Several weekends wrapped in to 1 blog

So I have been a slacker blogger and sometimes toy with the idea of just stopping. This apparently happens a lot based on all the blogs I read that my friends write and then just stop, I won't name any names. But I am just telling myself that this blog is my semi-personal diary and doesn't have to be well executed so I can write a little here and there without worrying about quality. I will pick up where I left off with my last blog. After my mom left town John and I had a weekend alone to relax and celebrate our anniversary before he went to KY for a week. I got a groupon for Catalina Ferry tickets and even though we weren't planning a trip to Catalina Island this year the groupon made it practical for a little day trip. So Friday night we had a nice dinner in San Clemente, I had a certificate for a free bottle of champagne for our anniversary and a nice little Italian restaurant in town so of course we couldn't pass it up. I ended up drinking way to much free champagne instead of enjoying the food but we had a very nice time. Also the leftovers were just as good and it was probably one of the best risottos I have ever had. Sat. morning we had to get up early to catch the ferry to Catalina, this was not very easy due to all the champagne the night before but we rallied. After we got to Catalina we started right off on a hike that take you to a hilltop on the island and you can see the ocean on both sides of the island. It was very pretty and also hot so we got in our first big sweat of the summer. The hike ended at the Wrigley Memorial, the Wrigley family originally owned the island, and there was a large cactus garden. We actually had fun exploring and taking pictures at both. Then we got lunch at the nicest restaurant in town and I have to say food is not the islands strong point. After lunch we didn't not wait the appropriate hour but instead rented some snorkeling gear to check out the kelp beds and fish off the island. I got to use my wetsuit for the second time and actually did really well snorkeling. As someone who prefers not to put my head under water I often toot my own horn whenever I enter the water. By the time we finished snorkeling we had just enough time to get an ice cream cone and then catch the ferry home. We were both so tired from our daytime activities that we just picked up food and relaxed. The next weekend John had to leave to go to KY so after I dropped him off at 6:30 AM at the airport I headed to LA to visit the Lee family. Kristy convinced me to go to the Chivas game that night and I was kind of looking forward to it since there was going to be a big fireworks show at the end. Keeping those kids up until 9 is a difficult situation though. We all know how kids and adults act when they start to get tired and me, Kristy, Braxton, and Bralon were ready for bed by the end of the game. But since we stuck it out that long we decided to watch the fireworks. As soon as the first firework went off Braxton had his own explosion. He went in to full meltdown mode. Kristy informed me that the same thing happened last year when they tried to watch the fireworks, I told her thanks for the warning. So we raced to the valet and had him hurry with the car because we had to get out of ear shot of the fireworks. As we were driving off Braxton started asking about the fireworks and why he couldn't see them anymore. Then he told us he liked fireworks. Kristy and I just laughed considering his meltdown 2 minutes earlier. Then he told us that the fireworks made him cry and he did not like them. After I got the Lee family back in the house I peeled it out of there. Luckily the pier in front of our house does a fireworks show so on Monday I got to sit on the roof and see a good display, without all the crying.
The next Sat. I had to go to LAX to pickup John at 8 PM. I thought I would go up a little early and hang out with the Lee's, Brian had an away game. Kristy informed me that I should be there by 9AM because we were going to get their pictures made. I don't know how she tricks me in to these things. Pictures went relatively smooth, other than a dirty diaper from Bralon and some trouble getting the right smile from Braxton. Both the kids did really well while I was there other than Braxton have a 2 hour temper tantrum but he worked through it. Bralon even let me hold him by his hands and walk him around, big progress for the anti-walker. Braxton is such a hoot to be around because he always has lots of information and instruction for me. I thought he had given up the chasing monsters game for Legos, which is much more relaxing to play, but he insisted on the monster games again. Kristy even fed me both weekends so I can tell she is trying to keep me coming back.
This last weekend was nice to have John back in town. We spent most of the weekend outdoors enjoying the beach and warm weather. We were excited because it was the ocean festival at the pier but found out after we looked at all the shows that basically the beach was so crowded we would have to go to another beach for John to surf and me lay out. What a tough life I know. Luckily there are an abundance of beach areas and we managed to get some sun. It was such a nice weekend it really felt like being on vacation. Next weekend we are heading camping in King's Canyon and Sequoia National Park.

