Kids say...

The other morning, my two oldest kids argued about how many of Big Foot's feet are actually big. To tell you the truth, I had never really thought about it.

Barbie Barbie Barbie

I've said before that I created a monster when I agreed to play Barbies with Lili. It's still true. She's constantly asking me to play Barbies with her and it reminds me of when my sister and I played with them as kids. Lili is pretty bossy, though, and won't play the Dating Game where you try to trick the bachelor into picking the skanky Barbie, or act out girl drama at the roller rink while performing solos to Pat Benatar songs. No, we have to play her way and her way is all about going to the Ball, but not before turning into a beautiful horse first. And we always have to bring our pets (various stuffed animals) to the Ball with us. And all the girls are good but there's a Good Boyfriend and a Bad Boyfriend, and those are their names. Most of the time, the boyfriends never show up so the girls just change their clothes a lot. After they change back from being beautiful horses, of course. Thank goodness she's so good when the timer goes off and it's the end of our playtime. 15 or 20 minutes is about all I can handle. Now if she would play my way, I could probably last for hours.

Vacation 2006, Third Stop

I've actually been quite busy at work lately and I almost forgot to finish my vacation update, hence two updates in one day after a very long absence.

The final leg of the vacation was Bob's high school reunion in Baton Rouge. We left Hilton Head in the wee hours of the morning on Friday (3:30 a.m., I think) and arrived at Bob's mom's house 11 hours later. Except for a lot of whining from Lili, the kids were very good once again. It definitely helps if they sleep half the way.

Anna had taken the afternoon off so Bob and I got to nap for a couple of hours. We were exhausted and we still had so much to do before heading home. I wasn't exactly looking forward to this part of our trip but then Bob told me that both Matt and Jeff and their wives were going to be there. Now I was excited! I love Danielle and Wendy. Too bad we all live so far away from each other. I also saw my friend Karen who was one of my best friends in college and the person who introduced Bob and I to each other. I didn't expect to see her at the reunion either because her family had moved away. So it ended up being a reunion for me, too, and I had a blast.

Friday night was an informal party at a local bar. Everyone started leaving around 11 p.m., too tired to socialize anymore. Bob and I thought about going out dancing but realized we were too tired, too. I would say we felt old, except we had the excuse of just finishing an 11 hour drive. I'm sure other people had similar excuses but we still felt like everyone was being old fuddy duddies.

Saturday during the day was a picnic at the school. The kids had a great time jumping in the moon walks, eating hot dogs, and having their faces painted. Baton Rouge High has a big dramatic arts program and the girls had fun running all over the stage. At one point, Lili stood at center stage and sang several songs to me. Her face was painted to look like a cat and I couldn't help but think I was watching a mini-version of the musical Cats! I think we may have discovered one of Lili's passions.

After the picnic, we went with Jeff and Wendy to Coffee Call for some beignets and cafe au lait. It was heavenly.

Saturday night was the cocktail party. Bob wore his shiny shirt with his tuxedo and everyone loved it. The best part of the night, besides being with old friends, was the food. It was so incredibly good. Anyone who thinks Austin has any restaurants that even come close to having great Louisiana food is just kidding themselves. Call me a snob. I don't care.

Sunday morning we got up, did a little laundry, and then hit the road for the last time. I think all the driving was getting to Lili because she whined a lot and we didn't have the luxury of sleeping children to help get us through. But we made it in good time and had a nice lazy afternoon to settle in before having to go back to work the next day.

I'm not sure if I was exhausted, or just relaxed from being on vacation, but the next several days were very laid back, sleepy days. I think because I didn't feel stressed or grumpy, I was relaxed. I'd like to think so, anyway, and so I declare our 2006 vacation a success!

Vacation 2006, Second Stop

Before we left for Transformus on Friday morning, we spent the night at my parents’ house in South Carolina. They were going to keep the kids while we were away. My sister was there, big and 37 weeks pregnant and stressed out. Her doctor told her the day before that she was nearly 3 cm dilated and probably wouldn’t make it another week. She was almost in a panic but I was very excited. I had not expected to be there when my sister had her baby and now it seemed there was a slight possibility that I would.

All weekend, and on the drive back Monday afternoon, I thought about my sister and wondered if she had had the baby while we were at Transformus. As soon as we hit the state line, and the mountains weren’t blocking my phone signal, I called my mom to let her know when to expect us. I didn’t ask, but she didn’t tell me there was exciting news so I assumed my sister was still big and miserable. She was there when we got back to my parents’ house. She was too afraid to be home alone while Jordan was at work. I think my mom didn’t want her to be alone either.

