two trips to cali

I had the fortune of taking not one, but two weekend trips to the same part of California earlier this month.  

Excepting the part where I enjoyed myself and my companions immensely and had a good time.  The trips couldn't have been more different. 

Trip #1 -  A couple of girlfriends (Chelsa and Glenda) and I took a quick weekend road trip getaway in honor of Chelsa's birthday. 

Our first stop was a giant swap meet.  The only thing I bought was  a hand dipped corn dog which was pretty darn tasty.  (I totally think the ones you get at the grocery store are disgusting.  I can't even stand touching the sticks. I get corndog grease on my fingers.)   I also considered buying Nick a poster,

but as I could find nothing else worthy to spend my money on for the other kids, the poster didn't get bought.  (I am slowly coming to the realization in my old age that I am not much of a shopper.  I'm not a fan of spending money on things that I don't deem worthy.  Clothes and food fall into this category.  Travel, however, is a worthy expense.)

John booked us into a pretty nice Marriott.  One of the girls said it was the nicest hotel she'd ever been in.  Which kinda took me by surprise because hotels like that are pretty standard around here for the most part, with the occasional exception (see Trip #2).  This lead to realization number two, which of course I already sorta knew but, you know how there's those moments when realizations really kinda smack you in the face?  I'm a little bit spoiled.  Granted, it doesn't actually cost us anything, thanks to all those frequent traveler points, but John likes to make sure I'm taken care of whenever I go anywhere.

For dinner we ate at a "cute" little restaurant- Eat Chow.  That was Chelsa's first requirement, that it be cute, and the other requirements were that the food was good and reasonably priced.   It totally fit all three.  I'd go back in a heartbeat.

After dinner, we went on a fieldtrip to Chelsa's dream house which happens to be on the market.  Only 3 plus million dollars.   Chelsa picked out this house for me.  It wasn't for sale, but if it was, and I could afford it, (I'm sure it's in the 3 million range as well, we were in walking distance to the beach) I would totally buy it.

Then we went and got our toes wet at the beach, despite the fact that it was a bit chilly for my taste.  Of course Gilbert was having a heat advisory that weekend, so the chill felt wonderful.  I wanted to stay. 

The next morning we had an all you can eat buffet breakfast in the hotel restaurant.  (free to us because they don't have a concierge lounge) then headed home.  Of course being with a couple super shoppers we stopped by the outlet mall and we'll just say I was probably succumbing to peer pressure when I bought my first ever REAL Coach purse.  (Sale price on top of clearance, so that makes it better) Of course my other faux-Coach purse shopping experiences make for better story telling.

And then there was this-  

A whole display of really old sewing machines. And although sewing is something that gives me the heebie-jeebies, I had to take pictures. Old sewing machines are cool.

Trip #2- (sorry no pics)

I was finally able to take advantage of that Southwest Companion pass that has been sitting in my wallet all year. I can fly with him anywhere he goes on Southwest for free, it's just never convenient or someplace I care that much to spend a week (think St. Louis).

Having had dinner at the airport, we stopped for dessert at Mastro's.  Man, I love that place.  Sometimes John has business dinners at the one in Scottsdale and he orders the biggest bone-in filet and brings me home half of it and a whole butter cake to myself.   And I am in heaven.  And I don't mind that I didn't get to go to a fancy restaurant because standing in my kitchen, eating a big ol' hunk of meat off the bone with my bare hands is pretty awesome too.  My manners are totally appalling, but I get to suck the meat off the bone and get every last tasty morsel.  And then there's the cake.  BEST. CAKE. EVER. It takes me a few days, but I savor every bite.

So we had a "date" (It's funny how sometimes it feels like we have to leave the state go on a real date) and sat in a booth at the bar and ate our cake, and I watched people at the bar play the dating game, and flirt and hit on each other, and get stupidly drunk and loud, and I was insanely grateful that that was not my life for several reasons.

The reason we were in California in the first place is because John had to take a test, and this was the closest testing place available to him at the moment.  So before I agreed to come, he had just picked the closest Marriott to the testing facility which just happened to be across the parking lot.  Let's just say that it was not as nice as the hotel we stayed in the week before.  It wasn't totally awful, I've been in worse, but I got the feeling that the manager lady at the front desk doesn't see many Platinum members stay there when her eyes totally bugged out of her head when she pulled up his reservation on her computer. Breakfast the next morning was your standard cold cereal and toast affair.

After his test we spent the remainder of the day visiting with John's aunt and uncle that live in Cali.  His Uncle Bob had recently had ankle surgery and was practically immobile. I think they were grateful for the company.  We enjoyed just sitting and talking with them, and decided against taking an earlier flight.

And that was it.  Then we flew home. If I had to say I'd say the first trip was definitely funner, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy both chances to get away and spend time with some of the people that I am fortunate enough to be acquainted with.

And if you are wondering what I did with the kids while John and I were away, Chelsa was kind enough to spend the night and make sure they were safe and taken care of. 

Lucky number 7

My baby turned SEVEN. 

