Monday, May 31, 2010

We’re no where near ready to spend the dough yet, but I’m starting the market research for minivans.

We debated going the SUV route, but decided the minivan is more practical for our family, especially since we’ll be schlepping to my parents’ new home that’s an hour away for the holidays. We need the extra seating and the cargo area.

We had planned to rent an SUV for our vacation, but when we did the online check-in the day before we flew out, we were offered an upgrade to a minivan at no extra charge. Since we thought that there might be a time or two when we wanted Beau’s folks along with all of us for some outing, the van made more sense for avoiding having to take 2 cars anywhere.

When we picked up our car at the airport, we were given a new Dodge Grand Caravan. I have to say that I was impressed with it. It seemed to drive well, the dash was easy to figure out and manipulate. We did have a slight problem figuring out the key, which is the lock fob, but once we figured that out we were golden. And the manipulation of the seats in the back was super easy, too. With the bench in the back-back folded into the floor there was quite a bit of room for hauling stuff. When the bench seat up and in use, there was still a good sized, recessed into the floor cargo space that worked well. I liked it a lot.

I had been leaning toward getting a Toyota Sienna because I’m a Toyota person, but we may have to do a tight comparison before we just head to the Toyota dealer when the time comes.

Please allow me to bore you with the rest of the slide show of our California travels.

Day Four - Sunday - we have no pictures. This was a quiet day. We went to church with Beau’s parents in the morning. And then we spent the afternoon at their house. And then because I’m selfish, we headed home after dinner so that I could do laundry (not the selfish part) and also watch the LOST finale (this is the selfish part). I think I cried through half a box of Kleenex in that 2.5 hours.

Day Five - Monday - Beau wanted us to attempt a hike to/thru Hazard Canyon, but this didn’t work well with an 81 year old grandmother, a 43 year old mother wearing a 14 month old, and a 3 year old who likes to touch everything, including the poison oak that was growing abundantly. However, in the 20 minutes we trekked I managed to get a few pretty shots of the woods with my Blackberry.

We decided to head straight to Montana de Oro beach instead, where Grandma and Jesse poured through the seaweed strewn sand for seashells.

After naps, we headed to meet up with Beau’s cousin, Karen, and her family for dinner. She’s cousin Linda’s sister. We had a great time catching up with them, although Molly had a mini-meltdown in the restaurant. We spent most of our catch up time in the parking lot after eating.

Day Six - Tuesday - We headed back to LA for our afternoon at Knott’s Berry Farm. This was Jesse’s second favorite day of the trip.

For the record, Molly was there, too.

This ride is called Huff ‘n Puff. Jesse was very excited to ride it by himself. However, he had to power the car under his own steam - by pushing/pulling on that handle. He was less enthused about it by the end. Heh.

Molly was getting bored. Her favorite thing right now is peas. So she got a pea break, so to speak.

Days One and Seven were our travel days so no fun pictures. Mom and Dad were stressed out trying to get 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 car seats, and 4 carry-on bags through the airport without worrying about chronicling it all with the camera.

I will say this though - Dulles is much easier security-wise than LAX. It is much better organized, much more spacious, more polite staff. LAX is a nightmare from start to finish. That said, baggage claim at Dulles needs help and while the train system from the gates to the terminal seems nicer, it’s a lot more walking, especially if you have to use the elevators.

All-in-all it was a good trip. Too short, though.

Please allow me to bore you with the slide show of our California travels.

Day One - Thursday - we went to San Luis Obispo for the weekly Farmer’s Market. This is the Mission at SLO. The tiny people are Beau and the kids.

Jesse loved this fountain at the Mission.

Earlier that day, Jesse played Little Einsteins bingo with Grandma.

Molly was her cute self. And then tried to eat the TV.

Day Two - Friday - this was a quiet day around home (both at our rental house and at Beau’s parent’s house).

Resting…that’s Molly in the tent.

Day Three - Saturday - to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We met up with Beau’s cousin, Linda, on that day. Jesse loves Linda. This was probably Jesse’s favorite thing of the whole trip.

The sites driving north on CA-1, which is lovely and horrifying for those with heights issues. We did not drive that way back south because I call that side Death Highway. It’s sheer cliff off of the road. My peace of mind couldn’t take it.

In this shot you can see Morro Rock in the bay.