Mom comes to town

So after our friends being in town last week we got ready for our next visitor. My Mom has been staying with my sister the last couple of weeks to help Kristy get all settled in with her new surroundings and so she agreed to bring my mom down to my place for a couple of days of relaxation. Not that watching 2 little boys isn't relaxing. John and I made dinner for Mom on Thursday and both our recipes took a wrong turn. Somehow they both came out very spicy but we all forced down the food with lots of water. Friday I took the day off work to hang out with Mom and we headed down to San Diego. There were several tourist spots I had read about but not been able to visit. I spent time at work Thursday printing off directions so that we could take Highway 1 down to San Diego. Once we got on the interstate I got caught up in my Starbucks and forget that I had directions and decided to wing it. I took some very logical turns that should have taken us to Highway 1 but when I looked down 20 minutes later at my car navigation it said we were going north, since San Diego is south I figured we were off course. Eventually we decided to just play it safe and get back on the interstate. This proved to also be a bad decision because during the drive a rock flew up and hit my windshield and now I have a crack running almost the full length of the window. Before you Kentuckians tell me that this is no problem because I can get it fixed for free let me stop you. Nothing in California is free. Of course my insurance won't coverage it since it is under my deductible so that was a nice $300 crack. I didn't let it ruin the San Diego trip, we made our way to Cabrillo National Monument which has a lighthouse and good view of San Diego. The clouds tried to thwart our view but it was still nice up there. Then we headed to the Gaslamp district for some lunch and to hunt for Mom some souvenir T-shirts. After lunch we went over to Coronado Island, which is really a peninsula, and I was amazed at how cute it was. It was out of a movie, beautiful houses full of character and a white sandy beach. Unfortunately we had to rush along so we could see everything before rush hour started. We had one last stop and after a couple wrong turns we made it to Balboa Park. This was such a great hidden gem and gave me a new appreciation for San Diego. Right in downtown is this park that was built for the 1915 Worlds Fair so all the buildings look old European and new at the same time. All the buildings house museums or gardens and there is a ton to walk around and see. As I mentioned before we had a schedule to keep so we couldn't stay long. We got home and had to clean-up because we had dinner reservations at 6. They only had openings at 6 or 8 and I wasn't sure how late mom would stay up. To my surprise John and I were both asleep on the couch at 9 and I woke up at 10 to mom dancing around the living room. Sat. morning we woke up to realize that John's BBQ smoker had been stolen from our carport. So now we have had a $1,300 bike stolen and a $200 smoker stolen, I guess it is time to learn that nothing is safe sitting in our carport. John was very upset about the smoker and more so about the fact that none of our stuff is safe. He is convinced the grill will be stolen next so we are researching some theft deterrent ideas. I should also mention that my insurance informed me that neither of these items would be covered either, I am beginning to question the point of all this insurance. Mom felt she might be bad luck since her visit now included a broken windshield and stolen smoker. To help her relax I took her to the spa that morning and then we headed down to the beach. Once John quit pouting in the bedroom he came down and surfed for us. We snacked around the house instead of going out to eat because John likes to eat a lot of stuff at the movie and he doesn't want to be full going in there. We went and saw Super 8 which was cute and a good family choice. John ate way to much movie popcorn and candy as always and regretted it later. Sunday we all got up and went to church and listened to a great Father's Day message and then ended the day in Redondo celebrating Father's Day with the Lee family. Braxton and John worked on their skateboarding skills while I worked on Bralon's music skills. We didn't hang around to long because we tire easily.

The B&B is open

John and I had some visitors at the Inn this week. My friend Allison called it our California Bed and Breakfast which I liked. We do like to cook breakfast and have only 1 extra bed so it is a very accurate description. Anyway, John's good friends Eric and Michael came to visit and as a special bonus brought their wives Alina and Jamie. I refer to Eric and Michael as John's friends but we are all 6 good friends so this was kind of like a fun couples vacation which happened to take place at our house. Eric and Alina flew in to Orange County on Sat. and John went to pick them up, they have been here before so this was all old news to them. Michael and Jamie flew in to San Diego and rented a car for the week and drove up. Since we had like 2 hours to kill from when E & A got here and when M & J would get here Alina and I went to the beach and Eric and John went to get lunch. We were only down at the beach for like an hour but almost immediately Alina was red, never good. She had applied sun block but it appeared to be doing very little blocking. We met the guys back at the apartment and feasted on many fried treats and burgers from A's. It was probably the best burger ever, it reminded me of Fat burger. M & J arrived and unloaded and then we all headed back down to the beach. While we laid out John gave Vessels some surfing lessons and even though he didn't master it that day he didn't get killed either so that is a win in my book. By the time we went back down to the beach Alina was sporting some serious redness. In fact the imprint of her bathing suit bow was white with bright red outlining it. That might persuade some people to cover up but not Alina. After the beach we all had dinner at Avila's which is always a hit with Mexican food.
By the next morning Alina's redness had gone to a new level, apparently a painful one. Since we had another beach day planned we had to make some special arrangements. First we went to brunch at Beach Garden and sat right in front of the ocean and enjoyed a great meal. Then we rented a surf board for the day and bought an umbrella for Alina to sit under at the beach. Since Alina's husband is a doctor he called her in a prescription for her sunburn so we made a quick pharmacy stop. Then we headed to Doheney because there were smaller waves better suited to beginner surfing. Alina took her spot under the umbrella and also wearing a long sleeve men's button up shirt, typical "I got sunburned the day before" style. John attempted to teach Michael surfing and I think there might have been a half stand up at some point. I brought my wetsuit and boogie board thinking I might want to get in the water but after seeing Michael come out of the water freezing and cut up from rocks I decided today would not be my day. I couldn't have asked for a better beach weekend with our company. That night we had a big cookout. John smoked chicken, ribs, pork shoulder, and corn on the cob. He also grilled peppers and squash. I was in charge of sweet potato fries, assembling the BBQ sandwiches, shucking corn, and other small prep. We also enjoyed some pesto appetizers that we got at the farmers market that morning. Needless to say we had a ton of food and made a huge dent in it. I also made John's favorite dessert which is a chocolate trifle recipe from allrecipes.com. The dessert is sinful enough but I also add extra crushed candy and Carmel and an extra box of Reese cup brownie bars. It is enough to immediately knock you in to a sugar coma. Since we are all old now we don't party all night, we are lucky if everyone is still awake at 11. If you are wondering where everyone was sleeping the answer is all over the place. J & M in the bedroom with E & A using the couches. I think Alina got the short end of the stick in this deal since she had the small couch, who needs to stretch out right. I have to say that they have been great guests. They have kept their stuff confined to their room, washed dishes, and cleaned up all their messes, my criteria for good house guests. Monday all our guests went to Seaworld and Hash House in San Diego while John and I worked then we had a night of eating all the leftovers since our fridge was so full of good food. I made some candy popcorn for them to take to Yosemite and John got all the camping gear packed up. Tuesday thru Thur. all our guest and John headed to Yosemite so I threw myself a pity party since I had to work. I actually made a meal for a church family Tuesday night and then baked 3 different treats all using eggnog on Wednesday night. I wanted to get the eggnog out of my freezer and free up my Tupperware that was holding it. I made eggnog sweet bread, eggnog fudge, and eggnog cookies dipped in white chocolate, I consider them all pretty delicious but they all taste about the same. All those recipes were from allrecipes.com too.
Everyone returned Thur. night in fairly good condition. John and I are both working today but I am looking forward to a farewell dinner at Sonny's tonight. Tomorrow we take E & A to the airport and then we are going to see Kristy's new place in LA! I have a feeling we will be put to work, I am sure Kristy and Mom are ready for a break. I will put some pictures up from last weekend on Monday, I forgot to bring the camera today.

