A Traveling Christmas

This year we are spending Christmas with my family, and we decided to do things a little differently. We are spending the week in 29 Palms with my sister's husband's mother.

Keeping up?

Last Friday, my husband and I were packing and wrapping monsters. It seemed like an impossible task, but somehow after a crazy long week of teaching and running around, we were able to pack up, wrap a mound of gifts, make four salsas (that was Justin, of course), and clean the house all in time to leave on Saturday morning.

Saturday we headed to my mom's for her family's early Christmas Eve party. The party is a tradition that we have been doing for years, but this year we had to move it up a bit because of our trip. And Justin and I were able to actually GO out. In public. At night. Without Emerson. Whoa...

Sunday was a pretty relaxed day. Justin helped out my mom a bit with her yard work, and I played with Emerson. I actually got to take a nap. Sweet. I had to watch Cars AGAIN, but that's a small price to pay for some quiet toddler time.

Monday was another flurry of activity again as we got ready to make the nine-hour car ride down to 29 Palms. The morning was a bit unpleasant, but once we got in the car, things were fine. Justin actually drove the whole way down. I was not complaining, as this provided me more napping opportunities. Emerson watched movies on her portable dvd player (THANK YOU Rachel and Gary!), so she was happy. And she got fast food and twizzlers (cherry sticks to her.) Hello, 3-year old dream land!

We got to 29 Palms in good time to have dinner with Jody, my sister's mother-in-law. It's always a little weird to stay at someone's house for the first time, and it can be doubly interesting when you have a toddler in tow. Will she sleep? Will she go potty okay? Will she be a complete brat? Etc. So far, everything has worked out okay. Em is a little off her potty routine, but she is sleeping great.

Yesterday we drove through the Joshua Tree National Park and went on a hike at a place called Mecca Hills. Again, I was a bit nervous about how Em would do on a hike. I was not terribly surprised when she dropped down and said she could not walk anymore. So I stayed back and we played with rocks, lots of rocks.

Today, Justin accompanied our brother-in-law on a golfing trip. Justin is not actually golfing (we are barely passable at video game golf), but he went along for the ride. Can't wait to hear his report. Should be interesting...

We will be here til Saturday and then it's back to home for us. I'm sure the cats will have left things a mess and the tree will be mostly dried out, but I'll be excited to head back. Even if it means watching Cars AGAIN on the way home...

Choose Your Attitude

I learned an important lesson this weekend, and that is one has 100% control over her attitude. I learned this lesson because I had a BAD attitude about traveling to the Bay Area to visit my mom, and lo and behold...I had a rather poopy time. Of course, the whole trip wasn't bad because there were moments where I forgot my need to be Poopy Polly and I relaxed and enjoyed myself.

Here's how a more positive attitude would have improved my situation.

Thursday
My mother insists on us going out to a Farmer's Market and out to dinner. The music at the Farmer's market is awful yodeling, my daughter dumps ice water all over herself, and my mom told me she'd pay and then she sees the bill and backs out. We go back to her place and I'm frazzled and irritated.

How An Improved Attitude Would Have Helped (Remix)
I could have focused on the following: Em had her fill of free fruit at the market, we turned my sister's sweater into a make-shift dress for Em while her pants were drying, my mom did pay for part of the meal, and we did get home in time to watch So You Think You Can Dance.

Friday
As I am trying to workout with a DVD in the morning, my mom starts making breakfast for Em, which is great. Then, she gets a phone call from a guy, she goes into her room, and ignores Em and breakfast for a 1/2 hour. I stop my DVD for a bit, make Em breakfast, and then start working out again. My mom eventually comes out and seems a little annoyed that I made something for Em to eat. Whatever. That evening, we are having dinner at my sister's and my mom gets on the phone with the same guy, ignores us, and talks to him for almost an hour. At this point I want to go home.

Remix
I could have paid attention to the following: I often have to stop working out in the morning to help Em and it's no big deal, I said nothing to my mother to change her behavior so it's no wonder her behavior doesn't change, and Em was having such a good time with her aunt and uncle that she didn't care.

Saturday
I decide to go with my sister and brother-in-law to play "Slosh Ball" with their softball team. Justin stays at my mom's with Em, and I'm kind of out of my element. As soon as we get there, we can tell most of the people there are way more serious that we are. Those of us who are not as serious end up playing kick ball and drinking Bud Lite (Yum...not!). Eventually Justin and Em show up and he is not happy. Em didn't nap, and he is cranky. We decide to leave because I'm tired of hearing the "F" bomb and some guy lights up a joint right there in the park. I'm a little upset because my sister wants to stay, and I don't know why she'd pick them over me.

Remix
Noticing the following could have improved my attitude: I did have a lot of fun playing kick ball, Justin's mood improved once we got away from all the noise and jocks, we got to hang out at my mom's and watch the Olympics. Eventually, my sister and brother-in-law came over to my mom's and we had a great time hanging out, watching t.v., and eating candy. I relaxed.

Today we left my mom's after breakfast. Everyone seemed to be in a kind of funky, cranky place, and I was feeling wiped out, so I wasn't much better. But I was happy to be heading home. It was a relatively short trip, but it felt much longer than three days. I missed my house, my cats, my quiet, private time during Em's nap.

