Look! We are getting rain! Take THAT fire gods. The only bad thing is that our back yard has no drainage and no plants... so it is a giant mud farm. Becca = happy. Dogs = no way we are peeing out there man. Don = driven to drink.
Well I am terribly late with this, but here it is... our Hawaii trip.
It was wonderful to be together as a family and just relax. I think all in all, we didn't find Hawaii all that jaw-dropping. Quite possibly because we LIVE in a place that looks like a tropical paradise. The strongest memory I have of the Big Island of Hawaii is that in this teeny little island were so many different landscapes. Stark desolate lava fields, tropical rainforests with immense waterfalls, inexplicable petroglyph graffiti mounds, mountainous ranches, vivid underwater fish playgrounds, blue collar neighborhoods, lush manicured resorts. You can see all these in just a day.
For all the buildup Hawaii received, I think San Diego is more beautiful. But as the philosophers of Smash Mouth say, you'll never know if you don't go. So it was a more-than-worthy adventure.
Music: All Star by Smash Mouth
Happy Thanksgiving! We’re spending Thanksgiving in Idyllwild, a mountain community of cute cabins, shops, and hiking trails. We rented a cabin and a half mile away, my friend Laura and her family have one too.
I guess 31 million Americans got in their cars yesterday to go someplace. 2.5 of them are in California. We all apparently left our garages at 1:30 p.m. It took us 3.5 hours to go less than 100 miles. It took Laura 7 hours to go 130 miles. We are just grateful to not be in the car at this point.
I bought so much food at Costco that we had to drive 2 cars. Why? I don’t know. Just got all caught up in the Costco thing. After you’re been there a half hour, 50 count individual bags of potato chips doesn’t seem unreasonable.
And with Oakley gone, Gizmos is becoming one very spoiled onlycat. He is loving it. He’s here at the cabin with us, after having proved himself a pretty laid back traveler during the fires.
I’m thankful today that we’re here together, experiencing yet another part of this planet. That we have the wherewithal to go where we want, and the curiosity to keep exploring. We wish you a happy and a restful day.
It kind of ooked me out a little bit. Because that means they had to take the dead cat's paw and make this little keepsake! The doe-eyed receptionist, who was trying to extend her sympathies, was a little startled when I expressed my surprise over this concept. "It usually soothes people," she said. Apparently we are supposed to use it as a headstone. Oy. I hadn't planned on a stone dedication AND a burial.Here's a little sumthin' Becca picked up in Hawaii. Along with the world's smallest pair of coconuts, here's a little hula hula.
(Oh Lord, don't let her grow up to be a pole dancer...)
Music: Pineapple Princess by Na Leo
So I got a sweatshirt in Hawaii because I forgot I might need one while horseback riding. We went to Wal-Mart and I got something from the junior's department that kind of looks like this, but red and more croppy.
I wore it again today. I kind of like it.
When Don saw me he said, "are you going to work in that?"
When Becca saw me she said, "cool, Mommy!"
When Sarah saw me she said, "oh my GOD are you kidding. You can't leave the house in that. PLEASE don't tell me you're coming to school with me this morning...."
I have to admit, the sweatshirt did give me some sort of bad-ass hip hop power. I said yo yo baby and peace out, dawg. I was hecka bootsy. I looked like I was their older sister.
"Mom. I am begging you. Go home and change," Sarah said to me at her classroom door.
"C U, BFF," I told her. Several of her male classmates marveled at me. Sarah rolled her eyes and explained to them that I had lost my mind.
Then I went to work. My partner thought I looked cool (thanks, Michael). I guess advertising people are mentally around Becca's age. Clearly, the sweatshirt has magical powers of youthfulness. I will have to handle with care.
