were stopping to ask me if I’d had any luck. “I have sand dollars,” I answered.
Maybe someone will pick it up, see the unusual last name embedded in the plastic, do an internet search, and find us.
August 2, 2005 at 9:26 am · Filed under vacation
Huzzah for touristy adventure! We called a cab Monday morning and arrived right when the doors were opening. We were able to take the behind-the-scenes tour, and I signed Pete and the kids up for a Dolphin Encounter. The name makes it sound like some wacky kind of therapy, but it’s actually an opportunity to pet, feed and work with trained dolphins without having to don a wetsuit or get into the water. This was actually one of Pete’s goals when we were choosing a destination.
There are many, many shows at Sea World, and we took in quite a few of them. The children were especially enamoured of the sea lions, which reminded them of Foxxi with their barking and their begging for food. I bought a tray of raw fish for them. (The sea lions, not the kids.) Pete talked Moon and I into purchasing hats (well, mine was a visor) after noticing that we were turning pink. It was too late, though. Moon’s face, arms and hands were thoroughly sunburned, and I had an impressive dose of redness as well. We returned to the hotel in time to slather ourselves in aloe vera and watch the finale of Hell’s Kitchen.
August 1, 2005 at 8:14 pm · Filed under vacation
After midnight on Saturday, I was still thinking of stuff to pack and things to do. It almost wasn’t worth trying to go to sleep, knowing that we’d be getting up in a few hours and leaving the house by 4:30 a.m. I rested, but I didn’t really sleep. We made it to the airport in plenty of time, though.
Our flight was pretty uneventful. We had a short hop to O’Hare, then our main flight to San Diego. I sat with the kids; Pete was a row away, sitting next to a Ukrainian man with a 17-month-old son. The child was very antsy. The dad tried to placate him with canned meat paste, but the boy insisted on shrieking and running into the first class section. I didn’t blame him one bit once I realized they’d been in the air for a day already. And I thought five hours was a long trip.
After we landed, we collected our bags quickly and took the shuttle to our hotel. We were early, so we checked our bags with the bellman and walked over to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. Then we walked downtown for a few hours, which did not delight the children. We were tired, our feet hurt, and I suddenly realized we belonged at a resort and not in the Gaslight District no matter how historical and eclectic it may be.
Back at the hotel, we discovered our room still wasn’t ready. Fifteen minutes later: we went to our room. Five minutes after that: I stepped onto a soaking wet carpet in the bedroom of our suite. There had been a leak; the carpet had been cleaned. We moved to another room. At around 4 p.m. Pacific Time (6 p.m. our time) we all took a nap. For 14 hours.
July 30, 2005 at 10:43 pm · Filed under blather
Geez, the week certainly got away from me. I didn’t even get a chance to write about taking Moon to see the shaman, or getting my Soleil finished, or my trip to Lakeside Fibers to spend my birthday gift certificate. Lord knows I haven’t posted many photos lately. At least I managed to get caught up at work.
I’m hoping to post lots of photos in the week to come, because we’re heading to San Diego for a fun-filled vacation. That is, if we survive the plane ride, yada yada. We’ll be staying at the Sheraton Suites downtown, and we’re planning two activities besides frolicking in the ocean and soaking up sunshine: Sea World and a La Jolla kayak tour.
Foxxi and the other critters will be well cared for during our absence, because we have someone staying at our house. The choir director at my church has been housesitting the rectory and caring for the priest’s two dogs for the past month, and she (the priest) returns the day we leave. Very convenient! We’ve been cleaning and trying to get things ready for him. Thus the frantically running around.
Besides mowing the grass, cleaning rodent cages, doing laundry and making last-minute trips to various stores, we managed to attend the annual corn boil at Vermont Valley Farm. I’m having a hard time sitting still. I may end up not sleeping until we’re on the plane. Okay, back to running in circles.
July 29, 2005 at 10:06 pm · Filed under knit/crochet
Of course I knitted an iPod cozy. Are you kidding? After I finished, the openings seemed to call out for a bit more oomph, so I tried out my new single crochet skillz.
The cool thing is that it cost next to nothing. I used up some Kureyon left over from my Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers.