We stopped at Elephant Seal Beach. It was chilly and windy so we didn’t stay out there long.

At the Aquarium…with Linda.

This is not a plant. It is a freaky little sea horse that looks like a plant until you get up close and can see it’s face. Freaky. Cool.

I love this picture. Beau told Jesse to go hug the sea horse without realizing that it is a model of a gestating sea horse getting ready to give birth.

Molly was sleepy and bored for most of this day. I wore her a lot. This is one of her happier moments. And then into retreat mode.

We got Jesse a monocular in the gift shop. Behind the monocular his eye is closed.

Heading back south by the inland route - through the Salinas Valley first. I forget that the rest of the country isn’t all red clay. I was constantly surprised by the dark soil.

I love the hills in California. They’re still green, but in a few weeks they’ll be brown and dry. Even then I think they’re beautiful.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

Spoilers Therein.

[via]

There isn’t much I can say about the LOST finale that hasn’t been said already this week. It was both disappointing and amazing. A full week after seeing it, I still have a mostly positive opinion of it and think that it was a good ending.

For more insights, The Thinklings have a long discussion thread going, but be aware that it is highly spoilerish, of course.

I’ve started to re-watch from the beginning. What’s interesting is how much I have forgotten that happened back then and also to see those early events through the lens of knowing how it all ends and what some of the mysteries really are (like the Smoke Monster). The first 5 minutes were intense and awesome and reminded me of how great a show this was from the very start.

I am sad that the ride is over.

I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty details of our vacation this past week. What I will say is:

1. Our children are champion travelers. Both did very well on the plane rides. Very well. I’m so grateful.

2. Molly did well sleeping in the tent all week. By the end of the trip she was climbing in and out of it by herself at times. And they did pretty well sharing a room. There was one night that we took Molly and the tent into our room, but the rest of the time they did great.

3. Jesse loves anything to do with any kind of animal. He absolutely loved the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We plan to make a trip to the one in Baltimore, which I’ve heard great things about - seems silly not to go since it’s so close.

4. Both kids loved being with their grandparents and vice versa. Jesse enjoyed feeding peanuts to the California blue jay that would swoop into the back yard for them. Molly loved exploring and being cuddled.

5. The house we rented was perfect. It was in Morro Bay and had a view of Morro Rock, which was cool. It was convenient and spacious enough for our needs. And the price was right at only about $100/day. We plan to rent that house again the next time we go out to visit Beau’s parents.

6. I did indeed watch the LOST series/season finale live while out west. I had to wait to see the whole pre-finale clip show until we got home, but by 9pm I was parked in a chair with a box of Kleenex, ready to go. I’ll post about that later.

7. Our afternoon at Knott’s Berry Farm was fun. Jesse loved all of the rides and we stayed until they closed. Then we attempted dinner at the restaurant there, but Molly melted down right before our food arrived. So I got it boxed up and we took it back to the hotel room to eat. That was a challenge and also sleeping in one room with the kids was harrowing. Beau ended up in one bed with Jesse. Molly started in the tent, but ended up with me in the other bed. I think the adults only got about 3 hours of sleep each. That made our travel day home an adventure in tempers.

8. We had a grand time, but it was too short. We were able to see two of Beau’s cousins and family as well while we were out there. Next time we hope to see more and/or others in the family that live out there.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Thanks to Denis, I have these cute pics of my kids from Mother’s Day weekend.

I’m a little sad that Molly no longer needs the barrette. I cut her hair this weekend. She had started to pull out the barrette on her own and promptly put it into her mouth. Given that it’s small enough to swallow, we decided that cutting her hair was more important for her well-being. No need to let her choke on a hair accessory, right?

This is my desktop at work. I heart it. (And them, natch.)

Monday, May 17, 2010

Tonight will be Molly’s last night sleeping in the tent before our trip. She’s done well. Beau has napped her in the tent every day with no problems. She did some crying last night at bed time, but eventually soothed herself to sleep and played happily this morning while she waited to be retrieved after waking up.

She will sleep in the tent tonight and then we pack it up. I think she’ll do fine once we get to California.

Yay.

Friday, May 14, 2010

I love this insight into The Hobbit.

