Call It What You Want...

"We're going to have to work on a little packing," I told the boys. "I'll go check the weather report and then we'll start packing."
Adam ran upstairs while Mark followed behind me and read over my shoulder.
A few minutes later, Adam came running downstairs, lugging his little suitcase.
"Look at this, mom!" he said.
"What do you have?" I asked.
"My suitcase! I packed!"

I thought I'd better go see what the little dude had packed, just in case he'd overlooked something he might need.





Inventory packed:
2 pairs underwear
4 pairs socks -- three black and one red
1 pair shorts
1 pair long pants (sweats)
3 short-sleeve shirts
2 long-sleeve shirts
1 pair short pants/sleeves pajamas
1 pair long pants/sleeves pajamas
1 random short-sleeve pajama shirt
1 random long-sleeve pajama shirt
1 random pair of long pajama pants
1 random pair of short pajama pants

Not bad, but a little tweaking needs to be done before we're entirely ready to go. But it was a commendable effort.

There are lots of things today that make me happy. I will write them here. Please enjoy and make your own list today... or whenever you can find some.

1. My van side door (the awesome automatic door) has been acting up. This does not make me happy. Tim, ever the researcher, found instructions on YouTube of how to fix the problem. This he started on Monday. Yesterday it was even worse. Last night he completed the fix and ... wait for it ... it's all better. It is back to normal again. Score one big one for the Tim!

2. The boys started swimming lessons on Monday at Hamilton Heights High School. This was chosen because both boys could go and because another friend has her girls in class the same time as we were able to sign up. It's Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m., and the boys have Evan as their teacher. It's the two of them together in a lane. Brian, there is no one shouting "BREATHE! BLOW!" throughout the pool area. On Monday, Mark was persuaded to get his face wet. Today he went under the water and stayed for SIX SECONDS! And at the end of the session time, ADAM even went under the water! (I think Evan helped, but no one minded!) Mark practiced floating with his face in the water, too! Both boys are doing great, and it makes their mom very proud. Score TWO for Mark and Adam!

3. Last week I went to Orlando for the Tri Delta Convention. I have never been to Convention before; my real deep involvement with DDD has come since college as an alumnae member. I had a great convention, met some great new friends, and reconnected with my collegiate chapter a little. What terrific girls! How fun was it to have my seatmate on the flight the chapter president from my own collegiate chapter? (AWESOME.)

4. While at Convention, we had "fun night" at Sea World. While we were eating supper, my mouth started writing checks that I was not really prepared to cash, but my friends held me to it -- I would ride the roller coaster. Fortunately the wait for the newer coaster, Manta, was longer than we wanted to do, so we went on Kraken. And, who knew? I LOVED it. (I just watched a YouTube video of it and it made me dizzy, so I guess it wasn't that crazy that I couldn't walk straight when I got off.) I am trying to do stuff that I'm a little afraid of so there's no regret later (too many times I've wished I'd had the nerve to do something, only too late to change it), and this was no exception! I really like it! (I did not go on the other later, and my two friends who did said I would NOT have liked it, so I am okay with that!) Score one for me!

5. My friend Shannon has a new baby boy! His name is Tyler and he was born yesterday! I am sure anyone who reads this who knows Tony & Shannon already knows this, but I am happy for them all the same so it goes on my list! Score one for ANDREW for having a little brother!

Anything you're happy about? Add it in the comments or write your own and link to me. :)

We've returned from our Spring Break trip to do a little work around the house with the rest of the week. I like not having to go straight from vacation away back to the daily grind, aside from a chocolate event tonight for me, work tomorrow night (also for me), Tim teaching Sunday school and me in the nursery and then having confirmation all on Sunday...

Here are a few pictures of the fun week:



The boys are in the car, ready to go. Mark is carrying the cross he made in school to take to Grandma. Adam suggested she could put a "mag-a-net" on it and hang in on the "'frigerator".

We spent Friday afternoon to Wednesday morning at Mom & Dad's in Kentucky, including the necessary Easter activities like coloring eggs



Church with the family




Finding Easter baskets in the basement. The "easter bunny" left a trail of candy from the stairs around the corner to where the baskets were. Mark excitedly ran along the "trail", while Adam carefully picked up each piece of candy. Note the armload of candy when he arrived at the baskets.


Hunting Easter eggs in the backyard. Grandpa hid the 48 eggs that Grandma had filled, and the boys had a wonderful time running around finding them.


Mark ended up with a few more than Adam, so here, you see Mark sharing some with his little brother. What a sweet boy! (In the end, we just dumped all the candy into a communal bowl anyway, but the gesture was worth seeing.)



"Look happy about the Easter eggs you found" was the instruction. Adam, of course, has his own way of doing things.

This morning our MOPS group went to the Noblesville Airport (a grassy strip on Promise Road just NORTH of 146th Street) for a field trip. What a trip it turned out to be!

The kids got to get up into two different little planes (sorry to not know one plane from another, for those of you who might care). Adam grilled the teenage guy who was helping them in one with a never-ending series of "What's this?"es. I got a little on video. He did NOT turn the plane on, though one of the other children in our group did make it do something...

We got to ride around the property on a wagon pulled by an old Farm-All tractor.

We got to throw balls and draw with sidewalk chalk.

Then Carrie (who organized the outing) was going to get a ride in a real World War II biplane... except that Brendan was complaining and Drew wouldn't let go of her neck. And she said, "Does some other adult want to go?" And before I stopped to have the sense to THINK (and therefore talk myself out of it), I was climbing into the front seat of a real 1941 biplane!!!!

Seriously.

And I didn't just sit in the front seat. I put on the headset and the guy who owns the place (and the plane) started going and we flew all around! (In the above picture, there's a plane in the background that's just like the one I was in.) We flew over by Conner Prairie (not too close, friends, since the balloon was flying today, too) and I waved at Mel down in the Animal Encounters barn (she did not know that airplane overhead was me) and I took crummy pictures out the side to prove that I actually did it! the boys LOVE Carrie and didn't mind that they were waiting for me on the ground since they were with her.

Okay, so it was jiggly up there, and I had no idea how the camera was focusing, but yes, that yellow blob in the center of the picture is the Conner Prairie balloon, and that brown space is the "prairie" for which Conner Prairie is named...

How's that for a crazy turn of events today???

File this one under "Glad this didn't happen yesterday"

We took off for the library this morning. As we were leaving the neighborhood (the van seeming to drive a little roughly), it bucked a little and the "check engine" indicator light came on. I decided to go back home and call Tim to ask what I should do.

On the way home, I started feeling a little short of breath. So I put down the windows, and off we went (instead of the library) to the dealership. The boys complained they were cold, so I passed them blankets to cover with as all the windows were open (including the rear vent windows).

At the dealership, the boys played in the playroom for a while, checked out the vehicles on the showroom floor, wandered about...

The verdict? The Exhaust Gas Valve was stuck open.

I really did feel short of breath! It wasn't just me getting worried about the car! And I was not crazy making my babies freeze as we drove across town!

Sure, guys, you go ahead and fix that... but is there any chance we could spend the next hour at the library instead of here?
Sure, we'll have our shuttle take you over there...

So the man who drives the shuttle took us to the library (just up the road) and then picked us up when the car was finished. Just before the phone rang with the guy calling me to tell me they were coming after me, Mark started to whine about being hungry. (I was hungry too!) So $315 later (of course this isn't under the warranty; you're in bankruptcy), and with the car even washed, we went to Wendy's, had some lunch, and are back home.

Yesterday was a horrible day. The boys were rotten, it was raining, and I was overtired.

Today? Today I can take the car breaking and the change in plans in stride.

I'm glad this didn't happen yesterday.

We've always said that Mark was a very observant kid. He notices stuff. All. The. Time.

Thursday we were driving through downtown Noblesville to go get Adam's new glasses, and I pointed out the pretty hanging baskets that adorn the utility poles downtown. Mark asked why there were also microphones. Then I saw the speakers (that's what he was referring to) also installed on the poles. Hmmm, I thought, I hadn't noticed those before. Bet they've been there for some time.

This afternoon I read the following in a news release from the city of Noblesville in the Indianapolis Star's Ledger:

"Downtown Noblesville got a little more colorful last week when 38 hanging baskets...were installed.

"In addition, 12 new standing planters are being placed around the square, and a sound system that will play music year-round was installed recently."

Oh. So they're new. And Mark was the first in the family to notice them. Eeesh.

