Kats Box

I may be a smart alec, I may be sick but this deserves and entire posting....

For those of you who do not know Livermore...it is a middle class town with pretty conservative people. The place where a national laboratory that may or may not build weapons to destroy humanity can exist with only a protest once a year...that only out of towners attend. So that being said this is hilarious....to me.

My exit happens to be the exit that lab rats (people who work at the lab...) take to get on and off the freeway when they go home or go to work. The other day I merged onto Vasco road and settled behind a car driven apparently by a woman named Kat. She was driving a black Honda Element with the license plate KatsBox....

A double entendre you might be thinking...at least. Kat must have no friends or at least not any friends that would spare her the shame of riding in a car that is either a litter box or a vagina!!! Not that I am a fan of the use of the word box for a vagina...just chalk that one up to being a geologist...but for this post I must use it.

Kat, whoever you are, I will be your friend. Don't use that personalized plate. You look like a freaking idiot. People see that plate and like me passed you, looked inside and saw for the middle aged, blond that you are.

1st Birthday

Elana is now a big one year old girl. She has managed to survive two moves, a trip to Hawaii, a trip to England, and various adventures with her favorite people in the world Kasey, Lindsey, and Camryn.

Here is how you should eat cake...Elana asking for more cake

It is crazy to think that the little baby who struggled to breast feed has made it one whole year. She now eat like an horse and is adamant about what she likes and dislikes. Just today Grandma had tuna spit in her face...a few days ago tuna was amazing, sorry Grandma.
As far as all the tricks Elana does nothing is as cute as her talking. She loves to talk about all sorts of things...not that we understand it yet but boy when we do she will have a lot to say. She can repeat things and say several things. It is hard to figure out her first word because they all seemed to pop out at once. Dada was the first I guess but the nonparental words were uh oh, no, OH, gramma, popa, jack, arnold, camryn, lindsey, kasey, donna, darla...then there are the ones we are not sure what they are but they are repeated in the same way.
Leaf and I still in love with everything Elana does and think she is the greatest thing that could ever happen to us. It is so much fun to watch her grow and learn and to share her with our family. Elana has already taught us not to take things so seriously and to love life. I am sure there will be many more lessons she will teach us in the future.

Flight Home...

First, Elana enjoyed the flight. She spent the entire time minus a quick nap entertaining the crew and passengers. We walked most of the time....which works out to about 8 hours of me walking. As we walked the aisle Elana waved at everyone. She was really good but since we were chasing the sun any daylight meant it was time to party. I just laughed it off and figured when we got home WE could sleep.

Neither of us slept. Me because I did not want to get all screwed up with the time change and Elana because she was so excited to see everyone. I missed making a video of Elana seeing Leaf for the first time. I think she almost levitated. It was the craziest thing I have ever seen. Elana threw everything she had in her hands and jumped and screamed. Now her new thing is Daddy all the time. She cuddles him more and when we take her into our bed she rolls over to be by him. It is pretty cute.

So we are now home, adjusted, and unpacked. Now we just have to get ready for the next adventure. There are tons of trips coming up, some big and some small.

Last Day

Okay so I am writing this from home after the fact but I will go by memory.

Dee decided that we could fit a bunch of things in the last day. I loved it because we got to walk a ton and the weather was nice. We started out with a typical tube ride to get pastys....not the type you wear on your boobs the type you eat. Dee pronounced it paaasty but I kept say paste E. Anyhow they were great and then we stopped at the tube station where the Born Identity was filmed. The next stop we were out and walking.

The Globe

First, we went by the Globe Theater which was cool because I did actually take British Literature before 1800 and play going in college. I feel better that these things actually exist because I HATED British lit. We also saw Sir Francis Drakes boat...I guess he traveled the world and had a hotel in San Francisco. Leaf at the Tower Bridge

Then it was on to the story book Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Saint Paul's, Parliament, and a train station where Dee swore she was not lost and knew where we needed to go. She was not lost but it was the only time in all our adventures when she had us not going where we needed to. The cool part was by the time she figured out what bus we needed to take I figured out that I knew how to get home too.

Leaf being held by a statue near Parliament

Dee and Elana at the Tower of London

After our big day we decided to go out for fish and chips and a proper pint. I love fish but I am not a huge fried food person. This trip came at a time in my life when I had actually cut back on fast food and drinking. So dinner was the perfect storm. With one pint I was giddy and the fish and chips put me over the top. I will say it tasted Delicious. I was totally hung over the next day from the fried food. I felt like I needed a good detox. Some strange building. What the image evokes tells you a lot a bout yourself...I thought an Easter egg....Londoners, well, a sex toy.

