liza thinks

Camping Trip - San Simeon

Left Friday after school and headed off to San Simeon State Park down near Hearst Castle on the coast. The drive down wasn't as hot as we'd expected -- thankfully. I was praying for fog and it was foggy. Perfect weather as far as I was concerned. Foggy evenings and nights and sunny but coolish days. Wonderful! We had a great time although there were some major SNAFUs. For one thing, we had a flat tire on the 5th Wheel. The good news was that it wasn't until we parked that it went flat so that was nice. We ran over some piece of metal. We hit an auto parts store and got some tire inflator stuff, sealant, and a 12 volt air pump. Worked great. The other major SNAFU was that I forgot when Greg's birthday was. I thought it was on Sunday so I thought I was ahead of the game when we started celebrating on Saturday afternoon -- of course, it was ON Saturday. Poor guy! Sigh. He took it well and seemed to enjoy the Martinis I made him as well as the great skirt steak we had for dinner. I drove most of the way home yesterday to give him a break and I bbqed at his parents as his dad didn't want to and seemed to think Greg should anyway. Bob would have but I was being slightly martyred at that point.

Today, I made him a cheese pie (secret family recipe) and he was thrilled! :)

Probably the most fun thing we did on the camping trip was go to the beach. I normally hate the beach and avoid going but I had fun once we were there. It's a very rocky beach -- and you can rock hound there. Greg and the kids built a fort that we defended from the encrouching tide. That was fun. We had fun doing that. Gage and Ruth had a blast in the water -- challenging the waves, running in and letting the waves come around their ankles. The water was freezing but we had a so much fun!

We took a drive up a really pretty canyon after that. So beautiful. We could totally imagine buying 5 acres there and setting up a place to park our RV and vacation there whenever we wanted to. Pipedream but a fun one. We love that area so much. My favorite thing to see down there is a gorgeous old farm between Harmony and Cambria. Gorgeous old farm house and barn. They raise Longhorn there which is totally fun. It's lovely.

I saw tons of birds. Most notable were Great Egrets -- probably saw a dozen on the trip. Also saw lots of Red-tailed Hawks, Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures. Saw a bunch of crows at the campground. Delightful birds. Lots of swallows at the campground too. Saw a bunch of Brown Pelicans flying around -- one group flew right over us. Greg said, "Please don't poop!" which delighted the kids to no end. And, thankfully, they didn't poop! Whew!

We're exhausted but it was fun. I got a bad sunburn on my left shoulder (driving in a tank top). Just finished peeling from the Great America burn and I got a new one. Lovely. What a sun dork I am.

Nothing new on the job front. Just waiting to hear about an interview for the 4/5 Combo job. Fingers crossed. Summer School continues. I don't love it or hate it. It just is. Some of the kids are great and some make me nuts. I will survive.

:)

Kindergarten

Last night was a teary, happy night for me. It was the Kindergarten Completion Ceremony for Gage. The teachers -- whom I adore -- are an evil lot bent on making mothers as weepy as possible. Terrible women. :) They had the kids sing wonderful songs. They had a slide show of all kinds of pictures set to sentimental music about transitions and changes and the amazing power of small children. Weep. Weep. Weep. Then we headed outside and the kids all shared a wish for the world -- to make it a better place and they released balloons into the world. One for each class. It was awesome. The kids watched and watched until the balloons disappeared into the sky. Amazing.

After that, we went out to dinner with my inlaws (thanks again!!!). We hit the local brewery and had a much too late dinner but it was great. The kids were good. The room was loud. The food was slow but good.

Transitions. Hard. Amazing -- looking ahead to the future. Looking behind at the past. I can't believe that I won't ever have a kindergartener again. Sniffle.

Saturday Activities!