We’ve been part of this adventure with Bilbo from the beginning. We’ve found ourselves comfortable in the Shire and suddenly thrown, partially against our will, into an adventure with a band of dwarves and a quirky wizard. We escaped trolls, goblins, Gollum, spiders, and wood-elves; we’ve discovered a magic ring and a sword. At this point, about 2/3 of the way into the book, Tolkien makes a very deliberate story transition: “…we are now drawing near the end of the eastward journey and coming to the last and greatest adventure, so we must hurry on” (end of chapter 9, “Barrels out of Bond”).

From here, we step into Lake-town, a small wooden village of people (not elves or dwarves) a few days from Dale and the Lonely Mountain. Dale is the town and the Lonely Mountain the dwarf dwelling places that were destroyed by the dragon Smaug, and the reason for the whole adventure: The dwarves are returning to reclaim their treasure and defeat Smaug. In Lake-town, a fascinating little legend (or fairy tale) had been told for many years that the Dwarf kings Thror and Thrain would return “and gold would flow in rivers through the mountain-gates, and all that land would be filled with new song and new laughter.”

In other words, a land plunged into darkness by an evil dragon would be returned to a state of glory by the return of a king. Sound familiar?

Go read the whole thing. Makes me love The Hobbit even more.

[via Brandywine Books]

Thursday, May 13, 2010

I haven’t posted much about TV. That’s because I’m not watching much TV.

Imagine that.

Turns out I only miss it a little bit. That said, my DVR is at 90% capacity, although I’m guessing half of the stuff on there is actually for the Jesse. My plan is to try to watch the shows that I recorded during the summer. They include: The Good Wife, House, and Manhunters.

I only have about 5 episodes of The Good Wife left - that one I have managed to watch here and there as the season has progressed. I really like it and I think Beau does, too. He will watch it with me on occasion, so at the very least he tolerates it.

We watched the first couple episodes of this season of House and then life got in the way and I just let each new episode keep accumulating on the DVR. I think we have 11 and isn’t the season finale next week? So that will make it an even dozen to either watch or delete.

We love Manhunters, but it comes on after our usual bedtime so we let the DVR catch it. We have 18 episodes. If you haven’t seen this show, you should check it out. It is The Fugitive only it’s real.

What I have managed to watch live or nearly live include: LOST, V, American Idol, and Survivor. V is an interesting show that I like a lot. I think it’s a very good remake, well cast, very well acted, action packed, mysterious. We had a slight snafu with the DVR in the past month or so, where it only recorded the last 5 minutes of several episodes of V. I came to find that the settings for Caillou, which gets recorded for Jesse (and who knew a show like that aired at 10pm?) superceded V. And since The Good Wife and V are on at the same time that meant 3 shows were booked for the DVR at the same time. I have since fixed the settings and TGW and V supercede Caillou. Anyway, I managed to get caught up on V just this morning by watching online.

I spent this season mostly fast forwarding through AI in order to see only the performances and some of the judges comments. I didn’t watch a single results episode. I’m not sorry about that because this season has been terrible. That said, of the contestants who are left, I really like Lee and Crystal.

Because of Movies with Mom on Thursdays - I watch Survivor on Friday mornings before I get ready for work. It’s been a fun season. Loathe Russell. Loathe Parvati. Meh about the rest, although I like Sandra more and more - she’s funny.

I stopped watching 24 after about 5 hours. I stopped watching CSI after the few couple of weeks - it’s not the same without Grissom. I stopped watching The Office because I still need to see last season. And that’s about all I can say about TV these days.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

We’re a week away from our California trip and I decided it was time to start sleep training Molly for the tent. I didn’t want to make the mistakes we did when we used it for Jesse 2 years ago. His first night in California was rough, with lots of crying and probably fear on his part. I wish I had handled it differently. Anyway, the lesson was learned.

Once Molly was in her jammies, I put her in the crib to play while I set up the tent in her room. It took about 15 minutes for me to get the air mattress inflated. But then I put in the sleeping bag that comes with the tent, with her Baa-Baa  and her favorite toys. I had her blankie next to me on the floor.

I held her for a while outside of the tent. And then I lay her on Baa-Baa. Almost immediately the hysterical crying started. I laid a hand on her chest and shhed and sang to her until she calmed down. 40 minutes later she was calm - awake, but calm, so I covered her with her blanket, zipped up the side, and left her room. There was some wimpering, but then I could hear her breathing deepen in the monitor and I knew she was asleep.

Success!

