More from March!

Well, Brian turned the big 3-1 on March 6th which was right after our San Antonio adventure. I surprised him and we flew straight from Texas to LA where I had planned to take him to Disneyland and just have some fun! We were both so exhausted that we decided to just lounge on the beach and enjoy the sunshine. Thanks to Gordy and Janet we crashed at their house and enjoyed beautiful Laguna Beach and other fun places around. I did hold one surprise up my sleeve--we went to go see Wicked! (He didn't realize it until we were on Hollywood Blvd and you could see the marquee!) Anyway, the show was great! We also found another hidden treasure while down there. We got there quite early because you never know how LA traffic can be...on the google directions is gives an estimated time of 40 minutes, but also says "1 hour 50 minutes is traffic." So, we planned for the worst and got their early! We situated ourselves and decided to find something to eat... THAT was an adventure! Now, when you hear the word "Hollywood" you think glamour and fame and beautiful people--the reality of the walk of fame is garbage, bums and scary shops! At least where the Pantages is. Anyway, we stopped at the first place that looked like we could trust the cooks and much to our surprise we stumbled on a little gem! This little Italian place in the middle of the chaos was sooo good! They had a piano player serenading us with an Italian singer and the BEST FOOD! YUM! It was a really great time!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN!

Texas Adventures

Look at all this loot! It shows you how busy we were all week...(and this was just the good stuff!) It's funny because at the show EVERY little thing is exciting when it's free, and when you bring it all home it's kinda like, "What are we going to do with all this junk?"

Brian at the Alamo--luckily there was something for him to do that he enjoyed while we were there...he even took the little tour...aww...my little history buff!

Here's the famous River Walk in Downtown San Antonio--notice, no railing to help avoid the treacherous 4 foot plunge! It was beautiful at night...we ate up top on one of those balconies and they light all the trees up...it's quite lovely.

There you have it--not the serene landscape I envisioned, but definitely some fun!


Alright, so this was the coolest thing we saw in Corpus Christi! A MASSIVE shark! You had to go in the mouth to get to the door. It was a huge surf shop! Lots of fun! I tried to make it look like he was chompin' down on me--but it didn't work out so well. :)

What a beautiful temple they have in San Antonio--stained glass windows and all--really gorgeous. (And if you look closely you can see Jessica and Ryan posing for a photo op w/el papa as photographer.)

We really pulled the tourist card in some of these places--I actually wanted to buy the hat to send to Austin but we couldn't figure out how we would get it home...So I made Brian wear it--You can tell people were looking at us by the look on his face..."HURRY UP MARISSA, THEY'RE STARING!"

What a way to unwind after a long week...ahhh...alright, only kidding--I'd never touch the stuff...but it did make for a great picture!

TEXAS!

So, our family went on a business trip to San Antonio, Texas for a trade show in early March that has schools supplies, back packs, clothing, stationary, basically one-stop shop for all your campus bookstore needs. It sure was an experience. I had envisioned in my head some sort of carnival of vendors all handing out the coolest things to get you to stop by their booths. There was a bit of carnival there, I mean I got some popcorn, but for the most part it was a hurried rush to see all that was there to make sure your store had the latest and greatest. By the end of the day you were exhausted and ready to sort through the treasures you got that day. Whew! By the third day we were all ready to skedaddle! The most fun was at the end of the day when we dumped out our loot and everyone tried to one up the other for the free stuff they'd been given---

"I got a pencil pouch!"

"I got a T-shirt!"

"Yeah, well I've got a full set of 36 permanent markers!"

"Yeah, well I GOT A BACK PACK!"

...and on and on it went. The free stuff was fun!

Anyway, it made for very long days, and not much vacation.

We did manage to sneak in a day trip to Corpus Christi which we had heard great things about! We heard it was warm water and because it was near the Caribbean, it was supposed to be tropical. Alright, well no offense, but I'd like to talk to someone who started those false rumors! It was cold, and dirty and grimy and so much trash on the shore...the best part was watching the fisherman who literally drove their trucks to the water's edge and put fishing pole into PVC pipes that had been tied onto the front bumper of their truck. I'm sorry, but that's a little hill-billy for me! So our day trip turned into about an hour at the beach itself...2 1/2 hours in the car both ways for the beautiful oasis called Corpus Christi! --I should make a disclaimer though...growing up on the coast of California, I will say I'm a little spoiled and I can see how people would think of it as such a great place if that was the closest thing around...anyway, we'll let the locals keep that little gem to themselves.

There were some other moments of fun on the journey. We visted the Alamo, the San Antonio River Walk--which we learned the river is only 4 feet deep--the scary thing is that there aren't any rails! If you're not watching where you're going...you may end up taking a dip! Especially at night, there are a lot of restaurants and so it gets quite crowded.

So, there you have it--our week-long adventure in Texas--it makes me a little proud to be a California girl!

Long Time, No Write...

