5 states. 4 days. 3 hotels. 2 red-eyes. 1 very exhausted me. I hit the East Coast for a business trip last week. What a ride. Hello city!
I took the red-eye flight out of San Jose into Boston. It turned out to be a pretty uneventful flight. When I stumbled into Hotel #1 at 6 a.m., the employees were altogether far too chipper for me. “Can we get you some coffee, a paper? Perhaps some water?” I think I smiled. I don’t really remember. I just wanted the key to my room.
Have you missed me this week? Ok, who am I kidding, have you missed the muppets? I missed them too. I’ve been traveling for work this week – social(media)izing up a storm at my company’s annual conference. Continue reading
I have survived my first industry tradeshow. Sure, I’ve worked on content for them before, but this was the first one where my presence was physically required. Continue reading
Today is the first day I’ve ever spent away from my muppets. I’ll be traveling for work through Thursday. Continue reading
On Sunday, we caravanned down to Manhattan Beach to visit Uncle Paul and Aunt Steph. In preparation for the muppets first beach vacation, Mother Nature decided to play along and the weather was a picture-perfect, sunshiny, 70 degree day.
G.G. had not yet seen Uncle Paul’s new digs either. Paul has spent the past five years living in the ultimate bachelor pad. Four blocks from the beach, bachelor Paul lived in the downstairs “apartment” of a four-bedroom townhouse. In reality, this “apartment” was the townhouse’s mother-in-law unit with an external lock put on its door.
While the 900 sq. ft. room would have been quite spacious as a guest area, it made for some tight permanent living quarters. The bedroom consisted of…a bed – the queen size mattress filled the entire space. His closet consisted of a divot in the wall the height of his waist. (Even 4’10” Steph had to squeeze into the closet.) The bathroom door did not fully open, as the sink was in the way, so one had to scoot around the plumbing for any desired cleansing. True to form for a bachelor pad, a black leather couch graced the living room. In front of the stereotypical settee was the state of the art, all encompassing entertainment system. A lone tiny plastic plant languished in the corner.
But now that Paul is marrying his better half, the two of them now reside in a gorgeous (full-sized) home with panoramic Pacific views. There is still no living greenery in their home, but the palm trees bordering the Strand more than make up for that particular omission.
Manhattan Beach is not known for its stellar parking situation. So we played a Rubik’s Cube game of fitting the whole family into the Pilot. Ultimately, the stroller was banished and the third row got its inaugural passenger. GrammaJ kicked off her shoes and climbed over the muppets row, gracefully tumbling into her seat. GrampaStavo planted himself in between the boys where he could commence cooing over his grandsons. (We are not sure who babbled more during this trip – Grampa or the muppets.) G.G. rode shotgun.
After the circus-like attempts to get the whole gang together in one vehicle and an Abbott and Costello themed performance on directional navigation, we turned down a narrow alley (allegedly a street in MB) and parked in front of his garage. The six of us piled out of the SUV in clown car style only to revise the seating arrangements shortly thereafter so we could walk the Strand. (We drove to the beach because the stroller was left behind; muppets had to be carried.)
The muppets were giggling away in their carseats when Steph decided to climb in. One moment she was standing beside us, the next she had ducked beneath the carseat – crawling through the minuscule leg space – reappearing between the muppets. This inspired GrampaStavo to attempt to hurl himself from the back of the car into the third row. He was luckily thwarted in this endeavor, and sent with Paul and GrammaJ to walk instead. GrampaStavo is a lot larger than the pocket-size carseat crawler Steph.
Speaking size, both muppets are now officially chunky. Without the stroller, our family took turns acting as human strollers – carrying the boys along the beach. Search was in his element, enjoying every moment of the ocean air. The rest of us admired the multi-million dollar homes adorning the beach front, making fun of some of the more eccentric architectural choices.
On Monday it was gloomy again. Even Mother Nature was sad we weren’t still at the beach. I bet the muppets will absolutely love Maui too…
Friday was the start of a long holiday weekend. It was pouring rain. The drive to SoCal took five and a half hours. Tuesday, once everyone had returned to school or work, was absolutely gorgeous. It took nine hours to get home.
We’re finally home. I’d planned to update you, all my faithful readers, on our trip last night. But our return became a full day’s adventure.
7:15 a.m.: The muppets and I bid adieu to weeping grandparents.
7:30 a.m.: The three of us visited briefly with an old friend, her little munchkin and munchkin-to-be, and enjoyed some nice warm bottles of milk.
9:00 a.m.: We arrived at G.G.’s house to dine on a delicious breakfast of pears and bask in the glow of some last minute doting.
11:00 a.m.: Time to hit the road – the wheels on the car go round and round.
1:00 p.m.: The wheels on the car are not going round and round. Destroy begins to express displeasure for this particular journey. The muppets are tired, but not sleeping.
1:30 p.m.: We’re moving forward, but sadly without need for use of the gas pedal. Destroy decides this is a problem best solved with food, so I promise them we’ll break for a snack. A green highway sign overhead shares that the next exit is one mile down the road.
2:00 p.m.: We finally approach the exit. I will the traffic ahead to make good use of the accelerator while preparing bottles for the boys. Both muppets protest a return to their carseats.
2:30 p.m.: Arrival in Santa Barbara. (I usually pass the “Big Yellow House” an hour and a half into this journey.)
3:30 p.m.: Search begins to whine. Destroy agrees with Search. Numerous kamikaze bugs commit hari kari on the windshield.
4:00 p.m.: Pismo Beach looks like an inviting rest stop. I choose a grassy knoll at a Hilton Garden Inn overlooking the Pacific Ocean and set up a family picnic. In a setting fitting a Hollywood movie, we dine on peas under palm trees as we gaze out over the sparkling blue water shimmering in the distance. Destroy rolls around in the sunshine, while Search tries to disassemble his carseat.
5:00 p.m.: Halfway home! (This is the time we thought we’d arrive.)
6:00 p.m.: GrampaStavo starts to panic that we’re not home yet. Search is wailing in the backseat.
8:00 p.m.: Never such a welcoming house have our eyes ever seen before. The muppets are sound asleep as we pull into our driveway. With sleep filled eyes, Search curls up into Daddy’s arms.
“I missed you!” Jon cooed over the muppets as he doused them with kisses. I began to unload the car while Jon prepared milk and oatmeal. Search began to cry again. By the time I got back into the house, we were experiencing our first full-blown tantrum.
Search was screaming and squealing in his ExerSaucer as he jumped up and down. “I. AM. HUNGRY! I. AM. TIRED! I. AM. NEVER. EVER. NEVER. GETTING IN THAT CARSEAT AGAIN. MY DAY SUCKED!!! MY TEETH HURT!!!” Crocodile tears streamed from his bloodshot red eyes, down his chubby little chipmunk cheeks. His bottom lip jutted out in a full pout.
He didn’t even make through the appetizer course of milk before he passed out in Jon’s arms.
After we put the two of them to bed, where they immediately flipped onto their tummies and embraced the familiarity and comfort of their own beds, I returned downstairs to share the stories of our adventure. I stared at the computer screen, mesmerized by the blinking cursor.
Well, I’ll just leave them anticipating the next installment, I thought. I was sound asleep by 9:00 p.m., dreaming dreams that my butt was no longer molded to the precise shape of my car seat.
Our Thanksgiving celebration was a day trip. We did not spend the night. We drove up for the feast in the morning and returned home the same evening.
It took us three hours to get up and out of the house. For the eight hour day (plus car ride), we brought:
And on top of all that, we even remembered to bring our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner.