I’ve been buying toys for the Huskie, too. This and this. I think we’re ready for tunes on vacation now. And lots of photo storage.
July 27, 2005 at 2:46 pm · Filed under mememe!
Huh. Interesting.
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Your brain: 120% interpersonal, 160% visual, 20% verbal, and 100% mathematical!
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| Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers.
Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious:
- Don’t date someone if your interpersonal percentages differ by more than 80%.
- Don’t be friends with someone if your verbal percentages differ by more than 100%.
- Don’t have sex with someone if their math percentage is over 200%.
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My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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You scored higher than 82% on interpersonal |
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You scored higher than 87% on visual |
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You scored higher than 10% on verbal |
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You scored higher than 45% on mathematical |
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July 19, 2005 at 9:54 pm · Filed under family
During the celebration of July birthdays at the Homestead, I had quite a surprise. When I unwrapped my gift, I found a series of numbered envelopes. The first contained this intriguing rhyme. (Click on the photo to see a larger version.)
The next few clues were a little confusing. I would have concluded I was getting a digital camera, if I hadn’t already had one. The “hot hot hot” thing didn’t seem to make sense, though.
Hmmm. After reading the last clue, I was still scratching my head. What in the heck was a “meHusk”? As I headed out of the room to find my surprise, I finally made the connection….
Aha! Yes, it’s an iPod. And not just any iPod… an iPod Photo. Woo hoo! I’ve been obsessed with it ever since I first laid my greedy little hands on its colorful box. Isn’t it cute?
After all, it gives me handy images. And it’s full of hot hot hot (music, music, music… in Russian). It has a whopping 30 GB (or 3% terabyte) of storage. Don’t you think meHusk would have been a much catchier name?
The mastermind behind this presentation was none other than Sister #1. Bravo! And thank you, thank you, thank you for the hot hot hot.
July 17, 2005 at 10:12 pm · Filed under books
Moon finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this morning, so now I get to read it. I’m on page 384. She’s anxious for me to get done so we can talk about it in detail. Kind of like our own little book group.
Today, on the hottest day (so far) of the year, at the hottest time of day, the power for our entire neighborhood went out. Peter asked if we had remembered to pay the electrical bill. I, like many of the neighbors, went outside to see if anyone else was having trouble.
Fortunately we were headed out to the in-laws’, so we sat in air-conditioned driving comfort instead of a hot and muggy house. The power was out for about two hours. We converged upon the house to celebrate the July birthdays, of which mine is one. I was given a spectacular present — you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about it, but I promise you, it rocks!
July 16, 2005 at 9:54 pm · Filed under books, knit/crochet
To the relief of everyone in the house, the new Harry Potter book came in today’s mail delivery. (My shipping confirmation email had indicated an arrival date of July 19, so Moon was a bit worried.) But there was something else in the mailbox as well: a package for me, me, me!
Several weeks ago, I received a mysterious postcard from someone in England. I suspected a RAOK (random act of kindness) on the part of a Knitty forum member. Today’s package was the follow-up. How fun!
Inside was an assortment of Wallace and Gromit characters. (Did you know we own the boxed video set? We do.) Also note the ball of DK wool, which looks perfect for a dying experiment. I also found a silver gel pen in the package after I took this photo. You know, it’s such a rush to get real mail.
In other news, Moon is probably going to finish the Harry Potter book tomorrow, if not tonight. She keeps making little noises and expressions, lamenting that she can’t talk about what she’s reading. I’ll be grabbing the book as soon as she finishes, so she won’t have to be silent for long. Peter picked up Moon’s copy of Order of the Phoenix and is busy reading, too. It’s odd to have such a quiet house on Saturday night.
Here’s another look at one of my favorite knitting icons. Cute, cute, cute.
July 15, 2005 at 10:33 pm · Filed under movies
…. is so, so, so goooooood!
The kids and I saw it today on the Ultrascreen at our neighborhood theater. I figured I’d probably like it, but I didn’t have any idea how amazing and entertaining it would be. I sat there and smiled through almost the whole flick.
Stop reading, and go see it. Right now.
