Them Apples

We ate out a lot on our trip, which meant a lot of time deciding where to go, traveling to a restaurant, and then waiting for our large party to be seated and served. It was nice, but as far as family bonding time went it wasn't really that effective, because it was often so noisy that the people at one end of the table couldn't hear the people at the other end. One night we went to Chili's (I got the fajita trio, which was fabulous). At one point I leaned over and said to my dad, "I wish it wasn't so loud!" and Dad (who is getting just a bit hard of hearing) said, "What?"

The day before we left, we went to Panera Bread for lunch. While waiting in line we heard the girls behind the counter taking orders, and asking, "Which side do you want? Apple, chips, or bread?" Now, looking at the way I wrote it (I'm a fan of the serial comma), it's easy to tell that it's three different things. But, standing in line, unable to hear the punctuation, it just sounded like "Apple chips or bread." Several of us thought that the first item was apple chips. Kyle even asked for apple chips, thinking they sounded good. I noticed a few people walking by with apples on their trays, so I figured it out before placing my order, and asked for an apple. (Doug got some chips to split with Kate.)

Later, after we'd mostly finished our meals and I was sitting there eating my chosen side, Betsey looked over at me and said, "Oh, it's an apple!" She said that while she was standing in line, she heard the girl taking someone else's order say "apple chips or bread," and she thought, "I don't want apple chips!" Then when she got up to the counter the girl said, "Apple bread or chips," and she thought, "I don't want apple bread!" (This may make it sound like Betsey's a bit of a ditz. She's not. But she had us all laughing while she was relating her story!)

That's it from California! Here's a picture of Kate sacked out at the hotel.

Bowl!

Our last night in California, we decided to go bowling. Just a fun family thing. Peter, Betsey, and Barb used to be on a league, back when they were kids.

We got a lane with bumpers and a ramp for Kate and Kirsten. They didn't have shoes in Kate's size, so Doug carried her out onto the floor.




Kate sort of knew what bowling was, from games and pictures, and was excited to get to do it for real. She thought the ball return was pretty cool.



Helping Kirsten.



Action shot! Betsey got three strikes in a row. Woo hoo!

Kayaking

We got to go sea kayaking, not far from Redondo Beach. That was a lot of fun. (There are places around Tacoma that rent kayaks, but we've never gone out in one.) I wanted to go in a kayak, but I wanted to get some pictures, too (and was not about to take my camera on the water) so my dad went with Doug and Kate first, and then we swapped.



Here's Kate getting into the kayak. I invoked Dora the Explorer while putting on her life jacket--"life jackets! So we can be safe!"




Everyone paddled around in the marina a bit while I took some pictures, and then headed further out.



Barb and Kyle.



Peter and Karen. (You can see Kate trailing her hand in the water in the background.)

We switched places and I got in the kayak with Doug and Kate, and we paddled out into the harbor. There were lots of sea lions around, and some big pelicans. (This is where I need a cheap camera to take out on the water.) We went out around the end of the breakwater, where the waves were bigger (singing "Wave over wave, sea over bow") but decided not to go out as far as Barb and Kyle, who went out around a buoy and back. Right at that point I started feeling a little weird, and said, "Either I'm sea sick or I just got hungry--let's go back and get some food."

Kate was very quiet and spent most of the time lying across Doug's legs with her hand in the water, and somewhere along the way she fell asleep. The rocking motion must have been soothing.



I tied my hat on. Yeah, it looks goofy. But it stayed on!

We slathered everyone all over with sunblock, but I guess I missed a spot, because I ended up with a small, oddly-shaped burn on the top of one foot. (The "oddly shaped" part was from my sandal straps.) It's faded a lot but you can still see it. Barb got rather toasted as well.

The The Tar Tar Pits

When I was young-ish, it occurred to me that, if La Brea means "the tar," then The La Brea Tar Pits means "the the tar tar pits." Yes, I was an obnoxious child. Google reveals that many other people have made the same point.

When I was about seven my dad was stationed out at Edwards Air Force Base, and I remember visiting the La Brea Tar Pits. I really wanted to roll down this hill around the museum, and was quite distressed when Mom wouldn't let me. When I saw the hill I had to get a picture. (It seems smaller than I remembered.)



Kate enjoyed the "bone museum," as she called it, but was much more interested in the gift shop.




Elizabeth gets a ride with Grandma.



Barb says it stinks.

The big "pits" are all fenced off, but there are a few places around the grounds where you can find tar seeping up through the grass here and there. There's even a spot where it seeps up through the sidewalk at the intersection just outside the grounds. Peter said it's called the "sidewalk pit."

It was awfully hot. When we first got there and parked out on the street, I was putting on Kate's hat and got down on one knee to tie it on. Moments later, I realized that the sidewalk was burning my knee through the fabric of my pants. Yikes! Perhaps you really could fry an egg on it.

Redondo Beach

We spent a couple of fun hours at Redondo Beach. Karen said that the best time to go to the beach was either in the morning, before it gets too hot, or after 4:00 or so. I can see where going in the morning would have an advantage--the sun wouldn't be in your eyes when you were looking out at the water. But we had a good time!



Kate wasn't interested in getting in the water (it was moving, and obviously out to get her), but she enjoyed playing in the sand and making sand angels. She was intrigued by the difference between the wet sand and the dry sand.




Some of the more adventurous of our party went pretty far out, ducking under the big waves and bobbing up and down in the water.




