Let's See....where did I leave off....
So, we get to the airport and the kids are a little grumpy from lack of sleep (and, to tell the truth, so are we). We get to the check-in counter pretty early but the flight is over-sold by 7 seats and they can't move anyone around - we have to see if they can do anything at the gate... So, we grab some lunch then go back outside to get all the luggage. At this time it's about 105-degrees... We check the luggage in and I head off to return the rental while Lisa watches the kids.
I return the car quickly and hop on the shuttle back to the terminal. It's 105 outside but luckily the shuttle has no air conditioner so it's only 120 on the bus... Lisa calls me just as I arrive back at the terminal...lack of sleep and a busy weekend is catching up with the kids...and now they're breaking-down.....
We found an uninhabited spot in the airport and let the kids run wild (almost) while we took turns with some downtime... Luckily, although the planes were full throughout the night, we were able to get four seats in the same row...2 on each side of the isle. Unluckily, th plane was delayed - but only for 1/2-hour. We took advantage and fed the kids...and got a beer for dad...
The plane ride was a nightmare. The kids were VERY tired and VERY grumpy. We pulled out all the stops trying to contain them. Like the wedding, I always had a perception of parents and kids on airplanes...I now have a different perspective, which has changed my perception... To make things a little more interesting, the old lady in the seat next to me had the widest shoulders of any lady I've ever sat next to. Furthermore, her elbows were in my side the whole flight (no kidding). To add to my displeasure, she decided to try to sleep the second half of the flight so her hips were halfway into my seat as well... Meanwhile, across the aisle, Lisa was having similar issues with a headache and a tired kid who needed constand attention...
We made it back to Seattle in one piece (barely). We headed down to the baggage claim area and waited for our luggage. The tired kids wanted to be held constantly and were making a scene in the airport...again. We waited for around 1/2-hour when I saw a couple of people from our flight with their luggage....they moved our baggage claim area without notification...our luggage was spinning around the carousel...but where are our car seats?... Walking back towards Lisa, Aly, and Mitchell, I just happen to see a sign for irregular shaped luggage (or something like that). Sure enough, there were our two car seats.
We headed home and almost immediately, things went back to normal..........*whew*......I'm still tired...
I wish we could have arranged to take the kids to see some of the family in Sacramento but I think most of them were up visiting my brother in Yreka. With the ticketing issues, we wouldn't have been able to stop anyway... As soon as my on-call schedule is published, Lisa and I will probably start planning a trip...
CONGRATULATIONS A.J. AND VANESSA...
AJ and Vanessa got married on Saturday, June 24, 2006 at 7:00pm at the
Mont Bleu Resort Casino in Lake Tahoe. Congratulations AJ and Vanessa!!
Now...about the trip...
Friday, June 23We left the house at about 7:30 to make our 10:30 flight. Traffic was a nightmare. We were sitting in a parking lot on I-5 when, at around 8-ish, I decided we'd take some side streets. I took an exit in Kent and looked for familiar roads (assuring Lisa that I knew exactly where I was going). Very quickly, I found a familiar road and turned on it towards the airport (in the direction of the airport is the correct phrasing...). After 15-minutes, I was getting worried. We were in a residential area that we'd never been in before...then we saw the airport sign. "I knew we were close," I said pounding my chest...
Getting to the ticket counter was quite the chore with our 7 bags of luggage (3 suitcases, 2 carry-ons with kids paraphernalia, and 2 car seats in the top-of-the-line car seat bags...). We actually purchased a couple of the rolling luggage carts to move the bags 100-yards. Check-in was a breeze though and we were at the gate by 9:30 - just in time for us both to take turns sipping down a bloody mary at the airport bar (it was the Mitch and Aly's first flight - we didn't know what to expect).
The kids were awesome on the plane ride. The only breakdown that we had was when dad (that's me) decided to pack away all of Mitch's toys 30-minutes before we landed (I didn't want the flight attendants to be cross with us...). We landed in Sacramento on-time, purchased a single cart for the standard luggage while I carried the car seats. Lisa and the kids sat down for lunch while I took the shuttle to the car rental - everyone marveling at the car seat luggage (little do they know that they were nice to look at but not any easier to carry around - despite the arm straps so you could wear one like a backpack...). I picked up the
Buick LaCrosse (I thought it was a pretty nice car but Lisa was unimpressed.) and headed back to pick up Lisa, Aly, and Mitch.