July 13, 2005 at 9:52 am · Filed under fitness
I’ve got one of those nasty summer colds, the kind that makes your head feel like it’s stuffed with balsa wood. I’m still working, but my trash contains an impressive mountain of used Kleenex.
Why am I sick? Maybe because I haven’t had any significant exercise in the past week or so. I’m afraid I’m turning into a lump. But check out this horoscope from
Free Will Astrology:
CANCER (June 21-July 22): During my years in college, I enjoyed watching the evolution of Richard, a shy geek in my creative writing classes. Long before he penned a single good poem, he was a bohemian art poseur. On his backpack there was a button with the image of rock poet Patti Smith. He often wore a t-shirt bearing a quote from poetry icon Allen Ginsberg, and he was never without his book of Rimbaud poems. Everywhere I went I saw him scribbling ostentatiously in his journal as he chain-smoked clove cigarettes. To my surprise, Richard’s work gradually began to match his persona. By sophomore year he’d spawned some evocative poems, and soon after he graduated, he published a fine chapbook. In his development I witnessed a perfect example of the saying, “You become what you pretend to be.” That’s an excellent theme for you to meditate on right now, Cancerian.
I need to get back to doing what I do best: fake it ’till I make it.
July 8, 2005 at 10:18 am · Filed under moon (rachel)
This little munchkin arrived and changed our lives forever. Although it would have been a lot easier if we’d have been able to communicate right from the start, it was interesting and rewarding getting to know her and figuring out her special ways.
She’s still as opinionated as she was back then. (And trust me, babies can be opinionated. Even when they are 2 hours old, like she was in this picture.)
Sometimes it floors me how quickly the time has gone. Back when I was a new mom, I would ask other parents to please tell me again that thing about how babies grow up so fast. Maybe I just figured that once Moon was talking, she could give me some pointers or something. When she started forming words at about 8 months or so, I extracted every bit of meaning that I could.
Can I even begin to say how amazing it’s been getting to hang with this kid for the past 14 years?
Even if I weren’t her mom, I’d be compelled to point out how beautiful, intelligent, funny, talented and kind she is. Being 14 and all, she has a hard time seeing all of that in herself, but it’s there.
Happy birthday, Moon. I’m so glad that you joined us here on earth.
July 7, 2005 at 6:02 pm · Filed under career
Today my boss and I switched offices. From a feng shui standpoint, it made a lot of sense. I was in the middle office, and he was in the front – the hot seat, so to speak. The action center. He’s busy enough without the flow of energy careening into his space.
Me, I’ve been a little bored. I could put that flow to good use.
So this morning we traded. The fun part, if you like that sort of thing, was seeing how disgusting the carpet was underneath the bookcases and other furniture, and then vacuuming the mess up and making it habitable again. Wiping the layer of dust off everything wasn’t so fun, but it was rewarding.
It’s cool to rearrange one’s surroundings from time to time. The best part was how many people came in to talk to me after I was finished moving. I think I’m going to like my new digs.
July 4, 2005 at 5:10 pm · Filed under animals, family, knit/crochet, shopping
- Dragging Pete and the kids to War of the Worlds (despite it not being a Pete-friendly movie). Overlooking my current distaste for Tom Cruise enough to enjoy the kickbutt alien tripods.
- Being sung to by restaurant employees and hoarding my free birthday mug.
- Unwrapping the book I wanted
and a gift certificate to Lakeside Fibers.
- Accompanying Patti (with Peter) to Petsmart to look at the shelter kitties there. Falling in love with a cat named Morty, who is going to come home with Patti in two weeks (yay!).
- Driving around trying to find a good spot to watch Rhythm & Booms. Pulling over and putting the hazard lights on next to James Madison Park. (We weren’t the only ones.)
- Taking my parents to Hubbard Avenue Diner and Olbrich Gardens.
- Trying yet another spectacularly good flavor of Michael’s Frozen Custard (PB Crisp).
- Starting a new knitting project. Ripping a huge chunk after losing my place and creating an inadvertent jog in the lace border.
- Getting the nerve to wash my recently completed T3 sweater, after looking at it nicely folded on the sofa for several days.
- Working on web stuff but obviously not updating my own site.
- Deciding that a lame list will have to do.