Paramount's Great America | San Francisco's Themed Amusement Park (Santa Clara)

Finally had our long promised trip to Great America yesterday. Wow! It was so much fun. Really had a blast. Almost nothing went wrong. Because we have season passes, we got to have VIP parking -- awesome spot in the shade. We got there when the park opened. Everything was just sooooo much fun. The kids loved the rides they went on and even though Ruthie was tall enough, she opted out of some of the bigger rides like The Grizzly. :) I'd saw the most of fun of the day, however, came at White Water Falls. This simple boat ride with a big splash at the end gave us some of the best family laughs we had the whole day. After we got off the ride -- which we all enjoyed even though it was scarier than Gage thought it would be! :) -- we crossed the bridge over the ride. There is a SplashZone on the bridge. The kids wanted to get WET so they went onto the bridge as a boat went under and got splashed. Greg thought that looked like fun too so he did it too. I stood off to the side and back where I thought I'd get splashed a tiny bit. They all turned around after the boat went by to show me how little they'd gotten splashed and saw me standing there with my mouth open completely soaking wet. I was drenched. Hilarious! We had a blast!

Then in the evening, we took the kids to my inlaws and let them hang while we went to dinner and a movie -- well, a movie anyway. I wasn't hungry and hadn't brought a change of clothes so we just got Greg half-a-burrito and then went to the movies. We saw The DaVinci Code. Loved it. I wish they hadn't changed elements of the book but still, it was really good. I even yelped at one scary part! :)

Great day!

My Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend. Wow. Quite a weekend. Here was the plan.

Saturday. Meet the folks to hand over Ushki.
Sunday. Pancake breakfast at the Firehouse with the extended family. Art & Wine Festival. Dinner at my inlaws.
Monday. Take the kids for their long awaited trip to Great America.

Here's the reality.

Saturday. Met the folks and handed over Ushki. They came here full of tails of Alaska and the fun they had on their trip. They brought pilmeni and we feasted. It was a nice long visit. The kids loved seeing Mimi & Bumpa again. We had a good time. I miss Ushki now that he's gone. He's mellowed into a nice dog. Greg and I played Toontown until around midnight that night. Totally fun to play it again.

Sunday. Pancake breakfast and Art & Wine Festival. Dinner. All that went as planned until we got home around 10:30pm. Already reported on Rosie's foot (see update in comments to that post). She's doing okay. I went to bed around midnight. Here's where the BIG changes started.

Midnight-thirty. Gage came into our room crying. He'd thrown up. Yup. Here we go again. So, I grabbed him into the bathroom as he started making gagging noises again. Greg was on clean-up duty this time (stripping bed, cleaning carpet). I made up an impromptu bed for us with his sleeping bag, sheets, and his quilts. I snuggled with him and his pot for the rest of the night. He threw up 11 times that night. Poor miserable kid. He was super brave about it -- just looking at me in the middle of all the wretching saying, "I don't like throwing up. I think it's a bad thing." Finally, around 6:00 am, I was done. He wanted to watch TV so I traded with Greg who had been awake and counting the sessions but got more sleep in between sessions that I had. He sat with him through two more sessions. And, then, he was fine.

But, we weren't even going to consider going to Great America -- rides and junk food on a delicate stomach? Mom and Dad with not enough sleep? Holiday weekend? I don't think so!

I slept until around 10:45 or so. We showered and got dressed and went out to breakfast. Our local Denny's is now the Scotts Valley Diner. Great breakfast. Gage got plain pancakes with no butter/no syrup. He was good with that and ate a lot, surprisingly. Then we took the kids to see Over The Hedge. Very cute movie -- they LOVED it. Half way through, Ruth turns to me and says, "I can tell this is meant to be a comedy." Greg and I had some big guffaws in it too.

Then we came home and puttered around the house. Greg cleaned up all the broken glass. I tended Rosie and washed off the deck. I did tons of laundry. We had dinner (stopped at the store and everyone got what they wanted for dinner). We just hung out. When the kids went to bed, Greg and I played ToonTown again. Totally relaxing. I got a GOOD night's sleep.

What a weekend.

Birds
California Towhee
multiple Barn Swallows
multiple Stellar's Jays
multiple Western Scrub Jays
female California Quail
multiple Acorn Woodpeckers
multiple Purple Finches

Hurling

So, the night before last I stayed up until 2am and I was about the crankiest teacher on the planet but what's a girl to do when you have American Idol to watch *and* a two hour LOST finale and your husband is at band practice until 10pm???

