Central Beach Coronado Saturday

Jessica said that you know you have a rough life when you have to choose between going to see a Jimmy Buffett concert in Las Vegas or going to the beach. I'd have to agree! When she put it that way, I had to thank the universe for our jobs and geographical location and how they enable us to do the things we want to do. 

There is seriously nothing better than being at the beach and watching your kids run around and have a great time! The beach is such a fascinating place of discovery for them. The little orange fuzzy thing in the slideshow coming up is a sea anenome that washed up on shore attached to a rock. Ian was so excited!

You'll also notice that Shawn is in the water. A few years ago you could barely get him in a swimming pool, and now here he is out boogie boarding in the Pacific Ocean. Who knew?

If I ever win the lottery, I'm moving to Coronado Island. It's just about our favorite place on Earth. If you need to get ahold of us, we'll be there every other weekend this summer and possibly some weekdays too :)

Desert Critters

S0.. we were on the way to visit my good friend Nancy and her sweet new baby at the Naval hospital this evening when Kelly nonchalantly told me she saw a BOBCAT today. I grew up in this desert and I had NEVER seen a live bobcat.

He was gorgeous! So the lady who runs the bed and breakfast wanted Kelly to watch the bobcat while she called animal control, the Joshua Tree National Park rangers, and whomever else might be willing to come and remove the cat from the property. I knew Kelly would be bobcat food, so I offered to stay in her place while she drove to get Shawn and the kids. It's not every day you see a protected species in the wild. I waited alone with him, about 10 yards away while everyone else was trying to figure out how to get rid of him. He was amazing! He watched my every move but barely twitched his ears. 

Here he is on a lower branch.. unfortunately this was before I got there with my zoom lens...

He's pretty well camoflauged in this one, but you can see his cute stubby tail sticking out on the right and his big kitty-cat face on the left. 

Once the inkeeper saw how fascinated the kids and I were with the animals, she offered to show us the resident Horned Owls. They were amazing too!

This guy below is the baby of the family. 

Last night on the way home from the National Park we spotted four snakes out warming themselves on the road. We kept our distance from this guy...

Well, I kept MY distance while Shawn tried to shoo him off the road with a long stick. He coiled up and rattled at us so we thought it would just be best if we left him to his own devices. 

Kelly's Baby Shower

Kelly had the baby shower of all baby showers on Saturday. Seriously. It was huge. It took an SUV and my mom's Mitsubishi to get all the swag home. I had a great time drinking Emily's signature frozen concoction, Peachy Keen, which consists of lemonade, orange juice, a crapload of peach schnapps, more calories than I care to count, and ginger ale. I will reiterate... yum. So much for watching my weight over the weekend. These pounds aren't going to come off if I keep going to Emily's house. It was so nice to see everyone come out and party in honor of Kelly and her babe. Enjoy the pictures.

And seriously, the amount of gifts she recieved was UNBELIEVABLE. She won't have to buy a diaper for MONTHS.

BTW, Kelly and I made the cupcakes and favors. 

EAT YOUR HEART OUT MARTHA STEWART.

I can't wait until he gets here so we can dress him in all the cute outfits!

Dropkick Murphys

As if Shawn wasn't lucky enough for being able to go fishing out on the ocean on Friday, I had a wild hair and decided that we should go see one of our favorite bands, the Dropkick Murphys at the Hollywood Palladium. We were able to find two tickets from someone who wasn't able to go, and after fishing Shawn and Brett drove up to Point Hueneme to pick them up. Jennifer and I took a chance and decided we'd try to get tickets at the box office. Anyway, long story short, the show was sold out but the universe was on our side and we were able to get two tickets outside the gate from people who just happened to have extra and at a lower price than what we would have paid online. Dropkick fans are the best! We're so lucky! We had a fantastic time! I think Jennifer may have been terrified at one point during the show when the crowed erupted into a jumping, shoving, screaming mass, but I think she quickly learned to enjoy it :) I think we'll be making the short, 2 hour trip to Hollywood more often for concerts. The venue was historic (Frank Sinatra opened up the place!) and it's small enough that you can actually SEE the band. Hell, Shawn and I made our way up to the barricade in front of the stage about halfway through the concert. I wouldn't have been able to give Spicy McHaggis a kiss otherwise! I also have to say that the Denny's on Sunset Strip is by far the best Denny's I have EVER been to, lol.

THE Wedding!