Steph was incredibly cranky that evening. She just felt bad all over. Hmmm. Could it be she would go into labor soon? The next morning Jordan called us from the hospital to say Steph’s water broken at 7 a.m. that morning. Woohoo! How could I be so lucky?

I knew things could take a while, and my mom’s progress reports from the hospital verified that. So I took the kids down to the beach to get some sand and sea time in before it got too hot. After the beach and then some pool time, we took showers and got ready. My plan was to take the kids to a movie at a theater near the hospital and then have Bob drop me off to be with my sister after the movie was over. I called my mom as soon as we got out and she told me to get there right away. She was starting to push.

So we got to the hospital, I walked into the delivery room, and 15 minutes later Nat was born. The timing couldn’t have been better. I managed to grab Jordan’s camera and take some pictures of the actual delivery and then I got a few pictures with my own camera. It was amazing. I felt so honored to have been there.

Here are a couple of my favorite pictures:





The next couple of days were spent at the beach, in the pool, or holding Nat. On Thursday night, Bob and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 16th anniversary. We walked to a nearby seafood restaurant and had a great meal. It was an eventful dinner, too. Not long after we were seated, someone near the front door collapsed and an ambulance came. Bob speculated that’s how that person made their money – by falling in public places and then suing. Later we noticed that a few of the waitresses had disappeared. Then three waitresses came in to the restaurant completely soaked. Apparently, they had been in the pond just outside. I have no idea why but was glad our waiter hadn’t joined them. That’s just gross. What a weird evening.

I felt it was too soon to leave South Carolina but we got up at 3 a.m. Friday morning and hit the road again. We had other adventures waiting for us in Baton Rouge.

To be continued…

Vacation 2006, First Stop

The first stop of our vacation, aside from a brief layover at my parents' house to drop off the kids, was the Southeast Regional Burn called Transformus. It's about a 5 hour drive from my parents' house but of course it took longer because we had to make multiple stops along the way, mainly to pick up supplies we had to leave behind in Austin. We seriously need to invest in one of those top of the car suitcase thingies the next time we take a road trip.

The first significant thing I noticed was the dramatic change in scenery once we crossed the state line into North Carolina. The northern part of South Carolina is pretty but pales in comparison. The trees in NC were so big they make the trees in Texas look like shrubs. It was an overcast day so it was hard to see in the distance up ahead of us. But at one point the trees cleared and Bob told me to look. I looked up and saw mountains all around us. It was so beautiful, despite the clouds. It's been a while since I was in that part of the country and I had forgotten how much I love it.

We stopped in a small town near Deerfields and got our groceries. As we loaded up the cooler we could see dark ominous clouds coming our way. We got back on the road and minutes later we were in the middle of a huge thunderstorm that pummelled us with hail. And then it cleared up just as we drove up to the front gate of Deerfields.



The rains had created a lot of mud and they weren't letting anyone go past the greeter station in a car. They had also run out of parking closer in so there was much chaos. We ended up being parked next to Tom and Dale. Turns out Tom is from Austin and we camped next to each other, too. They shared a beer and then we decided to hike in and check things out. Finally, 2 hours after we arrived, we got permission to drive in to our camping area, and it was only because we were from Texas. Apparently, the Transformers worship the Texas burners.

The rest of the weekend was, in my limited experience, a typical regional burn event. Some of the artwork was amazing. I also enjoyed getting to know some people I didn't know well, or at all. Working on The Lobotomy Project with Mary J and Garreth was great. I also worked a parking shift and being that involved in the event and volunteering really made it special for me. I have decided to volunteer more at Flipside.



Some things I liked better about Transformus: definitely the environment (trees and lushness), a cool forest to walk through on hot afternoons, shit-eating blue butterflies, hand washing stations at the port-o-potties.



Some things I like better about Flipside: knowing more people, better swimming, level ground for camping, less MOOP, much closer to home.

The dome was great. It provided great shelter from the thunderstorms that plagued us Friday night through Saturday night. It was also a great place to chill out and several times we came home to find someone crashed out on the floor. It felt good to be able to provide that.



Two things I'm disappointed in: one, it rained so much, even on the night of the burn, and I was hesitant to bring out my camera so I have very few pictures; two, I was amazed at how much MOOP (matter out of place) there was. This was supposed to be a Leave No Trace event and I'm afraid we failed miserably. Everywhere I looked I saw trash on the ground or in the port-o-potties. It made me sad. I picked up what I could but I drew the line when I saw a beer can in the shitter.

Monday morning we got up early, packed up, and were on the road by 11 in the morning. The long weekend was great but now I was anxious to get back to my parents' house.

To be continued...