Yosemite in the Spring!

Inspiration Point

Me freezing in the morning

The snow has started

We made it to the top!

Things are a little snowy at the top, good think I have this warm poncho

Half way up the trail, we have to go to the top of that waterfall.

Tunnel View

This was the actual bridge crossing, under the 4 feet of snow

This is not right.

Half dome in the clouds

John and I headed to Yosemite over labor day weekend. You would think that at the end of May, when it is 90 degrees in KY, it would be at least a little warm there. We found out that it is not necessarily warm, in fact it can snow. We couldn't get in to Housekeeping camp, which is like a soft sided tent cabin where you can have campfires and grill and have electricity. Instead we got stuck in Curry Village in a tent cabin with no heat and you are not allowed to cook. The weather report said that it would be like 60 and partly cloudy. This forecast was way off. It was fine when we rolled in Sat. morning. We got lucky and they opened the road to glacier point the day before. We spent the night in Fresno Friday and got to the park by like 9 on Sat. morning. There was so much snow piled on the side of the road you can tell why they just opened it. We got to the top and it was a pretty cloudy day but it made for some cool pictures. Luckily we brought some warm clothes so we bundled up and went to our first planned hike up near glacier point. We got to the trail head and realized we were going to have a problem. The sign for the trail barely peaked above the 4 ft of snow on the ground. I guess we didn't account for all that snow still being on the trails up there, these trails are at like 4000 ft elevation. It was only a mile hike so we thought maybe we could just wing it. We started of the first trail and after about a quarter mile walking in the snow we hit a creek crossing and as stable as that snow bridge was we decided to turn back. Then we headed out on the trail to the right of the sign and once again hit a creek crossing. This time we found a sturdy looking crossing, at least I convinced John it was, and we ventured to the other side. I kind of had a fear that we would end up like In To The Wild where he dies when he can't get back across the river but since we had cell service it was worth braving it. We then tried to follow other people's foot prints in the snow but this didn't prove successful and after 30 minutes of wandering mindlessly through the snow we decided to give up and go to a lower elevation. At one point in the hike I did step in a spot of snow that sunk me to my hip and we also saw several bear prints. We made our way down glacier point rd and it turned out that they closed the road back down for the rest of the weekend because of additional snow coming in. We were lucky to have gotten up there. On our way to the valley we made a stop at Bridalveil waterfall and it was going so strong I couldn't even open my eyes in all the spray to get a good look at it. John of course got really close and didn't care about getting soaked. Our next stop was lunch at tunnel view, a great place to have lunch. We had our picture taken here 5 years ago so it was fun to be there again. Then we headed to Curry Village to check in to our tent. We got lucky and our tent was available, we found a parking spot, and a luggage cart guy came by right as we were getting out of the car and drove our luggage to our tent, perfect. After we got our tent settled we started out for another hike and this is also when the rain started and it did not stop until about 8 PM the next night. So on top of it not getting above 50 degrees that weekend it also didn't really get sunny. We didn't let the rain stop us or our lack of rain gear and we hiked to Mirror Pond. We got there and saw the trail was closed due to a rock slide but I had asked the check-in guy about it and he said we could probably just climb over it so we ventured on. We were the only ones on the trial, since it was closed, which was fun for privacy but scary because we thought we would be a great meal for a hungry bear. We clapped and screamed all along the trail so we wouldn't sneak up on any bears. After we passed the second trail closed sign we got to the rock slide. It was pretty major so due ot the threat of being eaten or getting injured we had to turn around. This made our third unsuccessful hike of the day. By the time we got back from this hike it was getting dark and very cold, so cold. We rode the shuttle to the lodge for dinner and took our time just to stay warm, I felt like a homeless person. I originally thought we were going to have 2 single beds but we got lucky and had a full size bed to share. This was very important since we had no heat and this way we could layer all 5 blankets on top of us. I did manage to stay warm but getting up the next morning was painful.
Sunday was our big hike day so we forced ourselves out from the covers and packed up. We made sandwiches for the trip and brought some breakfast sandwiches to microwave for breakfast. When we started the trail it was actually partly sunny so we were able to strip a few layers. This changed half way up the trail. We were hiking to the top of Yosemite Falls which is 4 miles straight up and at 1 point you are right beside the upper falls and we bought some ponchos because we realized that being wet and cold might not be great. You will see from the pics that these were some really cool ponchos, very natural. We made it up to the top in like 2.5 hours with our legs shaking and already getting sore. We did a little sight seeing at the top and had planned to spend the day up there but just as we finished some lunch a storm rolled in. Quickly we found ourselves in the middle of a snow storm on top of a mountain. It was so crazy it was cool. We were frozen and blinded so we decided to head down the mountain. We went from like hail snow, to big flakes, to rain, to a drizzle at the bottom. It was fun despite the obstacles. We then showered in the public showers, always nice, and tried to think of things we could do that afternoon to stay warm. We dried our clothes a little under the bathroom hand drier and then boarded the bus for the Awahnee lodge. This is a really cool lodge and happens to have a large fireplace where we could sit and enjoy some homemade cocktails. We also met a girl that reminded us of John's sister and she chatted us up for awhile. Then we headed to the pizza place for dinner. This place last time I came was packed but I think the rain had scared some of the crowd off, babies. We ate a ton and then rode the bus back to Curry. We went by the registration office to ask a question and found a huge thing of hot chocolate so we filled our cups, it was the best delicious warmth ever. Then a miracle happened and it stopped raining. There was still a little light out so John took me to a special spot he knows in the valley and we sat by the creek and relaxed until it got dark. We always bring our DVD player camping and so we settled in to watch a movie and fell asleep within 10 minutes like always.
Monday we had to leave but we were so happy that the sun decided to come out full blast for our last day. It was like a whole different world with that beautiful brightness shining. We couldn't let it go to waste so we packed up and did 2 more little hikes on our way out of the park. We hiked a mile up this trail at Tunnel View to a spot called Inspiration point and ran in to our second deer of the trip. The first one was on the deserted Mirror Pond trail and we thought it was a bear and almost had a heart attack. Then John knew of a spot in the tunnel where you could walk through a maintenance like gate and come outside of the tunnel. If it weren't for the great view this would have been similar to the sewage hike we did awhile back. I have to say that despite some crazy weather we got to see so many waterfalls that you can never experience like that any other time of year. Also the clouds and snow gave us some great pictures.

