Breakfast

Collin doesn't like new things, rapid change, and is horrible at transitioning from one activity to another. 

School is one subject where he pushes back a ton! "I don't like school!"  Bull, kid. He loves school!

Lately, I've been trying to start the idea early. Two nights at bedtime, I asked him what he wanted for breakfast before school.  One night, he wanted oatmeal. Then, he asked for soup with vegetables. The third night, I had forgotten to ask him about breakfast at bedtime. I gave him kisses, told him I loved him, and we spent a few minutes snuggling. When I was getting up to leave, he stopped me. Collin:"Wait!  I waaaaaaaaant... Uuuuuuuummmmmmm... an omelet with cheese."

Me: "An omelet with cheese for breakfast?"

He wholeheartedly nods. Kid was putting in his order, lest I forget to take his request!  They crack me up sometimes. 

Little Chatterboxes

They never stop talking!

Tonight, Ethan was repeating some of my words, and said three or four I know he's never said before!  And Collin is actually pronouncing his R's, which many kids don't master until 8 or 9 years old!

Ethan and I were in my room doing laundry.  And by doing laundry, I mean that I'm trying to fold laundry faster than Ethan can mess it up while he dead man drops all over the bed.  This kid!  Collin started hollaring for permission to play on the iPad from the front of the house.  I played dumb.  No manners means mama cannot understand what you are saying. 

Collin:  I can't hear you in the wall!

Me:  Come to my room and ask me.

Collin:  End of the hallway!

Me, pretending I don't see him and making him get my attention.

Collin: Mama?

Me:  Yes, son?

Collin:  Please, may I play iPad, please?  (Always the double please)

Me:  Yes, son.  That was very nice asking.

Collin:  Okay!  Thank you!  (Walks into the hall) iPad coming right up!

I don't know where he comes up with these things.  Tonight, we had an in-depth conversation about pickles, where he opined that they were peppery, but not too spice to him.  I couldn't stop smiling.  Such a strong vacublary these days, we have whole conversations!  To think where he was a year ago when we started all this...

"I Don't Like New Friends"

Collins has been doing fabulous in school. He's taking all the time, new words daily, new concepts often. He looks at our analog clock and tries to tell me what time it is, and talks about last night, yesterday, and earlier. I even find him playing with his brother and other kids. I couldn't be more proud!

Because if all his improvement he was moved up into the more advance class, one step below mainstream school!  They took him for visits to the other classroom for a few days, before he was moved in the new class all day.  I know they've been talking to him about the change, because when I brought it up he tells me "I don't like new friends!"

I couldn't not laugh, it was to funny!  He told me he didn't like Teacher Sammy, them at he wanted to stay in Teacher Teresa's school. The move happened last week, and he's doing much better with the change. He tells me how much he likes Teacher Sammy at the end of the day, and all the activities he did that day. 

I can have an entire conversation with my son. Finally!

Another Interesting Thanksgiving

Remember last year when Ethan was MediFlighted to Oakland Children's hospital?  I was looking forward to a quiet holiday...

Tuesday morning we were about ready to leave, when Ethan ran across the kitchen, tripped and fell.  Nothing new, here, happens redundantly often.  However, he fell just close enough to the wall that he scuffed the side of his forehead.  No blood or broken skin, no bruise even, and he calmed down quickly.  He was. Good, so off we went.  To be on the safe side, I told Ms. Joan (his daycare provider) what happened, and to keep and eye on him.  I should have known...

Twenty minutes at the office and I get a text, Ethan threw up all over himself.  I bomb out of the office and head to get him.  By the time I got there, she had cleaned him up only for him to get sick all over again.  He has no clothes, everything is nasty.  He's on her couch wrapped in a towel happily watching cartoons.  Yes, happily!  I pack him up and we head to the ER, and halfway there he gets sick again.

Lucky thing about being a small kid with a head injury in the middle of the morning, the ER gets you in suuuuper quick!

They check him out, nothing of note, and send us home for me to keep a eye on him.  Mostly, wake him every two hours all night and see if he acts like himself.  They said, "usually, we ask questions to check long and short-term memory, but he's not even two yet.  So..."  That's not really helpful, people.

We went home,a don the kid with the now empty tummy is famished.  This is the child who eats six meals a day and I can see his ribs!  And he wants scrambled eggs, so I make them and put him down for his nap.  I wake him halfway through, and he seems normal.  An hour after that he comes out of his room. And he smells nasty.  Scrambled eggs and stomach acid are a nasty combination.  I finish cleaning that up in time for him to throw up all over both of us, followed by another quick clean-up before we rush back to the ER.

At which point, they look at me dumbfounded, "you fed him eggs!?!?"  Yes, he was hungry, he wanted them, and nobody said anything about dietary restrictions, let alone the "only clear fluids" diet he was on for the day.

Some observation and anti-nausea meds and we were home again.  Waking him up every two hours and testing his behavior was a picnic, let me tell you.  

Wednesday he was fine, took him to Joan and spent the day baking.  And waiting for the tree trimmer, who was four hours late, to come and save the huge tree in my yard.  And the solar inspecter who was two hours early.

Thursday the boys had a cough, but it's nothing new.  We've had the same darn cough for weeks.  No fever or other complaints and we went to Tony's parents for the early Thanksgiving dinner.  While we were there, Colling spiked a fever of 100.7.  Of course.  I took him and Tony home, and Ethan and I went to my parent's house for more festivities.  We had a nice evening and came home around nine.  Tony had to work, and my parents came and babysat for a bit while I went to the office to put out fires. Collins and Papa had a marvelous time playing with Auntie Emma's crayon maker.  Collin just likes watching them melt, he couldn't care less about the rest of it.

Saturday we were busy trying to clean up my mess from Thankgiving baking and catch up on the obligatory housework.

Sunday we slept in a little bit, finally getting up around eight.  I heard this funny noise in my yard, and thought it was the dogs.  Then I heard it again.  I opened the shutters to discover my back yard fence was on fire!  Literally, on fire!

I yell at Tony to put on clothes and put it out, and instead he runs to the kitchen.  Really?!?!  I grab jeans of the floor, and the first shirt I see.  To heck with a bra, there's no time, and who's going to see me?  Bad assumption, there. Especially cause that shirt is a super stretchy/silky/form fitting number that's super cold.  It gets worse, I promise.

When we bought the house, the old lady left a fire extinguisher.  I have no idea how old it is, or if it works, but I grab and run.  I hear Tony on the phone with 911.  Duh!   Fire extinguisher works!  Too soon, however, it is empty.  I run for a bucket.  I find one in the garage with water already in it.  You know, that bucket I washed out the poopy underwear and vomit covered clothes in but hadn't dumped into the toilet yet?  That bucket.

I pour the bucket onto the fire, but it catches leaves for something, and pours all over me!  I'm only wearing flip flops for footwear. I'm germy and disgusting.  I'm wet.  It's 30 outside.  I'm too busy to be upset.  Two guys in the apartment complex behind my house tell me they called the fire departments, and they stand and watch the top of my head above the fence running back and forth from the fire to the spigot.

Yes, we have a hose.  No, I didn't think about it.  I kept water-pairing it.  I was actually doing fairly well, too, but the bamboo that a former Bhuddist neighbor planted had caught fire and was in the neighbor's yard out of the reach of me and my bucket.