We didn't leave the airport until after 2:00 so we hit quite a bit of traffic along the way. We arrived in Lake Tahoe at 4:30.
Thanks Nanny, Jessica, and AndyMic called several times on our way up to Tahoe. She was up there with Jessica and Andy and was anxious to see the kids. When we got into South Lake Tahoe, she called to find out where we were staying...and almost beat us there. They offered to take care of the kids Friday evening (we already arranged to have them take care of Aly and Mitch on Saturday). We had to meet up with the wedding party right away so we took Mic up on her offer.
We went to Cecil's Steak & Brew and met up with AJ, Vanessa, Matias, Adam, Heather, Adrienna, Jr., and some of Vanessa's family. The beer was good, the ribeye was tasty, but everything else about the place was lousy - especially, the service. One of our waiters was ok but the other was downright rude...guess he knew he was getting 15% no matter what...
Lisa and I gambled a little bit and had a couple of drinks for the rest of the evening. We met up with AJ and Adam late in the evening and were at the hotel by 11:00.
Great start for a mini-vacation to go with the wedding...
Saturday, June 24 - Wedding Day!We (Lisa, AJ, Matias, and I) arranged to meet with Nanny and the kids, Jessica, Andy, Adam, Heather, Adrienna, and Jr. at one of the beaches Saturday morning. Because Adam brought his dog up, we thought a dog-friendly beach would be nice. I searched the Tahoe rags (magazines for those of you not familiar with the hip-speak...geek-speak, really) and found Kiva Beach, which permitted dogs on a leash. We arrived late (Nanny was a little annoyed) and found that Kiva Beach wasn't much of a beach at all - it was more like several small mini-beaches (5-feet of sand surrounded by rock and brush....). After walking for about 1/2-hour looking for a spot, we decided we'd drop off the dog and go back to the South Lake Tahoe beach (Nanny was a little more than annoyed at this point). The South shore beach was cool and we all had a good time for a couple of hours (enough to get pretty sunburned in the ~90-degree temps...).
Lisa called the
Horizon Casino Resort and arranged for an early check-in (AJ and Vanessa would get our original hotel room for the night). We were in our room and napping by 2:30. We woke up at 3:30, got cleaned up and dressed, and headed over to Mont Bleu at 5:30 (now the fun begins...).
AJ didn't eat much all day. He was (literally) sweating all day long (his dad told me so when I talked to him before the wedding).....We figured that the wedding would be quick and followed immediately by dinner so we didn't feed the kids - what a mistake (stay tuned)...
The wedding started a little later than expected but not too bad. It was a beautiful outdoor setup. I'd love to describe more but...
Almost everyone's been to a wedding where there's some kid screaming and yelling and crying... You're sitting there thinking "can't those parents control their kid?" Well...I have a different perspective now... You see, I am that parent...! As the ceremony started, one of ours (the humiliation will be all mine...) was that child. We had a contingency plan, so I immediately took the child away so we wouldn't be a distraction. Unfortunately, I missed the ceremony (and the family pictures afterwards) but it was the right thing to do.
After the ceremony, I took the kids right over to the reception area so we could get a little food in them. Unfortunately, they were still setting up the area when we got there. Then Aly had to use the restroom...unfortunately (again), the restrooms on our side of the casino/resort were under renovation....so we had to walk all the way to the other side... Luckily, we met up with momma near the restrooms. We walked all the way back only to find that they still were not serving food (had to be after 8:00 at this point). We were livid. I set out, unsuccessfully, to find some quick food for the kids...Mitchell pee'd on himself - and Lisa's dress...we were going nuts.
Then, Kylie and Jake (Aly and Mitch's cousins) arrived and took care of the kids. The kids started playing and dancing (Aly and Adrienna were sooooo cute on the dance floor) and forgot about food. Then, the food came. Neither of the kids would eat much. They were beyond hyperactive at this point - during the toast's, Mitch was screaming and yelling - out of control. At one point, a booster seat came flying from behind the head table - with Mitch following close behind... We pretty much chased the kids all night. It was 10:30 or so that we decided we'd had enough. We bid everyone adieu and headed back to the hotel. I don't know about Lisa and the kids, but I fell asleep the minute my head hit the pillow...
