That Makes it All Better & The First Day of School

Let me see if I can set the scene for you. I was driving close to Old Town--that street that runs right in front of Big Lots & See's Candy--the one that's two lanes, but on a very narrow street. I'm in the right hand lane, when unexpectedly, I see something red in the corner of my eye. I turn my head to see a little red Nissan (?) sneaking up on my right side in the turning lane that DOESN'T EXIST--which the driver realizes abruptly as he nearly rear ends the car in front of me. I start cursing him nine kinds of idiot, my kids are joining in from the back seat. Suddenly, the driver side window slides down, and a very good looking Italian man, blows me a kiss in that pointer, tall one and thumb, three finger kiss that only a southern European man can pull off and not appear gay. I am woman enough to admit that this little gesture sure set me back on my heels. And, after I'd let him in, the light turned green and we drove away, I realized that makes it all better. I laughed so hard at my 30-something woman self. . .


My favorite commercial of all time is the one for Office Depot. The music starts "It's the most wonderful time of the year. . ." and you see a dad with an ecstatic smile on his face dancing down the aisle with several sullen kids stomping behind him--it cracks me up every time.

It was Porter's first day of school ever, and he was a champ. He walked into his classroom, sat down at his desk and was ready. Of course the rest of the class was sitting on the carpet for carpet time. . . Paul cried, I didn't. But when I came home all by myself for the first time in I don't know how long, I just about lost it.
































Jake's in forth grade and is an old hat at this entire first day of school thing--he even has the same teachers as last year, but he still said he was nervous for this year. I just wanted to hold them both and reassure them that it's going to be okay. School is important, but it's the learning you do in life that turns out to be the most important.

We've moved on to the second book in the Olympiad series. The Sea of Monsters--it is a fantastic book for 4th + graders. Lots of action and monsters and Percy Jackson is a great hero--as is his best friend Annabeth. These are great books.

Summer's Coming to a Close. . .

I'm really sad right now. I switched out my memory card on my camera en route to Sea World, and entrusted the card to my hubby. He put it (I thought) in his pocket when he dropped us off. That card had all of our photos from our grand summer adventure. We washed those pants (with the card supposedly in it) and I thought all those wonderful pictures were gone. Here's the irony though: I found that card in my car, put it into my pocket to take it upstairs to the computer--forgot about it--and my hubby washed those shorts. So I really did end up losing all those great pictures--and it's all Paul's fault!

Here's a little travelogue. The first full weekend in August we went to Flaming Gorge for a family reunion. We drove the entire way. We left Wednesday afternoon, stayed in Mesquite Wednesday night, and headed for Provo Thursday morning. (Note: if you ever stay in Mesquite, stay at the Casablanca--great rooms, very cheap prices, and it was much nicer than any of the other hotels in Mesquite.) We drove around Provo for a little while. I wanted to show my kids BYU, but we didn't get much of a chance. We did the Provo recreation center and their fabulous water slides. We stayed in Salt Lake City that night at a friends apartment--2 blocks up from temple square. We walked down and walked around temple square for a little while. The area has changed so much from when I went to school at BYU 15 years (?!)ago.


From there we headed to Flaming Gorge for camping with the family. We (San Diegans) were very worried about the heat, but we ended up having nearly perfect weather for the time we were there (aside from rain Saturday night, and really cool breezes when the sun went down). The site my sister picked ended up being perfect. It fit all the families that wanted to camp and then some. It had a great pavilion for cooking and eating together--and boy did we Morris's do that! It was so fun to see cousins that I haven't seen in ages. My uncles kids are absolutely prolific! I don't think one of his 6 kids has under 5 kids. I feel sorry for my parents--they got gypped in the grandkid department--but what we lack in quantity, we make up in personality!

We returned home Sunday. We stayed in Mesquite again, but this time at the Virgin Rivers Motel--skip it if you can! We took a little detour and went to stay with my friend Diana and her family. Her husband is stationed at 29 Palms. Paul was there about 15 years ago, and nothing is the same he says. Her husband took us over to Joshua Tree National Park and to an area called Hidden Valley--Porter said we should take some veggies so we could dip them. We climbed rocks for a hour or so and returned home for dinner. The weather was actually quite comfortable--hot, but dry. We had so much fun while we were there, it was difficult to leave. The Hidden Valley area looked like the set of an old Western movie--everything was so perfect.

When we returned, we hung out with my cousin and her family. This included a trip to Legoland, and several trips to the beach. Diana and her family came down for their last hurrah before school started for them, and we did Sea World with them. I also got a call from my college friend Kirstin and they were in town--and we did Sea World with them as well. Wooh! It was a crazy week, but sure fun.

















We did the Cabrillo Monument open house this past Tuesday. It is one of 2 days where they allow people to go all the way to the top of the lighthouse and look out. Its absolutely one of the best things to do in all of San Diego. (The next open day is November 15, 2009 btw). It was really windy on top of the tower as you can see from Jake and Porter's windblown look. . .



They have volunteers in full costume--Captain Israel and his wife, and they tell the story of the lighthouse. Porter has since been asking all sorts of questions, like how people in the old times got around, how they turned on the lights, and how they got water. I think that is a successful tour, if it got my 5 year old thinking about how tough it was in the "old days."


I got a great shot of a Coast Guard helicopter with (unbeknownst to me, a great shot of the Hotel Del).



















This was a long post, but a quick highlight of our summer activities. I just wanted to give some praise where it is due. Our Nintendo Wii broke shortly after Christmas this past year--and I tried all sorts of things to get it running. I finally broke down, and called Nintendo--Not only was I able to talk to a human person very quickly (no voicemail hell), I found out that our warranty had expired December 2 of 2008. But, for $85 which they discounted down to $50, I could send in our unit, have it fixed, and it would restart our warranty. I was told 10-14 working days. I got it back in less than a week, and we are up and running again. That kind of customer service is rare, and I didn't mind the $50--we didn't have to purchase a new one!

Anyway--it's time to get back in the pool. It's too darn hot right now--muggy as all get out. The pool is the only place to be--if you can't be in an air conditioned office.