Fire department shows up, and what do they want?  A garden hose.  Add insult to injury, four men are witnessing my self-inflicted, wintertime, wet t-shirt contest, and they're using my house and my water to put out the fire?  Embarrassing!

How did it start?  The obvious answer is the ash pile from our wood burning stove.  However, the ash is alway cold when it goes out, and it had been at least a week since Tony had put anything out there.  And freezing temperatures at night.  Short answer, I have no idea.

Sunday we called our friend Dave, who brought a crew, to rebuild the fence.  I supplied the pizza and coffee.  Before hey got there, I had to grocery shop.  En route, I was admiring the light refracting in the diamond of my engagement ring.  It looked different. It look strange.  My diamond is cracked!

I'm a mess and you can't take me anywhere!  This week, I give up.  I might just boycott Thanksgiving next year.  But darn those pies were delicious!  Apple pie cheesecake, my friends.  That's my new staple.

Softly Snoring

This morning I went to wake Collin for school.  Keep in mind, he sleeps like his daddy and it takes forever to wake up little Sir Cranky Pants.

I sat on the edge of his bed and heard one of his little breathing sounds that he makes when he's awake.  I said his name, no answer.  I started rubbing his back and singing to him the "good morning to you" song to the music of happy birthday that my dad used to sing to me.  Nothing.

More singing.  Louder.  More rubbing.  Nothing.  Then he starts snoring.  And I mean, textbook, cartoon character snoring.  I talked to him, still no response. More singing, faster back rub that it moving his whole body around.

He finally stirs and rolls over, smiling the biggest cat-ate-the-canary grin I've even been able to see in the dark!  That little stinker was pretending to sleep to fool me!

My Kids Are Monkeys

Ethan has been battling nap time for quite some time.  He'll spend1.5-2 hours in his room, trashing the place.  It's impressive how much trashing he can do with an empty room.  All he has is some sheets, diapers, and his dresser of clothes (but most of the drawers he can't get into).  And his fish tank.

Last weekend, Tony noticed a funny smell in the hall, and founds Ethan's room all hazy.  He had dumped the fish tank lid, and light, into the tank, and burned out the light.  He hasn't had fish in months cause he likes to hit the tank, so at least there weren't any electrocution of child or fish.

Today, I was ignoring him repeating "Mama!  Where you?"  Again, Tony discovered that he had climbed on top of the changing table, was trying to get down and had realized he couldn't get down.  One leg on, one leg off, hanging off the side. That child.  He can climb up on a bar stool like its nothing, and I can't keep him down.  I can't turn around without finding him having climbed up on something!

We decided maybe it's time we skip the naps, and then he fell asleep in the car at 6 pm.  So, he won't take a nap, and he can't skip the nap.  This stage is not any fun!

Collin has been talking about his bed is getting smaller, so we went shopping today to get him a new one.

He liked being in the store, was wandering around looking at everything, trying to pick one he wanted.  He absolutely fell in love with this bunk bed.  I mean it.  "Mama! Daddy! I found an extra bed.  I love it!" Nhe climbed up the ladder, down the ladder, up the ladder, back down.  It was better than an amusement park. He was sooooooo happy!

But we didn't get that bed. He's not going to be happy when we pick up the regular twin bed tomorrow.  Maybe some fun sheets will make him happy.  I'm actually kinda sad for how disappointed he's going to be.

More Kisses

Every other night, Collin starts calling, "Mama!"  Tony gets a little jealous because Collin doesn't all for him at all, just me.

Tony is jealous because Collin tells me "need more kisses."

And I go into him room, and he turns his face from side to side so I can give him kisses on both cheeks. 

He tells me he loves me, I wrap him in blankets the way he likes, and I leave. 

I will go back to his room a million times to give him more kisses. 

Dumbo is Depressing

Tony and I were reading to the boys before bed tonight. Our selection was Finding  Nemo, Dumbo, and 101 Dalmatians. 

During Dumbo, I was explaining to Collin that Dumbo was sad, and he missed his mama. The next page they are happy and snuggling. Collin wouldn't let me turn the snuggle page, he looked at it for a while. Then turned back to the sad page and looked some more. 

All of a sudden, he dies a slow collapse out of my lap and into the couch, absolutely bawling!  He was absolutely inconsolable!  I don't know exactly what the source was, but something about he and I not being together. He goes to school alone, he goes to daycare with Ethan, he goes place without me every day. But, some how, he was extremely effected by this book!

He spent the next half an hour falling back into tears and sobbing before he cried himself to sleep. I tried to console him, but it only made him cry more!

Poor guy!

Diapers in College

Seriously, I'm at a loss with Collin. We started training in August, and we went about it like a professional sport. By February he was doing well. An accident here and there, but mostly going on his own and staying dry through the night. 

Then the was the Bar Exam. I know how bad it was for me, but I guess it was bad for him, too. Because of Tony's long work hours, the boys spent three days at their grandparent's house. Collin came back a portion train wreck. As if he had forgotten what to do, or he was punishing me for being gone.  I finally retrained him for night times, but he still poops his pants daily. And I mean daily. No exaggeration. 

Today for example. His daycare finally got him to sit on the potty long enough to go, only for him to have an accident 2 hours later at home. 

I don't even know what to do any more. 

The Croup #2

Ethan's been teething his second set o molars lately. We've had a runny nose, nasty diapers, and an iffy appetite. 

Today he woke up with full blown Croup. He sounds like a little seal every time he coughs, and his chest rattles every time he takes a strained breath. It kills me to listen to him. 

I had a hearing bright and early, so Tony took the day off and took Ethan to Urgent Care. (I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't get my kids in to see their pediatrician unless we plan months in advance.)  Doc gave him steroids to take after breakfast (which means waiting another day to start them) and a nebulizer for misty breathing treatments. You think it's easy to keep a face mask on a 19 month old?  Have I mentioned that their breathing gets worse when they're upset?  Not exactly an easy fix. 

He was ready for bed and hour an a half early, but wakes up every time he coughs. Thanks to the "power nap" he's having trouble sleeping, and his breathing is getting worse. We have him the steroids anyway, stimulant be damned

The humidifier in his room isn't doing enough, nor is the outside air cold enough to help.  But for whatever reason, he's sounding good enough that I'm not terrofied to go to sleep; not that I won't be up a million times to check on him. 

Little kids who can't breath are my nightmare. 

Dear Blog

Forgive me, blog. I've been neglectful. It's been two months since my last post. 

And we sure have a lot going on these days!

I opened my law practice August 1, and I've actually been quite busy so far.  Tony's been working way too many hours , and he's been stressing about all the time away from boys. 

Collin is loving his preschool, and has been doing so well there!  He doesn't stop talking. Ever!  We talk all the time. Like, in full sentences and everything!  It's been a really nice change of paths for him. 

Ethan is loving their new daycare with Mrs. Joan. It's not Nana and Papa's house, but we aren't spending two hours per day in the car getting to work and back.

To finish if this post that can't possibly catch you up on everything, this is a nice video from this afternoon. 

https://youtu.be/nQWkoo7aPf0

Mama Said "Don't Touch!"

(He was protesting my taking his picture.)

     This is the result of not following mama's directions when she warns you that touching will give you an owie. 

     I was making a batch of soap and Collin came in to watch. "Mama making boap?"  I like to make everything from scratch, so my soap uses a lye solution mixed with oils.  I cannot fathom how many times I warned him.  He wasn't even trying to touch, but I kept telling him anyway.  