I'm pretty bad about keeping my blog up to date...I need to be better...it seems like I do lots of post when I have nothing much to talk about and when life gets busy and fun, I'm so consumed by it all that I forget to tell the world (or my 3 blog readers) all about it. So, I'm going to try and be better, once a week! (I know shocker, since I hardly post once a month...) ANYWAY, I've got a lot to catch up on so here goes...

Happy Moments

Here are some of the moments to remember from the Long Beach trip...at the Pantages where we saw WICKED!! Terrible picture, but the only one we have to document the trip. Then, we decided we needed to give baby Sam Sam a more lasting memory of us so Mom bravely cut his hair. :)

Long......Long Beach

Well, I've finally distanced myself enough from "The Long Beach Trip" that I think I can talk about it. It was A LOT of work, but worth the stories we have to tell now. We knew we were in for it when we got the "SSSS" on our airplane boarding passes. We nicknamed it the "Super Special Secret Search" as we were part of the few lucky passengers to get the pat down massage by our lovely airport security. (Speaking of, Jerry Seinfeld does a hilarious bit about them...he calls them "A crack squad of savy motivated personnel." And boy did he hit the nail on the head!) So, we get to Long Beach, barely in one piece...I got a little woozy about halfway through the flight and was glad not to lose my lunch. So we walk off the plane...Literally walk off...there's not a terminal to pull up to, you take the stairs of the plane out to the tarmac. I've never done that before. The airport there is like a bunch of high school portables thrown together. It's hard to believe you can call it an airport!
So, we got there safe and sound and were ready for a week of fun with little Samuel. He apparently had different plans. Morning #1 was grand...the sun was out...we had a happy baby...and lots of big adventures looming for the week. That didn't last long. He was a great kid when he wasn't tired, but boy when he got tired he needed his parents! We didn't know what to do! Lets just say we took lots of car rides, walked the beach, and practically cemented a baby bjorn on me everywhere we went. By the end, we needed a vacation from what we thought was going to be a vacation!
I don't mean to make it sound like a total disaster because we managed...and notice I say "we"...my mom and I went down together and it's a good thing because neither of us could have done it alone...it was a two woman job!
We had lots of fun with Samuel when he was happy, and man, that little guy was even a happy camper while we went shopping! We did treat ourselves to one luxury while we were there..Wicked was playing up in LA, so we went one night just the two of us to go see it. It was sooo good! One of the best in my book. I decided I'm not a fan of the super heavy, dramatic stories, but more of a light, feel good, make you laugh kinda girl. I can't say enough about it except that I'd love to see it again...(shhh...I'm taking Brian for his birthday, but he doesn't know...hah!) It's more of a from: me, to: me present via his birthday, but I think he'll enjoy it as well.
Well, Thursday afternoon rolled around and I think we were both anxious to get back to our beds. So we hopped on over to the portable airport and yes, got the "SSSS" search again, we sure were lucky ducks! This time the "savy motivated personnel" turned out to be not so savy...or kind for that matter, in fact, I almost lost my lip gloss because it wasn't in a "sealed quart size ziploc bag." It might not seem like a big deal, but I'm a little fanatic about lip gloss. Anyway, onto the plane we went, lip gloss in hand...well, in the ziploc bag I was so graciously given and back to Sacramento. This time the flight was surprising pleasant. We had working TV's, began watching "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," and then about 20 minutes before we were about to land the pilot decided to take us for a RIDE! And I'm not talking a little bumpy, we're talking full on jump you out of your seat, up and down, then side to side. (Can I just say it makes me a little queezy retelling this now...) This went on for about 10 minutes (it felt like 10 hours), and with every jolt of movement the whole cabin quietly gasped and help their one allotted armrest a little tighter. It was then that I used my complimentary barf bag. (Can I say something else--It's not fun to lose your lunch when you've only got 2 square feet of private space...) Worse than the feeling of throwing up was the embarrassment of having strangers hear you all around and then having to hold onto the bag until you land. (Which by the way, the attendants wouldn't even take, they told me to throw it away in the "lavatory.") pssh!
Once I was lunch bag free, I was happier than I had ever been to be in Sacramento. And although we lost the beach and the sunshine I was happy to be home.

Guilty as Charged!

One great this about this mut is that we vacuum our floor A LOT!!

STAIR MASTER!

WE LOVE MORNING CHURCH!!

Aren't Sunday naps the BEST?

Doggy Proof

Well, Christmas decorations were bleak around our house this year...no stockings, no presents beautifully wrapped under the tree, and in fact, our sad little tree was bare about halfway down. All to prevent puppy from destroying it all. As you can see, he takes off with anything he can find. He even chewed through a few cables under the tree. Luckily the one in his mouth was actually for him. It kept him out of our hair for HOURS! And when he had finally demolished the wrapping paper, SURPRISE!! It wasn't just paper, he had a toy to play with too!