Many years ago, I had the opportunity to take a hot-air balloon ride with a friend's family. I was in first grade. Unfortunately, when the day came (the parents were going to pay because I had told them I was "financially embarrassed" at the time), the weather conditions were unfavorable, and I never did it. Later, my fear of heights overcame my curiosity, and I had never done it.

Until today. In a way.

Today was the employee preview day for the 1859 Balloon Voyage at the Prairie. The boys and I went, with the understanding that they would go play with Auntie Mel in the Conner Barn while I rode the balloon. At the last minute, though, Adam decided he wanted to ride too, so we got in line while Mark helped feed the chickens and the goat and other chores that Melissa "needed" help with.

Photo evidence is a little lacking as, er, I was a little too afraid to take my hand off the side of the gondola. And as I was holding Adam, who wanted cuddled.

This is the only photo I managed to take, so I'm hoping that Becky got a good one that she'll share with me. :) This was even before we took off.

So up we went, more than 300 feet in the air. I could see the Pyramids over on the west side of 465, I could see downtown Indy... I could see the quarry ... probably if I'd been more attentive I could've seen our neighborhood...

Then we came down, landing, and while I was nervous, it wasn't so bad. Probably had I not been holding Adam, I'd have been a little less nervous. It was quiet and still and very pretty, and I am very glad I did it. I'm sure Puppy (see him in the above picture?) is glad he got to go up, too.

 

This morning, in a drizzly haze, we went off to the strawberry patch to pick.

We were assigned a row, and we went down to the end as instructed and started working our way back toward the parking area. Mark picked about 15 strawberries; Adam may have picked three. But it was fun, there was straw on the rows so we didn’t get muddy, and when it started to rain a little harder than the drizzle in which we started, we packed it in and headed out.

We ended with about five pounds of locally grown farm strawberries, which are yummy.

I won’t be in a jam tizzy or anything like that, but I consider it a fun activity.

Since it was rainy, it wasn’t too hot, nor were there hoards of people… it was a fun thing for the boys and me to do on a school’s out sort of morning.

Want to go pick at our strawberry farm?

http://www.spencerberryfarm.com

It only takes a cousin.

Preferably one just enough older to be doing the cool stuff.

Like peeing standing up (that was a couple years back. Jonathan taught Mark to do it, and he was gung-ho for potty-training).

Or riding a bike.

After a weekend spent with the cousin who just turned five, I offered Mark a chance to go out and try out the training-wheeled bike that he's been shunning for quite some time. One offer was all it took. He was on that bike quick as a wink!
The helmet on, we walked the bike down our steep driveway and across the street to try it out. It was hard to pedal. We came back and pumped up the tires. Mark did the pumping, I just did the hooking up and un-hooking.

Then we rode again. Up to Laurel and back, then up to Tamarack and back. Back up to Laurel, up Laurel a little, then back to the corner and back home. Then a little ride in the behind-the-dad-bike trailer, then back onto the bike again to ride up to Laurel again (and ride fast enough down the sloping sidewalk that I had to jog to keep up).

The training wheels keep the bike very upright right now, but since it's his first attempt (and he even had the bike fall over when he was walking it down the driveway and got teensy scrapes on his elbows and was still excited to ride some more), I'm just excited to see him trying it.

We also have an even smaller training-wheel bike that Adam can get on. His pedaling skills aren't quite there yet. But if Mark's doing it, the little brother can't be far behind!!!

Mark looked out the window at the cold little birds eating from our bird feeder this morning.

"I don't want the snowbirds here!" he said. (He has been anxious for spring, and with the little cold snap we're having right now, he's a little annoyed.)

"I know," I told him, truly sympathetic because it's blinkin' cold out there!

"I think they should go away from here," Mark said. "They should go to ANTARCTICA!"

Grin.

We made a trip to South Dakota, using air transportation for the first time (together). Clearly Tim and I have flown before.

Apologies for the brightness of the photo, but the one with the window closed didn't have the cute face on it.

The boys loved take-off, which is what I thought would make them nervous. They laughed at how fast we were going and at the tickle in their tummies... Adam and I sat together on the flight to Minneapolis; Mark and I on the flight home.

Mark excitedly announced everything he saw on the ground as we approached Minneapolis. I could hear clearly across the plane: football fields, train tracks, water, roads... He was sooooo excited.

Doggy was excited too. In this photo he is talking in some doggy-baby-talk, saying something like "Ba-ba".

The guys were impressed with the rental car, though after we were home, Mark said he likes HIS car better. We ended up with an upgrade to a Mercury Grand Marquis (a.k.a. Old Man Car)... and felt a little guilty about strapping carseats to new leather seats. But the company didn't have what we'd reserved, so...

Trains played a big part of our trip as well. Here, the boys pass some time before Michelle and Tristan's wedding (the reason our trip occurred at this time...) showing the father of the bride their trains.

Finally, we had a nice family picture taken once we got back to Grandpa and Grandma's after the wedding... mostly. See if you can spot what was a little "odd" about the photo:

Can't tell from that photo? Here, let me help:

Sigh. When will he go back to making his cute normal face for pictures again?

With a visit from the cousins and the aunt and uncle, what better to do on a free day than go to the Children's Museum? We haven't been in a while, so it was great to all go downtown Indy to one of the most fun places for kids in Indianapolis (after the Prairie, of course).

There were lots of fun things to do.

Some of them didn't surprise me much:

Andrew and Adam drive the skid steer back and forth in tiny little increments. They're only two-year-olds, after all. Also, neither managed to get run over by the pictured skid steer when it was under the controls of bigger kids, though that was mostly to the credit of the bigger kids who were keeping an eye out.

Also not surprising: Mark played in the watershed activity, making dams to block the river, driving a boat, loading the boat down and making it sink... Perhaps surprising for some readers is the evil look on his face: welcome to Mark.

Adam spent a good half an hour to 45 minutes digging, scooping, loading and dumping rubber mulch. Apparently this is how he spends his time at the park, too, but without the nice shovels or kid-sized wheelbarrow. This was super-fun.

Mark got to steer a TOWER CRANE! This was amazing. He was very excited about it.

 

Something I didn't expect to be as appealing as it was:

Adam loved the plastic renditions of the Chihuly Fireworks of Glass piece that provides a striking center to the museum's up/down ramp. The plastic pieces were shaped for building your own work of art, and Adam loved it. He also got very worried about a piece that might have been left on the floor if not for him...

Fun time, folks, fun times.

The boys got to spend Thanksgiving with their best friends -- two of their cousins! Of course they got Grandma, Grandpa, and two aunts and uncles in the bargain as well, but it's nice to watch the four little boys play together.

Jonathan (center) has always been a really sweet kid, but since he turned 4, he's apparently (according to his mom) decided that following rules and stuff works better than not. In this picture, he is patiently and sweetly "reading" to Adam and Andrew. I think this was the book with the snakes in it. He was reading to them that "THIS snake is very poisonous. You should NOT try to kill it. Leave it ALONE." Too cute.

Andrew is an ace at smiling at the camera. He has such a pleasant little face -- and it goes along with his personality. He's always pretty even-tempered (except when he's hungry!) -- I could stand for my corresponding-age boy to take a little from the Andrew book.

We went over to the church fellowship hall for a little large-motor fun on Friday afternoon. Jonathan and Andrew have a couple of Plasma Cars, which are fun to "drive" using the steering handle. Mark and Jonathan drove the things all over, while Andrew and Adam used other ride-on toys -- Adam favoring the Lightning McQueen ride-on. They had soooo much fun.

It also turns out that, when the situations seems to warrant it, Mark can actually pedal. It was a little hard to pedal as fast as he wanted on the slick floor, but no, we do NOT have to enroll him in a remedial tricycle class in kindergarten. WHEW.

There are a lot more cute pictures from our trip -- which is quickly fading into the past -- and so here are some animal-related highlights from the trip!

Adam rides the horse at Grandma and Grandpa's. Does the horse have a name? We asked him. He told us its name is Caleb. (That's one of his friends from school.)

We went off to the Bramble Park Zoo (Watertown's own) for a chilly visit. Believe this or not, the tiger was just as close to the small boy at this point as the goats were. (Just the tiger had a rather more substantial barrier.) The animals were all quite active due to the cool weather...no lounging lizards there...

Mark compares his wingspan to that of the large birds of prey. It's a little hard to see the grimace. Raaaaah!

These are not necessarily wild animals, but they did forage for their own food. Here they are with apples they picked themselves off the tree at the Stormos'. Yum!