     The end of the process has to happen super quickly, so that I can get my swirls in before I sets up. In those hectic minutes Collin starts asking for a bandaid. There's raw soap batter on his fingers!

     I grab him and a barstool and rush him to the sink, and he puts his fingers in his mouth!  I flush everything with water and have him risin and spitting in the sink and Poison Control on the phone.  There weren't much help, but rinse a lot, give him Popsicles, and look for signs like vomiting and blisters. Then take him to the ER. 

     No blisters, no vomiting, lots of drooling. He has chemical burns on his lips, which are raw and swollen. His hands and face are fine.  Oh, and I feel like a shmuck for being angry at him for not following directions and simultaneously that I "let" him get hurt.

     Three year olds and mom guilt. Heck of a mix. I think we'll watch TV and kill some brain cells for a while. 

Night Night, Mama

      Today was hot, and Collin and I haven't been sleeping well.

      While Ethan was napping, Collin was cutting and coloring while I was working in the computer.  He then looked at me and said, "Mama, tired."  In itself, his speech is impressive. But what happened next really got my attention.

     He got down, came over, grabbed my hand, and said, "Mama, couch."  He walked me to the living room, stopped next to the couch, and told me to wait.  He began talking about the things on the couch and arranging the pillows. He grabbed a blanket and was about to lay it down when he realized I wasn't there.  He looks at me and says, "mama, couch."  I wanted to hear as much direction from him as possible, so I simply sat down.  He goes to cover again, but it wasn't what he wanted.  "Mama, lay down."  I laid down and he covered me with the blanket.  He even wrapped my feet in the blanket the way he likes us to do when he goes to bed.  He pointed at me, "mama, night night!" and got himself settled on the couch next to me.  It was so sweet!

     And then Ethan woke up and nap time was over.  Figures, doesn't it?

Face the Wall

I put Collin in time out when hes aggressive with other kids. He especially likes to push Ethan. When I put him on the bar stool, he's smiling like its play time. He even looks proud of himself! I tried a new tactic of moving from the middle of the kitchen floor, and instead made him face the wall. He spent the whole time singing about facing the wall. Somehow, I don't think he took it seriously.  I think he knew I was recording, and pulled extra shenanigans.

Dinner Messes

I am excruciatingly tired of cleaning up around Ethan's high chair. The spot around it is the cleanest part of the floor, but is surrounded by a sea of dirt, crumbs, and dried food. I hate it!  Today, I decided to get a little proactive about it.

Since Ethan has fallen in love with the garbage can, I showed him to pick up the food by his chair and throw it away...

I Don't Have Tourette's, I Have A Three Tear Old

     I had to call my doctors office and my insurance company today about a bill that got denied due to incorrect billing codes.  Ethan was sleeping and Collin was coloring next to me while I made a grocery list and waited in hold. 

     The woman from the insurance company left for a full 30 seconds when she abruptly heard, "Collin, we are not watching TV because you pooped your pants while we watched Curious George!"  I had to wait for her to calm down before we could resume out discussing if the claim. 

     The guy from the billing department of the doctors office heard, "Collin!  If you spit on the couch once more, you are going to time out!"  He stopped, chuckled, and said he'd been there. Then we had a chat about the good ol' days where kids "spanked" with a leather belt for misbehaving; before resuming my request to re-code and re-bill that claim. 

     If the "quality assurance" people listen to my call, they had better out extra emphasis on my request for entertainment value. Or they'll deny it to see what I'll say when I call back next time. 

     This was after we spent 45 wasted minutes at the chiropractor this morning. Collin had a doctor's appointment, thus didn't go to school, and I was trying to make good use of the morning. I even woke Ethan up early, only for Collin to refuse to be seen!  Thank goodness he was better at the dentist, though it took some coercion. 

     This has been my public service for the day.  Somebody wish me luck as we embark upon the grocery store. 

Positano

05/14/2015

     (I got confused; we we to Positano on Thursday and Capri on Friday.  I case a reference doesn't make sense.)

     We started our day at the Hotel Margherita, which has a nice breakfast spread. I cooked at "home" and took a walk there for some espresso. They knew we weren't guests they, and still they didn't even charge us.  Free coffee is great!

     Positano is a beautiful little town right in the saddle of two mountains on the Costa D'Amalfi. It is very dense and has lots of stairs, just not as steep as Praiano.

I haven't seen that goatee in a long time!  This was a roadside photo from the stairs leading to the pizzaria.  The food was okay, but the view was great!

     We had considered staying here, but it's pretty well known, and therefore, also Tourist-y. Praiano is a 15-20 minute drive from Positano.  Assuming you can find a place to park.

     We found a little pizzeria to stop at for lunch when we got there, and then wandered around for some shopping.  We began our love of gelato here.  I'm hesitate to buy some in the States because this stuff is sooooo good; I might never stop eating it!

     We actually didn't do terribly much there. The shopping was obnoxiously expensive!  Granted, I think most of the clothing is made by hand in the back of the store, but still.  I did, however, buy some limoncello.  Turns out it was from Sorrento, the next town over.  The Costa D'Amalfi is known for their lemons, and there are lemon-everything souvenirs.  The beach in Positano is a lot like Pebble Beach in California, and I always forget how much the pebbles hurt the arch of your feet when you walk on them.  I did procure some sea glass, though.  A surprising amount of green sea glass, which I attribute to all the green beer bottles there.

     We came back to Praiano decently early and had dinner at Kasai where Canadian Tony had made us a reservation.  It's only been open for two weeks, the food was amazing!  We waited an hour before being seated, but they brought us all two glasses of Prosecco (Italian Champagne) and some appetizers. We were well taken care of.  I would definitely go back there if we have time.

I'll Wait

     It's no secret that Collin has been quite difficult, and has frequent tantrums (seemingly only at home).  One of my reactions is to tell him "I'll wait until you're done" and pretend to ignore him. 

     Tonight was a bit of a fight getting ready for bed, and he didn't want to get changed into pajamas. I was sitting in the floor out stubborn-ing him and told him, again, that it was time to get changed. 

     He began to have a big temper, then suddenly stopped, slid down the cupboard under the counter, sat with his legs straight, hands in his lap, head down and said "I'll wait."

     I couldn't control myself!  laughed out loud and asked him what we were waiting for.  He refused to look at me, maintained his position, and repeated "I'll wait."

     That's exactly how I handle his tantrums and now he's turning it back in me when we have a disagreement. It's almost as hysterically awesome as when he tells me he's mad because of something I've done. It cracks me up the things he tells me. 

Sorrento

05/17/2015

     Praiano is a primarily residential neighborhood, and Positano was exhorbitantly expensive, so we decided to head to Sorrento for some shopping in Sunday. The day we spent in Sorrento is one of my favorites, tied with Capri. Not because Sorrento was amazing, but because we had rented scooters and the ride was fabulous!

     Alana was probably the smart one, she wouldn't get in the scooter with Josh.  I took the bus with her 1) so she wouldn't be alone, and 2) I wanted Tony to have some time to get used to driving before acquiring a passenger.

    So here I am, the American tourist with my phone up against the window (minimizes the glare and reflection potential) taking pictures and hoping to get something more than trees and telephone poles. 

