Is it time to come home yet??

Well, it's been a month and a half since we got to Calgary and I have to say, at the moment, I'm ready to move home!! It's not that the view of the mountains isn't lovely, or that the thunderstorms aren't cool, or that experiencing the Motherland for the longest time since 1991 hasn't been interesting, BUT... it ain't Long Beach. I'm not home, and I MISS IT!!

I miss you guys ... seeing you at the CDC (ok, granted it's summer at the moment, but when we left we'd just finished...), seeing people I know and can talk to on a regular basis ... having other mommies to hang out with and talk to .... Just running into people I know while out and about. Oh, and moms' nights outs!!

I miss my orange tree, my house and my yard. This house is nice, and it IS big, but it isn't ours.

I miss Trader Joe's like you wouldn't believe!!! The closest one is in Montana, about a 4 1/2 hour drive from here, and I'm seriously thinking about a road trip.

I miss NPR.

I miss curbside recycling! (Calgary does not yet have curbside recycling in 2008!!) I have to haul everything to big collection bins the city has kindly installed in parking lots near grocery stores.

I miss living somewhere where I know where I'm going (most of the time) and that isn't a winding suburban maze where all the streets and houses look the same!

Ok... I feel a little better now. I miss you guys and everything in LB so much. I miss having grownups to talk to who aren't the supermarket checkout lady (not that those ladies aren't nice).

But other than that, we're all fine here. The kids have enjoyed attending 2 -3 days of day camp a week. We had a great camping holiday. And we're gearing up for school. I'm looking forward to both kids being in the same place again, and I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I meet some new mommies.... They won't be you guys, but they will do for a while.

The Right Thing To Do?

We live on a busy street in Long Beach. Our kids sleep in the two front bedrooms, they sleep only a few feet from the sidewalk across our small front lawn. We live in a part of Long Beach that has a conservative Republican Congressman.

I want to put up a "Vote No on Prop 8" lawn sign. Should we not?

Proposition 8 is the anti gay marriage amendment that is coming onto the CA ballot this fall, btw. Gay rights is something we feel very strongly about. It's one of those hot button political issues that just seems like a moral and legal slam dunk to me. Everyone deserves equality under the law. To me this is not a radical or provocative sentiment...but I know it is to a lot of people.

When I mentioned to my husband that I was getting us a sign, he paused and said he wasn't all that comfortable with the idea. I was floored. He said 'you know I agree with the sentiment, but we live awfully close to the OC and Broadway is really busy...' "THAT'S THE POINT!" I said, failing to remain calm, You can't just stand up for justice when everyone agrees with you!"

But then. Then he painted a picture of the 2 AM screaming at the house or someone throwing something at Miles' or Lydia's window. At first it just made me angry. We can't back down from doing the right thing because we're scared! But is it fair to drag a 4 year old who can't understand that stuff into it? Of course it's possible that nothing would happen, but we've had stuff stolen from our front porch and we've got some neighbors with very opposite views from us on most issues like this.

Help me out. Are we being paranoid? Are we being crazy to even think about doing it? What would you do?

Back From and extended Vacation

Hi all well This is my first post so I hope all goes well. As many of you know I have been on a road trip for the last three weeks with the family. I have been inspired by Kira to relay pros and cons of traveling with kids to visit family.
I will start out positive from the kids point of view:
Getting to ride in the very large tractor with Unlce Mark, Driving the John Deere mower yourself on a 40 acre farm, fishing with dad at the river, riding a horse without having to sign a waiver, then being able to go into the pen with two yearling horses that follow you around like a puppy dogs, Setting off fireworks that are very illegal in CA, visiting a construction sight for a dam and climbing on the very large equipment, and Meeting all the "new"cousins that you might have met last year.
On the Downside:
Illness, Louis started vomiting before a 6 hour drive and then Konrad started vomiting with one hour left on the drive, then the fevers started for two days. Daddy then caught the bug and was out of commission for two days. Walking on eggshells to make sure that large family fights do not start. Having your husband and mother give each other the silent treatment for two days with a 10 hour drive as part of the treat. Packing and doing laundry then repeating. Eating traveling food and not getting all the veggies and fruits. Having everyone off schedule with time changes back and forth and so much excitement that you cannot wind down. With the lack of schedules come the enormous Tantrums in hotel rooms, in front of the whole extended family, and in the car. Weather that causes your plans to be canceled and have very disappointed kids.

Through all of this I think that the memories we have had on this trip will last the us a lifetime. This being said we are leaving in one week to start a new adventure. I wonder what new adventures we will have.

Back from HELL, I mean VACATION!

My view from prison, I mean my room (nice huh?)

"The Lodge at Pebble Beach on San Juan Island" where we stayed

Here are some highlights from a trip I thought would be bad, but turned out to be worse...

1. Father-in-law insisting it was OK to take my children for two hours on the freeway without (YES WITHOUT) car seats. And he did...