We ended the night by relaxing and packing. Dee and Alex just played with Elana and then she fell asleep in Alex's arms. He was so uncomfortable but he would not pass her on. It was cute because they both fell in love with each other. Alex for obvious reasons...Elana is amazing...Elana loved Alex because he gave her mousse and did funny things.

Buckingham Palace

Today we took the a bus down to the Palace and walked around. Honestly it sounds much more interesting than it was. The Palace was not as glamorous as I thought it would be and there was no sign of anything special. The guards moved about and the buildings were beautiful but if Deanne had not pointed it out I would have missed it.

Elana having lunch with the queen

The parks or gardens around the palace were more interesting to me. The flowers were in bloom and the trees were amazingly large. I love sycamores and there were hundreds lining the walkways. We walked over to an area where mounted guards were stationed and took a picture. The horses were so beautiful. We then made our way over to Piccadilly Circus (not a circus at all) and a nearby park. Elana instantly made friends and got over her aversion to grass. She crawled around and we chased her. By the way Elana has not learned to walk yet she did try a step last night which ended with her on the floor. She has however starting clapping on her own. It is hilarious because she starts it up and then looks at everyone to make sure they are joining along. The look on her face is precious.
Now Dee is cooking dinner and we are waiting for Andrew to come to dinner. Tomorrow is our last day and we are planning to have another adventure.

Weekend with Granny

So everyone who will never make it to Granny's can understand....Granny is the classic British granny who lives a story book village. Her house is 400 years old and the views cannot even be described. A visit to Grannie's is nothing short of what everyone imagines the British countryside to be.

The trip started out quite normal with a ride on the tube and a short train trip. Then there was my first car ride. What a stressful experience. For some reason on a bus I never really noticed or cared what side of the street we were on. In the car I felt like we were constantly going to be run off the road. On top of my being mixed up the roads are small and when people park on them you just drive on the other side. Drivers are then going at each other head on...and rather fast. The other thing that happened to because of the road issue was when we were walking and Dee said to go left to avoid a car I walked right. I managed to not get hit.

Dee and Granny

Granny went all out to take care of us. On Saturday we had a classic English dinner of cottage pie. Elana ate so much I thought she would explode. Definitely a recipe I will bring home with me. We also had a traditional roast lunch on Sunday before we left, complete with tea in the garden.
Leaf climing a tree...he tore his little arm a bit but nothing a little rest won't help.

Sleeping in England has so far has required some extra work. Elana needs to wear two sets of pajamas to stay warm...at Dee's. In the country she needed more. I added a blanket, a cap, and a hot water bottle. Still she woke up in the middle of the night freezing. I ended up pulling Elana into bed with me...the bed was a single person bed so it was a tight squeeze. Regardless we both had a nice sleep.
Elana in the family crib

By far the funniest thing that happened on the trip was when I poisoned myself. Yes I poisoned myself...at least I would call it that. I went to brush my teeth and thought I grabbed my toothpaste. Well it was Elana's medicine for her girly parts. I got as far as a few brush strokes and screamed "poison, poison." Dee ran in to me flushing my mouth out and trying to read the tube for the safety information. So far so good. I do not seem to have any ill effects yet...

Leaf and Elana after a long walk

Poor Alex...he carried Elana on the walks because there was not a suitable trail for a stroller. He also won Uncle of the year for finding, buying, and installing a car seat. Not an easy task in the English countryside....every village may have a pub but stores are hard to come by and open on Sunday stores are even more rare.

The nicest part of the weekend was the walks with Granny and visiting with her. What an amazing woman. She has lead a life I could only dream of. What a blessing it was for Elana and I to meet her. She has so many talents and even gave Elana a beautiful sweater she knitted. I am sure it will be well used. Elana may not be able to remember Granny but she will have the sweater and some great pictures to look at one day.

London Fog...Cha

Elana's first pub visit.

Whoever coined the term London fog was highly wasted. Fog burns off occasionally...this is overcast!!! Dee said it would be cold and well she was right. It is very cold but nice if you walk. Nothing we were not prepared for.

Today we had a lazy day and just hung out around the house and then went to a pub for a bit to eat. Somehow we ate a mayonnaise sandwich with chicken and hamish meat tossed it. They called it a club sandwich but even Alex did not guess that is what would come to the table. I did not have a beer I tried some cider but I am told I need to have a proper pint at another pub. Leaf would love the pub we did bring him but her hung out in the diaper bag. I figured we would bring him out when Alex and him can have a pint together.