     I got a few good shots in.  When we got to Sorrento on the bus, we really had no idea where we were. I tried to call Tony, but that expensive international plan we paid for really didn't seem to want to work for his phone.  After a half a dozen calls, and a tons of unanswered texts, they finally stopped driving parked about 30 yards from where we were fueling up on some amazing coconut and chocolate gelato.  I've discovered a dangerous love of gelato, in case you can't tell. 

     We walked around and did some shopping before getting Alana back to the bus stop and jumping on the scooters.  After we dropped her off, we had to go back to the gas station.  While touring about trying to find us, the boys had stopped for gas for Tony's scooter.  The pump didn't take sany cards, Tony didn't have cash, and Josh only had a 50€ note.  The bill went into the matching, and 10€ worth of gas was pumped.  The receipt printed out says (in Italian) present receipt for change.  Present where?  There was nobody around.  By chance, somebody else came up and I went to use my broken Italian to ask what to do.  In my frustration I ended up switching to Spanish. And she spoke Spanish!!!! The receipt needs to be presented to the owner of the pump, who is only around in the morning.

     If there's ever a long lost relative who leaves me property, I want a parking lot/garage in San Francisco or a gas pump in Italy. Not that I'm picky or anything.  I seriously wonder how much extra that guy makes in the change that people never bother to claim.

     The drive back was absolutely beautiful. There really is something to being able to be touched by nature while traveling. Like a hike, but at high speeds.  And by high speeds, I mean 50 kph (30 mph) while squeezing passed clogged rush hour traffic, around turns that make a "hairpin" look wide, and being seriously passed up by other people on scooters.  Like the woman  in a business suit and 5" heels with a briefcase between her calves.  She passed us like we were walking.  But, still, so much fun!

     When we got home and unpacked our treasures, I realized a shirt I had bought still had that magnetic lock on it.  No wonder I set off the alarm, but they paid me no mind.  We had to go back the next day to have it removed. Darn!!!

"Staying Local" in Praiano

05/18/2015

     And by staying local, mean that we headed back to Sorrento right after breakfast to get Josh's change from the guy at the gas station and have the tag removed from my shirt.

     Getting the change was no big deal, and we were soon on our way.  About a millisecond after making a super difficult left turn across traffic, I realized I wasn't wearing a helmet.  I left it on the seat of the scooter next to ours when I was looking for a trash can for my tissue.  Josh was ahead of us and taking off like a rocket.  (Italian driving didn't take long to rub off on him.)  tony pulled over and I jumped off telling him to catch Josh and come back for me, I'd walk to the helmet.  He came back a bit later, but he hadn't found Josh. As soon as we got back through that left turn, Josh came down the street, he'd noticed we had disappeared.  We pulled over to wait for him to make yet another pain in the butt left turn, except he didn't see us and thought we'd kept going; and zoomed right passed us again.

     We tried to catch up, but we lost him.  And with him, our directions.  We didn't know where the store was exactly, so we just kept going around and around.  I could have pulled out my phone and looked up directions (I knew exactly where we needed to go), but my phone was securely locked in my bag under the seat, and Tony didn't stop.  After much meandering, we finally saw a familiar looking statue and landed where we needed to be.  Just in time to see Josh pop out of a cafe with some gelato.  I'm serious... love affair with the gelato!

     We fixed the shirt, got a snack, and headed off for "home".  We managed to return he scooter with five minutes to spare.

(We passed these statues in our walk home in a "parking lot"; read: a patio where they park a car or two. I thought they were real for a half second!). The detail is incredible, and anatomically correct, so the other pics aren't going to show up here.)

     Canadian Tony had said that I should look in the electronics store for the espresso pot I wanted.  It was nearby, although going away from town on a narrow two lane road with no shoulder.  So, of course, we walked!  Alas, the electronics store only sells electronics.  She says there is "a shop" if we walk back the way we came and take a left.  I thought I knew which left she meant, we didn't. The left we took was the route to our apartment, and there was nary a "shop" to be found.  after that, I promised Tony there would be no more excursions for the coffee pot, as we were leaving for home at four the next morning and still had to pack.  Home we went, a little lunch, and some packing, before we went down to the beach to be lazy with Josh and Alana.  Up the 93 stairs, and down the 300; followed by 300 steep, deep, craggy stairs back up and another 93 down to get home.  I must admit, I was a little glad this would be our last trip there and back.

     We went for last last meal at Armandino's, and said goodbye to Armandino's.  I should have gotten a picture with him, but I didn't.  We layer out some blankets and took a nap on the beach.  Do y know how relaxing it is to fall asleep to the sounds and smell of the ocean?  It's heaven!  But then I woke up thinking about something I could no longer remember, and couldn't fall back asleep again.  In y boredom I was digging through the pebbles and discovered that there was pieces of tile that had been worn smooth in the ocean.  Like sea glass, but sea tiles.  Naturally, I collected some and brought it home.  I might put them in one of my fish tanks or something.

     On the chairs next to mine are a bunch of English speakers with a baby.  I tried not to make faces at him.  I tried not to hear their conversation.  But when they started discussing their plans for the night, and the response was "what's nearby?"; I simply could not help myself any longer.  I asked if they wanted some of the knowledge I had been collecting over the last few days, and they did.  Not in that "get the creepy woman to stop talking to us" way, either.  I told them about ouf favorite restaurants for dinner, the hotel that serves breakfast, the boat tour to Capri, scooters, Positano and Sorrento, Tutto per Tutti, and anything else important I could think of.  They were from Canada, and very nice.  After a few rounds I peek-a-boo with Baby Liam, "mum" let me hold him and we played.  He was so squishy, and I missed my boys something awful!  I gave him back before things got weird and let them get on with their vacation.

     After a relaxing afternoon, we headed back up... for the very last time!  We stopped at Tutto per Tutti (the market) for dinner things and some wine to bring home.  The Italian's turned Tony into a wine drinker; how could we not bring some home?  While we checked out, I asked Pascuale about the "shop" we had been unable to find earlier.  He said it was only 10-15 minutes away on foot.  Not only did he give us direction, but he drew a post it note map.  I was debating on whether to ask Tony if he was u to the trip, when an American couple followed us out and asked where they too could find the amazing espresso pot I sought.  Off we went!

     We followed the map that started at the Piazza Moressa, the small square just above the market the we pass through any time we left or returned to the apartment.  Take the road leaving the Piazza, up for a bit, go through the arch, walk through the square in front of San Luca's Church, and the hardware store is the "shop" with all the stuff piled out front. You can't miss it!  You already know we missed it, right?  Because you should.

     We took the road and walked for a ways, until it became obvious that this was a residential "road" and that it had been unused for some time.  The return trip took us back to the top of the steps to the apartment, where Tony went to put away all our groceries and I decided to continue on the quest for the coffee pot.  Back at the Paizza Moressa, we found another "road" that we had never noticed before in all our comings and goings.  A "via" is more like a nondescript pathway between buildings.

     Up the pathway, the via continued to be a stairway to heaven by way of hell. And then the Boston couple (who hate their accents and cover them up) realized they only had a half hour to return their scooter and head back down.  Not without some lamenting about leaving me alone without Tony.  Because Italian strangers are so much worse than Bostonian strangers?  I send Tony a text, "If you get this before I get back, I'm fine, just walking a million stairs?"  He got it the next day.