Our only casualty of the day was Kyle's glasses, which were knocked off by a big wave (probably not this one) and swept away. He had to make do with his contacts for the rest of the trip.



Barb and Kyle.



Peter, Karen, and Elizabeth (it was windy!)



I just liked the light through the beach umbrella on this one.



When it was time to go I asked Kate if she wanted to go up the stairs or up the ramp, and she picked the stairs. (I shouldn't have asked, I know.) Nobody else chose to join us in our climb!

Into the Pool

I've had an unfortunate head cold for a few days and haven't been good for much. We did get out yesterday to see some of the tall ships that are in town for a few days. I'll try to post pictures soon. For now, here's some more from California.



This is the pool at our hotel. After last year's attempts to introduce Kate to the pool went rather badly, we weren't sure how she was going to react. I got her a new suit for the summer, and when I tried it on her she seemed excited and said she wanted to go swimming. The hotel pool turned out to be just what she needed--a nice quiet place to take her time getting in the water, with no other kids around and nobody splashing (or dumping water on her head--some people's kids!)

I got a pack of plastic insects for Kate to play with on the trip. They kept her entertained for long stretches. She has a rubber grasshopper that she really likes, so when I saw these insects at the zoo gift shop I figured she'd enjoy them. She named the butterfly Mariposa (yes, she's been watching Diego) and took it to the pool with her. It didn't float, but kind of drifted slowly down through the water, and then Doug would make a big production of diving down to get it. She thought that was great fun.



She got to dabble around the edges as much as she wanted, and did eventually make it into the water. Yay! Big step. Not that she was paddling around by herself or anything, but she was in the water, and having a good time.



Kate got to go swimming three times while we were at the hotel. Since we've been back home we've gone to the Stewart Heights pool and back to the Fircrest wading pool, and she did just great. She still doesn't like getting splashed, but she's dealing with it a lot better. It's hard to get her out of the pool when it's time to go!

Now we are twelve

The family is growing! Baby Elizabeth was born in January. By next year, we'll be fourteen. How exciting!

These were taken at a park near Peter and Karen's house. Karen has a friend who lives nearby, who came and took some family pictures for us. We had the usual trouble getting a good shot of everyone.



Kirsten busts a move.



Kate thinks this is boring.



Kate and Grandma--she has a wheelchair that she uses sometimes when going out of the house. Kate enjoyed riding on Grandma's lap.



Barb and Kyle. Barb's due in October. I had a dream last night that she was having boy/girl twins, but the ultrasound confirms there's only one. They're expecting a girl!




Betsey, Barb, and me. (Family resemblance?)



What, you won't smile for the camera? Well I'll... I'll tickle you, that's what I'll do!



Karen makes a clover chain for Elizabeth.




Elizabeth approves!



Elizabeth at home.



Elizabeth gets a kiss from Aunt Kirsten.




The cousins! (Looks like neither one of them is quite sure about this....)



That's my sweet family! I wish we could get together more often. It's hard when everyone's so scattered. I'll have more pictures from our trip soon!

Little Traveler

This is the tale of our trip to California (which will probably take several posts).

Originally we had been thinking about going out to Ohio, but Peter and Karen (my brother and his wife) weren't sure if they'd be able to make it, so we decided to congregate in California instead. They live in Torrance, south of Los Angeles.

A couple of days before the trip I started telling Kate that we were going to ride on an airplane and go to California. She had no idea what California was, but she was excited about it. She kept mentioning it at random moments, like when she was in her high chair and I asked her if she wanted anything else, and she said, "No! I need to get down and go to California!"

We left on Monday and came back on Saturday. Traveling with a child certainly complicates things. Kate was convinced there were "games" in the airport (where she got that idea, I sure don't know) and she was quite put out that we wouldn't let her go look for them while we were waiting in line to check our luggage. Then when we were almost up to the counter, all of Alaska Airlines' computers went down. We put Kate's car seat down on the floor, had her sit in it, and pulled out one of our strategically-prepared toys. How will it be with two kids? Hoooo boy.

On both flights we ended up with seats that were near but not actually next to each other, but we were able to get people to trade with us. On the way out we were right in front of the galley area and right behind the wing, and the only window by us was a bit farther forward, so Kate had to sit on my lap and lean way forward to see out the window. She thought it was very cool to see the little buildings and roads on the ground, and the geometric shapes of the farmlands. I mentioned to Doug that I hoped we got better seats on way back so Kate could see out the window more easily. We did, but right after take off she curled up and went to sleep with her head on my lap, and slept almost the entire way. All that excitement is tiring!

My mom and dad flew out from Ohio with Kirsten and Betsey. My sister Barb and her husband Kyle, who live in Utah, had been up in Solvang visiting Kyle's grandmother, so they drove down for the week. The last time we had everyone all together was two years ago for my parents' fortieth anniversary.

We stayed at a Clarion Inn in Carson (we got four rooms for everybody). The shower head was about at my nose level, which I suppose is convenient if you've been swimming and want to rinse off without getting your hair wet, but not so great if you do want to wash your hair. When I saw it I thought, "Barb and Kyle are going to be hating this!" (They're the tall ones.) Doug also noticed that both knobs were marked C. I told him it was C for cold and C for caliente.

I think Kate got a kick out of the hotel room. We got to watch a lot of Discovery Channel, and I flew home with the Boom-de-ah-da commercial stuck in my head.