Elana and I both have adjusted well. Elana ,as per any trip we take, is cutting a tooth or two. She is a bit irritable at times but nothing a kitty cannot nip. Elana is also not a big fan of using a buggy cover to keep warm. I finally had to just bundle her up and let her brave the elements. Luckily is will be warmer this weekend....60 degrees or so and there is a mention of the sun coming out.

Anyhow we will be off to Granny's tomorrow. Elana has caused tons of preparations to be made. I just hope Granny is prepared for the whirlwind that is about to arrive.

First Day

So now I can reveal my surprise....Leaf came with us!!! Well at least a miniature version. Here is Leaf waiting for his flight!!!

We started off the day pretty well. Grandma drove us to the airport and we all had lunch together. In the middle of lunch we realized that somehow we left our sippy cup in at grandma's. So the adventure began to find a new on. It is amazing that there was not one place that sold sippy cups in the whole SF airport. I resorted to buying a glass bottle at SFMOMA store for $12!!! At least Elana used it on the flight. I did have to adapt the nipple with my Ipod head phone jack. Here is Leaf somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean!!!

Elana did awesome despite the bottle issue. She fell asleep right at the start of the flight and basically slept the whole time. We met a nice little lady named Anna Rubin....I guessed she was jewish the moment we sat down. There was just something about her. Well it turns out she is a survivor of the Holocaust and she ended up sharing lots of stories with me. A great lady. She even held Elana at one point.
Elana in her skycot

Once the flight was over we negotiated immigration and Dee and Alex were there to greet us. What a huge relief and I finally was excited to be here. Dee showed me around the village a bit and we went shopping. I did take a nap at some point but it is 9:50 and I am still up. My hunch was that my schedule has been so abnormal that making the time switch should not get me to bad. We will see how I sleep.

Leaf and Elan standing in the same archway Grandma took a picture in a few months back.

So tomorrow we are off to do some sight seeing and take Leaf on the town.

Good Luck??

Okay so Melanie says it is a good luck. Today during my preEngland adventure a bird pooped right on my freaking head. The bird was high up on a building because it hurt. Good thing I have baby wipes with me all the time now!

Leaf wants me to keep him updated through the blog so here it goes. I will say there will be a surprise later in the week for him...I am laughing about it already.

Since I was getting passports today I figured I would start with today's adventure. The passport fiasco turned into a trip to San Francisco. Elana went on her first BART trip and well lets pray that tomorrow she is in a better mood. She was not the best passenger. Screaming at the top of her lungs because she thought it is funny only amused herself. I managed to find song after song after song to sing. I will take the doctors advice and give her some Benadryl.

I retrack any positive comments I made on Facebook about passport workers. The Barney Fife's at the door take their job way to seriously and would not let Elana have a snack despite the fact that they were taking FOREVER. At the end of the day I got my passport....I did contemplate telling one of the guards to suck it but then I realized he had a gun, a badge, and I really did not want to be arrested by the guy. He totally was the type to over react.

My day was not all the gloomy. I had three hours to burn so we went on adventure. First I discovered Moscone Center...What a place. The playground was awesome and my parents neglected to take me there as a kid.... I may predate the playground so they cannot be totally blamed. I also went to SFMOMA...if anyone remembers from a year or so ago I am not a fan of modern art. Well I guess now I am. At least the west coast version.

So now I have to get to bed it is late. The next update should be from London!!!!

Dreaming

Just as I was signing in to blog the cutest thing that Elana ever has done occurred...she laughed in her sleep. I am holding her because she is teething and her ears are bugging her again...so sad.

My old camera crapped out on me so we got a new one. Luckily Circuit City is going out of business and we snagged a nice camera for a good deal....at least we thing so for now. Finally I will have some pictures again!!

Elana is now officially 11 months old. So for her birthday I decided we were going to England!!! Call me crazy but Elana and I are making the trip on our own. It will be an adventure. Leaf expects Elana to start walking there but my guess it will be after we get home. Probably when she see him again.

Over the weekend we took a trip to Monterey. Leaf played in a golf tournament and I spent most of my time avoiding the rain. Elana loved it. She slept all night both nights. Stupid me thought there was something magical about the travel crib. When we got home I brought the crib into our bedroom. That night I laid her down and hoped for the best....of course it did not work. My mom says she never got us to sleep through the night until we stopped nursing, I hope she is right.

I did let Elana have some beers before bed....