Here's your towel, Ma'm

I mentioned that while we were in San Diego that I attended a party with Dave.  You know, the one with the rowdy music.

Well, I didn't mention in that post that the party was located in a super fancy bar/night club called the Stingaree.

Now, there are possibly 1,000 different reasons why one like me might feel slightly out of place here, but here are the tops.

1.  It's a bar and I don't drink - I even felt funny about sitting at a table where someone had left an empty beer bottle - I mean, what will people think?

2.  I am a VERY pregnant lady

3.  VERY pregnant, married women don't hang out in places like this

4.  I'm surely not cool/hip enough anyway

5.  The bathrooms are hard to find

BUT - once I found the bathroom, my experience became far more exciting.

Picture this:

I just downed a whole glass of 7-UP and am really needing the ladies room.  After searching, I was finally guided in the right direction by a big black security guy wearing a suit and sunglasses.  I walk into the bathroom and see this girl standing at the sink.  Whatever.  I take care of business and come out to see that same girl - still standing there. 

I mean - what girl hangs out in the bathroom by herself? 

I approach the sink and she casually leans over and turns on the water for me.

Seriously?

Then, in perfect timing, she pumps my soap, hands me a towel to dry my hands, and turns off the water.

What do you say to a person like that?

All that was going through my mind was,

"Is this seriously your job?"

Looking back, I really should have sampled some of the various breath mints laid out for me.

But I just felt so awkward.

And truthfully, I was suppressing laughter as I walked out excited to tell Dave all about my bathroom attendant.

But, one look at his face told me that he had been in the men's room.

San Diego

Last weekend we took a little trip to San Diego.  Dave had an Audiology Convention down there, so, why not join him?  It was so nice to get away - it's been a really long time.

Here are some highlights of the trip:

Lots and lots of swimming!  Somehow I didn't get very many pictures taken - so you'll just have to believe me when I say the kids were in heaven.

The boys playing a little chess....???

Gramps teaching Brooklyn some pool skills.

The rec center had all kinds of things to entertain us all while Dave spent the days in classes.

Every night of the convention, the hearing aid companies throw these huge parties.  Thursday night I went with Dave to one where we enjoyed lots of free food, but didn't so much enjoy the entertainment.  I'm obviously getting old - the music was a little too rowdy for me. 

We decided to leave after the first song.

And then we were approached by random people on the street wondering if they could have our pass to the concert.

More on this night to come.

Friday night though, was awesome.  The party was located on the USS Midway.

This ship has been turned into a museum which sits in the harbor in San Diego.  We got the full tour and it was so cool.  It's amazing to me that a boat this size can even float.

Not to mention that my entire hometown could live on it.  No seriously, it was made to house 4,500 soldiers.

And, as if that wasn't cool enough, they had a concert that even I could enjoy.

Except they sure don't look like this anymore.

They have aged...alot

Now they look a little more like this:

But, it was still fun.  Nothing like watching a bunch of old guys rock out.

We were only about 10 feet from the stage but I was personally more entertained by the women in their 50's and 60's dreamily swaying to the music of their youth.

Dave finished up the vacation with a trip to the golf course with his Dad and brother.

None of which are golfers.

BUT, to our amazement, his Dad managed to pull off

a hole in one.

Not bad for a guy who hasn't been golfing in nearly a decade.

Oh, and in true form, I especially enjoyed the part where Bradley fell into the golf course pond. 

There were fish and ducks in there and Bradley apparently needed a closer look.

I'm seriously just grateful that he didn't ingest some strange chemical (or at least not a fatal one) and came away with just a cut on his toe and looking like this:

Ok, that's actually considerably more freaky than he looked, but he was covered in a fair amount of slime.

And his 3rd eye is starting to fade.

Off the market

On second thought, I think I'll keep him for now.

As it turns out, it was me who left that marker within reach.

genius.

And truthfully, this little "moment" was very out of character for the boy

Lucky for all of us, a little Folex took the marker right out.

And of course, life would be considerably more dull without this crazy kid.

And who wants dull when you can have this much excitement?