     There's a fork in the road, both paths end in the same place, and both have stairs, so I take the fork to the right.  I'm heading up, huffing and puffing, and stop to take a break.  I've been going uphill for two hours since leaving the beach.  A German couple I passed a few minutes ago passes me again from in front of me.  How did this happen?  As I'm sitting there, she asks if I'm all right.  English!  I asked them if I was in the vicinity of the hardware store.  They look at me like I'm a little crazy, explain that I'm close, but had I taken the other fork it would have been faster and with significantly less stairs.  All I can think is that I can now drink my wine with negative guilt when I get back.  If I even find my way back.  Google Maps might be amazing, even in Italy, but this darn international plan is unreliable.  Next time, I'll just buy a local SIM card at a newsstand in the airport when we land.  It's actually cheaper that way!

     I follow these directions, and I'm at San Luca's in 3 minutes!

(It turns out San Luca's in an evangelical church, which j find a little ironic in Italy.)

(The piazza in front of San Luca has an amazing view.)

     I am so busy admiring the scene, I actually walked past the store, and had to come back a bit.  I walk in, and there are three guys talking at the register, it looks like two are haggling.  I meander about.... and finally find my espresso pot!  Hooray!  I go back to the counter, and proceed to try and catch my breath while the men glance at me like I'm losing it.  I was too tired to listen and attempt to translate.  Now it's my turn and I open my wallet to find a single, solitary, five euro note and some coins.  Do they take a card?  Of course not!  Tony had all the cash, which wasn't a problem until right now.  I've come this close, only to fail now?  Much talking amongst them men in rapid Italian, quick perusal trough a small book filled with handwritten notations in pencil.  A phone call.  Another phone call and a quick conversation.  The proprietor says "Kasai?"  I say "ristorante?"  He says, "Si!" and smiles.  He says I can go to Kasai and pay there.  Wonderful, but I don't know how to get there from here.  He gives me directions and I hope in my head that I can get Google to work.  Then I thought, I have to come back up that darn mountain?  I debate how much I want the coffee pot.  The man hands me the coffee pot!  "Pay, Kasai."  You've got to be kidding me!  Nothing like that would happen here!  I might be moving to Italy.  If I go missing, search Praiano for the super pale woman with the the Irish last name.  That's where I'll be.  Also, I'm almost thirty and it's odd to refer to myself as a woman, which in itself is on.  On with the story...

     I'm heading out the door, probably looking dazed and confused, when one of the men's says to come with him.  A guide?  Sure!  Then he gets in his car.  Um, no, thank you.  I probably totally offended the nice man.  He says "is okay!", and I respond "I walk!"  And, then, by some miracle, I run into the Canadians from the beach, who were just leaving their apartment!  I'm saved!  I hurriedly "Grazie!  Buona sera!" to the probably offended Italian and dashed off.  Then I begged the "mum" to use their restroom.  Seriously, espresso, stairs, and long hikes don't mix.  Their apartment was at the top of another four flights of stairs.  I've kinda given up caring.

     Google is now working and says I need to go to the end of the street, and actually street that could fit a whole super compact car in it, and go left.  At the corner i see it.  The mistake I made this morning after the electronics shop and this road that I'd walked passed more times that I care to admit to or even were aware of.  It was right here the whole time!  I'm saddened for myself and my lack of direction.  At least it was tempered by the only sunset photo I took, which happens to be amazing.  The woman with the curly hair is Michelle from Canada, Baby Liam's aunt.

     Down the road we land at Kasai, from which they'd ordered take out pizzas and hadn't known the name of the place.  They say goodbye, and I continue in.  It's 7:45, but still a little early for dinner, so the place is pretty empty.  I find a waiter and explain that I'm the one with the the coffee pot, in case carrying around the pot wasn't clear enough.  He ask if I'd like some cold water?  What?  Like I'm breathing hard, red faced, and sweating profusely?  I don't mind if I do!  And he didn't even charge me for it.  Moving to Italy?  More likely at this point.  I down the water, and the refill, pay for my adventure, and am on my way another ten minutes back to the apartment.

     When I finally arrive, I hear the guys' voices in the balcony:

      Not only are they drinking without me, but they had no idea what time it was or how long is been gone, alone, all over the mountainside.  If I go missing, please, somebody look for me.  I mean it!  Tony trusts me too much that I'll find my way back, apparently.

     To illustrate, look at the above photo. Do you see the title White House that sticks out about one third of the way up the mountain from the left side of the frame?  That's the Canadian's place. To the right (and above the cluster) is a two story white/beige building. That's the hardware store. To the right of the is a yellow building with a terra cotta roof. That's San Luca's.  Do you see the tree and white building that pop up from the horizon?  Directly below that is a big pink building, the Hotel Margherita where we would go for espresso. The keep moving right to the end he of the mountain, white building is where Kasai is. 

     Does that give you an idea of my adventure?  I hope so. I'm actually surprised I can still pick out these place from the photo, two weeks later!  I'm shocked at how much I've forgotten already.

     Josh and Alana took off to Kasia for dinner, Tony and I cooked some pasta and asparagus and whatever food was leftover, since we were leaving at four am for the airport.  We finished packing, dishes, collected dirty towels, and cleaned the apartment. There was another group arriving tomorrow afternoon, and Canadian Tony and Eddie had to do the cleaning as they couldn't get a service here soon enough. We tried to make it guest ready, short of laundry.

     It really was a great day. It was late (10:30), we were exhausted, and the 2:50 alarm came way too soon!  I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Fine!  (The End!)

(Vacation adventure to be continued in about two years when we likely go to Paris.)

Capri

05/15/2015

     I didn't read much from the travel books Josh gave me, but I did catch the part about Capri. Ruins of Ceasar Agustus' palace, celebrities, and super expensive everything. That doesn't include the fact that the boat tour to get to Capri is 60€ ($65-70) per person. At this point, I didn't want to go. A little research revealed that the tours take you all around the island, show you the Blue Grotto, the Green Grotto, and swimming in one of them (I can't remember which). Josh and Alana we're going, Tony wanted to go, and I was indifferent with no ther plans; so off we went.

     The boat was big enough for the ten of us to fit very comfortably, and it had a nice couch-like spot built into the bow. We got splashed and wind blown, but I liked the ride from up there. The driver took us past all the little islands, explaining about them as we went. 

     Hotels that only hold 4-6 guests and cost 25,000 euro a week? No thanks!  I'll stay in the mainland.

     He drove us into all of the caves with their aquamarine colored water, so close we could touch the rock roofs and we were worried we'd have to push ourselves out. Didn't need to, that man was a master at the helm.

     The Grotto for swimming was super busy, he estimated a two hour wait, so we skipped it and went on. We saw the little marina on one side, and got off the boat at the marina grande on the other side.  So many tourists!  Alana and I stopped at this little boutique where I saw an adorable dress. Only 15 euro!  It was mine. Cute purse for Alana?  20 euro in clearance. A double stand of cultured pearls?  20 euro!  Where was the expensive stuff?  It was the handmade super cute sandals, 60 euro. I left with a dress, a fedora, and the pearls. As we shopped the boys saw this giant ferry pull up and let hundreds, if not a thousand, people off; so we hurried up the mountain before the walkways got clogged. 

     I thought I was getting used to stairs, but I was wrong!  I don't even know how far we walked, or how many steps, but we eventually got high enough on the "saddle" of the island to look down on the little island!  Somewhere near the top we found this great little restaurant away from the main square called Buco de Bacco. It has only one window, with the most amazing view; and it was empty except for two other people!  I had the best ravioli there!  We wandered around where I almost bought a metal espresso maker (but I didn't want to lug it around) a really expensive vintage boutique, and a surprising amount of baby stores. In the way back down we got some chocolate and lemon gelato (a surprisingly great pairing) and went back to the boat.