I don't even know what to say about the wedding itself. It was beautiful of course, but so much more than that since all of the touches were so personal. To start it off, Shawn's (the groom) best friend played the guitar as Suzie walked down the aisle. She was escorted by both my dad AND my mom. The vows were non-traditional and somehow fit with the bride and groom's medical background. I was moved to tears when friends of Suzie and Shawn performed a song that they had written for the wedding. It was amazing! I wish I had a video of it! Kelly and I did all of the flowers, decorating, and centerpieces for the ceremony and reception. Anyway, here are a few pictures before I talk about the food and the reception :)

The food... did I mention the food? Holy cow! It was fantastic. Suzie chose the appetizers, which consisted of all sorts of goodies (including figs!) wrapped in bacon. There was fruit, grilled vegetables, hummus, an assortment of cheeses (including blueberry!), crackers, and baba ghanoush. The salad was unexpectedly amazing :) It was green topped with pears, bleu cheese, and  candied pecans. Dinner was set up at different stations that consisted of prime rib, crab cakes and sauce, and a mashed potato bar where three types of mashed potatoes were served  in martini glasses. And as if that wasn't cool enough, you had the choice of every potato topping imaginable, all the way down to fried leeks. Dessert was just as good, the bride picked out her very favorite ice cream from a local dairy. The chocolate shots and gourmet coffee bar were also too good to pass up. Now why didn't I think of putting liqueur in chocolate shot glasses? Genius! After sampling all of that I was too full for cake, but managed to sneak in a bite of each flavor. They were all delectable, of course.

The children had a fantastic time mingling with the guests and dancing until they passed out. Everyone was so nice to them and since they were the only children there they became the center of attention on the dance floor. The DJ was even kind enough to play Ian's favorite song, Abba's Dancing Queen! Ian thinks we should go to a wedding every weekend! I disagree, I'm wedding-ed out for awhile :)

The most amazing (have I used that word a time or two?) part of the evening wasn't even wedding-related. The groom, Shawn, has a 27 year old sister with a congenital heart defect. Stephanie has gone through multiple open-heart surgeries as well as a heart transplant at the ripe old age of 15. She had been in the hospital for several weeks up to the wedding and her health was deteriorating rapidly. The week we were there, she was placed at the top of the transplant list. They expected to get a heart for her on New Year's Eve, but that didn't work out. The day of the wedding, Stephanie's doctors flew out of state to check on a donated heart. About halfway through the reception, it was announced that the heart was good and she underwent heart transplant surgery that same night. Gives you goose bumps, right? So when you wonder about the pictures with the laptop computer, now you know. That's Stephanie, the fourth bridesmaid, watching her brother's wedding via Skype and a webcam, from her hospital room. I'm sure she and her family would appreciate any prayers, positive energy, good vibes, well wishes, or whatever else you have to send her way!

Here are the pictures from my mom's camera, captions courtesy of "Bunny" :)  Sorry for any repeats! One thing I forgot to mention was the Matron of Honor's (Suzie's BF from 4th grade, Amanda Powers) speech. She talked about the pact they made in the 4th grade, where not even a brontosaurus could break their friendship. She then went on to talk about ticks and fleas and Suzie's dog, Angus. It was hysterical! You really had to be there, but if I ever come across a video I'll be sure to post it. Enjoy the gratuitous second slide show! 

SNOW!

It snowed for about 8 hours today, nonstop! I'd say we had about 4-5 inches but a town near here got 2 ft! I'm hoping for another snow day tomorrow since desert communities lack the snow removal equipment of places accustomed to winter weather. The news reports say that it hasn't snowed like this in the Morongo Basin since 1979! The kids had a fantastic time playing in the snow and pelting each other with snowballs. It's pretty, but I'll also be glad when the thermometer outdoors gets back up to 65 degrees next week :) That's the kind of California Christmas I remember!

ETA: By the time I was finished typing this post it started snowing AGAIN! Holy cow!

The Sheriff Can Bite Me

It was so refreshing to hear "How much time off do you want?" in regards to the Christmas holidays this year. In the past it's always been a huge battle between Shawn and the Sheriff's Office if he EVER wanted time off for ANYTHING. Here, it's no big deal. Now that he has the time off, we're headed to Delaware! And Washington DC! And the Smithsonian! And Suzie's wedding! The Sheriff can bite me for all of the times Shawn had to miss out on a holiday. 

Disneyland!