And, finally, this is Adam having a moment with Jo, the Vrzals' rabbit in Sheboygan. Jo is very friendly, and as long and children stay still, she'll come over and check them out. Mark wasn't so interested, but Adam was. Here, he shares a NASCAR car with her. I'm not sure if she was wholly grateful, but she indulged him by looking. Such a good rabbit.

This concludes Animal Adventures. Join us next time for a jaw-dropping display of "When Sherrill Critters Go Bad..." (Maybe not).

Tim's aunt Estee Stene got married over our vacation, hence our trip. I mean, was there any chance we would pass this up? Estee has always been a fairly well doting aunt as far as I can tell (when Tim's parents didn't necessarily do an allowance, just gave the guys money for what they needed, Estee sent them $20 a month for an allowance) and has always been good to us -- picking us up at 3:30 a.m. at the Minneapolis airport the day before Christmas is not easily overlooked.

It really was a great chance to get together with the family. Tim has very good relatives, and they also have very good friends. Cousin Rachel is now living in Okinawa with her Naval dentist husband, but she was back for the wedding. She has really worked to stay in touch with her, and though I am on-again/off-again with it, I try to write to her as well. Cousin Sarah is a very successful interior designer in Park City, Utah, and I got to meet her husband Wade for the first time -- they've been married for a year. I already mentioned the fun times the kids got to spend together.

Mark may not have had a basket of flowers, but he certainly had something important to carry...

Mark asked Abby to come to his house to play sometime. I think he meant right away. Hopefully we'll get to do it soon. (Aunt Margrethe sent me this photo and a few others... they are adorable because we didn't take very many ourselves; Tim was busy with groomsmen duties, and I was trying to keep Adam sane. Mark, however, attached to Aunt Margrethe for a while and played with her. Hence some cute pictures.)

Mark checks out the flowers.

The floral arrangements were made by Estee's best friend Chris, about whom I have heard forever but had never met until now. He was even funnier than I imagined. He showed up for photos in an atrocious outfit, but changed for the actual ceremony into normal clothes. He is a retired English teacher and now has a florist business. After the ceremony, he leaned forward to me and said, "Not to sound too vain, but those flowers really do look stunning, don't they?" They realllllly did. See?

Could there be a more mournful 4-year-old? I think not. Someone didn't want to participate in the family picture-taking. Eh. It's good for you.

So. Those are some pretty pictures. You'll get more stories of the vacation before it gets too cold in my memory, but I thought you ought to have a few to enjoy.

The boys were sad about Dad going off on a trip today -- Mark would prefer Daddy to "take the day off" -- so I decided it was the right day to take them to the Indianapolis Zoo. (Sorry, Mel, but it was sort of spur of the moment.) I still can't get over how much it costs -- we dropped $30 and I got in free! -- but upkeep for this sort of thing must be astronomical.

The boys had a blast, though.

There are only a few more days left with the koalas, and we got there right at feeding time, which means that the lazy beasts opened their eyes and momentarily stretched. Evolutionarily, I'm not sure how a useless animal like this survives, unless it tastes as boring as it acts.

But they stretched and yawned and then rested some more. Apparently (according to the sign) they sleep for 18-22 hours a day; due to the low nutritional value of their only food, they have energy for nothing else. What a life.

On to more interesting animals. We were there in time to feed the giraffes!

 

Adam was too short to hold his piece of food up to the giraffe, so I had to lift him, and was therefore not able to get a picture of it. Only so many hands.

We saw the elephants...

And the seals...

And the penguins...

And the polar bear's behind. (He was eating.)

Mark said, "I LOVED the dolphin show!" Adam kept saying "Dow-fin!"

We also got to see the SHARKS in the new Oceans building, including being able to TOUCH them! I touched them a lot, Adam touched one and liked putting his hands in the water, and Mark pretty much didn't want to touch them at all, though he liked watching. Adam kept calling them, "Shark! Shark!" It was cute. (We also ran into someone I knew there, which is always amusing.) We also rode the train, which goes around the outside of the Plains exhibit. The boys might have died had we not.

Addition I almost forgot: We saw the walrus, but Adam had a hard time with his name. Adam called him the "Carwash."

We saw an airplane fly overhead right about the time Daddy's flight was supposed to take off, so we pretended it was Daddy's flight and waved to him.

The boys had a very nice time and were VERY VERY good. No one ran off, and Adam only got finicky about riding in the stroller when he was too tired to remain reasonable.

They were also super cute. Get a load of this...

That was without even the slightest suggestion from me.

We are home and in our naps now. I imagine they'll be serious naps today.

A birthday's never over until the present Aunt Amanda and Uncle David picked out arrives -- they're always interesting.

Today's arrival did not disappoint.

This little globe has sounds, music, and a joystick that controls a little "plane" that flies over places, which the globe then identifies. It also tells how people speak in some places (China, UK, France, South Africa, USA, Mexico, Australia, India, etc.). Adam is especially impressed with "Salut!" from Canada and France.

 

Today the MOPS moms got together with their little people for a field trip of the downtown Fire Station. I hadn't decided to do it, but when I mentioned it, both boys went bananas, so off we went!

Everyone got a turn to sit in the seat of the big fire truck.

Even the little guys. (Some of whom weren't so interested in getting out.)

They didn't want to get out of the rescue truck either.

We got to see all around the fire station, even the kitchen, living room and bedrooms, and it was a lot of fun, even if it wasn't SHAWN's fire station. (But it was an organized trip...)

They got fire hats and had their picture taken, too. And behaved like little angels (mostly).

My visit to London began at David and Amanda's flat in north London, where the nearest Tube station is Turnpike Lane (on the Picadilly Line).

They recently purchased this flat, which includes the first floor (upstairs in our country), a piece of back garden, and the overhead balcony you can see over David's head.

This is the scene at the Victoria & Albert's "Village Fete Goes Pop!" on Friday night. There were people everywhere, and booths with goofy games. I had limited success with the games, but did win at one, and had fun with many.

On Friday I took a walking tour of St Paul's cathedral with the people who do the London Walks. It was nice to get to see the whole place and have things explained... I even went up the 200-something steps to the whispering gallery above the cathedral (inside) with a great view down. It was a good way to spend the afternoon and kept me up and moving when I might have been dragging some.

This medieval bridge is from Eltham Palace, where David and I went on Wednesday. Built by Henry (VIII?) and leading to a magnificent Great Hall, which is the old part of the palace. The Courtauld family bought the place and built a lavish home in the art deco style, but retained and restored the Great Hall and planted gardens... etc. Nice place you've got there, folks. (It's now an English Heritage site.)

The front of Buckingham Palace.

This is my memorable photo from Sutton House, one of the oldest houses in London. Don't I look great?

David and I, ready with our tickets to enter Hampton Court Palace. Tudor Kitchens, here we come!

One of SIX fireplaces for cooking in the Tudor Kitchens at Hampton Court Palace. This huge kitchen only had one serious fire going, so it wasn't crazy-hot.

My umbrella got stuck in the maze, but I got less wet...

Amanda, in the natural light through a window at Hampton Court.

The gardens, Hampton Court.

(Can you tell that the boys are getting antsy for me to finish writing?

All the chimneys and the flag flying at Hampton Court.

Time to go back to London and pack to go home.

What a great trip! (And I'm glad to be home)

For the weekend of my visit, David and Amanda and I took a trip to Bath, some of which has been already detailed (ahhhh, the spaaaaaaaah). But for those of you who want pictures, there's more...

Here I am at the Roman baths, listening to the audio guide. This is the upper level, with the water below. Pretty neat. And to think, it was uncovered in 1880 (when our country was still making their "firsts").

Here are David and Amanda in a pretty park near the Avon River, with Pultney Bridge in the background.

We went to a fancy restaurant, the Hole in the Wall, the first evening in Bath. Apparently Amanda had heard of it and wanted to give it a try. The food was yummy.

We took a long footpath up the hill (and up, and up, and up) to where we were staying. Yes, I know, the picture's dark, but I wanted to show the distance to the end. This is about halfway up. In the center of the photo, beneath two street lamps, is a tiny blue dot. That's the end of the hill and the street where we were staying.

This is the scenic path in daylight, about halfway up.

This is a "thematic" picture, following the orders of our photographer. The building we're in front of is "The Cross Bath".

This was for my boys. We found Bob and Scoop in Bath. :)

The River Avon, with David and Amanda blocking the view. :)

David and I show off one of King Bladud's pigs. This is Emily. She is located near Bath Abbey.

