::san diego for aapd pt 2::

And for the rest of my travel report. The rest of our first day was spent eating fish tacos, shopping for surfer sweatshirts because it was freezing, going to rather unpleasant work events and trying to relax.
(Downtown San Diego is super cool, what's with the stripey sidewalks?) The next day we wanted to meet up with friends. The Children's museum was within walking distance of the hotel, so later that morning while Kris was off doing classes, we met Melissa, Grant and new little 2 yr old Cale for playtime. They were with us for a year of our Rhode Island experience and we haven't seen them since.
 It was so fun to hang out with them.
Sandy had a blast until he got so tired he had to be contained in the stroller. The museum was mostly trash themed, it was kind of strange. The kids loved this one spot where it was like you were in a trash truck all covered with trash bags. They stayed in there playing and screaming and rolling out and pretending for probably an hour.
 Later that day we went swimming because it had finally warmed up so that swimming was almost bearable. The kids had a blast and my shoulders got sunburned. We went and had some good seafood for dinner near the beach. There was evidently some sort of prom going on because the restaurant was packed with high school kids dressed soooo fancy. It made for some good people watching--at least until we watched a guy puke in the street right by our car. That kind of put me off my food for a few minutes.
 
Sandy liked the rolls.
 
 And to end a long day we had a reception for Lutheran Medical Center--the place that ran Kris's residency. We got to see lots of friends, so fun to get together. I had to take the boys out and put them to bed pretty early though, since things were getting TOO fun. Grant and Max picked up right where they left off back in 2008 (they were assigned as BFFs back then.) They were having a blast. Cale was getting in on the fun and Sandy was just dying to join in. This was a tame moment really. Wish I had a picture of Max knocking me on the floor--I was crouching down to talk to a friend who was sitting at a table. Max came running to give me a flying hug and down I went on my bum. A little embarrassing... Max got to sit on the balcony and watch all the big city building lights change colors as the dark fell. It was a nice way to mellow out for bedtime. Last but not least we went to church on Sunday morning. It was hard and stressful because we had to get ready for church and ready to check out at the same time, and we had to feed the baby birds breakfast. So of course I didn't get up early enough and we were absolutely scrambling to leave. Not to mention that Kris had to go and do something and took both keys with him--then of course I locked the car keys in the room so I had to go and get a new key made before I could go pick Kris up, argh. So I was very cranky when we finally got on our way. We got to church (about 10 or 15 min late) and as we pulled in we noticed all these big black cars with guys standing around in the parking lot, guys who when we looked closer we noticed earpieces in their ears. We were trying to figure out what could be going on, and I threw out the guess that it had to be Mitt Romney at church--I remembered from an earlier newspaper article that the Romneys have a San Diego beach house--I remembered this because I WANT ONE TOO! Anyway that was my guess and BOY was I right. We got in there and there were secret service guys in the hall watching over everything. There was a big scary secret service guy sitting in the gym a few rows up whom Sandy escaped and flirted with. It was so funny. Mitt and Ann were sitting up a few rows from us, just at church like normal people. They sat through the whole 1.5 hr sacrament meeting (the whole youth program spoke). Afterwards I took Max up to meet him--I mean what an opportunity! When was the last time we got to meet a presidential hopeful at church! Whatever his politics are, whether you agree with his opinions or not, it was awfully nice to see the guy at church doing the things he's supposed to do. And he had a very warm smile and firm handshake. I felt awesome that I guessed right, and pretty psyched up that we got to meet somebody so darn famous. And that pretty much wrapped up our trip. We made it home that night and we were tired but we were able to get some work done and also have some fun and does it get any better than that? I'll have some non travelogue posts coming up here soon, I promis!

