Road Trip

Northbound over the Golden Gate Bridge

We are on the road! Our baby turned eight weeks and we thought, shoot. Maybe we should take a roadtrip! Isn't that what most folks do with their infants? In July my brother-in-law and his family drove out to California to meet the baby in their crazy giant Sportsmobile van and now we're spending all of August driving it back to them in a very roundabout manner (via Oregon). I had hoped to post at least a picture everyday but finding wifi along the way is proving to be difficult. So I will just back date posts in batches whenever there's time.

Our first stop is Cazadero, a mountaintop hamlet near the Russian River in Sonoma county and home to our friends Danny and Tara. We met them five years ago at a cafe nearby and all fell in love. They said we were welcome to come back and visit anytime, which we have. Let this be a lesson to those of you who casually make this type of offer to us. We will likely come so the offer best be sincere.

I'm actually writing this on my phone as I sit in a little town on the Oregon coast. We're all smiles over here. Even Mr. Crampy Pants.

In case the belly alone wasn't noticeable

This is what seven months pregnant in the snow looks like. I don't have any maternity ski clothes. I'm not even really sure anyone makes maternity ski clothes in this litigious society since it seems a little reckless to ski when you're T minus two months. I had thought I would just wear my ski pants unzipped for our weekend in Lake Tahoe, but it became clear that would not be an option when I could not get them over my ass. So I wore my jeans. But thankfully on her last visit my mom brought up a giant jacket that we have kept all these years for no reason and here I am in it. It was gifted to me by an old friend from Jr. High who later went to Georgetown and was somehow involved in traffic control for Bill Clinton's first inauguration. It's pylon orange, as you can tell, and, knowing that I always had a thing for orange, he let me have it. Or maybe I took it. Not important. It's size extra-large and since I am now extra-large, you better believe it came in handy on this trip.

On a side note, it reminded me of when I was a senior in college and Greg had graduated early to go do a service project in South Africa. We actually wrote letters to each other on those flimsy blue airmail trifolds. Once he sent me an orange beaded bracelet from Swaziland that I adored. I showed it to my boyfriend at the time and complained how come he didn't know that orange was my favorite color. I was obviously looking to pick a fight, as was my way at the six week point of any relationship. And he said, because this guy has known you since you were twelve and I've known you all of two months. He had a point. Which is why I kept him around for three more months before I had to let him go.

Where was I? Yes, trudging around in my gigantic orange jacket all weekend. We took the kids skiing and tubing and sledding. And they ran around the house in their long underwear playing made-up games with their cousins. Sixty degrees and 20 feet of new snow thanks to our most recent storm, the one that lasted forty days and forty nights and officially ended California's drought. EPIC.

Junior has a thing for orange too.

Winter Merry Making

Chingaderas at Jackalope

Hi folks. It's been a while. We're back from a long and winding winter vacation and it's taken some time to get my groove back. Obviously my new year's resolution was not to blog everyday. Thank goodness. To be honest I don't have any New Year's resolutions because I think they suck. And past experience dictates that I will fail/give up by week two. Who needs that kind of disappointment? I did however make a Daily Schedule for myself which now hangs in my office. I've been meaning to do this for, I don't know, TWO YEARS. So if feels good to have it and will feel even better to use it. I hope. I am thinking about goals for this year and my life coach was awesome enough to send out a worksheet to help me do that.

I have some more big news to share soon, because that's the kind of year it's going to be, but before all that here's a little recap of the last three weeks. Good times. Great memories.

Dress up at Bowers Museum in Orange County.

Crafting with Grandma

Quality time with Mr. Rosen

The historic whale at the Newport Beach Bay Bay where I used to play as a kid.

Sun and surf in San Diego

Mini skis for mini people

Rosy cheeked cousins

Newest niece with her aba

Riding out the snow storm with some indoor crafting

Crash and burn sledding with my sister in law

Kitchen chemistry with Saba

Snowy pottery at my favorite store in Santa Fe

Goodbye to summer

A few pictures from our trip to Santa Fe. It was another great trip, with some interesting twists. Namely that my sister-in-law was put on bed rest at 32 weeks with her third child. In Albuquerque. Which is 60 miles away from her home Santa Fe. Not ideal. But we all rallied. My other sister-in-law and brother-in-law cooked delicious vegetarian cuisine all week. The kids spent a lot of time exploring the arroyos, finding treasures, and rigging ways to haul their treasures home. We went to a dia del nino festival one morning and dressed up like senoritas and conquistadores and built adobe houses. We celebrated my niece's fourth birthday with unicorn cake. The kids gave themselves many many tattoos and painted several hundred coats of nail polish on their hands and feet and legs and everywhere else. There were also many water fights between siblings of all ages. And a few family visits to the hospital. It was a great end to a great summer.

