At our hotel in San Diego, there was a ‘social hour’ every evening. They served quite a bit of food at social hour – enough to make almost a supper if you’d had a big lunch – and also beer and wine. The beer was even good beer – Firehouse Ale. For hotel guests, there was no charge for this service.
One evening, I came up to our room with a beer in hand.
Monica: Oh, did you get a beer?
Michael: Yes, and it’s my favorite kind.
Monica: Free?
That was far truer than anything I had originally meant.
Sim has an air bed that we use when we travel. It has sides that are slightly higher than the bed itself, and a pump that fills it quickly. It also acquired a leak sometime in our recent travels, which meant that, although it started the night full, it was pretty squishy by morning.
Michael checked with the front desk to see if they had a bike tire patch kit. No. Duct tape? No. Packaging tape? No. They had Scotch tape, but that wasn’t remotely helpful.
Michael mentioned that we should check at a drug store. The next day, he walked the mile to his conference from our hotel, leaving us to do some sightseeing. That morning, we went to La Jolla to see the harbor seals (more on that in another post) and then picked up Gran at the airport.
That afternoon, we went shopping to get a couple of things that I’d forgotten to pack. Since I’d done most of the packing while I was also packing to go to the funeral, and then the last few things in the few short hours I was home and not sleeping between trips, a couple of things had fallen through the cracks. Like pajamas for the girls.
I realized at the mall that there was a drug store there. Great! A drug store! We went to see about their stock. Patch kit? No. Duct tape? Not for sale. Did we want just a piece of it? I pictured myself carefully trying to take a piece of duct tape back to the hotel without getting it all stuck to itself or something else. No. I explained why I wanted the patch kit, and the man kindly told me where to find the bike store. It was a few blocks away, and we hadn’t explored downtown yet, so I decided we’d walk over.
Walking a few blocks is somewhat faster without a stroller and a 4-year-old who doesn’t particularly understand why anyone moves quickly ever. BUT we got to the bike store and purchased our $3.99 patch kit. Victory!
We made our slow way back to the car, then back to the hotel.
When Michael got back to the hotel that evening, he came in a bit winded and said, “I’m kind of tired. Today I walked to and from the conference and then a mile to a bike shop and a mile back, but I got a patch kit!”
We had gone to the same bike store. We had bought the same patch kit. We now have 12 – wait! no! 11, because Michael used one on the air mattress! – patches for Sim’s air mattress. Just in case.
that Sim has been a VERY good traveler. We had 7 different flights in our travels over about 10 days, and he was a lap baby for all of them. He slept, played, hung out, smiled at people, toddled through airports, charmed the people around him, and basically made sure that his mom didn’t have any trouble with him at all. He loved the airplane potties, of course, so he was a frequent pottier, but that’s really not a problem. He didn’t cry at all on any of the flights. At ALL.
The flight that we had that was 5 hours and 45 minutes and arrived at 9:20 p.m., which was 12:20 p.m. where we’d been? He went to sleep in the first hour and slept until we got off the plane.
I admit that I had some misgivings about taking a very active 18-month boy as a lap baby on that many flights in that short of a time, but he came through admirably, and we’re very grateful.
Hannah and Naomi were also very good travelers, and we are grateful for that, too. However, they’re at ages when we can be pretty sure that they will be and Sim is not.
We still have two more trips to go in the next few months, so we’re happy to know that all the kids travel this well!
Sim and I were in Michigan for 3 days for my uncle’s funeral. One day, it was 65, the next two days, it was freezing and lightly snowing.
Then we came back here for a few hours. I honestly don’t remember what the weather was, although I think I wore a sweater to the airport.
Then we went to San Diego. It was sunny and 70 all week long. Maybe even warmer than 70. Things were blooming, the hummingbirds were zipping around, we saw 24 lizards in our various travels.
Now we’re back and it’s 52. It was sunny this morning, now it’s raining. BUT…our tulips and cherry trees are starting to bloom, the grass is growing (and the lettuce and sweet peas), and the girls are going to make a bundle on dandelion heads this week (a penny apiece, you know!). We’re getting closer to sunny and 70 every day.
But I feel a little bit like I’ve been in the weather twilight zone. And I am going to have a hard time convincing the girls that their new spring clothes aren’t going to work for a while yet here.
This afternoon as I was making dinner, I heard a loud, clanging CRASH! as something in the other room hit the floor.
Me: Naomi! Hannah! What was that?
N & H: What?
Me: That loud crashing noise that I just heard from out there. What happened? Did something fall?
N: I don’t know.
H: I don’t know.
I was at a crucial point in my cooking, so I couldn’t go investigate right away.
Me: Well, please look around and see if you can see what might have fallen.
H: I can’t see anything that made a crashing noise.
Me: Okay.
Since Sim was in the kitchen with me and the other two were clearly not hurt, I didn’t pursue it further.
However, when I walked into the living room, there was the folding kitchen stool, clearly fallen over in the middle of the room. Since this is not where we keep the folding kitchen stool, and since it’s made of metal, I suddenly had a good clue as to what made the crashing noise.
Now I had to figure out the real mystery: How did both Hannah and Naomi both miss that clue?
Upon asking, Naomi said, “Oh, that might have fallen over when I jumped off of it.”