::san diego for aapd pt 1::

Yes, more travel reports!  I knew you'd be excited. The boys and I went to Napa, as you know, then the next weekend we went BACK to CA for the huge annual AAPD (american academy of pediatric dentistry) conference. We've been planning this one for months--it was the Napa one that was stuck in at the last moment. Anyway, off we went, with Kris this time. Sandy got a seat on the way over which was nice, because judging from the way back, he needs a seat in order for us all to stay sane. He does great when belted down, but as soon as the dog gone flight attendant told us that Sand couldn't sit in Max's seat and share his seatbelt, he turned the screams on and didn't turn them off for a while. Anyway, that's later. Max and Sand spent some quality time watching Elmo & Wall E on my ipad and also reading the plane instruction booklet. That's what the picture is supposed to show. The flight isn't bad over there, just about 90 min or so. What you can't see in the picture was that I got to sit in a row by myself and read a book the whole way. Nice--I have a good husband. I've learned a new airport trick. If you have a baby and you use one of those baby slings or carriers you don't have to take him off to go through security. This eliminates the whole awkward, "take the baby out of the stroller--put him somewhere while you collapse the stroller--try to fit the stroller through the scanny thing--don't lose the baby--oh don't forget to take out your laptop and everything else--and of course don't forget your shoes AND jacket--oh shoot where's the baby" thing. So they just scan your hands after you walk through the metal detector and you're good to go. So that's how I do it now. So there he is, on the back instead of the front. We switch it up sometimes. We're waiting for luggage. Baby in a backpack on a shuttle to the rental car place. The night we arrived there was a gigantic kick-off party for the conference. They closed a whole downtown city block and had restaurants and stilt walkers and music and all sorts of crazy stuff. There was also a line twice as long as a city block to get in, but that's another story. We met up with some friends we haven't seen in ages and went for it. Max with the star wars toothbrush mascots. SWEET. They had an awesome kid play area for kids Max's age. Yummy food, foosball, pool, free arcade games, wii, etc. He was in HEAVEN. He could've stayed all night. Sandy didn't fare so well. He thought it was boring to be attached to me in the loud street and restaurants the whole time, and he got sooooo tired after the travel and the time change. So he and I left early for bed. And he fell asleep on the way home, which he never does. It was rather amusing. Then it turned out I was just about as tired, so I crashed too. The next morning there was a 5K run benefiting some dental charity, and since running is my new "thing" that I try to do, I did it. I got up before everybody and went on out. It was cold and grey and drizzly and early. But the scenery was still awesome. We could see all the big battleships and aircraft carriers across the bay. The race went well for me. I was able to prove to myself that my endurance has improved amazingly since I started running. My time wasn't impressive for a real runner, but I was very proud of myself! And I wasn't close to the last and that made my day. After that we all went to a pancake place where I got some flapjacks with bacon cooked in (YUM) and Max had german pancakes the size of his HEAD. Wish I had a picture. We went incredibly early because the boys were up from the time change. Later when we saw the little pancake place there was a line all the way down the street. We had no idea we were at such an in demand little place. To be continued...tonight if I can stay awake for 10 more minutes!

::good hair::

This is another Max post. While we were in Napa it happened that Max's grandma brushed his hair. He had been swimming all day and I forced him to take a shower. Then grandma combed his hair into an amazing shape with her magic hands, and after that it's history. He couldn't stop looking in the mirror, and he COULDN'T stop touching his hair--brushing it back from his forehead, flipping it around, patting it. You'd think I have never brushed his hair in my life!

 When we got to dinner, he asked grandma for her purse brush. He brushed and brushed and brushed. He kept checking his hair in the little mirror. I was laughing SO HARD. I had to keep it down though, because really it was adorable and I didn't want to hurt his feelings.
 

 Then when Sandy broke the purse brush later on in the trip, Max was not happy about it at all. Distraught rather. The other purse brush was pretty girly, so I think he wasn't quite ready to resort to using that. He also kept saying that grandma had to show me "how to brush my hair right." So I got a lesson--it's pretty much what I've been doing all along, but now I know. Next morning was sunday and we got ready for church. Max was the epitome of hair perfection of course, after much preening.

 
 He was in fine form for photos that morning.
 

 It was very cute to watch him and his fledgling self awareness, but it does make me nervous for when he's a teenager. He continued with the preening all the way home (including getting compliments from a different Grandma in the airport bathroom for fixing his hair so well.) He's eased off a bit now that we're home, but he's still brushed his hair, touched his hair and thought more about his hair than he ever has in his life. Silly little adorable boy!

