Wednesday, September 17, 2008

CA Road Trip, part 1 - Edwards AFB & CA City

We just returned home from our vacation on Monday. We were gone 8 days. Poor Sharrid. Two Saturdays ago we found a hole in a hose in our car, the day before we were to leave, so I had to run into Scottsdale with a friend to the only place around that had the part. Sharrid got home at 11 pm from work and did the car work. He ended up keeping at it til almost 4 in the morning (long story) and we ended up leaving later than planned on Sunday but we made it! I have so many feelings about our trip that I'll share throughout these posts coming, but one thing I have learned is that people deserve to go on a lot more vacations than they are able to take. Our vacation is already so surreal to me. It feels like a dream...

We drove to my Aunt Theresa's house (my mom's sister) at Edwards Air Force Base in the middle of no where. My uncle Gale is a Doctor in the Air force, and he's stationed on base. I have never ever stayed at any of their houses so it was a real treat. I had a great time talking to Theresa about anything and everything and we were able to have family night with them. The funniest part about it all was a game they regularly play for FHE. The game is this: Someone is it. They pick a theme, like days of the week, or basic colors, ect. Then they carry around a cup of water and a little scoop spoon to each person who then tries not to guess what the person picked. Eventually somebody says what the person chose and that person gets a spoonful of water in the face. That's the game...and they think it's so funny. I'm just beginning to "get" that. They fed us well, roast one night and BBQ'd ribs the next! Right up our alley! Above is a picture of Marcelus eating at Theresa's house. During the day we headed over to Sharrid's Grandpa's apartment who lives about 15 minutes from Theresa's in a little town called California City. The following pictures are from those visits.

The man next to Shar is Thomas, Grandpa's best friend. He lives in Cal City too. He came over the second day to see us. The last time we visited Cal City, we were barely married a couple months and we went over to Thomas' house that time. It was good to see him again. He's so young for being 84! He seems like he's 60 or something! He talks fast and moves fast like my grandpa Packard! ha ha

Grandpa James and Sharrid with Phoenix. Grandpa is funny. He thinks Sharrid grows bigger every time he sees him. He asks him if he'll ever stop growing, ha ha

I had to get in at least ONE picture. Thomas cut a bit of my head off!
Grandpa liked holding Phoenix and noticed his size. He said "He's a greedy little thing isn't he?" So true. It was funny.

He got a kick out of Marce's mischief. He was pretty entertained by the terrible two's... Marce liked to play with grandpa's old ash trays. They are clean and just sitting around. He doesn't smoke anymore but keeps them around to feel good about his big accomplishment of quitting. Marce played with them like they were little plates and bowls. He kept giving them to us as if we were playing tea party.

We took Grandpa to Denny's in a nearby town called Mojavi, just for him to order a Coke...apparently he eats at very specific times. It wasn't one of those times ha ha

This picture is from before our trip at Connie's. The kids played while we went to my cousin Buddy's wedding open house. These two are so funny.
Another picture from before at our house. Marcelus and his best friend...Hoover.
Back to Grandpa's...

CA Road Trip, part 2 - Carlsbad & Sea World

Coming into Carlsbad and throughout the time we were there I was trying to tell Sharrid what the place means to me and the feeling I get when I am there. I tried to explain it as best as I could. The fact is I never feel better anywhere else. I feel like nothing can ever get me down when I'm there. There's a feeling in the air. It's a happy feeling. It's really hard for me to explain but this is why I love being there more than any other place. The best way I could sum it up for Sharrid was when I told him, "Everyday in Carlsbad feels like Christmas morning to me." There's really no place I'd rather be more and it is one of my few dreams to live there someday.

The weather was perfect. We never turned on the A/C in our car once. We just cracked the windows and the ocean breeze was so nice. I did realize while we were there that a vacation as a young mom can only go so far. I was not on vacation from changing diapers, breastfeeding, and filling up sippy cups. Maybe someday I will be...the kids were good generally but I guess there are those things you can never get away with. I felt bad that I didn't get to take my walk I ALWAYS take while in Carlsbad. It's very short but with the kids, I couldn't squeeze it in. For those who are familiar, I walk through Floyd's driveway and G&G's other house they built to the back of the Monroe house. I always try and see what is different about the Monroe house and I just stand there at the fence for a while looking at it, and then I walk back the same way, that's it. But, I wasn't able to do it this time. Sometimes I walk around the long way to Tamarack and over to Monroe and back. We did take the first day of our trip to drive around Carlsbad and Oceanside. I wanted to show Sharrid around. We drove by Lisa's new house up by Camp Pendleton. We drove by the beach and we stopped by G&G's old Snead house. The pictures below of me are in front of the house. I have thousands of memories from this house and the yard. It was special to be there and think of some of them. They cemented the drive way and took the Jacuzzi out but not much had changed.

Thursday we spent the day at SeaWorld in San Diego. We got an employee discount on our tickets and actually had 2 days but we only took one. It was ok, but I don't feel like you're missing anything if you don't go. It took me an hour or so to realize that you can't just make the rounds here like at Disneyland. Things have their own specific time. You have to plan out everything and do more backtracking unfortunately. Phoenix was a dream the whole time and I only had to feed him twice, at lunch and waiting for the Shamu show to start. Marce was pretty good and even walked with us outside the stroller quite a bit. He loved these Sesame Street rides they had.




I think the best part was the Sting Rays. It was kind of scary to touch them but we did and Marce was not afraid. He loved it. He loved that he could get up close and really be with them. There weren't a lot of people around and he was smiling and laughing the whole time.