Sunday, June 25 - the morning afterAlthough I fell asleep immediately the night before, I hardly slept a wink all night. I woke for good at 4:30 and was in the shower by 6:30. We were on the road back to Sacramento by 9:30 (When setting up the flights, I was able to choose seats for the flight down but not the flight back. I went down to the front desk and printed our boarding passes. That's when I found that we weren't sitting together so we had to head to the airport ASAP to rearrange seats...). We stopped at our original hotel and checked AJ and Vanessa out then we hit the road.
(more to follow...i'm too tired right now...plus, i'm sure i missed a bunch...)
2 Dead Moles...
Well... Lisa called me at work yesterday to let me know that the Mole Lady just left (not sure if that's her business name...I just assumed it was since we called the Mole Man and the Mole Master but they couldn't come out and do the job). Lisa reported that she and the kids stood on the deck watching as the Mole Lady removed her traps and got two moles. Lisa said she plopped the grass back in the holes, grabbed the moles and her traps, and left without saying a word. Lisa waited awhile then went out front to look for her but she was nowhere to be found.
Later, when I arrived home from work, I approached the door and noticed a small paper bag and an envelope on the front porch. Written on the outside of the bag was "2 dead moles". After asking Lisa if she wanted to look inside the bag and inspect, I promptly picked up the bag and threw it in the trash... I assume the bill was in the envelope....
Lisa and I got a babysitter again for Saturday night. Instead of eating greasy bar food like the last couple of times, we decided to go out for a good meal. We ended up at The Keg, which, unlike it's name might suggest, is a nice steakhouse. Lisa and I both ordered sirloins - i got the 12oz., Lisa got the 9oz. Lisa's was much tastier than mine. I can't believe that two of the same cuts of meat can be so far apart in taste...
After dinner, we ended up at the local sports pub for a game of pool. We were both exhausted (Lisa from working out twice and me from thinking about working out twice...). We got back home before 8:30.
Yesterday, Lisa and the kids woke me up by presenting me with Father's Day cards and a framed picture for my desk at work (I'll scan it tonight and post it - cutest kids in the world!). We hustled through breakfast and showers and made it to the Tacoma zoo by 9:30-ish. We had a great time at the zoo. Mitch freaked out when Lisa wanted to get a picture of the family next to a bronzed seal. Poor boy loves the small animals but is not too hip on the big ones... Aly spent most of her time picking up sticks and picking plants... We had such a good time at the zoo that we ate lunch there - instead of at Hooters as originally planned...
Lisa cooked an excellent spaghetti dinner (my favorite). The Heat beat the Mavericks and went up 3-2 in the NBA Finals....
So....Let's see....what's happening...?
Hven't been updating much. Mainly, because I spent the last couple of weeks (at least the weekdays) working during the day and on escalation calls in the evening.
Last weekend, however, I made it down to Cali. I flew down on Friday and parked my rear in a Starbucks for the morning and got some work done. After that, I had to run a bunch of errands but made it to Hooters for lunch. On Saturday, I went to a clebration for my nephew's (Ricky) graduation. There were ton's of family and friends there... Actually, Ricky, Anthony, and Josh all graduated last week. Michele's son Nick is graduating this week...
Huge thanks to Tony and Jennifer for letting me crash on the futon and for the hospitality.
More Saturday...and a little Sunday...
After the kids got up early from their naps, we went to a kids birthday party (for Maya) at a local gymnastics center (kind of like Adrienna's birthday). It had the typical gym apparatus - rings, parallel bars, horses, trampoline, springy, running thingy, etc. It also had a climbing structure and a pit filled with foam that kids could jump into or swing on a rope into. The kids had a blast. They ran non-stop, had some pizza, ran non-stop some more, had some cake (they had an interesting idea of bunching cupcakes together and covering them with frosting...what a mess to get apart though), and they ran non-stop some more. When the party was over, the kids got party gifts - Aly got a purse and a ring, Mitchell got a bug kit with a magnifying glass. They fought all night over the magnifying glass. The kids were exhausted. Mitchell was complaining of being tired by 6:30.
Not the way to get a-"head" in life...When it was time for the cake, the teenagers running the gym went out to round up the kids. I went by the rope swing to get Aly. Aly walked in front of the platform ushered by me when...BAM!! Some kid decided to take one last swing on the rope. His knee hit me hard in the temple (i was at the bottom of the swing where he had the most momentum). I tried to maintain my balance but fell into the pit. Lisa was laughing hysterically... The teen running the gym freaked out and kept asking if I was OK. Yes....and embarrassed too.... So we go over to have some cake and the teen brings me an ice bag - like I'm going to walk around with an ice bag on my head so everyone can ask what happened.....sure....