::homework::

I just have to brag a little bit and say that school and homework and such have been going way better for Max lately. It's been a bit of a struggle this year, including a school change (from the big public school to a tiny private one room school house type place) an attitude change (on Max's part) and breaking through some mental barriers with writing, math and lots of other stuff. I'm so relieved it's going better and that he's been feeling confident and smart. By no means does this mean he actually gets his work done when he's supposed to, but there's a better change he's actually going to DO it at some point. The water cycle chart above took hours for me to get him to sit down and do it, but once he sat down it took him about 10 minutes, and isn't it gorgeous? Just one more hurdle jumped in the midst of zillions of others. One challenge met (we hope) now on to the next!!

::napa pt 2::

I can't believe I left these photos out of my Napa report! We found an awesome park to visit one night, and the boys had a serious blast. I wish there was a cute park like this in every town. I have a zillion pictures of Sandy because he was so darling exploring around. There were all these teensy little houses with paths between them and slides and steps and tubes. This was the toddler section. I didn't get to spend any time in the big kid stuff. There was also a big huge sandbox that I disallowed entrance too, and some wooden xylophones built in here and there. Here's the one shot of the big kid section I got as we called Max down to leave. He didn't want to, naturally. Sandy SCREAMED when we left. He wanted to just move in. That's all for Napa. Evidently it's a toddler paradise.

::napa::

Last week I had a work conference that looked super duper useful. The problem was that it was in Napa CA and Kris had a full week of work, so he couldn't come with us. I called Kathy and she was so sweet as to agree to come with us and watch the boys for me. We got to stay the weekend and we had a great time. Along with work there were some yummy meals, swimming in pools, a spa treatment or two and some fun exploration of a really pretty area. Even if you don't drink wine I'd recommend Napa, it's just a cute little town and so scenic. They have plants and flowers out there which of course we really like to see, being as we live in the desert and all. Why is Max wearing sunglasses inside? I don't know, and I think that's what Sandy's wondering too, could that account for his confused expression? Yes, this pizza was seriously good. I could eat it right now in fact. This was from a cute little cafe that we ran across accidentally. We went to it twice. Max, at the same cafe enjoying all the female attention. The hotel upgraded us into a very nice one bedroom suite with a full kitchen and sitting area (we were supposed to have a two queen room.) It was so lovely. We even had a washer dryer, and the shower had five heads. Yes, five. I'm not sure how or why, but it was nice. Sandy had one cranky night but otherwise he was superb. And here he is relaxing in the kiddie pool. He only fell face first in once, and Grandma and I saved him, after some flailing around. Max swam like a fish, as usual and just wanted to stay in forever. Cold pools, but kids don't care about things like that. Too bad I didn't get any shots of the landscape for you. Next time.... It was a fun weekend. I do like that state of CA. So much pretty stuff there.

12 hours in the Wild West

Ginna's out of town this weekend--at a conference in Napa. She put in a request that I post some stuff from the bike race I did last weekend. It was called 12 hours in the wild west and took place in south-central New Mexico, just outside Ruidoso.
We told Max that if did a good job at school for the week his reward would be to come along for the trip. He worked really hard (relative to how hard he usually tries) and earned the trip.
We left Friday as soon as school and work ended and took the Airstream for the 3 hour drive.

Our camp

We set up camp during a torrential rain storm. The Airstream kept us pretty dry, but it would not keep us from getting very muddy the next day. I did this race as a relay, which meant that I had plenty of time to hang out between my laps with Max. 

Max, ready to start the day

The Kids' Race

Getting a badge for coloring

The organizers did a good job having activities for the kids. There was an activity tent and a kids' race. Max did all the above.

It got worse after I took this picture

Despite all the distractions, Max's main focus was on riding his bike through the mud. He found every mud puddle and absolutely soaked himself and his bike in sloppy mud. I asked him if he could stop ridding in the mud and he replied, "I just can't stop".

Riding in the mud is fun.

Max also got to pick names for the raffle; he picked himself and me. Thanks Max.

By the end of the day he was so tired he could barely move. He fell asleep before I could make us a frozen pizza in the airstream oven. Yum.

Good morning Max

The race went fine for me. I finished mid-pack, partly due to my rookie relay partner, but I wasn't all that fast myself. 

The next morning we got up early and drove back in time to change into our church clothes in the church parking lot. 

Sunrise, ready to leave