'xplainin the absence

busy, busy at work... management presentations galore.

family funeral last week in which i wrote the eulogy (more to come on this when i am repaired from this experience).

husband traveled this week, leaving me with kids all week long - along with a full plate at work. was pulling hair out.  four. days. straight.

i'll be back, just can't function enough to write a coherent blog post. 

am only capable of phrases and short snippets, a la Facebook statuses.

am depleted of energy but the old me shall return soon, thanks to my new found solace in yoga.

ooohhhhhmmmmm.

2008 in review (Or, what has inspired me this year)

These little guys (in 2005)...

...Who are now this big.

And him, my life partner, who is my source of balance and strength every day.

Quality time together as a family...whether on vacation or around the holiday table or simple, everyday things, like hanging out in our pajamas at home (or in this case, at a campground).

This awe-inspiring victory, and what it has meant for me, our children and the potential we can reach together...reminding me just how far we have come. 

The wonderful company of female friends who are trying-to-balance-it-all-dammit. And who can also relate to this stressful, crazy, but blissful time in our lives parenting little ones.

Believing in magic, and viewing the world with the hope and wonderment that my children see with every little thing that most adults take for granted.

The beauty of children in general, and what I learn from them each day...especially the lesson about being carefree and unapologetic about anything.

Ever feel like you're running on a treadmill...

...and not sure how much further you have to go?

That's how I feel right now, and have been feeling for a few weeks.

Am trying to get it together.

This working mom stuff and my aspirational attempts to do-it-all is breaking me.

Thank goodness for my kids and husband, who put it all in perspective. That's what really matters in times of general stress and busy-ness.

Why I haven't been blogging lately

Yeah, I know.  Excuses, excuses:

Kids and family.

Work, work, and more work.  (it's kicking my ass right now!)

Busy weekend schedule - birthday parties, travel, Lord knows what else. 

Obama campaign volunteering, with 14 days to go.

Did I mention work?

Internet surfing to satisfy my internal political junkie and obsession with this campaign.

Would. Rather. Sleep. 

(OMG, where the hell did October go?!)

Blog topics that I will attempt to cover in the near-term, time permitting:  

• Funny (and appalling!) stories from my campaign involvement (and the myriad 80 year olds I seem to have to call from my canvassing lists)
  
• Camping with the kiddos, Take 1 (or, how to avoid having your 3 year old twins whine all night  when sleeping in a tent in the great outdoors)
  
• Family reunion (I guess I now understand why we only seem to do this every couple of years)
  
• Birthday party planning (I can't believe my babies are  actually kids now!)
  

You see, I actually DO have a lot to say and share; there are just not enough hours in the day to write about them.  

The wonderful world of Disney

After a lovely and relaxing 5-day vacation in the serene central coast, we spent an un-relaxing day at The Happiest Place On Earth on the way back home to San Diego.  

Main Street, U.S.A., with Sleeping Beauty's castle in the distance

The kids had a ball of a time.  

I, however, feel like I was bitchslapped.  Bitchslapped by the Southern California August heat, bitchslapped by the summer crowds, bitchslapped by the Disney marketing machine which resulted in the kids whining every time we were funnelled at the end of an ride right into the contextually relevant-themed Disneyland store beckoning us to spend more money (Even after the $69 per adult head and the $59 for each kid we had paid just to enter the park).

I can only imagine the Disney marketing people in a conference room when they were laying out the design of Disneyland...

Travelled to Endor on Star Tours?  Come to our Tomorrowland store and spend money on Star Wars action figures and light sabers!  

Just rode Pirates of the Caribbean?  Dole out some cash for a wig and be just like Captain Jack Sparrow!  OR, come buy plastic swords so you can pummel each other with it!

Drove a car on Autopia?  Buy your kids the *exclusive* Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater cars that you can only find here at the wonderful world of Disney!

Don't even get me started on the Princess Faire, where we could have visited Cinderella, Belle and Ariel within a 5 minute span  (after about a 45 minute wait in line).  As you walk out of the "visits" with the princesses, you enter the most lovely store complete with beautiful Disney Princess dresses and accoutrements.  (We didn't visit the princesses this time, but here's a photo of our last visit to Princess Faire back in February).

At least the ride-to-merchant layouts and upsells are contextually relevant -- I'll give them that. So much so that the kids were asking us to shop after every ride.  Oy.  Disney...the Marketing Machine.

