Pie Anyone?

Ah, Thanksgiving. That happy time of year when there is lots of cooking, lots of feasting and I go away fat and happy. Literally. Time to pull out the extra roomy pants. This year we went on a hike before the feast with my family...as if that would help. It just made me hungrier. I think I ate the most, followed closely by Allison who blew everyone away with her food packing abilities. She also about broke my arm trying to get at my slice of apple pie with ice cream. She's my kinda girl.

Here are the highlights:

We made pie. Three of them. From scratch. Seriously. The craziest part is that they actually turned out pretty good. If anyone knows me and my cooking abilities, they should know that this could be counted as a miracle. Granted, it was a team effort with Jevan, and he is a better cook, but we are both novices when it comes to pie crusts and meringue. We were quite proud of ourselves. So much so that we took pictures. We made a lemon meringue, an apple and a chocolate cream...all in the time it takes to watch Ratatouille (we watched it while we cooked. Fitting, no?). We even gave our apple a pie a sheep. What's an apple pie without a good livestock cut-out on it? That's what we say. Ours got a sheep. Baaa. It was good times.
Here's a close up of the sheep:

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Thanksgiving morning I woke up to Jane doing her usual morning chant..."Mom! I awake! Mom! I awake!" If you don't come in promptly in turns into a song, and then a wail...and eventually a scream. I go in to get her in the wailing stage, and then decide to hop back into my bed with her 'cause dang, it's cold. Just as we walk past my bedroom window, I open my blinds and....what the? What is that? It's none other than a giant hot air balloon taking off from my backyard neighbor's lawn (okay, so maybe it wasn't on their lawn but somewhere close by ... the elementary school field maybe?) It was so close and SO BIG! Jane was mesmerized. We went out onto the deck and watched it climb into the sky. It was definitely a highlight. Jane talked about it all morning.

We went hiking with my family in the afternoon. We tried to put Jane in her backpack but she spent the whole time wanting in and then out, and then in, and then out. Drove Jevan nuts. We eventually gave up and hiked home a little early...which was okay because I was starving!

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It was a good Turkey day. We spent the rest of the weekend getting lots of stuff done we needed to and also playing. We went to Gardner Village to see the elves (so cold!!!) and also tried out the McDonald's playplace by our house. Not so good. Jane got trampled by a bunch of rowdy kids up in one of the tunnels and wouldn't go back in after that. AND, we remembered why we hate McDonalds. The food is yuck. Even Allie wouldn't eat it. And that's saying something.

She's MOBILE!

Allison: Mom's got a camera. Man, that thing sure is shiny and silver and probably feels pretty cool on the tongue. Gotta have that. Rev up my engines....here I go! Focus....focus....must have shiny thing......must have shiny thing...GOTCHA!
Me:(as the camera gets jammed into my eye socket) Yikes! Give that back!

It's happened. Allison is mobile. We should all be afraid. I know I am. I think Jane is too. No longer are her precious toys safe from the teething, slobbery mouth of her sister. Allie surprised me today by making it across the room. The best part is how she revs up her engines before she starts off. In crawling position, she moves her little bum back and forth in the air until the momentum carries her forward. If she gets a little overzealous, her arms don't keep up and she lands on her face. Cute though, ain't she? My other favorite part is how Jane copies her. First I have Allison crawl to me and then Jane yells, "Janey's turn!". Then Jane VERY slowly crawls toward me, teetering from time to time and occasionally falling onto her stomach. I think Allison may even be faster than Jane if I were to clock them at it.

That's all.

Oh, and does anyone have a child that is OBSESSIVE about one book in particular? Jane does and right now, it's Abiyoyo. If I have to sing the song one more time......no offense Pete.

Also, does uploading and placing pictures on blogger make anyone else swear? Am I just doing it all wrong?

Vacation Madness

Wow. I can’t believe it has been a month since I last posted. October was nuts. We basically fit a summer of vacations into one month. Insane but so fun.

Again, loooong post. Sorry folks.

First was Cabo San Lucas. This was our first REAL trip without kids since Jane was born (we’ve done weekends here and there but never for this long). We went for 7 days (we had planned to be gone 6 days but as you will find out later, it turned out to be 7). Needless to say, I wasn’t sure how I would hold up being gone from our little stinkers that long. First day, pretty hard. Second day, still hard. Third day, kids? What kids? We have kids?

It was wonderful. We stayed at an all inclusive resort which was a new thing for us and decided it was a great deal (or mostly a great deal…it is a fabulous deal if you drink lots of alcohol..and most people did…A LOT). The resort was beautiful, right on the beach and we had meals or snacks whenever we wanted them. We especially enjoyed ordering virgin drinks by the pool and we were often entertained by the reactions we got from the servers. Pina Coladas and daiquiris were okay, but one time we tried to order something called a California Orange and when we asked for it virgin, the guy looked at us with disgust and said “but then it’s just juice!” Umm…yep..it sure is. That’s kinda the point. Can we have one?