      The driver took us to an amazing little cove so we could swim.  I did a quick dive and the water was so salty, my sinuses were burning for the next hour.  It was the perfect temperature, though.  Just cool enough to be refreshing, but not freezing cold.  Then we took an hour long, choppy ride back as the wind kicked up and the weather started to turn a bit.

Josh and I on the way out to Capri; Tony was taking pictures.   I procured that hat in Positano the day before and wore it all over Italy with my 15 layers of sunscreen.  I managed not to burn and actually came back with some color!

Can you believe how bright that water is?  It's not a trick of the camera!

Getting seriously up-close-and-personal with a cave. I was nervous we'd have to push the boat out, but this guys could turn the whole boat around in the cave without backing out. Even Tony was impressed. 

Lighthouse and a view. These pictures don't do it any justice, it's almost disappointing to look at them knowing what it was really like. 

Marina Grande on one side of Capri. 

     By the time we got back to Praiano we were hungry again.  The other thing about to many stairs?  We were always hungry!  Armandino's was open so we sat and perused the menu, and were surprised at the breadth and depth of possibilities.  I don't even remember what we ate, just that it was delicious.

     Capri was actually one of the highlights of the trip, I am so glad we went!

I Feel Sick

05/15/2015 (05/16 at 4:30 am in Praiano)

     As Italy is nine hours ahead of California, I was awakened at four in the morning (7:00 pm California time) because the Bar results had just come out and my friends were dying to know if I had made it or not.  The voice in the background is my friend Josh from school, he and his fiancée traveled to Italy with us. I already knew he had passed from reading through all the text messages that woken me up.

We Made It To Praiano

     A short two hour flight from Paris and we landed in Naples Italy.  Our luggage, however, was still in Paris!  Which is ridiculous for many reasons.  But most of all, we saw our luggage on the carousel in Paris, and a guy was taking it off to be put on the plane to Naples.  The airline ticket lady assured us that we had not actually seen our luggage on the carousel: you mean the three bags that look identical and have our names and addresses on the tags in our handwriting?  Those bags that we didn't see?  Then as we walked away, the guy walked past and told me again that they were going to the plane bound for Naples.  Jack wagons!  (If you don't know this reference, find the Geico commercial where R. Lee Ermy is playing a psychiatrist).  We tracked down our bags, they'd arrive on a plane the next day at noon.

     We crashed at a hotel for the night (part of the original plan), where the bartender apologized that the pizza was a frozen reheat.  I thought it was funny.  We didn't trust the airport to make the two hour drive and find our apartment in a timely manner (and having no change of clothes) so we waited back at the airport to claim our bags.  The delay cost us six or seven hours of time in Praiano.  Jack wagons!

     The car rental place pulled a total bait and switch "we have a car....."  Wait.  What happened to the car I reserved and have already paid for?  "Oh.  You want that car?  Its a manual.  This one is automatic and has GPS."  Turns out, automatic shifting and GPS were totally worth it!  Poor Tony drove two hours through hairpin turns and narrow two lane streets where the bus barreling down the opposite side came around a corner looking like it was going to smash us and passed within inches of us.  I was a nervous wreck and had to read a book to prevent the imminent freak out.

     Our apartment is amazing!  For around 150 euro a night we have a two bed, two bath apartment with ocean views from both balconies and our bedrooms.  Unfortunately, the pictures never donut justice.  I couldn't sleep after the adrenaline if Bar results, so I spent and hour waitin for the sun to come up over the mountain at Capo Conco. Wouldn't it figure that it clouded up just as the sun was about to appear?

     We finally arrived in Praiano mid afternoon on Wednesday, where the guy with our keys managed to find us. Super sweet guy, Tony (an Italian guy from Canada) made us several reservations and made tons of recommendations for the best places in the area. Like our own personal Trip Advisor!

     The market nearby is called Tutti per Tutto, which means everything for everybody. Meat, veggies, cleaning supplies, munchies, and a serious wine cellar!  Canadian Tony sent us to meet Pasquale the market owner's son and wine maker, who gave us a couple of impromptu tastings when he was there. So amazing!  Even my Tony liked the wine (I've been trying to turn him for years)!  We made ourselves a nice simple dinner and started to get the lay of the town. 

So many stairs!  To get out of our place we have to up climb 93 stairs; and to get to the bottom of the mountain to the beach is down 300 with some serious inclined straightaways.  I don't mind the the down so much, but the up is horrible!  Tony disagrees with me, he likes the up part better.

     It's got to get easier, right?

First Stop, Paris

05/14/2015

      It started with a conversation with a couple of friends while we weren't paying attention in class.  iDevices make it too easy to "pass notes", teachers don't stand a chance.  My friends had been taking trips and asked where I had traveled to. Answer: nowhere. My friend Josh pops up and says his fiancée Alana is running in the Paris marathon; and what had started as a family trip had turned into a big friends and family trip, and that we should join them!  In the end, the marathon plans fell through and we decided to go to Italy instead.  Surprise benefit: we had an eight hour layover in Paris and make a side excursion of it!

     Paris was amazing!  As if it wouldn't be, right?  We took the train (think BART) from the airport to the heart of Paris, and jumped off at Notre Dame.  I couldn't believe the detail of the stonework and all the stained glass windows. The doesn't even account for the breathtaking paintings twice as tall as I am. Truly incredible, and the pictures cannot remotely compare.

     After Notre Dame we had some lunch where we tried escargot. Yes, you heard me, we ate snails!  They were actually quite good.  I always thought they were regular garden snails that eat my flowers, but they are sea snails and they are a lot like eating a clam. Not everything can be like chicken, you know.   Somehow I ended up with deep fried salmon and french fries... all the way to France and I'm eating American food?  I skipped those and had mousse without guilt.  Chocolate makes everything better!

     The Seine runs right through the heart of Paris and has many pretty bridges that span it. At Point Neuf we followed tradition: Tony and I put a padlock on the mesh of the bridge and tossed the key into the water.  I like a little romance ;)

(Can you see the Eiffel Tower in the background on the left?)

     We also found many wonderful artists displaying their work, and I brought home a wonderful drawing/painting of the bridge where our lock is at. Call me a cheesy tourist, but I really liked it. And for 15€ I can afford to be a little cheesy!

     After lunch we walked to the Louvre Museum.  I knew it was big, but I didn't know how big.  This place looks like a palace!  It is three stories high, goes three stories below ground, and he underground continues for quite a ways for art to be stored underground.  Sadly, we didn't have three days to get lost inside, so we walked through the courtyard and shot a photo at the pyramid entrance and kept touring. 

(This is a panoramic of The Louvre from inside the courtyard)

     I wanted to make it all the way to the Arc de Triomphe, but it was further than I thought and we were suuuuper tired, (we'd been traveling 18 hours 

by then) and in need of a snack and some coffee.  We walked through this incredibly long park and eventually made it to a cafe for some espresso and water with no gas.  After that, we went back to the Notre Dame to shop at a store Alana and I had seen.  It was the very next train stop, so we walked instead.  Close, my foot!  It felt like we were walking forever!  After a little shopping we jumped back on the train to the airport, with just enough time for some dinner and board the plane. It was perfect!  Great food and great company and a wonderful time.  This was before we learned that our luggage was not in the plane, but I'll write about that in the next blog. 