3 week recap

I know I promised an Adventures in Babysitting part 2 but I wanted to do a quick recap of the past few weekends before I forget. The babysitting experiences are much easier to remember. After a month of non-stop weekends we finally had a couple of weekends free. We decided that we had to get some good hiking in before our trip to Yosemite Memorial weekend. On the 7th we headed to Poway Lake for a strenuous hike up Mount Woodson. We read about this hike online and knew there was a cool rock at the top. It was a very straight up hike but the reward at the top was worth it. Not only were there scenic views but there was a rock called Potato Chip ledge that was cool to walk out on. I did get a little nervous mainly because John seemed really nervous. The worst part was getting down from the rock. As our reward for our 8 mile hike we went to lunch in San Diego at Urban Solace. I got an amazing steak benedict. I don't normally like eggs benedict but this biscuit, steak, and egg combo just melted in my mouth. John got a duck macaroni dish that was also delicious. That night we met our with our pals David and Serena and we headed to the Irvine Spectrum. This is a massive outdoor mall and John hadn't been there yet. We had sushi and played some games at Dave and Busters. I was the big winner of the night, I pulled the handle on a game to get 500 tickets. After all our money spent on games we walked away with matching coffee mugs and candy.
On the 14th we were originally going to hike in L.A. but my friend in L.A. couldn't make it so we decided to stay closer to home. We hiked to Aliso Summit which was more of an urban hike. Meaning that parts of the trail were on sidewalks with cars whizzing by and we could have probably just parked at several points of the trail but what kind of workout would that have been. This hike was also like 8 miles but was much more flat than the last. We did have to do a lot of uphill on the way back and that short distance almost killed me. I should be nervous about our Yosemite hikes if that little incline wore me out. As always every good hike is rewarded with a good meal. We went to a place called Break of Dawn in Laguna Hills and it was great. I got an egg white Mexican dish trying to be healthy but there were lots of unhealthy parts to the dish that were great. John got drawn in by a macaroni dish again but this time it was full of short rib, cheese, Gouda, and bacon. It was great! If 2 entrees weren't enough we had to get the skillet cinnamon roll covered in whip topping. It was even better than it sounds, very hot and buttery in a warm skillet, yum.
Now I am finally up to last weekend, it feels good to get caught up. My freshmen roomy, Katie, was in San Diego for work and she was able to stay Sat. and Sun. night with us. She got there at like 3 on Saturday and we sat down at the beach while she got a little lunch. Then Brian got us tickets to see the Chivas play the L.A. Galaxy so we headed up to L.A. We stopped at the Redondo Pier before the game to walk around, I of course had to get a churro. Brian put our name on the list so we were able to valet our car under the stadium and head right in to the game. Our tickets were at will call so we found out we had to go out the entrance get our tickets from Will Call and head back in to the game, a little confusing but well worth it. The tickets were for the 4th row and the game was sold out so we were very lucky. I normally am not in to sports but the Galaxy have a player you might have heard of David Beckham and he is always worth watching. We spent most of the game snapping pics of Beckham. It was a very exciting game actually. We stopped at the Spectrum on the way back to get some much needed dinner. Our waitress at Johnny Rockets wanted to discuss the end of the world that was suppose to happen, interesting topic choice. Sunday we toured the farmers market and then all 3 of us had lunch by the pier. After our huge lunch settled we headed down to the beach. The clouds had cleared out and we got some good sun. We even saw John surf for a few minutes. John grilled us a great meal that night and we topped it off with some delicious Golden Spoon. I was sad to see Katie go Monday morning but we had a fun visit. Now I can spend the week getting ready for Yosemite!