Here are some quick highlights:

-If the phrase "breast pump" makes you feel uncomfortable, skip this one. Actually, it makes me feel funny writing it so I will from now on refer to it as "the BP". So I am still nursing Allison and I wanted to continue nursing her when I got home, so I brought a big electric BP with me. We get to the hotel and I go to use it, plug it in, and….it doesn’t work. That’s a problem. We tried several things and finally decided that maybe we needed some kind of converter for the plug. Maybe it was the wrong voltage or something? We go into town and search desperately with no luck. Electronic stores are not too popular in Cabo. Bars are though. In tears, I spot a pharmacy. We go in and after a lot of R-rated sign language, the lady behind the counter figures out what I need. So, I am now the proud owner of this. Bicycle horn? Clown horn? No, no..it IS a BP. I kept asking the lady where the milk is supposed to go and she keeps pointing to the little red rubber ball. Uh huh. Right. Well, let’s give that a shot shall we? Back at the hotel, I tried it out and let’s just say a bicycle horn would have felt better…or maybe a turkey baster. I went back to my electric BP and kept playing with the wires, turning it on and off. Finally, I give up, say a little prayer, turn it on and it WORKS! Talk about a good lesson for me, especially in humility.

-One night I went up to one of the hoppin’ bars in my pajamas and ordered a chocolate milk. The bartender later asked if I wanted another chocolate margarita. Good times.

-They had moths there the size of sparrows. My mom’s idea of hell.

-We played pool volleyball, got sunburns, ate sushi, turned down some weed from a beach vendor, and played “count the tankinies”. I won with my guess of 1. Mine.

-We went snorkeling and sea kayaking with a guide named Juan Carlos (haven’t you always wanted to meet a strapping man named Juan Carlos?) and a funny family from Wisconsin. At the end of the trip, after it had taken many tries to finally get the mom of the family into a kayak she proudly exclaimed, “that was the most adventurous thing I’ve done in my life!”

-We played tennis, boogie boarded in the ocean and sat on the beach at night. One night Jevan was telling me about a co-worker that goes to a beach house in CA every year and they build giant detailed buildings out of sand. We then started talking about sand building contests and how some people can sculpt famous people out of sand. We decided that if we were to ever learn that art, we would sculpt famous people that would probably not ever get picked for the oh-so-glamorous-let’s-sculpt-them-sometime team. Here’s our line-up: Janet Reno, Shiva the Destroyer, John Stamos and Charles Dikkens, the well-known Dutch author. We were thinking we could maybe start some kind of religion with them too, like the people who worship the Giant Flying Spaghetti Monster. Did you know that is really a religious cult? I’m serious. Google it.

-We did a zip line tour across a series of canyons which also included some rappelling. The company even included a tequila factory tour, with complementary tasting. I had no idea tequila was made from a cactus. I thought the taste came from the fermented worm in the bottom of the bottle. Silly me.

-Flying on Mexican airlines is not always the best idea. Our flight from Cabo was late, making us miss our connecting Delta flight to SL. We had to spend a lot of time running around the airport in Mexico City, trying to figure out what to do until finally we were sent to Phoenix and had to stay the night there (compliments of Aeromexico) and fly home in the morning. That is pure torture to a mom who just wants to get home and see her kids.

That’s Cabo.

We were home for a week and then I left Jevan at home and took off for Disneyland with the kids. We went with my mom, sister, sister-in-laws and all their kids. We were 15 strong and a force to be reckoned with. First off, getting through airport security with a baby and toddler and all the STUFF they have is a sight to behold. So funny. After Jevan said goodbye at the airport, he secretly snuck up to the next floor of the airport and watched us go through security. He got a good laugh at our little circus.

Disneyland was fun. I think it was a lot of fun for Jane, albeit completely over stimulating and by the end of the trip she was blitzed beyond belief. It is crazy to see what sleep deprivation can do to toddler. She was like a frantic little bug that just keeps flying itself into the window over and over. She loved riding the rides and being with her cousins. Allison was a real trooper and really complained only once. That was Halloween night, when I put her in her Dumbo costume and we went to California Adventure to their Halloween event with trick-or-treating and a parade. She was not happy that night. She looked SO cute though. Jane was pirate princess and had a great time getting candy and dancing the Monster Mash in the parade. All in all it was a fabulous time and it would have never been possible without the help of my mother. Thanks Mom!

So there’s October. Hopefully November will be a little less insane and I can write smaller posts for crying out loud.

Here are some pictures:











































Cabo on Flickr

Disneyland on Flickr