At which point, I decided that some mysteries didn’t need to be solved. Namely, WHY Naomi jumping off the kitchen stool in the living room…
Not from Sim, this time, but from Naomi.
Me: Naomi, would you like to talk to Dada on the phone?
N: Yes, with all my heart!
I found out that there’s no choir for Naomi next week because the directors are all going to a conference on her practice day. How am I going to explain that to her?
Hannah’s choir has a concert this weekend, and one of the songs they’re singing is from the movie Pocahontas – All the Colors of the Wind, or something to that effect. Hannah’s been practicing, of course, which means that the rest of us know her songs, too.
This morning, Naomi was singing the lyrics, “Have you ever heard a wolf cry to the blue corn moon or asked a grinning bobcat why he grins?” Our family tends to have fun with lyrics changes, so I changed it to, “Have you ever heard a Mim [one of Naomi’s nicknames] cry to the blue corn moon –"
Naomi interrupted me: “No, I haven’t ever cried to the blue corn moon.”
I asked her why not.
“Because I’m asleep when the moon is out.”
is starting quite early this year. He really enjoyed watching the man testing our home for energy efficiency, and has added some of the equipment he saw:
blower door test apparatus
infrared camera
is that when the blower door test is being done (which blows air out of the house to see where the air is coming back in -- how many and where the drafts might be), your curtains start blowing from the drafts coming in the window, and you can feel a good breeze coming down the stairs.
In case you were wondering.
Simeon recently discovered some rocks that Hannah has collected and stored in the house. This has led to his favorite new game: Rock. He needs at least one rock and a bowl, and he will play for a long, long time. I don’t understand the goal or the rules of the game, but I don’t need to – Rock is a game he plays by himself.
Sometimes, Rock will involve him singing one of his favorite lullabies: Rock the Baby. I’m not sure he’s clear on the concept that “rock the baby” doesn’t mean using a rock on the baby somehow.
then this is going to be a REALLY long post. But I think you’ll enjoy it. If not, I still think you’ll enjoy the story on the previous post, so just go there.
Grandma Ellie and Grandpa Larry sent a package that, among other things, included a birthday table runner:
and a couple of dresses. Here’s one – with a purse:
Naomi had some moments of distress at the party. At one point, she was annoyed because she was having trouble getting the paper off her cupcake. So here she is, doing her best “Saddest Birthday Waif” impression.
Those cupcakes were very moist and delicate (Michael has mad baking skeelz), and Naomi’s almost fell apart during the singing of “Happy Birthday,” when it was expected to hold up the weight of FOUR candles, for crying out loud!
When Naomi began opening presents, she chose the living room floor for her spot. It was a bit like throwing her into a pool of piranhas. The other kids weren’t actually trying to get Naomi’s things, but she wasn’t convinced of that. And the adults couldn’t really see what was going on, due to the closeness of all her young guests. I intervened and moved her to the couch, where Dada and her aunt could fend off overly zealous attentiveness and give her mother a chance to get some pictures.
She’s ditched the “Saddest Birthday Waif” persona, as you can see.
She’s even going for a smile here and there.
One of the guests brought a decorate-it-yourself bag with stickers. This required some intense concentration.
Uncle Mark was in town and came to the party. He entered the “most sought after by Simeon uncle” competition. He’s not in first place – that’s reserved for the in-town uncle, whom Sim dotes on to the point that we may have to start going to a different Mass because his yells for his uncle are becoming louder and more distracting – but he did have a very solid performance and is the favorite for the number 2 spot at the moment. Uncle Mark seems to have done a lot for his ranking by feeding Sim grapes nonstop for about 30 minutes.
Naomi also really liked Uncle Mark, despite the fact that when she first heard he was coming to the party, she thought he shouldn’t. Sorry, Naomi, he’s not going to be uninvited. However, she spent a while before the party sitting on his lap and chatting with him, interspersing chatter with kisses. So I think she came around. We didn’t get pictures of that, unfortunately.
Sim was all partied out by the end of the day. Isn’t he cute?
Some others of us weren’t quite looking our best that day. Maybe we had too much sugar…
The funny thing about that picture is that I wasn’t feeling particularly stressed or…whatever that expression implies, I just am so used to being behind the camera that when it’s pointed at me, I go a bit nuts.
So Naomi’s officially four. As far as she’s concerned, the best thing about being four is that she can start choir. We brought her registration in today. She was REALLY upset when I told her that she wouldn’t be in the class today, but next week. “BUT YOU SAID I COULD START WHEN I WAS FOUR!!!” I think she would have been happiest with a class at 7 a.m. today…
Naomi’s birthday party was yesterday. She enjoyed it immensely. This morning, we all wished her a happy birthday and congratulated her on being 4. She was not pleased when Michael went to work… on her BIRTHDAY?!?
The funniest part, though, was when, around 10 a.m., she said, “When are the guests going to arrive?”
Me: What guests?
N: For my birthday.
Me: ? We had your party yesterday, Mimi, we’ll have some fun today, but we aren’t having guests.
N: NO GUESTS? ON MY BIRTHDAY?
Me: [Completely unprepared for this, grasping at straws] No, but we’ll go to the park, and have cupcakes after dinner. Dada will be home. There are some presents --
N: Oh, can I have my presents NOW?
Me: [Relieved] Sure!