We picked up Suzie at LAX on Saturday night and drug her to Disneyland kicking and screaming on Sunday :) Not really, I think she actually enjoyed it as much as the kids did! We went directly to Downtown Disney after LAX and ate dessert at the Rainforest Cafe. Ian was TERRIFIED of the animatronic animals and passed out on my lap, possibly of sheer terror. Shawn and I split a Margarilla, which is like a margarita with orange sherbert and we each ate an order of Bananas Foster, which was heavenly. So we stayed Saturday night at the Ramada in Garden Grove, not realizing that it was Korea town. Not that it makes a difference, but I had not expected the hilarity of drunken Asian karaoke at our hotel until the wee hours. They were singing Pink Floyd which makes it extra hilarious. I could barely contain my giggles as I checked into the front desk but tried REALLY hard not to burst out laughing because I didn't want to offend the hotel manager. Disneyland the next morning was a BLAST and we all enjoyed ourselves immensely (even Shawn! See the teacup pictures for proof!). I see a yearly pass purchase in our near future. The Halloween decorations were AMAZING, especially since I'm a huge fan of Nightmare Before Christmas and a huge fan of Halloween in general. It's so awesome to see a spectacle like Disneyland through a child's eyes! The kids LOVED the characters and the music and the rides and Ian asked if we could go every weekend. With yearly passes and it only being a 2 hour drive, I think we could maybe go every other month at least... or monthly if it was up to me. Enjoy the photos!

We Win!

We went to the playoffs last night in Anaheim... what a blast! Angels stadium is beautiful and the majority of the Angels fans were really nice. They were almost as many Red Sox fans as there were Angels fans there! The crowd was loud and exciting and we had an opportunity to see the Angels "Rally Monkey". He's hilarious. Ian just HAD to have one! That was a little awkward; buying an Angels Rally Monkey while decked out in all your Red Sox gear :) 

Weekend Vacation

So we spent the weekend with our good friends the Langdons at a friend's cozy condo in Big Bear, CA. As if breathing the fresh mountain air wasn't enough, we thought it would be fun to go to the annual Oktoberfest. We planned on having a few drinks, doing the chicken dance once or twice, and checking out the men in Lederhosen. We had no idea that Kelly and I would soon become the Women's Log Sawing champions! What an ironic thing to happen to two desert girls. Logs are few and far between out here:) I went on to place 2nd in the Stein holding competition, and then Kelly and Brett won the Hansel and Gretel log sawing competition as well. It was hilarious. We seriously couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculousness of it. The contestants were other unsuspecting people from the audience so it's not like we were up against pros. 

The weekend continued with shopping in the Village and pine cone hunting around the condo. Ian said "These pine cones are as big as my head!". And indeed, they were. And if you know how big Ian's head is, that's really saying something!  We had fun dressing the girls in matching outfits and jammies, and Brett made us an amazing breakfast both days complete with homemade waffles. Kelly and I of course supplied the mimosas. I think that Shawn even had fun, and with him it's always hard to tell! I'm sure that meeting the Jagermeister girl didn't hurt his feelings in any case. I'm so excited for October, we have fun-filled plans for every weekend beginning with Anna's birthday party and PJ's coed bachelor poker party. We'll be visiting Disneyland, traveling to Phoenix for PJ's wedding, going pumpkin picking in Oak Glen, and possibly returning to Big Bear for the log sawing championship. Kelly and I decided that if we win we'll join the professional log-sawing circuit and possibly be on log sawing TV :) The last weekend we'll be hosting a Halloween party and taking the kids trick-or-treating in their Alice in Wonderland themed costumes. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Stages of Moving

I wonder if there are stages of moving... something akin to the stages of grief. I can tell that there are definitely some stages involved because I've gone through a gamut of emotions. First came excitement. Then indecision. Then disbelief. More excitement and a little bit of surrealism and some extreme sadness. With only 4 days to go, I feel like I've entered the stage where I just want to puke. Hopefully this stage is followed by something nice like elation, relaxation, joy, or contentment. 

Unfortunately, I'm afraid that the only stages I'll be able to experience once I get there are the "holy crap, it's fucking hot here!"and "holy crap, why did we bring so much stuff?" stage. 

So Excited

San Diego is only a 2.5-3 hour trip from 29 Palms. It's like driving from Salina to Kansas City, only prettier. I just checked the weather forecast for San Diego out of curiousity, and it's going to be 70 degrees and sunny for the next five years. I have a feeling that we're going to put our new tent and a beach to good use after we move...

I'm Going To Need More Pina Coladas

Today reality set in. We're leaving in 11 days. When my sister mentioned that pulling away from the house is going to be the hardest part... I lost it. This has been hard on all of us. No matter how much I've wanted to leave the last 12 years, part of me still loves Kansas.

I am still excited to go, however. The thought of sitting by the pool having a margarita with Jen or going shopping with Mayda or Mom or Kelly or having dad come over helping us with the house (whenever we get one!) are all very motivating reasons. Having someone to always play SingStar with sounds like fun too :) No matter how much I want to go, it's still just really hard. Shawn says I'm not allowed to complain because this is what we decided to do. I'll just suck it up, have a pina colada, and enjoy the ride.