My head is still sore....
Sunday, the kids were still a little tired from running around all day Saturday. And tired kids are cranky kids. I got a short break in the morning when I went to the gym. When I returned, Lisa went. When she came back, we loaded up the kids and headed to
RAM Restaurant and Brewery. It was pretty good food and they catered to the kids - and the kids ate free! I had a sandwich made of Copper River Salmon. The locals make a big deal out of Copper River Salmon and it fetches up to $26/lb. at local markets. My sandwich was good...but probably not the best way to experience the salmon. Plus, I got it well done instead of medium to medium-rare.
Having decided that we didn't pig out enough, we barbequed some steaks Sunday evening. It was sunny when I put the steaks on the grill but we got hit with a flash storm mid-way through that lasted about 10-minutes. Luckily, we stuck with it and the steaks came out great! Of course, the sun came back out while we were eating...
I Wanna Rock!
We started off the weekend with a little yardwork. After having a cement pad and sidewalk put in on the side of the house, we were left with some unsightly dirt strips along the house and fence and an 8x8 area around the new air conditioner. Lisa decided that we would fill in the areas with decorative rock. Her friend told her of a nearby rock place where she got the decorative rock around her house. Lisa informed me that we'd go to a quarry to pick up our rock. Over the past couple of weeks, I kept asking her if she was sure that a quarry was where she wanted to go (I've been to a rock quarry before...). "Yes!" was her response.
So... Saturday morning, I head off to the dentist to get a crown replaced - but first I ask Lisa one more time if she called the quarry and that she's sure that's where she wanted to go. When I return, I hook up the utility trailer and off we go. We pull into the quarry and it's exactly what I envisioned although I'm not sure it's what Lisa thought it would be. Lisa goes inside and tells the person what we want. She returns and tells me that someone would be coming to load the rocks into the trailer (cool. I didn't feel like shoveling it in there....).
After a minute, here comes a guy driving this HUGE bulldozer - 9-foot wheels, the cab sits about 12-feet in the air, and the front scoop is twice the size of my puny trailer (Mitch was very impressed). The guy scoops up a bunch of rocks and waves us over. After a brief discussion, I drive over and position the trailer under the scoop and the guy starts dumping slowly. He asks me to tell him when to stop.
I base my estimation of how much rock to have him dump partly on my quick (in my head) estimation of what the job requires and partly on the fact that the tires on the trailer are now completely flat... I weigh in and find that we have just over 1600-lbs of rock. I pump up the tires with an electric compresser that I keep in the truck and off we go.
I figure that the trailer is designed to hold 500-1000 lbs so it's all over the place. But we make it home fine and I get to shovel and dump the rock (Lisa is nowhere to be found...). Mitch helps out with his shovel and wheelbarrow. Based upon my scientific calculations, we had exactly enough rock to fill the area. And, I must admit that the smooth rocks look much better than the dirt that was there before...
Oh, by the way... Lisa saw her friend later and described the experience. Her friend replied that she didn't go to a huge quarry to get her rock...
I can't keep up...
People around here walk like they're being stalked or something.
It's about 6-8 blocks (slightly uphill) from the train station to work and many of the train riders work in the same bldg as I do. Now, admittedly, I tend to mosey-along when I walk but, lately, I've been trying to keep up with the masses... I'm just not used to walking that fast... Take this morning for example, I was moving at a pretty good clip - or so I thought. Then, I noticed that there was a group of 5 or so people trying to pass. I step aside then try to keep pace. By the time we're two blocks away, my calves are burning, my feet are aching, and I'm starting to perspire...and the group is about 3/4-block ahead at this point...what's the rush?
Now, yesterday, I didn't have a problem keeping up...but I had extra motivation due to the, um, rumbling in my stomach....
Someone once told me of this thing called a life...
...outside of work. Having never experienced it, I'm calling it an urban legend...
While I was working, however, we did get our shiny new 3.5 ton air conditioner installed. That makes 2 or 3 of us in the cul de sac that has one... When we have another one of those scorching 85-degree days, everyone on the block is gonna run to the hills when they hear it kick on. They're not used to the foreign sound of AC around these parts...
Back to work...
