The Trip

2-19-09

It was a pretty good trip.

Friday at around 1 I wasn’t sure if we were going. Mom and Dad Brenan called and were quite nervous about the impending storm that was looming over them. They weren’t sure we would make it to the house. After some discussion, the compromise was for us to stay at a hotel in Grass Valley Friday night so that we wouldn’t have to tackle the hill late at night. Probably a good plan since even Grass Valley was covered in a blanket of snow and ice at 12:30 am when we got in town.

We had a decent room and the boys loved the hotel. We tried to have them sleep in the same bed, but they were both too distracted. So Ken slept with Dax, and I slept with Bobby. It seemed to work out ok. Bobby is a funny sleeper. He curled up with me several times, which was crazy cute. The only downside was that in a Queen size bed, he managed to take up about ¾ of the bed.

We got up in the morning to Dax walking around the room telling each of us it was time to play. Pretty cute, actually, since he was kind of whispering it. I went and got us some breakfast from the lobby. Holy crap, their continental breakfast ruled. Yummy eggs, fantastic OJ, lots of cereal, muffins and other things. We ate good!

Ken took the dog down first (we had snuck her in) and came back to get another load. He was going to then meet us at the front since he was going to bring the van around so the boys and I didn’t have to trek through the snow. The boys and I were in the lobby when Ken texts me asking me if I have the keys. Not good. For about 40 minutes, we searched our bags, the snow, and finally ended up back in the room to see where in the world they would have ended up. At one point, we both even tried to get the dog to push the unlock button on the car. She wasn’t having it.

Obviously the next plan was AAA since perhaps they could at least get us in the car to see if the keys were there. I started looking under the chairs when all of the sudden it hit me in a bolt of clarity.

“Ken! Check the toilet!”

Ok, as random as that sounds, it wasn’t. The good news, Ken looked in and saw a small part of the key in the toilet and was able to retrieve it. He looked at me all confused, so I had to explain.

Earlier in the morning, I had been putting stuff away in the bathroom bag when Dax was dinking around in the bathroom with me. He was playing with the toilet for some reason. He was putting cereal in it and cracking up. No big deal, but I did ask him to stop, which he did. What I didn’t do was to check to see if it really was just cereal making the little plunk sounds. Fun.

Before we headed up to the house, we stopped by the local Kmart to get some lanterns. Apparently the storms up there often knock out power to the house, so rather than be without light, we got some LED lanterns for us. We also got a pair of boots for Ken and I, which turned out to be a phenomenal investment. Let’s just say that shoes meant for LA do not work for snow country.

We made it part way up the driveway. But even with chains, there was no way we were going to make it all the way. So they ended up having to come down the hill in the Envoy to get us. We ended up just leaving the van on one flat area. It worked out just fine.

The snow was awesome! It was snow I had never had the pleasure of playing in before. It was perfect for the boys. I got to make my first snow angel, we made a kick ass snow man, and stomped around several times just throwing snowballs and having a blast. Andy and Scott got the boys these cute Lighting McQueen galoshes which worked great for the snow. Plus, the boys loved them so much, they wore them yesterday to daycare. The deck was covered in snow so high, it allowed the kids a perfect place to play without worry about anything like yellow snow or steaming snow. There were 4 dogs up there.

They boys got to have a mini Christmas on day since they had not opened presents from the northern crowd yet. We also had a mini birthday party for Bobby, which he loved. We had a cupcake cake and he got his presents which included his Darth Vader costume, and his camera. I honestly don’t know which one he loved more since he couldn’t get enough of them. He has taken something like 200 pictures already. We uploaded the good ones. So great.

On Monday, Jenni came up, which rocked! We went to lunch some place in town for a few hours, then came up to the house for her to play with her nephews for a bit. It was great!

Our trip home was smooth. We left early and got home before 5. The only real traffic was a bit of the rush hour traffic starting up since we hit LA around 4. Not bad, though. Even with the rain, we had no problems.

I am back at work today, which is fine by me. I have already caught up on my emails and desk full of work and it isn’t even 8 am yet. Yay me! Apparently we have a department meeting this afternoon, which always proves to be interesting. I get a little nervous, but based on the agenda, it looks pretty tame, and actually, there are several topics I am happy they are addressing.

I am not as tired as I expected to be. I mean, for the last week I have got to sleep in! But I went to bed early last night and was warm (man, on Tuesday night I was freezing for some reason). So I guess I slept well. Either that or I caught up on enough sleep that my body is ok with losing a couple hours. I still have a cluttered house since I have not completely unpacked yet, but I did manage to get a lot of laundry done, so I don’t have as much to finish. We are going to Grammie’s on Saturday, so my normal chore day is shot, but that is ok. I figure I have all day Sunday. If it is nice out, the boys can play out back while I clean house, which is perfect. Ken will be emptying the store, so he will be back and forth. Should work out well.

We BBQed ribs last night. We had gotten the recipe for Jack Daniel’s sauce off the net and had made it last week and marinated some sale ribs. We finally cooked them yesterday (a 6 hour slow cook on the BBQ) and it was yummy. The ribs weren’t the best quality, but it was still so freaking good.

I was going to get invites for Bobby’s birthday, but I don’t know if they will get mailed out in time at this point. I may take the boys to Party City tonight and if I can get something mailed by tomorrow, then they will get there in time. It isn’t like it is a huge deal, but I wanted Bobby to be able to have a part of it by picking out things like hats. I need to make a list of what we are doing today so I can get the shopping done. I suppose I will work on that now.

Ok, seriously, who made kids’ birthday parties so complicated? And my kid is only 4!!! Sheesh! It isn’t that bad, but I can only imagine when he gets older. There are more kids to consider, food for all, games, activities, presents, etc. It is no wonder it is a multi million dollar industry. Look, I know my husband does this for a living, and I hope that he stays employed, but I am blown away at how much people spend on these parties. Lego kits for everyone, not to mention goody bags, other performers, and loads of food and cake. By the time the party is done, they have spent $1500 on a kid who is turning 6!!!! What the hell, people? When I was a kid, my mom would get arts and crafts for us to do and it didn’t seem like she spent much. The party was always fun. Now days, I can’t even fight it since if my party blows chunks, my kids won’t get invited to other parties since they don’t want to get stuff for the cheap skate Brenan family. Aaaarrrggghhh!! Can we say annoying? I don’t mind going all out, but not with some of the things you hear. My mom told me about this one kid who was taken to Disneyland for her 7th birthday. Sure, this seems cool. She invited 10 friends. Plus, they got a limo. BTW-the parents of the guests didn’t pay for anything. My god! Are you kidding me? Who does that? Although, after some adding, that is almost cheaper than some of the parties, and then you could easily make the kids pay their own food bills, and all the entertainment is covered. Sheesh, though. Am I a stick in the mud? I suppose it will be different when my kids are older and care more. Shoot, all Bobby requested was balloons, and he wasn’t even sure about that since he was afraid they would blow away! Oh well, I guess I will just have to deal.