He's still just as sweet and silly as ever.

Not a day goes by that he doesn't bring smiles and laughter to our family.

For his birthday this year he really wanted a trumpet.  (He wants to be just like Zach.)

That's all he wanted. 

"What do you want for your birthday?"  "A trumpet."  "What else do you want for your birthday?" "A trumpet."  "Ok, we'll see about that, but what else?"  "A trumpet."

Fortunately we were able to find a pretty good one on Craig's list for a smoking deal. 

Zach's trumpet teacher even offered to give him some mini-lessons.

I'm hoping I have a prodigy on my hands.

 

But even if the trumpet is long forgotten by the time eight rolls around, that's ok too.  I am sure he will have his share of successes through the years.  He's full of surprises.  (plus I'm fairly certain we could sell the trumpet at a profit as long as he doesn't abuse it too much)

Good news / bad news

So the good news is my dear genius husband got my computer working again.

I wouldn't say it works as good as new, but as good as can be expected given that it's quite a few years old.  Like 5 or so.  I think.  Which in computer years makes it a senior citizen.  So given that, it works pretty darn well.  At least it's not crashing every 2 minutes or so. 

The bad news is I am so far behind in blogging that I don't even want to think about it anymore.  It's true life isn't action packed around here, but in the last month or so enough has happened to make me want to forget I've ever heard the word "blog".

And the thing is, when I am writing about the here and now, it's a lot easier to make things sound interesting.  But when it feels like I am documenting some event that happened days or weeks ago, well, it just becomes boring to me, and if it's boring to me, I can't believe it's interesting for anyone else to read. 

So yeah, that's the second half of the bad news, is that I am going to attempt to "document" the last month or so. 

Might as well get started. 

School got out.  The kids (mostly) passed everything. 

Christopher loved school, but was counting down the days 'til "no more school." 

I think he misses riding the buses though.  He's been watching (and memorizing) bus safety videos on youtube over and over and over again.

Zach finished 5 grade with a bang.  He brought up all his grades.  I don't know what his deal was for most of the year, but he finally got his act together this last semester.  His grades have historically been stellar, but for whatever reason this year he decided school wasn't important.  End of year activities for him included a piano recital, a band concert,

and a school project where he dressed up as Neil Armstrong.

Additionally in March he earned his Webelos badge, (which I just now noticed I neglected to mention back then)

and in May he earned his Arrow of Light.

Maddie worked really hard and decided that she likes junior high.  She was really apprehensive going into it, but she really enjoyed this last year.  Interestingly enough her favorite class was science.  she had a really cute, fun, young teacher who made science fun for her.   May kept her busy musically with a piano recital, a viola recital, two different orchestra concerts (EVYS and school)

and she participated in both ASP and ASTA-CAPS, which are adjudication programs for piano and viola (respectively)  She did fine in both, and moved on to the next level. In piano she would have earned the highest award if she hadn't bombed the theory test. (I'm proud of her anyway- she worked really hard memorizing four different pieces, and played them practically perfectly)

Nick had a busy (and at times rough) end of year.  He spent so much time working on his extra curriculars that he didn't leave much time for school. And homework.  Let's just say he ONLY failed one class.  There were a couple of other close calls.  He got a girlfriend (which is causing me some serious grief for many reasons) and took her to the Spring Formal.  

John ended up driving because his ride backed out, and he doesn't drive because his grades leave a lot of room for improvement.  (of course I don't understand this at all.  I would have DIED before I had my parents chauffeur me on a date.  DIED.)

Nick was inducted into the National Thespian Society, played in an orchestra concert,  and participated in ASTA-CAPS as well.   He did finish his online math course a few weeks early, which gives him a bit of a breather before he starts up his online chemistry class in July.  (The class he failed.  Which for the life of me I don't understand.  Didn't it suck enough the first time?  I'm sure if he had tried hard enough he could have at least passed it, so he doesn't have to take it again.  Why is this kid bound and determined to go through high school doing everything the hard way?!?!?!)  We actually decided to pull him out of his high school for the core classes, and he'll be taking online for all that now, and only attending his current high school for all his extra curriculars.  Hopefully we'll see an increase in the 'ol GPA.  (wish us luck)

I think that's good enough for now...

BSOD

Besides being crazy busy with all the end of year activities that require my attention/attendance/time, my computer hasn't been cooperating lately, and therefore blogging has had an added measure of difficulty.

My operating system seems to be crashing for no reason lately.  Several times a day.  Sometimes  I can spend several minutes reading emails/other peoples blogs/facebook updates before it crashes on me, sometimes all I have to do is boot it up, then click on an icon on the desktop before I get the dreaded BSOD-

Blue Screen of Death.

That's a technical term. Or possibly the nickname geeks give that blue screen with with the words in white type face that appears when your operating system crashes. ( I just figured out how to blog from my phone and add pictures. I just haven't figured out how to put the pictures where I want them- so for a visual aid, see the picture at the bottom of this post)

John just think my computer is having hardware issues, in other words pretty much not worth fixing.