Anyhooooo....

Despite all my bitching about the unsolicited attempts to spend money at every corner, the kids had a great time.  Which is what matters most, really.

(And OK, OK.   I admit, we had a great time, too.  How can you not when your kids are grinning from ear to ear?!)

Here are some photos chronicling our latest adventures at The Happiest Place On Earth.

Jedi Training Camp...waiting for Darth

Don't ever let your 3 year old drive the car at Autopia.  I still have whiplash.

Tarzan's Treehouse (formerly the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse back in the 70's when I was a kid visiting Disneyland.  Good move changing the name, Disney.  I can see today's kids now - Swiss Family...uh...who?)

Mad Tea Party - a 1955 original

King Arthur's Carousel

And nearing the end of the day, this:

Cafe Orleans for a nice sit-down dinner, right after riding Pirates of the Caribbean

And we all know this well...end-of-the-evening general crankiness.  Time to go home now!

Who says you need to go far to have a nice family vacation?

...Especially when the exceptionally gorgeous central coast of California is just a 5 hour drive away?

I am always in wonderment when we road trip through our home state.  Nowhere else in the world can you have the beach, the desert, ski slopes and world-renowned national parks all within a short(ish) drive.    (Well...OK,  maybe New Zealand qualifies too, but it certainly is *not* the best place to live.)

The beach, in particular on the central California coast is a sight to behold...it really is unlike any other coastline in the world.  Drive through the Pacific Coast Highway or the 101 anywhere from Big Sur all the way down to Santa Barbara and you are in for a visual feast.

I told Dave to kick me next time I have wanderlust and want to shell out about a month's worth of salary on another expensive family trip to Europe.  (NOT recommended with 3 year old twins, by the way, and definitely NOT recommended when the dollar is doing as shi%ty as it is against the British pound sterling and the Euro.  Thanks, Mr. Bush.)

Central coast rocks.

  

Vacation's all I ever wanted

Here we are on vacation, finally. A road-trip one, at that. Just 250 miles north of San Diego at Dave's family's shore house in a sleepy little beach hamlet called Cayucos.

And I wonder why we haven't done this sooner?!

Who says that you need to go to Mexico or Maui or Europe for a great vacation?

Only Day 2 in the beautiful central coast of California and my pulse rate is already lower, my sleep time is more restful and my relaxation meter is at an all-time high. I don't think I've been this relaxed since I went to La Costa Spa...and that was over a year ago. And to boot, we're with the kids and both grandmas. (They are our babysitters - and they are both happy to do it!) Yes, we are all relaxed.

Some friends chuckled when I told them I was going up the coast to the beach.
"Well, isn't San Diego one big beach town, really?!" they would say.

Yes, but San Diego is so not Cayucos, where the town itself is so small you may miss it if you stop to blink while on Highway 1. You can saunter a slow "I'm-at-the-beach" saunter to the market, church, town pier and a variety of adorable beach eateries all within 15 minutes of the house.

And the beach...oh, the lovely beach. The shoreline stretches for at least 6 miles and the beach is wide and flat and packed with sand...it's a runner's dream beach, really. Not to mention, there are just small smatterings of people along the shore...you feel like you have the place all to yourself. And to top it off, you can see the shoreline crest around and on a clear day, you can see Morro Rock in nearby Morro Bay. Just amazing.

If I weren't on dial-up and I had my camera cord, I would upload photos...but we'll save that for the next post.

In the meantime, I'll keep enjoying my family and my overall decreased pulse rate (I will need it since the month of August at work will be so not fun...there's probably some higher reason I somehow neglected to bring the power cord to my blackberry...Oops).

'Til then, I'll enjoy my beachin' self.

Part 2 of the Luke & Hannah Chronicles (more from Year 1)

More baby photos of our not-so-babylike-anymore babies.  

My, how fast they grow.

Photos! (Finally....) Year 1 (0-6 months)

I started blogging again to document Hannah and Luke...me...Dave...US.  But since I have re-started my blogging endeavors, I have yet to actually do a retrospective and chronicle the last few years together (as my Catholic guilt sweeps over me...seriously).

So here goes...and it all starts here.

And hot dayummm!

Why is it so darn hard to post photos as a WYSIWYG?

I guess I'll start another post with more photos then...

Chapter 2, more from Year 1 is forthcoming.