This is Pultney Park, near Pultney Bridge and the River Avon.

We sat in park chairs and enjoyed the shade and the cool breeze. And the teenagers doing acrobatic moves nearby.

This is the creepiest part of the trip, Bath Abbey's sculpture of Jacob's Ladder outside the doors. I found the angels crawling down especially creepy.

This is me with Jane -- or is it one of her characters?

 

One of my big interests in going on my trip was the chance to see some great fashion from my way-back-when time periods. There was a chance for me to get study appointments at both the Fashion Museum at Bath and the Victoria & Albert Museum, but they were for naught.

I got a glimpse of fashion anyhow.

This is a fabulous ventilated corset that Paula and I would love to replicate at our Prairie. The time is a little late, though (1890), but I did see documentation on one that was ventilated around the waist, so that's a great start. (This is at the V&A.)

We were a little disappointed in the Fashion museum at Bath, especially since (*horror of horrors*) they do not display their stuff chronologically but by subject. And the text on the displays was pretty dumbed-down. And some of the things I was interested in were made harder to see because of bad lighting. But.

This shows the new analine dyes that made some bright colors possible for the first time. Before, all dyes were natural and left many bright colors unachievable or unstable. Chemical dyes were more stable and able to last through the ages. Like this. :)

A nice corset.

A bustle dress to die for. I swooned.

Even David got into the fun in the interactive part of the exhibit.

At Shakespeare's Globe Theatre "Experience" there were some costumes on display. I know they're not real olde-tyme, but they were nice and cool (they were form performances).

I wouldn't mind wearing this.

What man wouldn't look dashing in this? (Especially the ruff. Every man needs a good ruff!)

 

Mer, how am I doing? :)

 

The boys got a present from Aunt Amanda from my trip, and it has quickly found an important place in our lives. I think I read it 50 times yesterday and have already read it this morning.

It is called Naughty Bus.

It's a super-cute book about a new toy bus and the trouble he gets into -- he has very important work to do.

Adam walks around saying "notty bus, notty bus!"

Amanda, you found a winner!

 

I am officially home! It was a long and wonderful trip, but I must admit I am glad to sleep in my own bed (even if I did wake up at 4 a.m. ready to go, which is why I'm doing the blog thing right now).

I've added photos to most of my London blogs, so be sure to go back to them and check them out.

A few extra photos are here:

This is from the "Village Fete Goes POP!" at the V&A on Friday evening. Bear with me for the dark photo, but it was David and I racing these battery-powered chickens. You had to flap your arms (and legs) as hard as you could to make the chickens "run" down the racetrack. David won, but it was close!

I know, we looked ridiculous!

And, just for Mer (and all my other friends who love Cadbury Eggs), here is a new candy bar:

It's a chocolate bar with Cadbury Egg inside!

MY bag is packed, DAvid is out of bed, and I am heading for the Tube to catch the first train to Heathrow.

I had a super-fun time and am all worn out. I miss my boys and will be glad to see them.

D&A are the BEST! Much fun was had...

 

My last day in London we spent at Hampton Court Palace, visiting everything this Tudor (and otherwise) palace had to offer, including the Tudor Kitchens, complete with working cooks in Tudor dress for the weekend (first weekend of the month). Somehow, one of the cooks who was answering questions from me (and my companions) called me out as someone with an 'interest in history' pretty quickly. (Hmmm, how did he know?)

(David says he said, 'I think I've spotted one of us.' Uh. Yeah.)

He even knows my prairie from his ALHFAM experiences and remembers a session at the ALHFAM in Nova Scotia in which our prairie did a presentation on a particular program -- 'Aren't you the ones who burned down a house?' (*ALHFAM is the Association of living history farms and museums, though I may have letters in the wrong order...)

We saw a looooooooot of cool stuff, palace rooms, pretty gardens, took on the maze -- it started raining hard when D & I were in the center waiting for Amanda, which was funny and not devastating. It was a very fun day, and I am tired and have to get my stuff together and get ready for a trip to the airport and home.

Amanda in the Maze, at the beginning (not wet yet).

There were also musicians, who came down to the kitchens to play the music of the "common folk." Unfortunately they couldn't sing very many songs because they have record of exactly six songs from the Tudor time period -- and, as they told the crowd, four of them are two dirty to sing for families. One song is a little saucy (they sang it; it was) and the last doesn't make any sense (except that it, too, was saucy.)

The musicians lead a trail of guests to the kitchens for the music presentation.

Today I was entirely touristy, with my day starting with a visit to Buckingham Palace! The State Rooms are only open for about two months in the summer, so it's never been open when I've been here before. So I waited in the queue for an entry ticket and then waited in another queue to get in and get my free audio guide (I should think it would be free!). I listened to almost everything on the audio guide (including a few 'extras') and thought it was great.

You can't take pictures in Buckingham Palace, but this is the back of the Palace, after my tour.

The special exhibition this year is the hall set for a state banquet, with the tables and chairs and plates and glasses (at least 6 per place setting) and silver and napkins and gilt... It was very impressive. It pretended it was going to spit rain as I was coming out and walking through the garden back to the road, but nothing worth putting an umbrella up for.

Then it was off to my next stop, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. On the way I stopped in at Southwark Cathedral and walked through. It was pretty and quiet and peaceful and nice.

Today there was an afternoon performance at the Globe, so no tours of the theatre itself, but a walk through the exhibit (pretty neat) and then a tour down Bankside to the original Rose Theatre (one of the very old ones where Shakespeare's works were performed) was an acceptable substitute. (The Rose is just an archaelogical site right now, with a building built above it, and the ruins submerged in water to keep them as they have been for the past 300 years.)

Then it was back onto the Tube, with a stop in tourist-central (Leicester Square) for some snack, and back here to D&A's place, where I'm checking in and then going to rest my tired feet.

Cheers for now!

Yesterday was a trip out and about with Amanda, to the Geffrye Museum and Sutton House, with a side trip to the Transport Museum's Gift Shop.

The Geffrye Museum has rooms set up to represent the living rooms of the middle class through the ages, starting in the 17th century and ending in 1990. Nice presentation. We listened to the audio guide and enjoyed all the cool stuff, then lunched in the cafe and saw the elaborate gardens.

The afternoon took us to Sutton House, one of the oldest houses in London. There was cool stuff in there, including a linenfold room, a room paneled in wood carved to resemble draped cloth. That was pretty neat.

We went into Covent Garden, which anyone who's been here knows is a crowded mess of people; it was indeed, but the trip to the Transport Museum Gift Shop yielded the needed City Bus and other goodies (including something for Tim!). Then we were off to the Pembury, D&A's favorite pub that has various games for people to play. Cooooool. We played a couple of VERY fun games and stayed until quite late.

Today I am off to a couple of super-tourist sites.

Cheers, everyone!

Laundry dry, and several minutes of Wii played (yesterday), today David and I were off to East London, first to the Ragged School, and then to Eltham Palace.

On the walk along the canal, we got to see a boat (and its two occupants) navagate one of many locks. That was kind of neat.

I got scolded in the ragged school for talking during lessons, but succeeded in writing the alphabet and other assignments right handed as instructed by the school teacher. (She actually said I didn't have to since it isn't really a Victorian school, but I naturally rose to the challenge.)

Eltham Palace was a 1930s building built onto a very old Great Hall. It had some very impressive Art Deco stuff throughout; I was very impressed with the flex maple paneling (very thin veneer glued on paper and used as wallpaper). We also stopped at a garden on the way that had the most impressive roses I've seen since the Portland Rose Gardens. Wow.

We came back by way of a double decker bus to the former Millenium Dome (now known as O₂) for a little snack and a long wait for the loo, then back on the Tube to Chateau David & Amanda for a little quick Wii and supper and the Mean and Nasty Horse Racing Game (a present I got them for Christmas a couple years back). I ended up winning £16,990,000 to a few hundred thousand each, all accomplished on the last race. (Fun game.)

Now it's some reality TV and off to bed, resting up for a day with Amanda tomorrow.

We returned from Bath about 11 p.m. yesterday after a nice weekend trip.

It really was very nice, albeit warm.

It wasn't long after our arrival that we saw the first pig. As the weekend progressed, it (of course) became a contest to see who would see the pig first. The pigs are a part of a public art project decorating the town. Pigs were chosen because King Bladud first discovered Bath (as legend has it) when, afflicted with leprosy and cast out to become a swineherd, he noticed that his pigs (also afflicted with leprosy) were healed after bathing in a certain wallow with warm, smelly water. He, too, bathed in the mud, and found his leprosy cleared. He went home, regained his crown, and went on to father King Lear. And we all know how he turned out.