July 1, 2005 at 8:24 am · Filed under mememe!
There are exciting things happening now and yet you are a bit cautious about just jumping in. You know what’s to be gained by going out into the world and acting with confidence, but you see better reasons to stay in the office or at home, letting others step into the spotlight. Go out and take a risk. Push yourself beyond your normal limits. This won’t last long and you’ll surely have fun once you are in the swing of it.
Right after rolling out of bed, I went on a walk with Pete and Foxxi. It’s breezy and beautiful today — a big change from the past few weeks of sauna-like weather. I’m planning to knit, eat cake, see a movie, and shirk responsibility. Ahh, birthdays.
June 30, 2005 at 10:31 pm · Filed under family
At precisely 2:07 a.m., I will be 43 years old. Wacky.
Pete took the day off, so we’ll all be enjoying a four-day weekend together. In keeping with my determination to experience all things Madisonian, we’ll be having dinner at the Nitty Gritty. I’ve been talking about going to Rhythm and Booms Saturday, but I’m not sure my enthusiasm is shared by the rest of the family.
Oh, happy Canada Day.
June 26, 2005 at 3:19 pm · Filed under friends
Every year when the sugar snap peas ripen at Vermont Valley Farm, CSA members are invited to help pick them. Each family gets to keep up to five pounds; half of what they pick goes to the week’s delivery.
I love sugar snap peas, so Pete and I headed out to the farm yesterday for the annual picking. Although the weather was humid, it wasn’t quite as hot as we’d had during the week. Sweat poured down my face, and my shoes were caked in mud, but it wasn’t unpleasant.
Later, we went to help a friend move out of the apartment where he’d lived for seven years. Now, that was work. Pete and I have stayed put for the past 12 years, and I found myself wondering how overwhelmed I’d be if I suddenly had to pack up everything we owned. I’m compulsive enough that I’d probably start organizing and labelling everything weeks in advance, though. I asked our friend how long he’d been packing. “Well, I got up at 6 this morning,” he replied. Huh.
June 24, 2005 at 9:51 am · Filed under family, moon (rachel)
After Moon’s initial experience with contact lenses last Friday, she hasn’t even attempted to get them back onto her eyeballs again. In fact, she has pretty much decided they’re not for her. Later today, we’ll be going back to Eye Contact to give them the news (and look at new glasses frames).
In the meantime, we succeeded in distracting Foxxi from her empty tummy this morning, and she’s spending the day at the vet’s office getting her teeth cleaned. It’s eerily quiet around here now. All week the temperature has been in the 90s, so we’re not planning on outdoor activity today. Nope, we’re going to the movies.
Friday isn’t just my day off anymore. It’s the kids’ day off, too. Moon has been cooking dinner for us every night, and Peter is responsible for setting the table and making sure the living room is picked up before Pete and I get home from work. They each get daily chores as well. Yes, we are paying them, but it’s less (far less) than what we used to pay for summer day care.
Sweet deal, eh?
In other news, my oldest nephew turned 23 yesterday. I’ll say it again: 23. I still remember the day he was born… his mom had a c-section, and I was in the waiting room with my dad. Brother #1 had been pretty shaken up by the way things had gone. He called us as soon as he found out the surgery was going to take place, and we came right over to offer support.
Of course, I had no clue what potentially comforting words I could say. But I do remember how incredible it was to see my nephew for the first time. He was my initiation into the wonderful world of newborns.
Update: Moon made a last-ditch effort to put on her contacts right before we left for her appointment, and she succeeded. So it looks like she’ll be ditching the glasses after all. We also didn’t make it to the movies, but Foxxi sailed through her teeth cleaning like a trouper.
June 20, 2005 at 12:15 pm · Filed under shopping
During the Farmer’s Market on Saturday (the kids got up and went with us – it was awesome), I discovered that I do indeed enjoy iced coffee with a splash of sugar-free vanilla.
I could go for some right now, in fact.
Anyway, the whole experience made me wonder about cold brewing systems. Not that the cup I enjoyed was made that way, I’ve just been reading stuff. I went ahead and added one to my birthday list.
Update: I’m too impatient. I just picked one up at Gloria Jean’s during my lunch break.
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