Adventures in Babysitting - Part 1

So I am going to recap 2 weekends of babysitting in one blog because I need to get caught up. Over Easter weekend I drove to Phoenix on my own, John didn't get Good Friday off work, so that I could watch the kids while my sister worked. In case you are behind on Lee Family news I will get you caught up quickly. The company Brian was working for closed and so they were looking at several new work options for Brian. One that came up was a job as the head trainer for the L.A. Chivas. The Chivas are 1 of 2 professional soccer teams in L.A. This meant a big change but I think they were both open to something new so Brian took the job. Since the season had already started Brian had to move to L.A. the next weekend which meant Kristy wouldn't have anyone to watch the kids over Easter weekend when she had to work. She informed me the week before that she could use my help so I got up at 5:30 on Fri. morning and hit the road to Phoenix. I drove like a professional driver and made it there in under 6 hours which in case you didn't know is amazing. Julia, the nanny, was there watching the kids when I arrived on Friday. I played with Braxton for awhile since Bralon was in the middle of a nap, it is amazing how quickly we went through all the new games I brought. Then Bralon got up and Braxton went down for a nap. Julia gave me instructions on how to feed Bralon and when to put him down for his second nap so I figured there was no reason for her to stick around. As instructed I gave Bralon his bottle, put in his paci, and laid him in his crib. Keep in mind Bralon and Braxton's rooms are right next to each other. So within minutes Bralon is screaming his guts out because he didn't care to nap and all I could think was how he was going to wake Braxton up. I tried everything I could think of but he was determined to scream if I left him in that room. I don't really have cell phone service at Kristy's house so I couldn't call anyone for advice so I just did want every good babysitter does and skipped the nap. I thought maybe he would just fall asleep on me if we laid on the couch but I was not that lucky. He just started laughing, smiling, and wanting to play and since it was so darn cute I just decided we didn't need the nap. I did consider what this could cause later in the day but I can't force a baby to sleep. Finally Braxton got up and we proceeded to shoot fake monsters, play trains, and wander over to the neighbor's house until Kristy got home. The neighbor has a big setup in her back yard for her grandkids and is nice enough to let Braxton play on it. She also has lots of horses which you can see in the pics. Kristy got home and made us some chicken pot pie for dinner and after a glass of wine I am pretty sure I was in bed at 8:30.
I woke up around 5:30 because I knew Kristy would go in to work early and I was determined to take a shower during this visit. Kristy was gone by 7 and now the real workday was on. We did all the same activities as the day before, apparently 3 year olds like a limited number of games. Braxton would instruct me on my script and what I should do during any imaginary play. I bought him candy land as a gift this trip and we tried playing that a couple of times. Braxton is having a hard time mastering his colors which is the basis of candy land so I am not sure he has figured it out yet. He has figured out where the winners spot is and insist on skipping the game and moving straight to the castle. I would refuse to play after awhile because he always just wanted to win immediately so then he started letting us both win. I think the game will go better in another year. I also bought him a finger painting set and he made several Easter theme paintings. It was convinent that we could call all the multicolor blobs Easter eggs. Braxton takes a lot of work so it is nice that Bralon is very easy. You just put him in is walker with wheels and he will zip all over the house. Or if you just stick him in the middle of a bunch of toys he is good to go for a few minutes. He doesn't seem to mind the morning nap so while he slept Braxton and I made no bake cookies, which Kristy and I were the only ones eating. I should also confess that I definitely broke any TV watching time limit rules but hey I am new at this. On Day 2 it was time for Bralon's afternoon nap and Kristy informed me to give him a bigger meal and he might nap better. So I gave him a whole bottle and put him in the crib and left. After like 20 minutes I could hear him in there just talking to himself and I made a huge mistake. I decided I would just go in there and lay him down with the paci and maybe he would actually fall asleep. This majorly backfired because then he started screaming bloody murder. Finally after letting him cry for like 10 minutes and seeing his little baby tears I just let him get up. I might have told Kristy there was a short nap but I am not sure this is true. I should also mention that Kristy only has 1 bottle in her house. Apparently all the others broke and she is refusing to buy more so when Bralon is ready to eat you better make sure you have that bottle washed. I got to change several horribly stinky huge diapers which Braxton would ask to see, gross. He would also act like I was rude for saying the were really stinky. Then as a special treat when we went out for pizza Sat. night Braxton wanted me to take him to the restaurant bathroom. He had been farting the whole meal and then on the walk to the bathroom he informed me he had to go poop. Great, this meant I got to stand in the small bathroom with him while he went poop. At one point he informed me it stunk in there and asked me to turn on the fan, I wish there was a fan. That night I skipped the wine and just went straight to bed.
Sunday was Easter and the neighbor had invited us to an Easter Egg hunt at her house with all her grandkids. I should mention that these people are really rich. This was not your typical hide some candy in some eggs around the yard type affair. When we arrived we took some pictures then she gave the kids baskets she bought them. Then we went in the back yard where she had put tons of toys out along with eggs. Nothing was really hidden. The kids run and grab the toys and then the parent holds them in a pile. The eggs have either confetti or money. Braxton made 30 dollars from his eggs, there was no candy at this party. After the kids gathered all their toys, she even had a big basket and several gifts for Bralon, then we played games. They insisted that I also participate with the adults in these games. The first game was stand on one leg as long as you can. I wasn't sure if I should lose on purpose since I wasn't part of the family but I guess I am more competitive than I realize because I won the game. As the winner I got a $50 bill, I like this family's style. The first half of the party was during Bralon's nap time so he was sleeping across the street and I was running in the heat back and forth waiting for Bralon to wake up. On like the 4th trip he woke up and so I got him all ready and we went over to the party. He was a big hit and all the little kids wanted to hold him and play with him. I felt like I earned my $50 by babysitting all the kids at the party. One little boy thought it was really funny to break the confetti eggs on my head, I had to be polite and pretend it was funny too. They were getting ready to eat a huge catered meal and I informed them it was Braxton's nap time and we had to go, I was not about to try to control these 2 kids at someone's nice Easter lunch. Braxton told them he had to go home and take a nap, which he does very well. Day 3 was my lucky charm, I actually got Bralon to take his nap to. I made myself a sandwich and sat down to paint my nails and to my surprise Kristy got home early. I had to drive all the way home that afternoon so I was back on the road by 2. Going towards L.A. on a Sunday afternoon really tested my driving skills. I even encountered a sand storm in Palm Springs but refused to let up on the gas. I pulled in the driveway just as John was taking burgers off the grill. It was just what I needed, except he added to much salt and we called them salt burgers as we ate them. Since this blog is already so long you will have to stay tuned for Part 2 of this babysitting blog.