Pictures will be added when I get home to my easy-adding thingy that Tim put on my blog.

We went to the Roman Baths, enjoying an audio tour. Very cool.

This is me and David beside the old Roman bath.

This is me, imitating a statue. Edgy, huh?

David thought it was hot. (It was; the water is about 113 degrees when it comes out of the ground.)

We got to sample the healing waters of Bath, as well, drinking a nice refreshing -- er, not so -- glass of the mineral-rich water. (Remember? It's 113 degrees. Mmmmmmm...)

Bath Abbey was also very nice. I was quite enthralled with the stained glass, though there were enough clear glass windows to leave the church bright and airy.

The Sally Lunn buns were huge and delicious, and the Sally Lunn kitchen museum was, er, free, since we had buns in the dining room.

The Fashion Museum was not as exciting as I hoped as there were some lightbulbs out and the text on the displays (yes, I slowed down to read the text) sometimes leaned very strongly toward the young reader.

They do have an interactive try-on part of the exhibit with these lovely items... Instead of busk clasps, which can be hard for the uninitiated, they have regular plastic clips like on your backpack. Easy to use! They're sturdy and washable! Hmmm...

No. 1 Royal Crescent was cool.

The Jane Austen Center, very nice, though there was a man dressed in olde-tyme clothes who was in the foyer when we arrived, but by the time we had paid our entrance fee, he was gone, never to be seen again. Amanda saw him, too, so I was not just imagining Mr. Darcy there. (Some Mr. Darcy souvenirs did appear in the shop.) David did not see him, because he skipped this site, and a good choice on his part as he would have NOT been interested.

The Baths are now open at the Thermae Spa, and we really enjoyed taking the waters in the spa, having steam in the four aromatherapy steam rooms -- and the rain shower, and dipping into the rooftop pool. (Now I just sound like the travel brochure, don't I?) I really liked this, as did Amanda.

The Thermae Bath Spa. On the roof, you can see people standing by the railing. That's where the rooftop pool was.

We ate food, played some games, walked around and saw lots of sights. There will be photos to prove it later, but I will say it was a very nice trip. And we got very tired. There are a lot of hills in Bath!

Amanda swoons in want of a drink, while David leans in for a sample. The fountain says, "WATER IS BEST."

It was also quite exciting to work on the ALL-NEW Nancy Drew story that is developing throughout this trip. The woman with a pinched face (always a villain) seemed to follow us everywhere, but fortunately there were good and helpful people willing to give us clues. (Yes, this part is made up...)

Today I am staying in and taking it easy, doing laundry and playing with D&A's Wii. Maybe by the time they get home I will be able to swing the tennis racket?

As they say here, Cheers.

Slept in until 10:30

Mid day at the Museum on London

Afternoon at St. Paul's Cathedral (the organ and choir were practicing for an evening service, very nice)

Evening at a Village Fete-slash-art fair at the V&A.

Packing now for Bath!

Good night everyone!

And I am not asleep.

I have long had sleep troubles, especially in a new or different bed. But usually when I arrive in Europe, I fall right to sleep due to exhaustion. Aaaah, not tonight.

I got here with no problems, with my luggage. Took the Tube to David's stop, where he met me at the station. Came here, had a short nap, then we went off and met Amanda at the Angel tube stop and then some of their friends at a pub for drinks and visiting. It was a lovely evening -- we sat/stood outside the pub for the visit -- and nice and cool.

We talked about things that I might do tomorrow, but I suspect I might get a late start. (I hope, since the walking tour I thought about doing is just 7 hours away and I haven't been to sleep yet.)

Wish me luck on getting my sleep in gear, and I'll keep you posted on what's up!

Please, someone, tell me what you get if you dial "0044" from your home phone in Noblesville, IN?

It was this morning; the boys had finished breakfast and were playing nicely while I quickly checked email and blogs and stuff before we made a little trip to the Prairie.

Some idiot had left the phone on the end table. (That would be me, I'm afraid.) I didn't remember it was there; I try to put them back in the chargers when I'm done with them.

Suddenly, I heard Mark giggle very loudly. Then I heard a woman's recorded voice speaking in another language. Maybe Spanish. I didn't listen long enough to try to translate.

Not only had Adam retrieved the phone, he had dialed numbers (0044, to be exact) and pressed the "Speaker" button for maximum fun.

Military school?

A very large box?

I'm open to suggestions (beyond the obvious, which is, idiot, put the phone away!).

U.K. readers, can you enlighten me? I found this website which might answer the question... or not...

Adam has a new word, which he acquired over our vacation: "Cycle-Bike". It is pronounced "Sickle-Bi" with the last /k/ receding into nothingness. Since motorcycles, bikes, and even trikes have all been "cycle"s until now, this is an improvement. Except. They're all now "Cycle-bike"s.

So.

Tim and I took another trip to the very fondly-remembered Kelley's Island during our vacation. We had learned before we left that this past week was Ohio Bike Week, and that Kelley's Island was to be home to a Poker Run on the day we were there.

With images in my mind of "mean" and "scary" bikers (on the real things), I boarded the ferry with my dear hubby and a dozen or so motorcycles. (And some other vehicles and people, too, but they don't count.)

Turns out, not only were the Harleys out in force on the island, but it was also the day for the Triumph Register of America to be out and about on the island (somewhere around 30 TRs tooling around looking sweet and cool and flashy...)

We met up with some of the bikers at the Kelley's Island Brewery, where we had lunch, and they were all quite decent -- some even asked if we (with our bicycles) were taking part in the Poker Run. "Wrong kind of bike," I said. The guy shrugged. "Right number of wheels."

Hmmm, one of these is not like the others. And it's not only because Tim is wearing a helmet.

One afternoon, Mark and I made a trip to the beach at East Harbor State Park for a little beach fun. The water there is very shallow, meaning little people like Mark can walk way way way out without the water getting too deep -- unless you slip on the sand on the bottom (which provides for a couple scary seconds for a little guy).

There's also a spread-out beach with sand for digging and playing.

This is Mark's "underwater" loader -- a sand toy that can, through miracles of modern technology, drive underwater.

Adam was having a fussy day, so he stayed back at Lakeside with Daddy. They went to go see the pinwheels, part of a favorite display showing how many children are abused per day in the Western Ohio conference of the UMC (the conference for which we had come to Lakeside, as my brother the Thief is a pastor).

 
Adam loves looking at the mass of pinwheels; he also likes individual ones. Last year he wheedled some out of the people who were keeping them; this year he did, too. :)

Adam also met a doggy.

Our days consisted of getting up fairly early (but not 5 a.m. like last year, thanks to taking a real crib along for Adam, rather than a Pack-n-Play), playing around the house, going to the park for swings and sandbox, lunch, naps, more playing, supper, more playing, bedtime, and sometimes a walk down to the pier here and there in the mix.

Grandma and Grandpa got to play with the boys a lot, which also was nice. Grandma also borrowed the big boys and took them for ice cream... She had already planned it, but they were going to go to the park first, and then stop on the way back, except as they walked by, Mark thought having ice cream would be a good idea... Heh heh. He's his mom's kid, huh?

More later....

We have returned from another eventful vacation to Lakeside, Ohio, with many stories to tell (and pictures to publish).

But for now, I will include photos of Mark and his excellent form in the beanbag toss at the "fair" one night in Lakeside...

 
Note here the way he demonstrates using his tongue for proper aim and effort.

A little more concentration, but similar results.

 
Now a two-handed effort, sure to please the judges...

 
He doesn't yet know that you're supposed to lead with the foot opposite the throwing hand...

 
Please note the effort. He was hoping for style points.

 
Tim calls this one "Jazz Hands."

It turns out that, while he can't throw for anything (little cousin Andrew has a great arm), he can kick a soccer ball into a little goal (Uncle Brian's game at the fair) pretty well for a little guy. Maybe it was the influence of the shirt he was wearing...

With only a couple weeks left until vacation, Daddy thought it would be a good idea to give the boys a chance to share a room togther, because, unlike their cousins with whom we'll be vacationing, they don't normally share.

Tim said to Mark, "Tonight we're going to do something special. You and Adam are going to get to sleep in the same room."

Mark frowned. "That's WRONG!" he said indignantly. "That is not special!"