     At the moment, I'm sitting in the living room of our apartment in Praiano, taking a break before we head out for dinner.  I had a nap in the patio (read: passed out while reading a book) and am now drinking coffee at seven in the evening. How different the culture over here!  I will delay posting since I don't want the world knowing that we aren't home, even though we have a house sitte. It's still creepy. 

    Au revoir!

When It Rains, It Monsoons!

     Without the actual rain, this is California, after all.  The water situation is seriously ridiculous.

     I am specifically to referring to the recent propensity of my children to become ill.  The day Colling went back to school last week, one of his classmates got sent home with Hand Foot and Mouth Disease.  And again the next day.  And a possible third, but I don't remember.  Collin is fine, of course, but darned if Ethan didn't catch it!  And then share with Daddy, too!

     It started Saturday as clapping on his face and what looked like chapping associated acne.  I've been giving him his binkie during naps and at night, and he's been drooling a lot with all the incoming teeth; the chapping wasn't a surprise.  Sunday the chapping and spots were worse.  Then he got a bad diaper rash on Monday.  By Tuesday, I literally watched it worsen throughout the day!  He has blisters and rash all over his diaper area, around his mouth and nose, and patches on both knees.  He does not however, have anything on the palms of his hands, the soles of his feet, or in his mouth (that he would let me see).  Leave it to Ethan to get it super bad and in and an unconventional manner.

     Then Tony came home from work saying a weird sore throat started and hour ago: cue the blisters on his tonsils!  If I get sick, too, I might have a mental breakdown!  We just can't win for losing!

Preschool Days

     Collin has a love/hate relationship with school.  He begs to go to Nana and Papa's house very morning, because he recognizes the roads and it's the same as the route to school.  When we get to school he begs for me to carry him to class, but I'm carrying Ethan and usually half dragging Collin across two parking lots.  I've decided that the worst drivers aren't men, or women, or young people, the older people, or any particular car type: it's people dropping their small children off at elementary school.  Seriously, I have a near miss, or two, every day!

     Collin likes to sit on my knee while we wait for the teachers to come collect the kids, as he starts looking it as soon as he sees the head teacher.  Except for today; Daddy dropped him off and there was no crying whatsoever.  I imagine that the separation anxiety temper will resume when I drop him off tomorrow.  His teacher swears he's done by the time they get to the classroom, and that it's getting better every day.

     As much as he dislikes being dropped off at school, he LOVES taking the bus home!   When I ask him about his day, he only mentions the school bus, with the biggest smile on his face.

     That being said, I'm noticing a huge amount of improvement in him!  I don't recall if I said in the original preschool post, that Collin is in an Autistic class.  He is not autistic, but he has serious delays in his speech and social skills; which is what is emphasized in the class for those with autism.  He started school, made it less than two weeks before he got sick, went to Indiana, and was still sick. He's been back for a week and a half, and even with all this upheaval he is improving metes and bounds!  Three word sentences are becoming the norm, his interaction with his brother is much improved, and he has independence enough for all four of us.  Sometimes this is a problem, but overall it's a good thing.  As the language increases, e tempers are decreasing.  Along with the on-purposes.

     I'm so glad we went this route and didn't let the possible stigmatizing title thwart this progress!

When the Cat is Away... All Hell Breaks Loose!

04/26/2015

     The pet store was having a special in fish, and I wanted some more fish for Ethan's tank.  When Collin and I returned, Tony was all kinds of irritated, and the house stunk to high heavens!

     I was thinking diaper explosion, but I was wrong. Tony said Ethan was sleeping on the couch with my down lap blanket when he started gagging. He threw up the entire contents of a blueberry Greek yogurt I had fed him. On the couch and my blanket. Blueberry!  You know, the little fruit that likes to permanently stain stuff?  Yep. That blueberry. 

     He ran to the garage for pet stain and odor remover and on the kitchen counter he found a bottle of the stain remover with a convenient spray bottle top. He sprayed like crazy, only to realize that it wasn't the stain remover bottle. It was the potty training  pheromone spray I had bought to train the dogs. My hose smells amazing :(

How do you remove such smell?  The stain remover spray that was almost gone in the first place. I mentioned I just came back from the pet store?

     A odor removing candle, the remainder of the stain spray, a load of heavily treated laundry, and lots of open doors and windows.  My house still smells, and it's making my congestion worse.

     Can these boys feel better already?  Worse than a sick child, is two sick children creating this amount of mess!

Trip to Indiana: Part One

04/23/2015

     To say we had an amazing visit to Fort Wayne is an understatement. it was fabulous!  The boys were well behaved, especially considering how much they missed Daddy and home, and all the new places and people everywhere.

     I last left off while we were on the plane to Chicago.  By the time we boarded the second plane, Collin was in love!  We started to taxi out, then had to wait for another plane to take off.  He was so upset!  "Go!  Up!  Go!  Up!"  For a child with a speech delay, he was talking so much, and putting two and three words together consistently, and using his manners with strangers.  I was a proud mama!

     Papa and Ethan were pals the whole second flight.  Which was nice, because my arm was killing me from holding his sleeping 20 pound self the previous million hours.

     Collin has discovered holding hands.  Not only discovered, but he initiated holding my hand on several occasions, especially during the flights.  Yes, love, you can hold my hand as long as your want, even if its smashed into your cheesy scrambled eggs on your lap :)

     Maybe more than he loved the airplane, he loved pulling my dad's carry on.  I was using it as a diaper bag of sorts for the trip, so it went everywhere with us.  Collin would get out of the car and go to the back and wait for us to pull it out, take the handle and pull it into the hotel, through the halls to the elevator.  Stand it up, and push the up button. and patiently wait for the elevator.  Doors opened, he'd grab the case, roll it onto the car, and wait for us to say which number button to push.  On the ride he's cock his head sideways and watch for the arrow on the inside ledge of the door to illuminate.  Then when the doors opened again, he'd grab the case and take off to our room.  Go to the door, ask for the key card, and let himself in.

     There's actually a video of this whole trip, but it's still in my dad's camera.

     We took several trips to the park while we were gone.  The boys were feeling quite cooped up and I couldn't take too much advantage of their good behavior.  We had eight days of family to get through, and they needed a break to run around and be loud and rambunctious.

     My grandma was doing her best to snuggle up to the boys, but it took a few days.  They were on overload of large groups of new faces wanting to snuggle and play with them.

     Collin has discovered that he can untie other people shoes, and that he generally gets an entertaining reaction from them as they try to hide their feet from him, or when they finally realize what happened.  This is him sneakily undoing my Uncle Larry's shoelaces.

     And since we were out and about and overstimulated, scheduled naps were not going to happen.  One minute, he was lying between my Uncle Ron's feet, and Ron was playing King of Collin.  The next, he was passed out on the floor exactly where he'd been 30 seconds earlier.

     We got the little boys all together at my cousin Jack and Betsy's house.  My Uncle Dave is holding Freddie, who is almost two.  He is such a sweet boy!  He was showing Ethan his toys, and didn't hesitate to share.  Although, Ethan thought it was much more fun to stand in the storage compartment, than to ride on the ride-on car.  Creativity or ingenuity, maybe?