John's birthday weekend - Part 2 - Coachella

The festival grounds

About to go in to the Date movie, not as scandalous as it seems.

Me at 1 AM after walking for 3.5 miles, not real happy

During the Cage the Elephant show before John left me to go in the mosh pit

It is hot there!
So I finally made it up to Coachella, 3 weeks after the actual event. Hopefully I can remember the good stuff. As I have mentioned before John and I went to H.S. with several members of the band Cage the Elephant. Brad has been super generous and anytime they play a show close by he gets us tickets. Last time we saw them it was at Jimmy Kimmel and they mentioned getting us tickets to Coachella. Well we didn't get our hopes up since these are very hard to come by tickets and costs like $300 each to buy. It isn't just a one day concert it is a 3 day music festival. The week of Coachella sure enough Brad came through and told us we had tickets waiting for us and they were like $700 VIP tickets! We were super pumped but needed to make plans fast. Coachella sold out like 3 days after tickets went on sale so things were going to be pretty booked up. The festival takes place in Indio, CA, which is right outside of Palm Springs and is in the desert. I called every hotel in Indio and managed to snag reservations at this classy joint called Western Sands. This is the type of place where there is no lobby and if you see bugs and cracks in the door you aren't surprised. Normally this fine establishment would go for around $50 a night but during special events like Coachella this luxury costs $200 a night. We figured since it was only 2 miles from the festival it wasn't a bad deal and wouldn't have to worry with shuttles and long commutes after the shows. We considered camping but that was already sold out. We hit the road Friday after work and raced to Indio. We made it there with surprising ease and it only got stressful when we had to go to 3 different places trying to find our passes. We got to the hotel crammed down some food and then hopped in a cab to the festival. I need to clarify a couple things here. At some point before we left I got our bed ready so we could just fall in to it when we got back. This meant covering it in all our own bedding. Also, when I say we got in a cab that is only half true. I got a card from the front desk of the hotel for a cab service. I called the number and expected there to be a long wait so I called early to arrange a ride in like 30 minutes. The guy was in the area so he just sat and waited on us and was pretty rude about it even though I told him we wouldn't be ready to go for 30 minutes. Another important point here is the vehicle we got in to that I am calling a cab, it was actually a young guy driving a car like you would see in Fast and Furious, like a fixed up Honda Civic. There was no meter or official cab name on this car. When I yelled at John from outside the room to come on because our cab was here he walked outside and gave me a crazy look. I assured him this was the cab and he got in but seemed a little uncomfortable. So we are only 2 miles away from the venue but for security reasons they have all the roads within a mile of the show closed down and you can't just drive back there without the right stuff. So our cab dropped us off and we paid him $20 but somehow we still ended up walking for like 30 minutes before we made it in the gate. There is only one gate in and out of the festival so if you get dropped off at the wrong spot you walk like a mile to get to the gate. Finally we made it in. We decided to test out our VIP passes and get a drink in the VIP area before the first show we wanted to see. Since we got to the festival at night, it started at 11 that day, we were totally disoriented and very unsuccessful at finding the VIP area. Finally we settled in and watched the Black Keys and Kings of Leon, both good shows. The shows wrapped up around 12:30 and we started on our way home. We decided since we were only 2 miles away from our hotel why not just walk home. I had googled how to walk to our hotel from the show on Friday and was pretty confident on our route. For some reason John had no sense of direction this night and refused to believe me when I told him where we needed to go. In his defense I am usually wrong when it comes to directions so after awhile I gave in and went the way he wanted. Sure enough, I was right and his way took us a mile in the wrong direction. This meant instead of walking 2 miles back we walked 4. 4 miles at 1 AM in my rainbow flip flops and jeans. Every 30 minutes John would have a break down and scream how we needed to call a cab then when all the cabs would be busy we would keep walking. I knew where we were and exactly how far John made us go in the wrong direction so I wasn't panicking, John was still just totally disoriented. At one point some lady in a mini-van offered us a ride for $10 but John felt that was to shady and passed on it. Once we could see our hotel ahead of us I told him that even if someone offered us a ride for free we were walking the rest of the way just out of principle. We actually made it back to the Western Sands in good spirits, had some candy, and then fell asleep on our questionable bed.
Saturday we got up and headed to breakfast at the local country club and then back to the lovely Western Sands before heading to the shows. When we arrived Friday I noticed our shower was not clean, I will spare you the details, and I requested it be cleaned. Needless to say service was not top notch here and I had to call again and get it cleaned. Even though it didn't look much cleaner after the maid left it smelled strongly of bleach so I took the plunge. Since there was record heat in the desert this weekend, like 97 we didn't rush to get to the festival. Even after all our walking last night we decided instead of waiting 45 minutes for a cab we would just walk there, I know we are crazy. We started walking and quickly realized it was much worse walking in 97 degree heat versus the night before. Luckily a family in an SUV pulled up next to us and offered us a ride to the checkpoint area, this would cut our walk in half. You might think this is shady too but they had a little kid in the backseat so what could go wrong right. John and I sat on each side of the little kid in the backseat and hitched a ride to the checkpoint. It was so hot by the time we walked in to the festival that we immediately went to a cooling station and hung out for a little while. We saw lots of good shows that day but most important was Cage the Elephant, it was the best show I have seen them do yet. Don't be thrown off by Matt, the lead singer, wearing a dress, I am sure it was because of the heat. We also saw Mumford and Sons which I was excited about. Included in our festival activities were celebrity watching and eating. We obviously had more luck with the eating part because we have more practice at that. For us to spot a celebrity someone has to be standing next to us being like look at that celebrity. John did almost knock over Paris Hilton at the Porta Potties and we did spot Eric from True Blood and Mac and Dee from Always Sunny. Matt, the lead singer, got to talk to Paul McCartney. Also I read later that Lindsay Lohan, Rihanna, and Katey Perry were there but no luck spotting them. Frankly it is so dark and crowded there it is hard to find anyone. We went back that night and hung out amongst the tour buses with the band. We were about to walk home again, because we haven't learned our lesson, but the manager for the band ended up giving us a ride, what a miracle. On Sunday we went to the historic Date restaurant for lunch. We ordered a date milkshake for dessert and then watch a movie called "the sex life of the date." It is very complicated producing Dates. You would think with all this walking I could have eaten a lot but man did the scale punish me when I got home. Apparently Dates and greasy stuff from food trucks is bad for you. We did head back to the concert because I wanted to see at least one rapper and they were all on Sunday. We took it easy though and just sat in the shade in the VIP area. John thought the coconut waters that came in coconut shells were so cool that he had to get one, guess what, coconut water is gross and a waste of money. The huge snow cone I got was not. Unfortunately we couldn't stay late enough Sunday to see the headliners, which included Kanye, but hey we aren't like the rest of these hippies, we have jobs. We definitely had a great experience and I couldn't think of a better way to spend John's birthday weekend.