In the end, a compromise was made: Mark would sleep in Adam's room, instead of the other way around. He wanted his mattress from his bed, and then decided that he wanted his tent, too. So Tim set up the tent and the mattress and tucked the boys into bed.

And all was most decidedly not quiet. There was a lot of giggling and quite a few thumps on the floor. After about an hour of carrying on, it was suggested that it might be time to go to sleep. Seems to me that Mark tried, but every few minutes, I would hear a jubilant shriek from the crib -- Adam saying, in effect, HEY! You're still here! Let's PLAY!

Things were quiet by 9:30, though by 6:30 (it was last Saturday, so Daddy was in charge), he was back at it again.

Yesterday, Mark told me that it was almost time for vacation, and he told me just how it would be.

"I'm going to share a room wif' Jonathan," he told me. "We will have bunk beds, and Jonathan will sleep in the top bunk and I will sleep in the bottom bunk!"

He has it all planned out.

This morning, he ran through his "Is it ___________ time?" list, which includes the State Fair, Pork Festival, and other things in the fall that will hurry along time for the combine to come to his newly planted field. But today, it was "Is it vacation time?"

Tara sent me the menu yesterday.

She and I are excited about it, too.

Also titled "In Which Mark Rides a Tractor with a Seed Drill and Adam Wraps Grandpa Marv Around His Little Finger"

We had a nice evening with friends, and then Grandpa and Tim took the boys home while I hung out with the friends longer and gabbed. When I got home after 9 p.m., Grandpa was all excited. "Mark got to ride in the tractor! Adam and I went out looking for him and he had gotten a ride with the farmer!"

I could still hear Mark upstairs talking so I thought I'd get the story from him.

He was nowhere near asleep. He was sitting up in bed talking to his dad about the event, and when I came in, he had a lot to tell.

"The tractor came through the part where there are no trees, and I got to ride in it. I was a little crunky, but Daddy wanted to ride, so he held onto me. The seed drill was a little loud. It made the whole tractor and seed drill shake. The farmer's name is Seth. He's planting corn." Tim asked what he planted last year. "Soybeans. They didn't do so well. But then it rained." Apparently the rain salvaged what was about to be a lousy crop last year. Also apparently, Mark remembered everything the farmer had to say.

What happened was that while Grandpa was giving Adam an extended goodnight cuddle, Mark (already in his pajamas) and Tim went outside to see the tractor that was planting in the famous field behind our house. Unfortunately, the tractor got kind of far away, so they walked all the way to the trees (a long way) to see it. The farmer got out to check his seeds and saw them, and asked if they wanted a ride. Mark wasn't sure (big surprise there) but Tim convinced him to get in (they both did) and the farmer gave them a ride. Mark wanted more. Finally the farmer came back to this end of the field and dropped them right by our next-door neighbor's gate. In the meantime, Grandpa and Adam had come out looking for them and found them, and got to see the tractor too.

So it was back upstairs, and Grandpa cuddled Adam some more while Mark finished bedtime. Adam was still jumping in bed and shouting, so when Mark finished telling me the story, I went in and told Adam to go to sleep and started his music again. And shut the door. He got mad, and, like a trained seal, up came the spoiling-machine. "Can't I rock him?" Grandpa asked plaintively.

"Oh all right," Tim said, seeing the next week after Grandpa is gone as some repair-time for the sleep habits of someone little who's taken to being cuddled by Grandpa every night. But Grandpa's not here very often for spoiling, so we let it go...

But Grandpa is starting to see through him.

"I think, fine, I'll rock him, and he'll go to sleep," Grandpa reported as he came downstairs. "But no. He wanted to read a book!"

Fortunately, this time, Grandpa didn't give in.

P.S. The whole deal was a great way to blow bedtime!

A while back, I wrote about waiting for a shipment to arrive via FedEx, sharing my annoyance with my friend whose homeschooling materials wandered around the Great Lakes states for many weeks before arriving, bedraggled, weeks after the replacement shipment arrived.

Who needs homeschooling materials when you have FedEx "SmartPost" tracker, at least for geography? Andrea, here's Audrey's geography lesson: plot the points tracked by my package.

This time I thought I was in luck -- it went straight from New Berlin, Wisconsin (Feb 7), to be checking in at Indianapolis (Feb 8)! What luck!

Only now it's in Cincinnati. 11:32 a.m. today, "Shipment accepted, Cincinnati, OH".

Oh.

Where to next?

DAILY UPDATE:

February 13, 2008

7:22AM

Enroute

CINCINNATI,OH

Just in case you wondered. In other related news, two FedEx trucks drove by my house today, as they do every single other day. I think my package will eventually arrive via US Postal Service, which makes little sense to me. The shipping world apparently is beyond my comprehension.

So. My mail carried delivered the package today, and I have installed this with Mark's carseat in the van:

Well, just the footrest right now. (Not the kids, either. I'll keep my own.) I'll save the table for times when we're on a long trip. i'll let you know how we like it. But it still seems silly to FedEx it to Indianapolis and then take it to Cincinnati to put it in the mail...

We went out to dinner this evening, and on the way back, Mark asked if we could go see the lights at Reynolds Farm Equipment. That's what he asked for -- to go to "Reynolds Farm Equipment".

For those who don't wander the State Road 37 in Fishers area, this wonderful John Deere dealer (exciting enough throughout the year) has a huge field that every Christmas they fill with a massive Christmas Light display. It's free. There are lines of traffic waiting to see it. And it's fun.

So as we were driving through, we noticed crowds inside, and it turned out to be an evening that Santa Claus was visiting the store. So we took the boys in. Mark and Daddy wandered the toy selection while Adam and I waited in a not-too-long line. During the wait, Adam excitedly pointed out the ride-on tractor toys around him: "Tac-tor!" (Words have gotten more clear even this week.)

Both boys sat on Santa's lap together -- the one who doesn't always like going to other people happily went to Santa (Daddy points out that Santa is, after all, a grandpa).

(Mark shows Santa something he'd like.)

Both boys look up at Daddy. Things would have been perfect if we'd had a camera with us, but at least Tim's phone has one.

After we visited Santa, each boy got a little John Deere tractor toy, and we wandered the store some more, seeing all the toys, and the equipment -- it is Reynolds Farm Equipment, after all. There were lots of kids trying out the tractors and mowers and "tractor loaders" and such, and both boys wanted to sit in the seats, too. (I was with Adam when he sat in the very big mower seat for a long time -- it was after bedtime -- but didn't have the camera, so no photo of that.)

Here's Mark inside a B-I-G tractor.

It was very fun, and a nice surprise for a fun little trip.

(Oh, yeah, and I got Red Lobster for supper. Mmmmmm. Happy tummy.)

It was getting too long, so this is Part II of the trip.

Saturday morning, Tim and I both were off to see the sights. First, we had breakfast at Lefty O'Doul's (just down from the hotel). Again, basic breakfast, better price. Then we walked and walked and walked and walked... I am not exaggerating the walking here... about three miles (not measuring changes in altitude, as we ended up near the top of Telegraph Hill) to the waterfront, meandering along the Embarcadero back to Pier 39 for some hot chocolate and snack, then over to that bus company to take the Golden Gate bus tour. Hey, at least I'd see it this way, since the fog had not cleared sufficiently to see it before.

Along the way we stopped off at the Palace of Funny Old Columns That Really Aren't Roman Ruins, where I auditioned for a part as a maiden holding up part of the column.  They say they'll get back to me when they get an opening.

Then it was on to the Golden Gate Bridge. I couldn't wait to see the cool red-orange structure, right up close.

Well.

That, my friends, is the best image we got of it.

Across the bridge in Marin County, we stopped at the beautiful scenic overlook for pictures our ourselves with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Yup. By this time it was quite sunny. Except on the bridge. So. Pretend there's a bridge in the background and ooh and ahhh.

We saw pretty and expensive houses on the way back (sunny, again),  and, once back to the bus office, had a quick Inn-and-Out burger lunch, set off for Chinatown, getting a little lost once again (that darn hill makes streets end!).

