I'm here to see the sights.
I'm here because one of the perks of John flying so much is that they gave me a companion pass, meaning anywhere he can go, I can go for free. Given that I'm the mother of four, this was my first opportunity to use it. John's here for work. He has a big geek conference he's attending, and I'm just along for the ride.
We came a couple days early to spend some time together, but he has to spend a majority of the time being where his work wants him to be, talking to other geeks, learning new stuff, etc.
I got to go to the opening night convention thingy last night. John was pretty excited to show me stuff so when he comes home and talks about stuff, I'll know what he's talking about. (Sorta.)
Like the big Cisco machine he got his CCIE on. (Super-cool certification) 
I haven't felt that out of place in awhile.
A room full of geeks, talking geek stuff, and me.
I did a lot of smiling and nodding.They had refreshments. "Conference food." It wasn't that great.
And drinks. The alcohol was plentiful,
but for us soda pop drinkers, the pickings were pretty slim. After an hour all that was left was Caffeine free Coke and Diet Orange Crush.
They even had super heroes.
And scantily clad "booth babes". I didn't take any pictures of the "booth babes." You're Welcome.Where else can a bunch of computer geeks meet both people dressed like comic book heroes, and get beautiful, scantily clad women to talk to them and pose for pictures? You could almost picture some of these guys as pimply faced teenagers reading comic books and playing on their Atari's.
John was criticized by some of the guys for bringing me with him. How else was he supposed to have fun with me hanging around? Apparently my computer geek is one in a million. It's a rare thing to want to hang out with your wife. 
When we got in, we spent the afternoon walking around and just checking things out. We walked around China Town and North Beach (little Italy). 
The highlight of the day was of course Wicked. I've had the songs stuck in my head ever since, but that's oh so fine with me. I think those were the best tickets I've ever had to any show ever. 
You'll regret it later.
(In my defense, I didn't know it would be sunny. I've been warned about the cold and the rain, -I'm prepared for those contingencies, but nobody mentioned any sun. Besides, I'm from AZ- I know all about the sun)
"Tomorrow?" He asked.
I was so excited all day. I was worried a little thing like a migraine was going to ruin my fun, but I begged a percocet off my dad and that did the trick.
My mom was worried I might get sick from the turbulence, but I have a pretty strong stomach, so I wasn't worried. I did however elect to not eat right before, just in case. I think my kids were worried about my safety, I got at least one panicked hug before I left.
It was so much fun. I asked a million dumb questions, took a thousand pictures, and had a good time. 
We flew out over the Great Salt Lake, and saw some weird man-made jetty thing out in the middle of nowhere that some guy made as "art".
We flew over Ogden, right over my old college campus. It was neat to see things from a different perspective. 
I liked spending time with my little bro too. There's enough separating us- age (6 years), distance (800 miles), lifestyles (married w/kids vs. single/no kids) so it was pretty neat to see things from his perspective. 
I totally did not get sick. I'd go up again in a heartbeat. 
This year the event was organized, the candy purchased, but one of my cousin's kids ended up in the hospital with a severe asthma attack the day before. (If I have my facts straight) He was in the hospital for a few days and eventually made a full recovery but the Easter Egg hunt was postponed indefinitely. 
Somewhere along the line, someone had the idea to re-organize it when my family was in town so we could finally join them in the festivities. 
My kids had a great time. Nick was too "mature" to really join in, but he was still happy to help the little kids. Christopher got bored with finding the eggs after about three, but was still happy to help everyone eat their candy.
The weather was beautiful, the adults had a nice time talking, it's always good to see my cousins and aunt, and since I will be missing the family reunion this year, (taking advantage of my mom and heading off to San Francisco to go to a big Cisco Geek conference with John) I need to get in that kind of stuff while I can.
The boys weren't interested. 
That's okay. That just means there's more for the two of us.
Because Nick stayed in the hospital for those few weeks, he was still there the day Hannah was born. Despite their nearly comatose state, they must have bonded as they lay there in their cribs in that hospital nursery. 
Twelve years later, they are still good friends. Hannah has a little brother Madison's age, and the five of them Nick, Maddie, Zach, Hannah, and Derek have been nearly inseparable since we've arrived. 
I could not be more thrilled. The kids have played and played and played. They've soaked up sunshine and had scooter races up and down the street. They've played in the play house in the back yard and swam in Hannah's pool. They made up a song to perform for the parents and helped with the yard clean up when the city deposited dumpsters throughout the neighborhood. (mostly they just liked to smash stuff.) Hannah did Madison's hair and turned her into a tree nymph, and they ate dinner over because no one wanted to stop playing long enough to eat. The day finally ended for them sometime around 10:30 PM, when we said "Enough! The adults want to go to bed!"
I nearly cried to think that the TV stayed blissfully off, no one fought over playing on the Wii or the computer, and I never once heard the words "I'm bored."
"This is the way summers should be", I thought. This is the way it was like when I was a kid. Instead of scooters we had roller skates and bikes, and no one I knew had a pool, but nearly everyone had a trampoline.
When we finally made it back to Salt Lake, I went in to help my mom with dinner, the kids played in the back yard, some neighbor kids came over, and they had a blast, until I realized Christopher was no where to be found.
We finally found him a street away, hanging out with some families, eating candy, who seemed to be having a big party. He had been gone for over an hour. Apparently even the police had been called.
For a moment I found it a little funny as we went door to door frantically asking the neighbors if they had seen him, that one neighbor was assuring me that this was a safe neighborhood. "Of course I know that! I was raised here!" But then I remembered just how much time has gone, and my parents are the last original home owners on the street, and I started to panic some more.
