Our Vacation Rental

Well, I finally posted all of my San Francisco pictures on Facebook in 2 albums. Check them out and leave lots and lots of comments if you haven't already. It's easier for me to upload massive amounts of pictures at once on there. Blogger only lets you do 5 at a time... has anyone found an easier way? Anyways, we had a super time visiting Aaron. We were gone for 5 days, so it was almost a week, but it was long enough to feel like we got to get away, but not so super long that it wasn't fun anymore.

We once stayed in Vegas for 10 days. That is way to frigging long for Vegas. First time stays, I would advise a max of 5 days in that city. WAY TOO LOUD, NOISY, AND SMOKEY! Really, a 3 or 4 day weekend is plenty to just do Vegas. Really all the Casinos and Buffets are the same, with slightly different themes. All the shops are overpriced and who wants to sit through more than one or two shows in one weekend...

Anyways, we had a car take us to and from the airport with our luggage since Aaron has a compact. He also has a compact apartment, so we stayed at a vacation rental vs. a hotel. It was a really good place to stay. Check out photos of our place here http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p191003 I wrote the 2nd review...read it for more details. On second thought, maybe I shouldn't advertise that place in case we want to go back. I don't want the dates to be all booked up!

We ate at some really good restaurants. We ate breakfast at our condo, and ate out the rest of the time. We had Thai, Asian Fusion, some Shrimp Place, Indian, some local pizza place, and an "Organic Kitchen" where I had the best Split Pea Soup ever...even better than I make it! We also went to a frozen yogurt place called Yogurt Park, which Claire loved. We probably won't be flying anywhere for awhile with the new baby on the way...and I plan on laying low for a least 3 months after he/she is born!

Dealing with Unwanted Advice

Well unwanted advice in print is easy to deal with. You can just stop reading. Close the browser. Delete the email. Delete the comment off of your Facebook page. It's a little harder to deal with unwanted advice in person. Ahhh joy. Here is a good article that you might find interesting: http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/family-parenting/articletkt.aspx?cp-documentid=21032199&GT1=32001 It's actually applicable to anyone...which is to just ignore a lot and let the small stuff go. I think the most annoying thing with strangers is their observations if Claire is dressed to warm or cold. I love it when they say she should have a hat on and they don't and I don't. I think it's because her hair is so light...but really...she loves hats and I would put one on her if it's cold enough. 50 and above does not need a hat people.

Funny Story

Brian invited his mother over for dinner. During the course of the meal, Brian's mother couldn't help but notice how beautiful Brian's roommate, Jennifer, was. Brian's Mom had long been suspicious of a relationship between Brian & Jennifer and this now made her more curious. Over the course of the evening watching Brian & Jennifer interact, she started to wonder if there was more between them than met the eye.

Reading his mother's thoughts, Brian volunteered, " I know what you're thinking, Mom, but I assure you Jennifer & I are just roommates."

About a week later, Jennifer said to Brian, "Ever since your mother came to dinner, I've been unable to find the silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took it, do you?"

Brian replied, "I doubt it but I'll send her an e-mail to be sure."
So he sat down & wrote:
Cute email I got:

Dear Mom,
I'm not saying you 'did' take the gravy ladle and I'm not saying you 'did not,' take the gravy ladle, but the fact remains it's been missing since you were here.
Love, Brian

Several days later, Brian received an e-mail back from his mother:

Dear Son,I'm not saying you 'do' sleep with Jennifer and I'm not saying you 'do not' sleep with Jennifer, but the fact remains that if Jennifer were sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.
Love, Mom

LESSON FOR THE DAY: NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER!

My Informal Poll

I made an informal poll on Cafe Mom after my first H1N1 post. I thought I'd post the results here:

Poll Results
Question: What is the hottest parenting debate?

Breast vs. Formula Feeding
30%
Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers
0%
Spanking or Gentle Disciplining
24%
Vaxing or Not Vaxing
26%
Parenting to sleep or Crying it out
0%
Organic Living
0%
Car Seat Safety
12%
When to start solids
1%
Home School vs. Public School
0%
TV watching
0%
OTHER- Please leave a comment with what
4%
Total Votes: 86

The OTHERS were political or religious commentary, which is definately involved in parenting, as well as to circ or not. It looks like breast vs. bottle is first followed by a close 2nd of vax issues. What do you think? I would set up another poll here, but I'm too lazy. Just leave a comment for us to read.

New ISU Rec Center

I am super impressed with ISU's rec center that has newly opened. Check out the photos: http://isuphoto.smugmug.com/Other/marketing/Rec-Center-Pool/9171395_7snK5#612552820_qnsud It wasn't there when I went there. BUMMER!!!