We got there, and headed to a "tea tasting" at the Vital Tea Leaf on Grant. That was interesting. We were treated to a tea-tasting that would be like a wine-tasting by the proprietor of the store, "Uncle Gee", a 75-year-old retired structural engineer who operates on the same principle Grandpa Arnfinn used to -- "I'm old and crochety and can say what I want." (I didn't hear either of them say that, but...)
My Chinese friends would probably giggle at our tourist-ness, but, hey, it was fun. And we came away with a nice blue tea and enjoyed what ended up being over an hour with this kooky old guy and these two guys who were in town for the big game and just stuck their noses in to see what kinds of stuff they had in a tea shop and left a couple hours later with lots and lots of tea. Reviewers either go wild about Uncle Gee and the fun they had (isn't that what going to a tourist place is about?) or get all up-in-arms about them selling inferior teas. I don't care. It was fun and we had a nice time. So there.

Then supper in Chinatown, too, though I have to say it wasn't all that great. But we all know I'm not a huge fan of Chinese food anyhow... unless LEO is cooking it, Andrea!!!!! ... but, it was a nice view and we felt like we oughta. Just maybe we didn't pick the best place. Oh well.

Sunday morning was breakfast at Lori's Diner down the block from the hotel, then a cab ride down to pier 33 for our trip to Alcatraz. We ended up getting on the 9 a.m. instead of having to wait for 9:30, which was good because we had a flight to catch.

Hey. Did I mention it was foggy? Yeah. The views were not to die for, and we didn't get the audio Cellblock Tour because our time was limited, but wandered the place at our own pace -- okay, Tim seemed to want to read signs like always... and saw it all.

Tim was mad to be put in a cell, but

Being in "The Hole" made me s-s-c-c-a-a-r-r-r-ed.

Then a cab back to the hotel to pick up our stuff, and BART to the airport for a hugely crowded flight to Denver, and home to Indy before midnight, and tucked away into bed by 1 a.m.

Whew.

The End.

 

Tim and I are back from our trip to San Francisco (Tim for work, me coming later for some fun)... The boys stayed with Grandma and Grandpa and regaled them with fun and, oh, yeah, a little bit of under-the-weather, too.

But, In the meantime, WE were off having fun.

I arrived on Thursday and spent a little time wandering around the Union Square area (where the hotel was), finding, to my joy, this lovely sight. Eat your heart out, Mel, Mer, Laura, etc. Yeah. It was lovely. I ended up with some ribbon for a bonnet I'm working on. And I didn't even get back to the fourth floor. Sigh. Next time.

Tim got to the hotel and we went off for a walk north on Stockton to Pier 39, the tourist-heavy part of Fisherman's Wharf (about 2.5 miles). We found a seafood restaurant, which was what I wanted, ate there, and then took a cab home, enjoying some of the steeper hills of the route.

The next morning, Tim was off to work, and I was off to the Pinecrest Diner for some breakfast, not interested in what the hotel had to offer at horrifying prices.

The Pinecrest was just what I was after -- typical diner food, nothing near $25 (what a similar meal, except with more garnishes, I imagine, would have cost at the hotel). Yum. I love breakfast. Then a wander about and, yes, a ride on the cable car down to Fisherman's Wharf for my bus tour.

This is the same sort of open-top bus that we took in London; a nice way to see the city and not have super-sore feet (more on that later). And yes, I saw all the sights:

steep streets (that's Lombard Street), a fog-shrouded downtown, a fog-shrouded Bay Bridge, the city center... etc. You get the idea. Got off at Union Square Macy's, had a snack (that turned out to be lunch) and then hit the SF Museum of Modern Art. All I can say is "I don't get it."

There was a blue fluorescent light mounted at an angle on the wall. That was art. Looks to me like someone didn't have his level. There was a string of lightbulbs plugged into an outlet in the corner. That, too, was art. There was a three-panel piece, all three panels painted white, no texture, no nothing. Art? Sorry to be dense. I didn't get it. All I got from that was the blue glow from the art piece next to it (the first piece mentioned).

There was also an exhibit that featured a super-fancy BMW stripped down and encased in ice. This was kept in a gallery where the temperature was 12 degrees F. Yeah. My nose hairs froze. I wrapped myself in the provided blanket and went in and looked around...

And it looked like a prehistoric crustaceon. Weird. I left off my blanket and went on to see the works of Joseph Cornell, who put weird collections of random stuff together in little boxes. Thousands of them.

From the SFMOMA: "A self-taught artist, Joseph Cornell relied almost exclusively on found materials. He collected items from books, newspapers, second-hand stores, exploratory walks — even sweepings from his studio floor — to create intricate, elaborate box constructions and collages. These enchanting works of art transformed commonplace objects into extraordinary and magical dreamscapes, earning him immediate and enduring respect as a sort of artistic alchemist."

Okay. Enough. For more of that location, see their website.

Then it was back on the hop-on-hop-off bus, except it didn't make the SFMOMA stop, so I speed-walked back up to Macy's, where I knew they would stop. They did. Back on for the rest of the tour, except they'd left someone back at the City Center, so we had to take a short-cut detour to get them, and ended up back at Fisherman's Wharf, where I went to the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. I had a walking tour of the pier with a ranger and saw the ships from the pier (I would go back later with Tim to board them. Didn't want to do all the fun without him.)

My favorite was

 

The Balclutha. To learn more about this cool ship, see here. After that, I talked with their volunteer who is in charge of the historical clothing for the few costumed interpretation events they do. Yeah. That took a while. She thinks my Prairie is wonderful and amazing and fabulous. (Don't think she's ever been there... but the fact that I do costumed historical interpretation was enough to make her excited enough to almost wet herself.)

Back to the hotel to meet Tim, off to a restaurant recommended by the SF co-worker he'd been around all week. Unfortunately, we missed the turn and ended up walking about an extra mile (total due to the error: 2 3/4 miles; total had we gone the right way: under 1 1/2) but found ourselves at the Tadich Grill.

(This is a photo from the internet. That table, there on the left, that's where we sat.)

Huh. funny what you find when you check the internet. There's even a BOOK!

Then back to the hotel to bed. This is the night -- well, early morning -- that I stubbed my toe on one of my shoes and ended up with a black toe for the rest of the weekend. And now.

Please weigh in on what this railroad-related item is. Clues: it is parked on the inactive train tracks on the south side of town. It has long "arms" that reach out in front and behind with extra train-track-type wheels on it.

We see it every time we go south on Eighth Street and Mark always asks, "What is it?" or "What does THAT do?" and I am NO HELP.

Thank you.

 

On our recent weekend trip to Grandma's House and Grandpa's House (as Mark calls it), Adam decided to butter up the ol' grandparents by doing something notable at their house. Besides getting two new front teeth (almost)...

and then...

.

Yup. That was by himself. And once he took a couple steps (from Grandpa to Mommy and back again), he suddenly took off, walking all over the living room and around behind the chairs so he could get to the electronic keyboard.

Yep. Adam can walk.

Or... how many degrees of separation?

The other day I was visiting the blog of my friend Chuck (also linked on this page as Dr. Chuck Pearson). Chuck had cross-posted a piece that he'd posted on the site Growing Up Goddy.

I went to the site, and fully enjoyed all of the posts I read. Pretty cool site, and I've marked it in my favorites.

One of the sites linked on 'Goddy was Kamp Krusty. Naturally, with a name like that, I had to go see. The name of the fellow who writes the blog sounded a little familiar. It was made more familiar when I saw a reference to it on 'Goddy, where Chuck mentioned the guy's previous involvement with a band whose name I recognized. Ah-ha! I scrolled down Kamp Krusty's links to find what I expected: my brother darin. No, not my brother, his. Darin was the youth minister at the church I attended during my glorious year of employment in the field of my college major in a town quite far away though only one state away. He and his wife were a breath of fresh air -- and friendship -- until he took a job in Indianapolis and moved away. (Oh, and they let me use their house to do laundry while they were gone.) 

So I visited Darin's blog for a while, and came across on his blogroll a name that was also familiar, for different reasons. Brian Eberly is a pastor who sometimes visits -- and links to -- my brother The Thief (yes, this time it is my brother).

And My Brother The Thief links to me.

(I could make this longer by saying that my brother the thief links to Big Mama who then links to the Dunce who then links to me, but that's just making things complicated.)

The band that the Krusty guy was in, incidentally, was Farewell to Juliet. Tim mentions that he wrote a lot of newsletters for the Rose-Hulman chapter of InterVarsity to the music of Farewell to Juliet. So we've just drawn the Noblesvillian in, too.

 

I saw this last week, and I've been so angry about it I thought I'd better wait a few days before I rant about it, but here it is a few days later and I'm still hot about it so here I go (and I'm going to take a breath now, too).