But now I'm ready to hunker down for a little quiet and reflection. Hopefully autumn weather and spirit are around the corner.

Good times in the OC

The rest of our trip to Southern California was a lot of fun. We took the kids to a little petting zoo at a park that's been open for more than a hundred years but this was the first I'd heard of it even though I spent the first seventeen years of my life living three miles from it. Hmmm...We also went to the beach once in Laguna and once in San Clemente. I even got a day to myself in LA to see friends I hadn't seen in years while my mom babysat. And there was the usual LA star siting, though we couldn't think of who she was at the time. But it was this girl. I'm sure she was thinking the same thing. Where do I know that girl from? It must be from the J Weekly Reader's Choice Awards...

We also overlapped a day with my cousin and her family visiting from Minnesota. Her boys are a few years older than my kids. Apparently after our day at the beach together her boys were giggling about something and mentioned my son. She asked what they were laughing about and they told her that when they were playing video games together earlier in the day at the friends' house where we all met up, my son lost his turn and said the "s" word. They asked where he learned that word and he said, my mom. Terrific. It's possible I said the "s" word a few times on the ride down.

Our drive home was uneventful and at no point did the dashboard mention STOP ENGINE. Camp is in full swing and I finally have a moment to catch my breath.

Eye candy

What is it about little kids in snow clothes that makes you want to pop one in your mouth and eat it? Maybe it's the resemblance to salt water taffy.

And in case you're wondering Where's Waldo?

He's spoken for.

The Snake

Uch I have been adding copyright watermarks to all of my digital files all day today and let me tell you, it is completely scintillating and meaningful work because I really love to do the same series of key strokes 82 times in a row. Nonetheless, it is time for a break. How are you?

I have been fighting a very odd stomach ailment the last few days that I can only refer to as THE GRIP. It was like someone was grabbing at my gut full fist and pulling it out (including my back) and twisting it all in one motion. Like I was made of silly putty. It was bad. And then my stomach muscles were also sore from doing too many sit-ups. So I've decided to never again do sit-ups because they are stupid and cause nausea.

Which is why yesterday, when I took my kids to Gilroy Gardens, a delightful amusement park for the two to seven-year-old set, I was not totally thrilled about having to go on many of the spin around until you throw up rides. Luckily the kids had no interest in the spinning garlic ride (it's Gilroy - Garlic capital of the world). Nor the banana buccaneer thing that swings back and forth like a pendulum. And we were with about seven other families from our preschool so there were plenty of parents to accompany in my place if necessary. In fact, my son was tall enough to go on many rides by himself or with just his friends but naturally he preferred to go with me. What can I say. True love.

But there was one ride, the only roller coaster at this place, called The Snake. And toward the end of the day as we were heading out another boy said he wanted to go on it. So all of the kids lined up to see who met the 42 inch height requirement and it turns out only this kid and my son were tall enough to go at all, but not tall enough to go alone. Each needed a parent. My friend Randi went with her son and convinced her three year old to go on the merry-go-round with the rest of us. But my son needed a chaperon and my gut was both literally and physically telling me to skip this one. Plus I had my daughter who had already missed her nap and was unusually clingy. The boys had already run ahead to be in line and Randi went to catch them. That's when I yelled for Michael, Jonathan's dad (Jonathan's the one who calls me Mrs. Rosen - so cute) so he filled in.

And as I was walking toward the merry-go-round to watch the other kids with Jonathan's mom, I panicked that my son would see Michael and start sobbing. Or that mid-ride he'd pitch a fit and I wasn't sure Michael was prepared for that kind of wrath. So I ran up to the line with my daughter and watched as they got on the ride. My son got on with Michael without even batting an eyelash. So before he could see me I got the hell out of there.

Five minutes later we see The Snake riders coming to the carousel to meet us and my son is flashing a toothy grin. Randi reported back that he LOVED the roller coaster. My son then corroborated this interesting fact and he decided to go with his buddies on the last few rides of the day and leave ole mommy behind. Guess who's grinning now...

Playcation

I'm on vacation. I left Friday evening and I go back tomorrow morning. And for the last two days I've been on vacation. So I have nothing to write about. No one pooped in their underwear. No one had a tantrum in a bathtub. And not a single person called me mommy in 48 hours.