This is where the Dolphins are but you can't really see anything from the picture, sorry. It was crowded a bit here so we didn't stay long. We did go to the Dolphin show later and the Shamu show. Marce had fun eating Kettle Corn and Cotton Candy. I don't know if he was paying real close attention to the shows though.



We ate lunch at a little Italian cafe. It was nice. Marce's lunch came in this little lunch box.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Just For Fun



Not very many options on this widget but here's the best I could do for our family...

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

The Artform


Last night Marcelus fell asleep before the sun went down but I knew he was down for the night. He had not had a nap and he had run out of gas, he was out. Phoenix also went down easy (comparitively) so I decided to read a little in Eclipse (yes I am still plugging away...) and then watch a Netflix that I have had for too long!

It is one of 3 or 4 DVD's of a compilation of little clips of the best interviews of Larry King Live. I love Larry King as an interviewer. I used to watch him almost every night when I was living at home. I really miss not being able to watch his show. He has the best theme music although I think it has changed since then. I'm very picky about my media people and the news organizations. I tend to NOT watch the news actually for a few good reasons I won't go into. But I like Larry King and his show because I have never really seen through him, meaning I have never been able to tell where he stands on something. He does such a great job of being neutral, even if he isn't. He doesn't sway me either way. He just asks the questions, the questions that are good and need or want asking and listens and keeps the conversation rolling. He's probably my favorite interviewer. I also like Barbara Walters for the same reasons, but she's not as good as Larry.

So, last night I was completely engulfed in this. Of course it is right up my alley. I would rather Netflix interviews than any movie or anything else for that matter. Maybe it helped me warm up or something. I'm planning to interview my grandparents soon for family history. Interviews are the best way to learn about someone and come to know a person that you will probably never meet. It is the #1 source, a perfect source. That is so important. The DVD had clips of some really great people. Larry said that this DVD was mostly people from the entertainment industry. Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra, James Earl Jones, Bette Davis, Madonna, Harrison Ford, Christopher Reeve, Sammy Davis jr.. You name it. There were tons, and I learned so many things that I haven't organized them in my mind yet, it was overwhelming. I wish I could remember even who my favorite people on were. I do remember liking Dolly Parton's bits and Liza Minelli's. Liza has a hysterical booming laugh. Dolly Parton is hilarious. I would have liked to have seen her entire interview. Everything she said was funny to me. An interesting thing I learned of James Earl Jones. Apparently he was a studderer. He was teased relentlessly for it so he became a mute (only spoke at home) but he had a teacher who noticed that he read a lot and wrote his own poetry. She had him recite his own poetry in the class and he didn't studder, so she kept making him recite. He got over the problem because of this teacher. He also said that they picked him to do the voice of Darth Vader on a whim and he went in and did all the parts needed in 2 1/2 hours. He got paid a few thousand for it. I love all the little facts and stories, but also you learn more serious and important things. The Interviewing process is an artform to me. If this DVD was people of the entertainment business, I wonder what the next 2 DVD's will bring!

Monday, September 1, 2008

50 Years




Happy 50th birthday to Michael Joseph Jackson today, August 29, 1958 - Gary Indiana.

Family, Friends, Fans, Supporters, and Believers all around the world celebrate this day! 50 years of life, 45 years of magic! He has been performing onstage since the age of 5. He has been known world wide since he was 11, and he has been the biggest selling musical artist of all time since 1983 at 25 years old. He is called the "King Of Pop" and "The Greatest Entertainer To Ever Live". He holds numerous records in the Guiness Book of World Records and elsewhere including "Artist who financially supports the most charities annually" (to that effect) at 38+ different charities and his nutritional programs have healed thousands of sick children. So, Happy 50th!


"I took out the time to know
The seventh born of Joe
I learn so much from him everyday
So much that I will never be able to repay"

From "knowledge Is All You Take"
Lexie Willard, 2004


Friday, August 29, 2008

BEFORE

The BEFORE pictures

Chubby Phoenix...
Eating a Goldfish cracker...
9 months worth of hair!?
Isn't this picture beautiful? I love it.
Weird face...
Such a Marcelus face...sorry about the blur...

AFTER

I did it! Yeah, I decided to cut it before going on our trip. He won't be so hot traveling and at the beach and SeaWorld and everything...and he won't have to get loads of sand in his bird's nest at the beach. My grandma can't stand sand in the house! ha ha
This morning we had to go to Fry's cause Sharrid didn't tell me he had a potlock at work until it was too late for me to make a dessert he was signed up for. We went to the Bakery and found a good sized coffee cake for $2.99 on sale! I pointed this out to Sharrid. He told me it was coffee cake (like I didn't know from the big sign) and I briefly explained to him that there wasn't any coffee in it, and that it's called coffee cake because you eat it WITH coffee, or some people do...Once in a while we have these moments. They go both ways but I really like when I'm the smart one (like during the Olympics when I had to explain to Shar why the runners on the track in lane 8 got to start "ahead" of the runners in lane 1. I didn't think you had to run track to know that one but it was cute.) Sharrid gets me on a lot of common sense stuff too, even in the kitchen. He is more street smart than I am...AND book smart. Hmmm........I'm smarter at the stuff that doesn't matter so much.....

I bought Marce this car at Fry's. It's pretty big for being a Hot Wheels, perfect for toddler's. Some line of special edition classic cars. Maybe we'll try and collect them...he was happy enough to have one. I love the first, fourth, and fifth picture.