Remembering

A year ago today I got a random and kind of shocking phone call from my dad that my Grandma had died. I was like, "What?" It's still incredibly sad to me that I lost my remaining 3 Grandparents by the time Claire was 1 1/2. Who wants to go to a funeral before their 6 week post-partum check? Here's some video footage of my maternal Grandparents. She said to wear yellow at her funeral. So we did. So weird...last October she was just having a blast watching Claire walk around for the first time. Claire didn't walk until the end of September and so when we went to see her in October, it was the first time she was able to see her walk. It was kind of ironic, as both Vernon and LaVerne were depending more and more on their wheelchairs. At our last visit, LaVerne was just laughing and giggling in the way that she did, commenting how by this time next year, Claire would really start talking. And boy, was she right. CLAIRE.LIKES.TO.TALK.!!! I think the hardest part was that Vernon was expected to go first and was in poor health, whereas LaVerne was pretty much fine and died of a sudden heart attack or stroke. So I was just thinking about that today and how fast and fleeting time is.

Home Sweet Home

I love coming home to our house and familiar stuff. It's always good to get away, but it's always good to come home, too. I love how our house smells upon return. I don't notice it if we are away for only a night, but something about 2 or more nights, brings out the smell...it's a good smell, no worries. It used to be a nasty smell when we came home after a long weekend, we'd smell the nasty catbox when we stepped inside the garage. never. getting. cats. again. I also hate the way catfood smells. Blech. I will save my ranting for how nasty, gross, and dirty animals are for another time...but REALLY...I felt like the house was always dirty with animals...but I digress.

We got home yesterday morning, very early, after a long flight home. It seemed much later because Claire was a complete crank. She fell asleep the first leg of the flight, but we had to switch planes. I tried so carefully to stand up and not move her, but she woke up anyways. Then she did not fall asleep until she was in her own carseat. She pretty much fell asleep the instant we were out of the bright city lights. But on the 2nd leg of the flight, this lady across the aisle kept trying to "help" me entertain Claire, but really she was just keeping her up, and I kept trying to hint she was trying to fall asleep. Freaking annoying lady. I know she was trying to help, but was she that clueless? She told me she had an 8 month old grandbaby, so she's had a least 1 kid. How do you nicely tell someone to leave you alone?

Just a warning...if you ever go through the San Franciso airport, security was AWFUL. We even waited in the family line so it would be faster. Usually the family line there is only about 3-4 families and it's less than 10 minutes. We had to wait at least 20 minutes. Then a crew of 10 came through and we had to wait for them. I'm not trying to complain. I'm glad we have security. I'm just observing how the INDY airport is awesome...I've never had to wait more than like 10 min. in the old or new one. I ended up throwing away some milk and water I had brought for Claire because I didn't want to take the extra time to have them check the toddler's liquids. And it was so hot. It seriously looked like a line for Disney with a 2 hour wait. Rows and rows of sweaty people waiting. I also think that the Indy airport has a bigger area than they did for security. I think they need to expand their security!

But we made it all in one piece with no lost luggage either way. The only bummer was I had some cheddar bunnies (think goldfish) in one bag that I checked that opened and spilled and got EVERYWHERE. I'm talking completely crushed horrible mess. ARGH.

But it's so glorious to come home and lay in your own bed and not worry about how child-proof the location is! So what does our house smell like? Well, believe it or not, it just smells clean and new. It smells like paint and carpet...I'm sure it's still leeching all sorts of crazy, toxic chemicals out even thought it's 4.5 years old now. But oh, they smell so good! :)

Home sweet home.

Lots of pictures to come...should I post them here or on FB?

Flying to San Franciso

We headed out to San Franciso last Thursday morning for a visit to Josh's brother, Aaron, who lives out there. Here is Claire in the Indy Airport, waiting to board. She brought this baby along for the trip. She has named it "Toby." She was inspired by the movie Labrynith. She is playing with a little tube of Chapstick here. These pants have pockets on the legs, which she loves to put stuff in. Her shirt said "Cute as a Bug." It reinforced my not liking Tees with words because probably at least 12 people commented on it before we even got on the plane. "Oh she is as cute as a bug." Really. I don't think bugs are cute. There is a picture of a little lady bug on this shirt after the word BUG, but Toby is covering it up.
Anyways, we had a good flight out to the Bay Area. We changed plans at Midway, and Claire did great on both legs of the flight there. We got there late and the time changed sucked. She did fall asleep watching Tinkerbell on the way out there, so that was awesome. She had her own seat on the plane since she's 2...she has to!

We did bring our own carseat and stroller as well. We did not bring the carseat into the plane cabin though. I don't think it's FAA compliant...and I'm too lazy to look it up. I do like Southwest though, as they bag the carseats in large bags. When we went to VA Beach in July, they did not bag it on that airline...they don't do the bags. Plus I was looking forward to having a little extra elbow room and not having a big old car seat jabbing into my side. It was great. We put Claire in the middle and Josh and I stole her legroom, since her legs barely go past the end of the seat!

More on our trip to come!