John's B-Day weekend part 1

So I have several weekends of information to convey but unfortunately all my work has a been getting in the way. I haven't had a weekend at home to relax in forever which means that I have lots to write about. Let me first take you way back to the weekend of 4/15/11, this is John's birthday weekend and Coachella weekend. I had to look back at my pictures to remember everything that happened. So let me jump write in by recapping John's birthday. Since we were going to be in the desert all weekend at Coachella I had to give John his gift on Thursday. If you remember John's parents were here last weekend so I didn't have any time then to prep for his birthday so I scrambled all week to get ready. I decided that since our $250 Zune Mp3 player died earlier this year (1.5 years after purchasing it) that I would get John a new one for his birthday. Since we will both be using it some might consider it a self serving gift but no more so than the 2 pieces of art he got me for my birthday that we both enjoy at home. So as you can see it wasn't a selfish gift and we would be spending a lot of money at Coachella which I also considered part of his birthday. I just don't want anyone accusing me of just buying something I would want. I am normally a very cheap person but for John's birthday this year I decided I would go all out and get him the new Ipod touch. Basically it does everything the Iphone does except you need a wifi connection for the Internet and you can't call people on it. We will mostly use it for music but I do love all the apps, camera, and video stuff. I wanted to load all the music on it for John, since he isn't super tech savvy so I had to get it ahead of time to start the process. I had been looking at them at Walmart for a few weeks and when I went on Monday to get it they just sold out, perfect. So now I had to drive 20 minutes to Best Buy and get it there, where of course I also purchased the 2 year coverage because if I didn't my husband would break it a week later. So as long as he doesn't lose it, which is a possibility, we are good for 2 years. I hid the gift away in my car and then the next day during my lunch break I went home to download the music. I didn't want him to know what I was up to so I tried to use the spare computer in the guest room to do the downloading but it is a piece of junk and after a wasted lunch break I realized it wouldn't work. So then I decided I would have to do it on the laptop. We have 2 user names but we always just go on under mine so I set John's up with a password and downloaded all the Itunes stuff under his user name so he would not see any evidence of what I was up to. I was up late converting all our songs to the right format for Itunes and was happy to finally shut everything down. Wednesday night was the night before I was going to give John the gift and I got on the computer after he went to bed to finish getting everything set up. When I went under our regular username I saw the Itunes shortcut and realized that the way Itunes saved on the computer the shortcut showed up under both usernames. I did panic yet because John hardly ever gets online at home and I figured he probably didn't see it. Then I checked the internet history and sure enough he had gotten on that day, great. I just had to hope that he was very unobservant. I also told myself that he probably knew he was getting an Ipod but wouldn't guess that I was getting him the nicer one. The next day I gave John all his gifts and he really liked them but like I said he is not super tech savvy so I am sure it will take some time for him to get used to it. Then he told me that the night before after he saw the Itunes shortcut he was laying in bed and guessed that I was getting him the Ipod touch. This really annoyed me because he always guesses his gifts before I give them and just one time I want to feel like I really surprised him with something he wanted. I just went on a walk to pout. Then I decided it wasn't the end of the world that he wasn't surprised and not to ruin the fun by pouting. I feel like this blog is already getting pretty long so I am going to make this part 1 of John's B-Day weekend and Coachella will be part 2, stay tuned. Also I had not pictures of this event so I thought some nice sunset pictures from our porch would work.