There are things that are very frustrating to me about my family, but I'm sure I frustrate them also. I probably need to arrange a time to talk to my mom about some of the issues that came up. But if I'm completely honest, I headed into this weekend with a somewhat bad attitude. I think I've just been enjoying spending time at home with my family that I didn't want to leave our home and deal with larger family issues.

Well, I won't really have that problem once grad school starts. Pretty much every Saturday I'll be in class. I imagine I will definitely not be up for traveling on my one day off.

Visit to Grandma and Papa's!

For Justin's mom's birthday, we visited Northern California. Here are some pictures of that fun, but warm and smoky weekend.

Jerome's visit, July 2008

Here are some pictures from our dear friend Jerome's visit here from France.

Where did the weekend go?

All in all, we had a very nice weekend.

My school had a minimum day on Friday, so my husband and I took advantage of it and got our taxes done. Afterwards, we pick up Em and went out to Thai food. She LOVES Pad Thai, but she doesn't know quite how much she can fit in her mouth. Thank goodness we were the only ones in the restaurant because she did have a yucky, regurgitation episode. Ick.

Saturday my husband spent the morning cleaning up as I half-heartedly exercised. Em actually joined in with my Pilates. Very cute. Later, we headed to Concord to see my mom. We went to the park with my sister and her husband and played a little softball (rather badly). That night my mom made chili and we had a nice evening together.

Today we went to Coco's to celebrate my grandma's birthday. While the food was underwhelming, it was nice to see everyone. My mom gave me an early birthday present: running shoes. (I know that may not seem like a present to some people, but I really appreciate it.)

We headed home this afternoon. I got in another run. Em has a little cold, but it doesn't seem too bad.

On to Monday...

Fun on four legs!

The last time that my husband, daughter, and I visited his family up north, our niece was not walking. She just turned one and was just on the verge of walking, but not there yet.

Well, now she's off! And my daughter, who's being walking since summer can scarcely keep up with her. It's hysterical to see them wobbling around together. And now that they are both walking, tensions betwixt the two of them have relaxed (thank the heavens.) At least for now, things are peaceful. I'm sure that will change at some point, and the newfound tranquility most likely has something to do with the fact that my in-laws get two of every present for the girls: two ducks, two dolls, two rocking horses.

We took the girls to a quiet, indoor mall in Redding and they chased each other all over. We had ice cream sundaes and looked at Christmas lights. It was a really fun time. It's so cold up here, it actually snowed a little today. It didn't stick, but when I went running today, it was stinking cold! My legs never got warm. Yeah, I'm nuts.

Home again...well, for awhile

So we finally made it back home yesterday after an almost four hour drive from the Bay Area; yeah, you heard me: FOUR HOURS. Should have been way shorter. I won't say how much shorter cause it'll make me have anger.

It's nice to be back and beat back the laundry monster, rescue the mailbox, and reassure our cats that we do love them. (The fat one hid behind the couch until 9 last night.) My dad is coming over tonight. He just drove back from LA yesterday, so I feel moderately bad that he is driving again. (Well, not that bad. That's what he gets for spending X-mas with his girl-fiend.)

Okay, back to the land of adults again.

It's amazing how big my little girl is. I got her a doll for Christmas, and today we put it to bed and sang it a song. She really was trying to sing rock-a-bye baby. It was so cute I went and got the camera. But as soon as I started filming, she stopped and stared blankly at me. She's not so much into being filmed.

So we have two days at home, and then we're off again. This time to Redding. My niece is walking now, so that should be a lot of fun.

Happy Kwaanza everyone!

Ah, downtime!

I really, really needed a vacation. I feel so much better now that I've had a few days off. It's been glorious to get out of town. And it's been wonderful spending so much time with my adorable niece. We went to an awesome park yesterday in Redding and the girls had a blast. My daughter went down the slide by herself (not too thrilled by it actually) and climbed all over the play structure.

Before we left Elk Grove, there was some definite weirdness. Out of the blue, my dad decides to visit. So he comes up for dinner, which is fine, but he brings with him a whole cadre of akwardness: his girlfriend, her stern Dutch mother, his girlfriends two children (who are NOT impressed by my father), my disapproving grandmother, and my aunt (who is lovely.) We somehow crowded everyone around our very small table. It went fine, but I managed to kill off a bottle of wine. Oops! :)

So, tomorrow we're heading back home and back to reality. And back to two angry cats, I imagine. Oh well, Christmas is only a month a way. I can make it...

So Happy to be Here!

I have dreamt about this Thanksgiving for the longest time, as far back as six years ago when I made the first drive up from San Jose to my husband's family in Redding. It took us almost 8 hours! It was a new kind of horrible. I honestly remember sitting in traffic on the 80, not moving, and thinking, "Do I really love this man?"

And when I was a month pregnant and facing the same drive and the fun job of telling his parents, I was thinking, "Boy I really love this man." And then I spent the next six hours pulling over and throwing up.

Now, my attitude is much improved. We have finally moved out of the Bay Area and we are heading up tomorrow to Redding to spend my favorite of holidays with our lovely family. I finally work in a school district that gives off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. (Though, I'd be estatic to work in one that gives the whole week, but I'll take what I can get.) I'm so happy I drew hand Turkeys (a la first grade) on my board. My highschoolers were actually pretty appreciative, surprisingly.

I hope all the families out there have a fantastic holiday with their families. I look forward to reading all about your celebrations.

Happy Thanksgiving!