     This is Jack's older son, Ira.  He is such a sweetheart, and so full of energy I have no idea how his mom, Betsy, manages to keep up with him and his little brother.  He and my dad were fast friends, and Ira thoroughly enjoyed playing Lego's with him.
     Dave's wife, Sue, Betsy and I let the big boys play with the little boys; and we girls took off to check out DeBrand's.  Do you like See's?  Ghirardelli?  I'm California loyal, but DeBrand's blows them out of the water!  We went to the chocolate shop, and I got a hot chocolate with a homemade marshmallow and a raspberry truffle.  Talk about chocolate heaven!  We were checking out when I saw a sign that said "Ask us about today's sample."  Well, if I must.  It was a chocolate orange something or other, and it didn't disappoint.  I even procured a dark chocolate bar for my dad (babysitting fee?) and some chocolate covered nuts for Tony since he's been missing them since Chocoholics went out of business.  That counts as a souvenir, right?

     The next day we met with Betsy and the boys for some lunch at Panera, and then toodled around Jefferson Point.  The boys loved this fountain!  We spent quite a bit of time here.  We found some pennies for the boys to toss into the fountain, and they had a great time!

     Ethan loved putting his face in the mist so much, his hair looked like he'd just gotten out of the bath tub.

     Akin to the carry on case, Collin was the self appointed stroller pusher.  Collin doing stuff is adorable, helpful, and super irritating.  He wants to do everything himself, but he can't keep the strolled going anywhere near straight, nearly runs into people, and is suuuuuper slow.  That's what bugs me the most, I'd rather spend the time where I want to be, not travelling.  I just repeated to myself, "Tire him out, tire him out" many times and that made it a little easier.  It really was quite adorable.

     Honestly, I had no concept of what day it was while we were there, and I cannot tell you what happened on what day or time.  I did manage, however, to keep the boys' nighttime sleep patterns on California time.  That actually worked quite well for visiting, since the boys slept until nine or ten, then we could visit until everyone else got tired around nine pm, head back to the hotel, baths and snuggles and settled down and asleep at ten or eleven.

     But still, the lack of nap time wore them down.  There was only one other time where my either of my boys have fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion outside of their bed since they were infants.  I thin k it was a daily occurence during this trip!

     After the tunnel we were trying to wake him up while I made dinner, and he fells asleep on my Uncle Dennis' wife, Kathleen.  Whether it's the mommy gene, the grandma gene, the nurse gene, or something else, she was amazing with them!  We had breakfast with her and Dennis most mornings while we were there.

     Another thing I really enjoyed was the lack of eating out.  We had quite a group with us:  Dennis and Kathleen, Carol and Larry, Dave and Sue, Ron, Grandma, Dad, my boys and myself.  Carol cooked a couple nights, I cooked a couple nights, Dennis and Kathleen cooked a nights; and we all got to be together without the rigmarole of restauranting.  I loved it!  However, the dietary restrictions made things interesting : no cheese, onions, garlic, beans, or fresh veggies.  Even then, we had some great dinners.

     On Saturday (I remembered a day!) my cousin Erin and her husband Jeremy invited the family over for a little BBQ gathering.  They have a house that makes me drool!  How is it that their house in Indiana winter has more light than my house in California?  Erin is a preschool/kindergarten teacher, and has a way with kids.  Ethan took to her immediately!  I was actually really surprised how much he stuck to her and didn't mind when I wasn't around.  They snuggled on her porch swing for a while, and I got a bit of a much needed break.  Towards the end of the evening, he was doing the tired snuggle into her shoulder, and she said "If he falls asleep in my arms, that would make my day."  For that, we need the magic monkey blanket from his GiGi Irene (my mom's mom).  We draped the blanket on her shoulder and he was out!  Is there anything better than a sweet, sleeping baby in your arms, when you're not too exhausted to enjoy it?  I can't think of anything.

     Sunday morning (another day... yay, me!)  we met with everybody at this really great park!  Jack and Betsy with their boys, Erin and Jeremy with their two, Olivia and Nigel, and Jack and Erin's parents Dave and Sue.  It was just a nice easy morning at the park with lots of equipment for the kids to play on, and enough kids to distract them and let the adults visit, too.

     Even the camera person needs to be in a photo, or two.

     Ethan couldn't resist Erin.  We had some great time on the swings, which Collin usually doesn't like.

     Ethan has been teething horribly, he's congested and he sleeps restlessly.  Molars!  H woke up a few mornings and I was hoping if I laid there a minute he would go back to sleep.  Instead, Papa got him out of the crib, changed his diaper and brought him to bed.  Ethan moves so much that he is always on top of the blankets and he gets cold.  And then Papa is his own personal furnace.  Match made in heaven!  Ethan slept another 3 hours three days in a row.

     The problem with keeping the boys on California time is that the hotel stopped serving breakfast at nine thirty.  After Dennis and Kathleen went home (we had been in the same hotel), there was no real need to push the waking up earlier.  IHOP it was!  Its nice to let the boys make their decisions without the hassle of dissimilar choices among the parties.  And Collin was ecstatic to get bacon AND eggs AND pancakes.  Your wish is my command, son.  Didn't hurt at all that our waitresses loved them and doted on them while we were there.

     Another passing out in the middle of Ron's living room, regardless of the voices and noise around him.  Dave and Sue maintain a kid heaven in their basement, and had sent over this wooden train set and some Lego's, knowing we would be spending time their.  The boys LOVED this train set.  It also didn't hurt to have people around to held them build the tracks.

     The accidental group photo... I didn't realize the mirror was there until after I shot this.  They were just having soooooo much fun on the luggage cart while we finished up our packing to go home.

     Our flight from Chicago to San Francisco was delayed two and a half hours, then they were still doing maintenance checks for a half hour after we boarded.  We took LOTS of walks around our little stretch of airport, had lots of snacks, and played with the awesome people next to us who had just spent the week with eight little kids.  Collin also tried to untie a gentleman's shoelaces, except he was wearing combat boots and they were double tied.  They thought it was quite funny.  There was also an awesome woman who commented on how well behaved the boys were, especially since we'd been waiting for 4.5 hours!  Boarding was called and everybody got in long lines, and I waited to board last knowing that I'd probably bang everybody down the 35 row plane with a bag of a child's foot, but that was better than trying to get to our seat with 150 impatient people behind me.  Woman to the rescue!  She was in the front of the HUGE line for our group and offered to let us go in front of her.  I looked down the line and saw now protesters, so we gladly accepted.  She also took one of our bags so Dad could carry Collin, who was getting tired and cranky.  Wherever you are, Laura; thank you!
     Collin fell asleep before take-off, cracked his eyes open as the engines revved, and promptly went back to sleep for the duration of the flight.  Ethan, too!  Two sleeping boys, and Free TV to compensate for the delay?  Yes, please!

     We finally got home about two in the morning, and Tony was at the door before I put the car in park.  We put the boys into bed and crashed!  Collin woke up decently early, had some breakfast, and then asked Daddy to snuggle with him on the couch.  Then minutes later, they were passed out for the count.  They love their snuggles!

     We enjoyed our trip, but are so glad to be home!  The boys missed their daddy and are soaking up snuggles and attention like sponges.  Tony called in sick, so we enjoyed a nice easy-going Wednesday to catch up.

      The content of this post is rather selective in order to maintain a positive, upbeat view.  For the rest of the shenanigans, another post is forthcoming.  Be warned.