And then I screwed things up by trying to unzip the side to recover her with the blanket when I went to check on her before I went to bed. I woke her up and there was crying. But it only took a couple of minutes to get her back to sleep. I zipped her back in and all was well.

Except that her crying woke up Jesse, so I spent the next hour dealing with him before I was able to get to sleep myself.

Beau found her awake and playing happily in the tent this morning. He might try to nap her in the tent today, but she will definitely spend the night in there every night until we leave. I want her fully acclimated to the tent so that when we get to the strange house after a long day of travel, she’ll be happy to be in her cozy tent. Because I know that Beau and I will be completely exhausted by the time we get to our rented house that first night and the last thing we will want to do is deal with a crying baby.

I can’t believe we’re only a week away already. I’m getting more excited for our trip each day we get closer.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Thursday nights are special to me. It’s the night that Beau goes to his men’s small group and I get to hang with the kids by myself. Now it’s not the only time I have the kids to myself - very often I have them on Sunday mornings while Beau is directing traffic at church. But there’s something about Thursday nights. Mostly it’s because I get to put Molly to bed (I do that most nights anyway, but still…) and then Jesse and I have one-on-one time.

It started in the winter. It was cold and I was probably tired so I suggested that we get into our jammies and go watch a movie in our bed. We started with Little Einsteins Firebird movie that was recorded on the DVR from the Disney Channel. We watched that every week for several weeks (partly because he asked for it, partly because it was only 45 minutes long, partly because it was quiet and soothing enough that I often napped until it was over). And then disaster happened - I went to start it up only to discover that it had been deleted. Quel horreur!

We had moved the combo DVD/VHS from the bedroom to the kitchen and now only had a VHS in the bedroom, so I quickly went to the basement to scrounge through my movies to find something appropriate. I found Disney’s Tarzan, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid, and Beauty and Beast as well as some others that I wasn’t sure were age appropriate or that he would be interested in yet. We have watched all four of those several times and I’m ready for something new. Oh, we also watched Aladdin, but I don’t think he liked that one as much, so we haven’t repeated it yet.

I went to the library today in the hopes of finding something good. I was sorely disappointed. There was a lot of the TV show videos and very few movies. The movies they did have were not preschooler appropriate (or too girly). I did find two Beatrix Potter videos and The Wind in the Willows, which Beau has been reading to him this week. But that’s in DVD form and might get reserved for our trip to California. Anyway, I figure to watch one of the Beatrix Potter videos with Jesse on Thursday. I’m hoping it’s good.

I’m thinking it may be time to move the TV into the living room so that we can watch movies with the kids somewhere other than the kitchen or our bedroom. But I’m only thinking about it at this point.

But I digress.

The point of the post is that I have come to really enjoy my movie dates with Jesse. We snuggle and Jesse recaps the story while we watch and I sometimes sing along with the songs. It’s a sweet little bit of time with my firstborn. And I hope to do similar with my baby, too, when she’s older.

Monday, May 10, 2010

The LOST Finale, and by finale I mean SERIES Finale, is on Sunday, May 23.

I’ll be visiting my in-laws on that date.

How rude would it be for me to tell them that I can’t hang with them that night because I have to watch the 2.5 hours finale of a TV show that I’ve watched faithfully for 6+ years?

The problem is that if I don’t watch it live, then I’ll have to wait to watch it after we get home, which is the Thursday after. That means I somehow have to avoid hearing spoilers from Sunday to Thursday. Pretty much impossible, right?

*piglet*

Oh, what am I going to do? (repeat that X2)

*/piglet*

This is not good, people.

We watched Jane Eyre (A&E version) this weekend. I had been told that this version was the best of the bunch, starring Ciaran Hinds and Samantha Morton as Rochester and Jane.

I have never read the book. I didn’t know the surprise element that kept Rochester brooding. Even though I suspected part of that surprise element, I didn’t expect the fullness of it. (Those who know the story will probably know what I’m talking about. The rest of you will have to read the book or watch one of the movies to know.)

Anyway, I liked it well enough, but I think that Hinds overacted in his role a wee bit. Morton was fantastic, playing Jane with a dignity that was impressive and enviable.

I rated it 3 stars out of 5 at Netflix. Beau then told me he would give it 4 stars, which kind of surprised me. He said he liked it, but I didn’t get that sense while we watched. I guess the lateness of the hour and tiredness superceded his outward enjoyment of the movie.