I'm sitting on the porch, enjoying a beautiful afternoon with two little boys in their naps. It was a gorgeous day in my neighborhood -- people walking their dogs, riding bikes, jogging. And then I saw it.

A golf cart.

Not just a golf cart, though its presence in the neighborhood is stupid enough. We do not border a golf course. We are not a resort town. People are not on vacation here. But no. It wasn't just that some schmoe has a golf cart to get him around the neighborhood that got me all in a huff.

It was the three overweight kids -- one of whom, no more than 12 years old, was driving the thing, on city streets no less -- who were clearly riding the golf cart back home from the community pool.

When I was a kid (yes, it's going to be one of those) and we wanted to go to the pool -- in our day it was the Seashore -- we got our swim stuff and got on our bikes and rode the 3.592 miles (I checked on Google map pedometer) and locked our bikes and had our great time and then got back on our bikes and rode the same 3.592 miles home.

Granted, nowadays it's not quite as safe as it used to be. There are scary people out there, and between our old house and the Seashore might not be the safest place in the whole world. But. This is not that 3.5 miles. This is a mile, maybe a mile and a half, and it's in a neighborhood with sidewalks and stopsigns and no stoplights and no (or very little) through traffic.

Let's start with the fact that the golf cart is not "street legal" -- it has no license plates.
Add to it the fact that the kid driving (who I saw driving yesterday with a FREAKIN' CAT IN HER LAP!!!!) is most certainly not of age to be driving anything.
Then we get to the laziness factor that these kids aren't even using self-propelled scooters on which they're at least standing up.
AND I HAVEN'T EVEN STARTED IN ON THE FACT THAT THEY WERE FAT KIDS!

I mean, I am all about taking the easy way. Yes, I too have weight issues. But if we're so up in arms about our obese kids... TAKE AWAY THE STUPID GOLF CART! MAKE THEM RIDE BIKES OR WALK TO THE DARN POOL!

The worst thing about it is, I will keep seeing those lazy kids and keep getting mad about it.

Hmm, what are those things the police throw in front of cars they're trying to stop? The ones that pop the tires?

Pastor Mom tagged me on this a couple days ago. After the computer ate my first work-in-progress, I finally finished it.

Enjoy...

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

So… My random things…

1.      I love to write when my brain lets me. My novels, all hard to categorize except under the heading “Jenny’s”, will probably never be published, but I write them for my own amusement. And they’re all better than The Enigmatic Fugue, the grand piece of literary brilliance several of us started many years ago, inspired by, well, a "great" author. (I still have it, in case anyone wants to resurrect it.)

2.      I have a compulsion to finish books once I start reading them. I almost never put one down without finishing it. But this week I did. I found this book so dreary, depressing, and dull that I gave up. I didn’t care what happened to these down-on-their-luck characters. Sorry Oprah.

3.      When I can’t sleep, I organize my thoughts alphabetically… verses and sayings, songs and song lyrics, names and adjectives. Most of the time I don’t get past the middle of the alphabet.

4.      Anyone who knows me very well already knows this, but I have a serious mistrust of the telephone. I don’t call people. It doesn’t even cross my mind to call people. If I think of it, I might do it, but I don’t. Is it because Big Mama has always hated the phone? Is it because The Dad carefully itemized the phone bill and charged us for any calls (plus tax and fees), meaning we had to admit when we’d called someone, which was more embarrassing if it was a boy (egads!)? Is it just because I’m a freak? Only the phone knows, and it’s not telling. (And this is why the pay-as-you-go mobile is a good idea for me. Except for the weird text messaging issue.)

5.      Yes, it’s true, my favorite stuffed animal that I had to sleep with every night for many many years was named after my brother (the Thief). Baby Brian was actually a series of stuffed animals, originally dogs (sans plastic collars and ears, which I immediately ripped off), but ultimately a ratty bear-ish animal that lasted some eight years.

6.      My favorite ice cream is raspberry fudge cordial. It is yummy. The Thief can attest to that, too, as can Mrs. Thief, and now that Big Mama can eat ice cream again, I’ll take her to Alexander’s and get her some, too.

7.      My favorite sound is hearing Mark and Adam laughing in the car, usually when we’re driving on a hilly road. The benefit of one facing front in his carseat and the other facing the rear is that, in effect, they sort of face each other and egg each other on. Fortunately for now, that’s to laugh more. When they’re up to no good, they won’t be in baby seats anymore (I hope).

8.      No thanks to sandy beaches; I like shores strewn with boulders. Preferably with woods along them, too. And water that’s doing something, not just sitting there. (Sandy beaches just have sand that sticks to your feet – a nod to the Thief and his opinions – and creepy things living in them. Don’t tell me anything about rocks; I have already imagined the things living in the crevasses.)

Okay. Who do I tag? I don’t usually have eight people to send on these errands. Repressed Librarian is already doing this over at her place. I’m fake-tagging her because my list is short. J
Big Mama, of course, gives you a reason to gratuitously talk about yourself. 
Thief, if you have nothing better to do
Andrea, who is still in hiding – I mean, your 2-year-old is out of the country right now! Stop the partying and do this one! J
Baby J! Your mom tagged me!
(Add yourself to the list if you want to do this! Just leave me a comment so I know to keep an eye on you…)

is what I asked Mark this morning.

He suggested (as if expecting me to say, "oh, not today, but sometime...") "Go the Children's Museum?"

I said, "Okay!"

Adam played with some blocks and stuff.

Mark drove the skid steer (which he was looking forward to before we even got there. "'Member the skid steer, Mommy?").

We all rode giraffes on the carousel. (Well, two of us. The third held the smaller one on and tried to convince him it was fun.)

And Mark played pretend, making an ice cream treat at the soda fountain and fishing in the water.

 

alternately titled "Just how nerdy am I?"

On Wednesday of our vacation week, Tara offered to watch the boys while Tim and I took a day off. We had a lot of choices of where to go and what to do, but we chose a trip over to Kelley's Island. (The nickname "An Island for all seaons" is a bit of an exaggeration, since the ferry stops at Thanksgiving and doesn't start again until April, so if you want to get there in *some* seasons, you have to fly.)

Why, you might ask, did we choose Kelley's Island?

Um. As I mentioned in the previous blog, it was because of a recipe in the Buckeye Cookery, a cookbook we use in our 1886 farm, the delectible Kelley Island Cake, written by Miss Greeley Grubbs: One cup butter, two of sugar, three of flour, four eggs, half cup milk, three tea-spoons baking-powder; bake in jelly-tins.
For filling stir together a grated lemon, a large grated apple, an egg, and a cup sugar, and boil four minutes. Did I mention how absolutely wonderful this cake is???

We caught the ferry at Marblehead, having purchased our tickets at 8:31:58 for a boat that leaves on the hour and half-hour. That was okay; we had a nice little wait and Tim took pictures of trucks and cranes at the conveyor for the quarry, an obvious marketing extension for the e-coal-conveyor business in western Kentucky. A 20-minute ferry ride with our bikes brought us to the island.

We arrived at 32 (just below the "downtown" square) and rode our bikes north on Division Street to 42, the Glacial Grooves. After our visit there (see the previous post for a photo), we continued up the road to a hiking trail that took us through the woods and around to the rocky shore on the north side of the island. NIIIIICE.

Then it was back onto the bikes and down Titus Road (just south of the Grooves) to Lakeshore Road to Kelley's Island Brewery for lunch (that's 34 on the map). The proprietor let us know it would be about 20 minutes for the fryer to be ready to make our walleye and perch (what's island dining without fish?), so we settled in with a glass of their Island Devil and a game of battleship and lake views. (Did I mention NIIIICE?) It was a bit of wait, so the nice lady solved the question of whether to order another of the handcrafted beers by giving "Tim" a refill.

After that, it was a ride back into downtown to check out the shops and Historical Society (43) then, later, a ride out to Kelley's Island Wine Co. (35). Back into downtown, we got our obligatory ice cream (mine was coconut cream pie, Tim's was... um, I don't remember. Mine was good enough to forget Tim's), a souvenir for the #1 fan of Kelley Island Cake Dave A., some fudge for Tara (to share with us, of course!)... and back to the ferry to head back to Lakeside for dinner.

We were as tired as could be, but it was a lot of fun and quite relaxing. Is it a place I go back to every time I go to Lakeside? Hmm, probably not, though the Kelley's Island Brewery was gooooood. And the weather, though hot, was perfect, as the lake breezes kept us nice and cool on our bikes.

Yep, that's me, all happy and looking at pretty water. :)