Anyway, I was in bed by 10pm last night. At 11:35 (and I checked and triple-checked the clock about 47 times because it felt SO much later), I was awoken by my daughter telling me she didn't feel good. She's got this tummy thing so I got up and got her a Tums.

At 12:35, she's sobbing in our room that she'd thrown up. And boy had she. Okay, so not the heartburn and Tums -- not really cutting it, Mom. Sigh. So, Greg gets up and does all the comforting, nurturing while I attack the cleanup. Bed, toys, carpet, clothes. Oh boy. I get her sleeping bag out and get her bed set up but she's not ready for bed yet.

Greg woke me up crawling into bed at 4:30 am. He had been up with her that entire time. Two more major bouts of vomiting. She finally was ready to sleep (although terrified she'd hurl in her sleep) with her arms around my big Revereware pot from the kitchen.

Here's the deal though. She threw up massive quantities of chicken. Lots of it. To the best of MY knowledge, she hasn't eaten chicken in days and the last time she did, it wasn't in nugget form so she ate about one tiny, microscopic bite. Yesterday, she ate bagels and OJ for breakfast, pb&j for lunch, and bean burritos for dinner. No chicken. BUUUUUUUT, for lunch at school yesterday, they were selling Chicken Quesadillas. I think she dumped her packed lunch out and bought lunch and ate it.

So, now, I'm wondering is everyone who bought lunch yesterday going to be home sick today after throwing up all night or did she catch a stomach bug that has kept her home throwing up and this chicken is merely coincidental to all this. Interesting, huh? Oh, and she swears that she didn't eat chicken yesterday. Damn it.

Mother's Day

What a mixed day.  To be honest, it started out awful.  I am totally congested - nasally speaking - due to a lack of Claritin-D in my life.  It's hard to come by these days since meth makers figured out they could make their nasty drug out of nasal decongestent.  So, I've been out of my necessary meds for a week.  So, this translates into some serious snoring going on.  Not good.  So, I got up and slept in the living room Saturday night.  Not fun.  Oh, and then I'm out of coffee and had to have decaf.  Blech -- what's the point.  Sure it tastes fine but sheesh I need the boost! 

California Guitar Trio

California Guitar Trio
Originally uploaded by lizalee.

Mr Wonderful and I dropped the kids off at my inlaws after soccer today. We had a MOST awesome dinner at the Cowboy Grill and then went to see CGT at Don Quixote's. Such a fun show! They are so great!

Food eaten: We had their Hot Legs (wings) that were awesome. The only complaint I might have made was that I wished they had a blue cheese sauce for dipping instead of just ranch or bbq. Those were fine but still . . . For dinner, I had their Yahoo Plate which was short ribs. I got the jalpeno glaze on them and wow -- they did NOT disappoint. Delish. Nice and hot but with that wonderful carmelized sweetness going on. Wow! These were served with their vegies, garlic mashed potatoes, and corn bread. The corn bread is out of this world. The garlic mashed potatoes were phenomenal. It was fantastic. Throughout the meal, I had margaritas -- they do fresh juice margaritas which are wonderful! It was a great meal. Only complaint . . . no room for dessert! :)

Soccer Mom

Well, it's official. I'm a soccer mom. The kids started soccer yesterday. One of The Princess' classmates (for the last two years) is a great soccer player and his dad is a coach. He runs a small soccer club for local kids and it's awesome! This is definitely one of those things that makes me wonder why I put it off so long. And why did I? Weeeeeeeeeell, I guess because of my own lack of enthusiasm for the game.

But, the kids were somewhere far beyond excited about it. They were THRILLED. Going and buying soccer cleats, shin guards, and long socks was a monumental thrill for them. I let them get soccer balls too -- TP got one that is tie-dye color (really!) and The Boy Wonder got a silver one. Nothing would to but to put on their soccer gear and play outside for awhile. So cool. Yesterday when I picked TBW up at after-school care, he saw me and yelled, "Mom! Soccer!" So excited.

So excited, in fact, that I started to worry. It couldn't possibly live up to their expectations, could it?

Or could it?

