The Natural History Museum. August 25, 2012

When hubbers got back from his conference last night, we went to State street for dinner. So far we are loving 'The Natural Cafe' and have eaten there a couple of times, but we wanted something different. We chose a nice Spanish place and had tapas. Well, it turns out Loki had a lot of tapas, Jeanne had pasta and the parents mostly had wine, it was happy hour after all.

With Loki's appetite we knew we would get a heartier breakfast for ye kids (I've been trying to feed us three with small things the first 4 meals with fruits, cheese, crackers/bread and deli turkey). I got the buffet for the kids and brought it back to the room. As I guessed, Loki ate a lot of everything, Jeanne ate mostly muffin and fruit.

Breakfast done, we headed out to the local natural history museum (for free I might add, per our Christmas museum membership!!!, as was the Ty Warner sea center). It was a very well do e museum with lots of preserves animals, but not in such a way that was creepy (aka Harvard's natural history museum is a horrible, stifling, suffocating area of death). Add robotic dinosaurs and a butterfly house and it was a good time! Loki fell asleep within 3 minutes in the car, but the rest of us were hungry. I figured he could sleep a bit and be fine as long as there was food in front of him when he woke. Well, that was true, except he stayed asleep for the 10 minute walk in my arms to the restaurant. It actually wasn't so bad, I got to kiss his sweet sleeping lips while we walked.

Back to the room and Jeanne went down for her nap easy peasy while Loki needed some coaxing.

I'm still sick. Not so bad, but clearly a cold and a sore throat. I've been going to sleep when the kids do o_O. Which I think is helping. Although my 'diet' has been a bit random. Hopefully I'll kick it soon. My attitude is still good, which really is all that matters for this vacation.

Wish you were here!

Oh, here are some picture from the beach I never posted.

A walk on a pier August 21 2012

Today we went to the Ty Warner Sea Center. While the kids are still adjusting to the new time zone, they lives all the touch tanks. Sea stars, sea cucumbers, swell sharks and crabs!

Jeanne wasn't into picture taking today, she just wanted to go home and take a nap. So far she's slept for an hour, as has Loki. Rest my babes.

An overcast day

Even though it's cloudy, the air is cool, clean and refreshing, unlike Raleigh. Raleigh would still be 80 when you woke with 98% humidity, making you feel heavy and slow. I didn't realize how much I miss the ocean and the sea breeze.

While I wanted to 'do something' with the kids. I've found that just checking out the trees is enough for them. New is fun. Besides, it's their vacation too, if they want to chill and explore the nature around them, that is fine with me.

Miss fussy pants. August, 23 2012

My daughter is determined to be as frustrating as possible today. Loki however, is surprisingly happy and jubilant! He's been quite pleasant. hopefully Jeanne will feel better tomorrow.

Today, we just walked along the beach and went to a playground. Jeanne hasn't really slept in the last two days. So neither have Mom or Dad. Loki has slept like a rock.

Planes trains, automobiles, bacteria and viruses

Well hubbers and I were up all night every 45 minutes dealing with poor, sad, crying, sick, eye gunk Jeanne. We went to the clinic this morning and got medicine apparently I need to remember to bring antibiotic wipes in addition to everything else. But hey that is a lot of new sources of bacteria and viruses to deal with. I have a sore throat, thankfully gargling with salt water fixes that.

Planes, trains and automobiles.

We four Bakers began a whole day journey from the East to West coasts yesterday. With child wrangling help from Granda in the morning, Hubbers and I packed the car and headed (on time!) to the airport. While we did have to figure out how to move all the luggage and car seats without leaving anyone behind, we get it done!

Both kids ran and played. So the first flight and that was a breeze. The layover was extremely short, and we had just enough time to grab a salad and hit the bathrooms. Once on the plane, it was clear to me that Loki was wide awake and Jeanne didn't feel well. She didn't want to eat anything and just snuggled daddy a lot.

We did experience a couple of screaming sessions, but they were short lived, thankfully. It still felt like the second leg was much longer than the first. All in all, both kids were great. 

Okay, now to get out of LAX with all of our stuff. We finally got to the rental car and hubbers started putting the car seats in.  I realized I hadn't had anything to drink in 4 hours, which is entirely unlike me.  We start driving on the infamous 405 and as I remark that there are no breakdown lanes in case there is an accident, Jeanne screams and begins to cry. I knew immediately that she was
Car sick, as I was starting to feel nauseous myself. 'Something is wrong with me"! She screams and then pukes. The only good thing about this is that she hadn't eaten lunch and has only juice and two pistachios in her belly. As hubbers dealt with traffic and Loki slept, I crawled in back and cleaned her up. Thank goodness I had a change of kid clothes in my bag up front.  


After all that, I was now battling my own nausea, so we stopped at a mall so the kids could
Walk around and eat dinner. Thankfully, Jeanne felt all better and was in good spirits. I, by this time was grabbing my mouth and trying not to breathe while the rest of the family ate. Holy smell sensitive batman!

We stayed a whole so the kids could walk a lot before another hour of sittin still. Then, finally Santa Barbara. Once I was finally NOT moving for 15 minutes straight, I was all better, then really hungry since I skipped dinner.  

The time change and extensive traveling made the kids exhausted but not wanti to go to sleep wince it wasn't their bed or crib. Jeanne finally fell asleep around 1030 home time and Loki after 11:00 pm, but not without much screaming first. 

Today, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast on the beach, then the kids and I napped a good long while while Daddy went to work.  


So far, so good.  

Cooking? Me? Using a stove?

Holy crap, I think I've been possessed. I'm cooking, and using all four burners at the same time.

Left top: quinoa, right: wild rice
Left bottom: veggies and garlic for BBQ quinoa, right: patty pan squash from our CSA.