At any rate, I just thought I'd write and explain the lack of blog posts lately.  Technical difficulties, busy schedules, and a bit of laziness on my part.  (and I was doing so good for like three whole days!) 

Well, I better go before my computer crashes again.

 (update from my phone 5 minutes later- my computer totally just crashed)

Les Mis Highlights

It's been over a month since the curtain came down for the final time, but here are the highlights from Nick's performance of Les Mis.

I know for most people, upon seeing Les Mis, they have their own list of highlights that usually include the more popular songs like "On My Own", or "I Dreamed a Dream", but I offer you an alternative (some might say better) list of highlights from this particular production of Les Mis. And FYI, this isn't a complete list of every moment he was on stage, or every line he uttered, or every chorus he was a part of, but more like the best pictures I could find of his moments on stage.

(Oh, and something that kept me laughing through all four showings I attended, was watching to see if Nick would forget to take off his glasses or not. For every scene he was in, I would watch to see if they were on. Sometimes I'd even spot him try to slip them off on stage!)

"Look down, look down, don't look 'em in eye.  Look down, look down, you're here until you die."

"You'll have to go!  I'll pay you off for the day. Collect your bits and pieces here and be on your way."

"Come closer you, I like to see what I buy.  The usual price for just one slice of your pie."

"Is this a trick?! I won't pay more!"

My favorite scene of all was the Master of the House scene.  I am sure the Thenardiers were great and all, but honestly, I barely noticed them.  It was just so much fun watching Nick.

He'd wander around acting drunk, and hopelessly hitting on one particular girl.

She'd reject him as the drunk idiot he was over and over again, employing friends to run interference, and other such tactics. 

"Red! The blood of angry men!"

"Black! The dark of ages past!"

"Red! The world about to dawn!"

"Black! The night that ends at last!"

"Here's to pretty girls who went to our heads.  Here's to witty girls who went to our beds.  Here's to them, and here's to you."

"Beggars at the feast. Masters of the dance.  Life is easy pickings if you grab your chance!

That's about it.  I also have a video should anyone be interested in watching that. 

dating woes

Nick's been giving me extra anxiety lately.

He's been dating.

Girl # 1 - she asked him to Morp.  Apparently she was not happy with me for taking pictures.

She's kind of his girlfriend even though John and I don't approve of that nonsense.  I even spied them holding hands while watching Doctor Who at my house a while ago. AAACK. 

He's taking her to Spring Formal this weekend.  Besides the whole hand holding and the gag inducing texts they send back and forth, (as long as we pay for the phone service, texts that my children send or receive will never be private) the whole planning thing is making me crazy.  "Who are you going with? When? Where? How?"

Girl #2 - She asked him to her Sadie Hawkins. 

Since they met at Les Mis, she did this cute Les Mis themed way of asking, and he responded in kind with some changed up lyrics to "Red and Black" and some red jelly beans.

Girl #3-  I think she's my favorite.  Probably because she lives in California. They met at Cross
Country camp and she was in town visiting her cousin.  So he took her on a date. 

Actually, since he doesn't drive, and was unable to find friends to double with who could drive, they ended up doubling with me and John. 

Poor girl, it was her first date ever.

We took them to Cornish Pasty Co., and let them have their own little candlelit table for two.  I tried to discreetly take pictures.

Nick just noticed the flash and was thinking, "Who is that obnoxious person taking pictures? Oh. Right. MY MOM."

I'm sort of wondering if his bad grades aren't necessarily a good thing. Besides not being able to go out as much as he'd probably like, I think it definitely puts a damper on things when you have to double date with your mom.

making a splash

Can I just say how much more fun a good camera is?

I mean, don't get me wrong, smaller ones are easier, and more portable, and a heck of a lot less confusing, and get the job done with oftentimes really great results, but there are moments when a good SLR is so much better.

For instance- Photos at the pool

(and I am sure a seasoned photographer could give you a whole list of ways fancier cameras kick point and shoot cameras butts, but as I am not a seasoned photographer, this is what you get.)

Anyways, my kids are always mugging for the camera.  "Take a picture of me!"  Especially at the pool (which is weird to me because if someone tried to take a picture of me in a swimsuit, they might find themselves, and/or the camera being thrown into the pool)

My kids love the concept of that action shot of them jumping in, or diving in, or doing a cool trick, and I have never, ever, ever, had any luck with that. 

I have taken lots of pictures of splashes, and not really good ones at that. They're disappointed, I'm disappointed.  They're tired and bored from jumping in over and over and are ready to move on to the next activity, and I'm frustrated and ready to figuratively throw in the towel.

But the other day, I pulled out the camera just for fun, and had so much more success! 

The pictures aren't that awesome.  I wish I had zoomed in more, or centered better or something, but they are good enough for now.  Good enough for the kids to appreciate and have fun looking at, and I think I caught some funny expressions, plus I finally figured out how to make my camera take a bunch of pictures in a row by holding down the shutter release button, so that's awesome too!