For Sale

I am selling a 2006 blonde haired, blue eyed, 35 pound boy. 

Features include:

* mostly potty trained

* listens some of the time

* capable of being extremely charming

* comes with clothes, shoes and a 1 month supply of food

* has the most contagious laugh

* only sits on his little brother when it's absolutely necessary

* can be entertained for hours with just one bucket of cars, trains, and train track pieces (included.)

He is a complete package of mischief, fun, love, stubborness, humor, energy, "spice," and sweetness.  There is a small possibility that the result of his presence could have you sighing (or however you display your frustration) one moment, laughing the next, shaking your head with hands on hips the next, and then wanting to squeeze him (in love of course) the next.  He will certainly add a dash of flavor to anyone's life.

We'll start the bidding at $500. 

These fees are to cover the sanity I lost while trying to survive the period of time from him turning 2 until he was about 3 1/2.

Why would I sell such a fine fellow, you ask? 

In the name of full disclosure I must include that the advertised boy is guilty of doing this:

Yes, that would be a permanent marker + my couch

oh mercy

Make me an offer

Easter

Well, once we finally made it to our final destination for Spring Break we had a lovely time. 

The weather was fabulous

The company was fantastic

This is what my mother in law gets for refusing to be in any pictures.  Ha ha :-)

The kids received maximum spoilage and thouroughly enjoyed all of the Easter festivities.

Please note Jack's super excited face.  The little booger would not smile, or even look at me for a picture in his cutie Easter clothes.  Boo for him. 

Bradley thought he was coloring eggs just like the big kids - really all he got though was a cup of water and a spoon.  All the fun without the mess  :)

For Brooklyn, no trip to her grandparents house is complete without a trip to the...

The boys aren't as big of a fan of the actual water, but can spend hours doing this:

Which eventually turns into this:

Bradley quickly discovered that throwing sand at Jack made him scream and run which is apparently highly entertaining.

He also discovered that when his mother looks like this:

photo source

he can get several handfuls of sand thrown at her before she can get up.  

Thereby making her an excellent screaming, flailing target.  Little stinker.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to get out of a "sand chair" when you look like the picture above?

It's not pretty.

Which is exactly why I didn't post (or take) a picture of the real thing.

I can imagine that your imagination can do a fine enough job on it's own.

Only 9 weeks to go by the way

YAY!!

A brain.

Well, the other day I posted about really needing a jacuzzi tub.  Well, after a recent experience, I have realized that I really should have wished for the brain that the scarecrow wanted.  It seems that I would have more use for that.

You see, last week I took the kids to go see their grandparents.  For the sake of entertainment and saving me hours of driving by myself we decided that it would be fun for me to take the train to Bakersfield and then my father in law would pick me up there and take me the rest of the way.

Sounds like fun, right?

Well, it would have been. 

If I hadn't seen this...

Well, just pretend that this is my train pulling away without me.

Even though I was at the station plenty early.

Duh Kira, Duh.

A train, (my train) pulled up a little early, and an announcement was never made. 

The train had the word Sacramento scrolling across a little screen on the side of the train.

And you can't really tell which way the train will be going since it has an engine at both ends.

But still...

I sat there, (with all 3 kids) and watched everyone load the train (my train) while the kids laughed at the sound the train makes when it releases steam.

What is it that is so funny about things (or people) releasing "steam?"

Anyway, who does that?

I kept thinking, "Is this my train?"

"No," I tell myself - Sacramento is north and I am heading south.  

I didn't see a worker, and I am not trucking all these small people around the station looking for one.

If the train has Sacramento on it, then it is surely going there.

Or not.

Apparently, rather than waddling my pregnant self and 3 small kids around the train station to ask for help,  I thought it would be more fun to miss my train, wait another hour and a half for the next train, pay an extra $10 and suffer through hours of

"Mom, why did we miss our train?"

Must we talk about it?

Brooklyn said it right when she was talking with her grandparents after we finally arrived in Newbury Park.

"What was my mom thinking?"

I'm wondering that same thing Brooklyn. 

Honestly...