I sat down to type up a post about the fun few days Li'l Miss M and I spent at my sister's house in Ogden. Because I love to procrastinate, I did so by reading up on a few blogs. Seems my sister beat me to it. And because I am also lazy, I'll just send you her way to read about our fun few days with them. In a nutshell - a lot of toddler Rock Band and some pumpkins.
(If all you want are pictures, you have to scroll through the whole thing. I gotta break up this huge post somehow....)
First, let me say, I know. I know this is way out of date and so two months ago. Deal. It should also be broken down into multiple posts. Which it would have been had I actually done it on time. But I didn't so now it's all in one big lump.
Second, you know how everyone tells you not to make eye contact with the crazies when you go to New York City? You can’t tell that to a baby. The crazy attracts the attention of the baby, which leads to eye contact, which leads to the crazies paying attention to the baby and oh dear heavens above, it just goes downhill from there. I can’t even count the number of times. But! Nothing too crazy or weird or frightening. And I would say we only ran into a few of the rude New Yorkers. Thank goodness. Most of them were very kind and helpful and friendly. (They were probably other tourists, I know*. Shutup.)
So in a nutshell – here was our trip to NYC oh … two months ago…
Continue reading "Babies Attract the Crazies – or Notes on New York" »
Having checked the weather before I packed, seeing it was supposed to be in the low 70's, I packed warm-ish clothes. I packed only warmish clothes, But it's not low 70's. It's not mid 70's. It's 8trillion degrees instead. So all the warmish clothes? Hell. We're going to have to do way more shopping than I had wanted to do - especially on clothes.
I dropped Dan's brand new, very expensive camera. Twice.
I managed to lose the only sippy cup I brought.
The day isn't even half over.
Please let it get better...
**Updated to add: It so totally didn't. I ended up leaving the restaurant from dinner, before even being able to finish my dinner, almost in tears because my child is a demon. Who, of course, as soon as I got her back to the room, was so full of giggles she couldn't breathe. Maybe tomorrow? Please? Tomorrow will be better?
After years of whining that I never get to take a real "vacation" (sorry, going home for any amount of time is NOT a vacation. Never will be. I love yah, but seriously!), I kinda can't stay home right now. Now I'm whining I have no time to really get anything done because we're just going, going, going. Though that's the extent of the whining because my, how I love to travel. (Though I could do without the flying part of it.)
As I have briefly mentioned, we made a road trip to Nebraska last weekend. As I have yet to mention, Madeleine and I took the train to NYC the weekend before. And as I have also not yet mentioned, we are flying to Disneyland next week. All giving me plenty of blogging fodder and yet I haven't been able to find the time to do any of it with all the travel. Hopefully over the next few days I can get a bit of it up here. And I have my Project: Say Something! entry to get up for this week as well. Plus next week's needs to get written since I certainly don't plan on typing while I could be riding Splash Mountain, or eating at the Blue Bayou, or watching Fantasmic!, or shopping at the World of Disney.
So yeah... now that I've publicly promised these posts maybe that will force some accountability so I actually do them. Maybe.
When I travel, I typically like to bring home little mementos from the place I’ve been visiting. Not so much to remember the trip, but more to say, “yep, been there, done that.” I don’t like a lot of clutter so I try to keep things fairly small and functional. Someday, when I have a house I can actually “live” in, I will put my “travel shelf” back up and be able to display all the little things I collect.
(Yes, it’s a shelf of Vegas, Disney and NYC stuff. Zip it. I’m working on that!)
This last trip, this trip to Nebraska? I brought a different kind of souvenir home. One that I think I would have preferred to have left there (no, I’m not talking about the cow farm smell stuck in my car). It’s not really a “shopping” area, we don’t really go anywhere with memento-type stuff while we’re there. And yet, with this lovely, little reminder, I will never, ever forget this trip to Nebraska for as long as I live.
What could I possibly have brought home that is so memorable, you ask?
A child that says, “No!” To absolutely everything. Oh my lands! “No. No. No.” She started the last morning we were there and she hasn’t quit. (And she never will quit, I get that.) And she’s very emphatic about it most of the time. She means business. Sometimes she even shakes her head while saying no just to make sure there is absolutely no confusion about what she could possibly mean.
This is one souvenir I could have completely done without.
Someday I want to throw a party in my own home. I want to know what I have to work with in advance. I want to know that if I have to improvise, I can find something with which to do so. I want to be able to get some things ready in advance so last minute things can be left for the last minute as opposed to having to have everything ready to go in advance and not be able to do the big prep work until the very last minute - like the food. That made no sense but I am sure you know what I mean. I also really want to not have to travel across the country to do it again. My baby showers had to be traveled to and the one I just did for my sister required me traveling back as well. Don't get me wrong, I know I didn't have to do it, but I did. Know what I mean? Anyway, next time I hope I can throw one in my own home. Or at least some party. Which sure won't be Madeleine's first birthday party but don't get me started. Despite all that, all my whining and complaining and bitching and moaning, the shower still turned out just fine. And I hope my sister enjoyed and appreciated it because I sure had a great time trying to figure out what the hell to do and how the hell to get it across the country in one piece.
At least United only broke the luggage and not what was inside!