I'm in San Diego with my friend (since we were nine years old) Andrea at her parents' condo and we are doing whatever we want. Yesterday we ate giant homemade yogurt parfaits out on the balcony overlooking the bay. Then we walked to downtown Coronado and looked at pretty things in shops. Then we had a yummy lunch and we ate it leisurely and chatted. Then we bought candy. Then she went to get a facial and I got a manicure pedicure. I had to pay an extra $10 for the woman to use a special tool to remove all of the black crust from my heels. But I was happy to pay because she got it all off and now I have human feet again. Then we walked home, took showers, put on dresses and went to see a movie. We saw Away We Go and it was great. Then we drove home and Andrea made me a caprese salad and some garlic toast. We talked until midnight and then went to bed. Today we woke up and had coffee. Went to a cafe and had more coffee. Drove to Torrey Pines State Park and hiked down to the beach where we realized we had no bathing suits and went in the ocean in our underwear. Then we hiked back to the car, drove home, showered and made giant caesar salads which we ate on the balcony. Then we drove to downtown San Diego and walked around, drove home and ordered greek food take-out which we ate while watching five episodes of Arrested Development. And now it's time for bed again.

And I just spoke to my favorite husband who said he had another great day with our kids. And I feel refreshed enough to be their mommy again.

Mostly the best of times

We spent our winter vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico with my brother-in-law's family. My husband's parents and sister also flew in from Israel so we were all together for the first time in a while. All in all a terrific trip. Here are the highlights and a few lowlights lest you think that my kids, imbued with the spirit of the holidays, were angelic. Not the case.

Highlights:

1. An incident free flight out with our two kids. No one screamed about not wanting to wear a seat belt or peed in their pants or incessantly kicked the passenger in front of us.
   
2. Traveling around Santa Fe, the eleven of us, in a giant Ford Sports Mobile. Yes, my brother-in-law has one of these and while we very much enjoy making fun of him for it, we very much enjoyed being together in this giant white monstrosity.
   
3. Getting schooled by my son and nephew about who is Jewish and who is Christian and who celebrates Hanukah and who celebrates Christmas. Obviously we need not have worried about confusing the kids. They knew better than us.
   
4. Pin the light on the menorah and other fun games and crafts prepared by Savta and doda (aunt) Dana.
   
5. The line of the week delivered by my 2.5 year old niece: "I'm not tired mommy. Just lazy."
   
6. The time-honored tradition of feeding the elders their vitamins. This is my son's favorite activity - helping my mother-in-law take her vitamins every morning by dropping them in the yogurt for her to fish out and swallow.
   
7. Sledding. Nothing beats tri-generational sledding.
   
8. Double date night at the Indian restaurant while Saba and Savta watched the four offspring.
   
9. Pool time at the community center. My son actually dove under water to fetch a toy (in two feet of water) despite his near paralyzing fear.
   
10. My father-in-law singing all 17 verses of Maoz Tsur (well maybe there are only like four verses - I'm not sure) every single night of Hanukah.
    
11. A girls' snow trek up the arroyo with my two amazing sisters-in-law.
    
12. Gazing at the new moon, Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury in the night sky, lined up near the horizon, as explained by my amateur astronomer father-in-law.

Lowlights:

1. My son waking up every morning unwilling to talk to anyone. I feel shy this morning. What else is knew.
   
2. Watching "The Duplex". I should qualify this by saying that it was obviously nice for all of the adults to sit around and watch a movie together but this was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Horrible.
   
3. Taking the family picture. It's twenty degrees outside and nearing dusk so my brother-in-law sets up the tripod and everyone stands there freezing waiting for my son and me to come out except that my son suddenly can think of no worse fate than to stand for a family photo and refuses to go outside. So I threaten to leave and he shrieks. Then I leave and he nearly has a seizure. Finally I go inside and forcibly put on his shirt and jacket and drag him outside wailing for the goddamn photo where everyone is smiling (albeit blue) except my kid who's beet red and sobbing.
   
4. My son crying for five minutes (though it felt like twenty) on our descent into SFO because he wants to suddenly lie down in his "cave" - the floor beneath our seats where he generally sleeps during flights - but he cannot because the seatbelt sign in now alight. Tough shit.

And to all a good night.

Out of the Office

So we're in Israel right now and I'm not really finding the time to write. Not for lack of good material. Let's see...the 17 hour flight...jet lag with a three year old and a baby...the duck that chased my son at the petting zoo...my daughter sucking down three falafel balls, a whole banana and a bowl of cauliflower...I'm sure that will look lovely on the other end...

Anyway, I'll recount the stories at another time, when I'm a little more lucid.

laila tov...and to all a good night...