Sewage hike

Trying to get the sewage off my shoe

I was very unamused by the hike at this point

I just saw some pictures that reminded me of a blog I wanted to write. It is about the time John took me on this amazing hike threw the sewer. John told me that he wanted us to ride our bikes to this trail he had discovered one day. He had described it to me vaguely before but sounded amazed that he had discovered this special secret spot. I know John views things/experiences different than me sometimes so I knew that he was probably building this up more than it deserved. He is amazed at things that I sometimes find totally unimpressive but little did I know how differently we viewed sewage. We ride our bikes in to this neighborhood at the top of a hill and then hide them off the street so we can begin this journey. John keeps reminding me that he has found this amazing trail and how it is a hidden gem. The first part is going OK and then we reach our first stop. I quickly realize that this hidden area he discovered is someones back yard where they have various garden fountains and a gazebo. So like a normal person I now just feel like I am trespassing and want to get out of there. John has me pose for a few pictures before we move on to the next stop. Next we come to a hidden rope swing, you will not see any pictures of me on this because I refused. Then the real journey starts. John tells me to follow him down this trail that will lead us to the ocean. Keep in mind John and I live beside the ocean and can walk down one perfectly nice paved street to get to it, I have no need for a hidden trail. So things are a little muddy but someone else who knows of this hidden trail has placed boards down so you can avoid most of the mud. Then I notice that some of the mud has a blue tinted water and there is an increasing abundance of nats around the water. I then inform John that I have no interest in hiking threw the sewage to get to the ocean but he says we are close and to keep going. At some point in this "hike" I step in the wrong spot and cover my running shoes in a nice layer of sewage water. John went a little ahead of me and apparently realized that unless I was willing to step in more sewage we might not be able to make it. At this time I refused to go any further, covered my face to prevent breathing in any more of the sewage smell and made a cautious exit. This hike made me realize that maybe John doesn't know me as well as I thought. He seriously believed that I would enjoy and hike through this sewage trail, really. Anyway, I have posted some pics for your enjoyment as you imagine me on this hike.

Rho and Bill come to town, 2011

John and his Dad thought this tree was cool


Crazy salt shakers at the art fair, I bought a set!

On our hike

Getting coffee in downtown San Juan

I am a week late but I want to take the time to recap our visitors from last weekend. Rho and Bill came to town last Thursday night and stayed for a few days. Since they have been to visit before we didn't have to pack in as much sight seeing which of course left more time for eating. John and I had to work Friday so we let Rho and Bill explore on their own. Then on Friday night we went to Pacific Cuisine just up the road for some delicious Chinese food. They serve it family style so we all split beef with broccoli, chicken fried rice, sesame chicken, and kung pao delight. Every dish was so good, definitely the best Chinese food around. On Saturday morning John made us breakfast, which consisted of a huge breakfast bake full of lots of good stuff, one of his best creations yet. Then we all watched this really cool surf video called Walking on Water. It is about these 2 kids that spend several months with this older professional surfer going around the world to the most well know surf spots. It is put together by a christian based surf group so there is also a really strong message about God and it was a great video. It is funny to hear people that talk like surfers and use a lot of California slang saying these amazing things about God. It just sounds so different than what I am used to hearing people talk like in KY. After our movie time we headed off to downtown San Juan Capistrano which is the next town over from us. John and I just discovered how cool their downtown was a couple weeks ago and knew John's parents would like it. There is a whole street full of little gift/art type shops and lots of little cafes. We got coffee at one cafe and then walked down the block exploring all the stores. Then we had lunch outside at the Hummingbird Cafe and it was delicious. I was the only one to totally finish my meal, I am such a good eater. After our afternoon of exploring his parents took a nap and John and I went on a nice beach walk. We then had to get ourselves ready for dinner, which was at Avila's Mexican restaurant. Once again we consumed way to much food and then went home to fall asleep. Sunday John made pancakes for breakfast and then we all headed up to the farmers market. We got some supplies for dinner that night and John's mom got some fresh flowers for the house. We took John's mom for a hike over in San Juan. We tried a new trail and it had really great views of the coast. For dinner John put ribs, chicken, and asparagus in the smoker. He also grilled peppers, zucchini, and squash. All I had to do was make the salad and we were set. Needless to say the whole next week John and I didn't have to cook because we had enough leftovers for the whole week. John's Dad had a birthday Monday so we enjoyed some cake in celebration. Just for fun we all watched our wedding video and laughed at the various performances on the dance floor. I can't believe in just a couple months John and I will have been married 2 years, crazy. I am going to write another blog this week to recap our interesting Coachella weekend, stay tuned.