San Francisco

Nate and I went away for the weekend. The first in three years--that I can recall anyway. And, no I don't count when we had to go house-hunting last spring. That is NEVER a vacation. Anyway,... We had a wonderful time!!!! We met up Friday afternoon with my friend Juliet and husband, Pat for her 40th birthday dinner. We had a lovely time visiting with them and touring a bit of the city. We ate at the greatest places...mmm....went to the King tut exhibit on Saturday, waited in line to get Wicked tickets for $25 bucks (Danae your crumpling of the ticket theory failed me!)--we still got in, though. They gave all of us that waited discounted tickets (although, not for $25). The theatre had a ton of empty seats. Sunday we stopped in to hear a lively methodist choir singing Jesus' praises complete with live band and HUGE choir, walked around golden gate park (even though it's winter it was still beautiful!), raced back to our hotel, checked out and flew back home.

Oh, and I almost forgot--we got to see a guy peeing on the sidewalk...some woman yell at me "get away from me you f.... b...!" while standing at a bus stop not 5 feet from me...Oh, and one guy, high as a kite, broke into a conversation with Nate and proceeded to follow us for 15 minutes until we finally had to walk back to our hotel to shake him off. Pat and Juliet shared with us the cardinal rule up there, "Do NOT engage! Do NOT engage!" Woops! Didn't know that one. Ah... SF!

The kids were so excited to see us--as we were them. Three days is the perfect get away. I miss them too much after that.

Weirdest day ever in So Cal

Emily decided she wanted us to all go to the beach. When we got up I noticed it was raining--doesn't usually do that here. I called her up and said are you sure you want to go to the beach? Yep! So we left. They're plane was leaving out of Long Beach so we decided to make the trek up there so they wouldn't have to travel so far on vacation (it's about an hour away). When we got up to Long Beach the wind picked up the second we got to the bay and then it started to rain. Sheets and sheets of rain. Vivian wanted to go to the car. We stood there for a while all huddled under a blanket while Molly and Abby played in the sand and at the waters edge. Eventually, Abby came over to us with blue shaking lips and said, "Mom can we go?" We packed it all up and headed to "Open Sesame". A Delightful mediteranean place.

After lunch it seemed we were in a monsoon. The trees were all leaning sideways in the wind and it was cold and rainy. Emily wanted to go to the mall so she could go to a store called H & M. We were hoping the kids could find a playplace as most malls have-- to play together before Molly and Ethan had to fly back home. Nope! All they had was a costly carousel. Jake went in the bathroom and came out and said "Dad, look at the water on the floor".....then, it started gushing out of the bathroom door. The entire lower level at South Coast plaza (a HUGE mall) was starting to flood. All the lower level stores were beginning to close. Nate and Pete were advised to go get their cars out of the parking garage as it was also flooding and leaking. We all stepped outside and cars in the parking lot had water almost up to their door handles. It was crazy. When we drove on the freeway every now and again a brilliant driver would go whizzing by us-- dousing us with a wall of water so that you couldn't see a thing for a few seconds. After the mall we decided it best to part ways and go home. I don't think I can recall a day like this EVER in sunny southern california, but I guess they do happen occasionally!

The rain reminded me of storms in North Carolina--hurricane weather really. I still remember vividly trying to escape a hurricane and driving in it the entire 7 hour drive to stay with MJ when Jake was just three and Emmy a newborn. We got so drenched every time we stopped the car and had to get out.

Glad to be home safe and sound in my warm and cozy bed :)

While I was sleeping...

Today was a horrible, no good, very bad day! I decided to sleep in (always a mistake in my house) and it just happened to be the one and only morning Vivian pooped in her diaper upon waking up and tried to clean it up herself. Yes, she's potty trained, but wears a diaper at night and NEVER poops in it, except this morning. There was poop all over my beautiful blue throw rug in a trail to the diaper box from the bathroom, in the sink, on the counter, etc. Nice :) If you want to put me in the best of moods for the day make me clean up poop first thing. You know this was why I would never go into the medical profession--gross things are GROSS and I don't like having any part of them.

Then I let the girls wear two darling, matching "baby lulu" outfits I had just bought the day before. Abby ripped hers within the hour and Vivian managed to sneak out of her bed at nap time and find the green silly putty. It is now embedded in the fabric. ANYONE know HOW to get silly putty out of mesh fabric? Oh, and did I mention she pee'd on the carpet as well this afternoon? As I was sopping up the pee with a rag and cursing under my breath I thought, "This is it! I am done! I don't want to do this anymore! When will the pee and poop EVER END?!!!!" I didn't send out any Christmas messages this year because THIS is my life-- day in and day out--doesn't make for very sweet tidings.

After dinner, we all watched Evan Almighty--pretty funny, by the way. Afterwards, Viv and Abby wanted to dance to the music. The credits ended with a slow song and Viv squeezed me tight with her head resting on my shoulder while Abby held on at my hip as we danced together and suddenly all was right with the world again. What a roller coaster motherhood is! Or...maybe it's just me.