2. Getting stung by nettles

3. Tiff with my mother-in-law at the dinner table with the Grand-in-laws (these are the people who's family spawned the American Girl series and Walgreen's) when she told Max he needed to eat everything on his plate (after he had politely asked "May I be excused?"), I said firmly that no he did not need to finish everything on his plate. His Granny insisted "Max, you need to finish your plate or you'll get hungry in the middle of the night." To which I replied "No, Max, you do not need to eat it all, you know when your tummy's full." which was met with FIVE minutes of silence (ooohhh that was fun!)

4. Being put in a room in the basement with my daughter when she was "tantruming" because she had been told she could paint, but only outside and only with this brush but not with these paints (which were for Granny only) and only on this paper and make sure not to get any on the table...at least the basement had a nice view.

5. My husband being told "No, we cannot watch the children while you and Kira go out to dinner because we cannot deal with the sibling teasing and besides, Granny is exhausted"

6. Being put into a bedroom with walls of windows on the north and EAST sides of the house with NO curtains or blinds of any kind in a location with about SIX HOURS OF DARK, so yes, my children went to bed at 10:30pm and awoke at 4:30am...boy were they in good moods by 9:00am.

So all in all, a productive trip.

7. Oh, and it took 12 hours to get there....weeeeee

OK, thanks for letting me vent...that feels better! aaahhhh....

Do we have a category for VENTING?

No...ok, I'll go first (I know, you're all SO surprised)!

I just want you all to think of me, potentially being eaten by a wayward orca, on my daily kayak venture during my vacation (scary music please) with...duhn duhn duuuhnnn! the in-laws...

...and no Brenda I am not afraid SHE will see this...and if she does, I burned any rickety bridges long long ago...

I'm heading to the San Juans tomorrow BY MYSELF WITH MY CHILDREN (have you met them?); and no, the San Juans are NOT in Mexico as one might hope, but (more scary music)...in...Canada, how much does that suck? (sorry Heather!)

Anyhoo, just so y'all enjoy your next week...picture this...me in a kayak with a jumbo-sized bright orange life vest (that I will be unceremoniously stuffed into by my docile father-in-law, rowing trying to keep up with my terribly ACTIVE in-laws. I will be waylayed by an overzealous orca. In all the shock and dismay of my ordeal I will order a GIANT whiskey something-or-other, but alas, the in-laws are fervent teetotalers and I will be offered a nice organic white-green-leaf tea farmed by tiny children off the coast of the Maldives (the only kind one can have you see)...

...and thus I will spend my next six days dreaming of you all shuffling the kiddies around in your giant mini-vans (oxymoron?), boiling over your partner's lack of laundry skills and wondering if quesadillas are the sixth level of the food pyramid...

WISH ME LUCK!

kfk

My Lifeline Crashed!

Okay, so it was just my computer... but it felt like the end of the world!

Yesterday, upon returning from a drippy-nose-encrusted-with-cat-hair weekend in Green Valley Lake at my dad's house, I found out that my computer was no longer working. AHHH! I'm sure most of you know just how much time I spend with my lover I mean Mac computer and how much I depend on it not only for my work but for my sanity. I spent a good 3 hours Sunday trying to repair the damage - first by myself, then on the phone with Andy #1 and and hour later with Andy #2 from the Mac help line.

At about 5:30pm the second Andy finally realized that he could do nothing and instructed me to take my computer in to have it serviced. WHAT!?! UNPLUG MY BELOVED AND DROP IT OFF SOMEWHERE?!? I was beside myself. I admit it. I cried. (although in my defense I am PMSing)

I immediately called the Mac store in South Coast Plaza and made an appointment for the following day, today. At promptly 11:30am, I wrestled my giant CPU into the Jeep along with the double stroller and the kids and hauled ass down to Costa Mesa. The parking gods were with me as I found front row parking next to the elevators at the "Crystal Court" (does that place have a different name now?). I set up the double stroller, had Jack sit in front, and loaded my $3000 dollar paperweight into the back - I had to stop myself from attaching the safety harness. Can anyone picture this in their heads?

I swear people were staring at me as I paraded my circus into the pristine white and silver Mac store filled with people in business suits and laptops. A nice employee in an orange shirt took pity upon me and unloaded my lead weight from the stroller onto the counter top. I waited for my name to be called. "Abby B.?" And as I approached this poor underpaid tech, I could see the panic on his face when he realized my circus was his next patient.

Wrapping up my long story here because I know that your time is precious and your children are screaming at you to stop playing on your computers and start making their mac and cheese, (or is that just mine I'm hearing?) this long drawn out story detailing the events of the last 24hours does indeed have a happy ending. And as I sit here typing my drama on my dearest most cherished I mean computer I want you all to know that when you drag your Apple computer into the Apple store, they fix it for free. No questions, no obligations, no fees of any kind. They just smile, push a few buttons, empathize and then offer to have the cute, young, burly man carry your 300 pound CPU back to the car.