Well, it did. They had a blast. The Coach is great with kids. It was just wonderful. We packed up a bunch of snacks and blankets and books and two chairs and headed off. We sat in the sun watching them and taking pictures. The kids did everything they were supposed to. TBW was the biggest surprise to me. He was right in there mixing it up. At home, if he doesn't get something quickly, he gets mad, changes the rules, quits, or cries. Here, he not only got everything and did everything, he was aggressive and successful. WOW! TP was good but a bit more cautious. She got the ball during the "game" and ran the wrong way and that made her way more tentative than she had been before. But, being TP, she went up to the coach (whom she has known for two years now) and told him that she didn't think she was doing well or doing enough. He fell for it in a big way (he only has boys and totally adores my daughter). He was totally looking out for her, encouraging her, egging her on. So awesome.

On the way home (and about 1 million times since), they have both said to me that once a week is just not enough. They want to do it more than that. At least two times a week. So awesome!

As for the Soccer Mom and Dad. We were left wondering why we'd been reluctant. It was great. We sat out in the sun watching the kids have a blast. It was low-key and relaxed. We knew everyone. One older sister of one of the little ones playing was running around the field -- for each lap her mom would give her .50 to spend on their upcoming trip to Yosemite. She's in the 3rd class next door to mine and I know she's getting tutoring on her multiplication tables. So, everytime she went by us, we'd give her a times table fact challenge. She did great. Once she'd done that awhile, we switched to spelling. So fun. What a great sense of community.

The most amazing thing for this new Soccer Mom was that I saw my son (in particular) getting something that I didn't know he was missing. I know that sports are important but neither Mr Wonderful nor myself have ever been big on team sports (other than volleyball and even that brings out the jerk in a lot of people). So, we haven't pushed it. They have had swimming lessons and other physical activities but not team sports. Well, I saw TBW (aka Wolverine :) THRIVING out there. He was aggressive in chasing the ball. His first time on the field and he was doing really well at ball control. They played a "keep away" game where one person was it. If they kicked YOUR ball out of bounds, you joined them as the "Guard Dog" in the middle and started taking away other kids' balls. TBW was one of the last ones out there and he ended up in the middle of a mob and held on to that ball for a LONG time. He LOVED it. He needed this and I didn't even know it was missing from his life. Amazing.

Live and learn.

The Princess

Well, The Princess has been suffering from heartburn for ages. Poor thing. We have gone through so many stages on this. Disbelief. Ignore it, it'll go away. Drink water. Finally, we called the doctor. And, then we started logging her diet to look for allergies. Can't find anything. So, we cut out all dairy for 2 weeks. Nothing. So, we take her back and this time see our regular family doctor. She advises we stop calling it heartburn and have The Princess keep a log whenever she feels it REALLY bad. Well, all that does is stop her from talking about it. We think it's better but she has a big blow up scene and tells us that she hurts all the time and just doesn't tell us about it. So, back we go. Now we're trying Pepcid AC and Tums (chocolate flavor). She gets 10 mg of Pepcid AC once a day and as many Tums as she wants (ideally 3-4 times a day). She seems better with the Pepcid in her system.

Shopping Trip

Instead of a love seat, we ended up with two of these. Ikea how I love thee. We had such a great day. We explored -- while reminiscing about doing this when the kdis were younger (not as much fun!). We ate in the restaurant. The Boy Wonder thought it was SO cool to sit and look down at the cars going by. Pretty much 6 year old boy heaven! It was all so fun!

The Princess spiked a big ol' fever again on the way there but we got it under control quickly. Scary stuff. But a full day of antibiotics ought to get this thing under control -- I hope!!! No word from the doctor's office on the test results. Sure hope it is Strep since we're treating it that way.

I opened my new camera lens but didn't get to play with it much. It connects beautifully to my camera. I can't wait to play!!! Hopefully I'll have some nice shots soon!

Gotta go to bed. Headache. Tired. Yawn.

(No word on what the result is on my screwing up my last assignment. :( )

Oh. Yea. We watched Napoleon Dynamite tonight. Hmmmmm. That's all, just hmmmmm.