Wicked weekend

I decided to real-ify our spring break plans
***
~flashback music~
I originally thought I would drive
{yes, drive!
I had waited too late for good airfare}
the kids to Florida to visit Mickey.
We had hotel reservations and everything.
Then the 40 hours in the car
started making Florida sound
less like the Happiest Place on Earth
more like the furthest away.
So we made a quick spur-of-the-moment decision
{when I found 5 tickets to Wicked online}
to head down to NYC this weekend
for a quick one-day trip-let
***
I wish I had taken a picture of Sam
at the restaurant
when the gorgeous blond waitress
sat down next to him, put her arm around him,
and flirted.
Very rosy faced boy
with a wide grin.
Then he was picked not once
but twice to sing along with the
singing waiters.
Did I take a picture?
No. Shoot.
***
The girls especially loved the musical.
There were happy tears
& excited bouncings
& lots of recaps.

***
A map of Greg's travels
last week would make you suspect
he is spying on the Pope.
He spent two days in DC
in his shadow
and then we overlapped with him
in NYC (but no sightings except the
cordoned off streets).
***
That's all I've got for now.
Am having a bit of a blog drought.
A case of bloggerblock identity crisis.
A blog fast.

San Diego, I hardly knew ye

{or alternate title:}
It was the best of times, it was the sickest of times.
The trip started like this:

rain.
That day I went to bed at 4 p.m. &
shivered feverishly in bed
& slept for the next 24 hours
Here's Greg's romantic valentines dinner out that night:

You're right: That's not me!
{When they did photos of the couples
this was the joke shot of Greg & our friend Laura,
who sat next to him at dinner. With her husband.}
I also missed the whale watching/
deep sea fishing trip the next day

Then things started looking up.
Great views from our seaside house:

Fantastic food, great conversation,
& dear, inspiring friends
{I've known them for over 22 years}

{watching the pod of dolphins on our last morning there}

Thank you, friends.
Until next time...

What I got for Valentines Day...

Ours has been a sick house off and on for the last month. Greg had strep, Lauren had strep, and then three days ago Maddy came down with a fever/cough combination gomboo. Through it all I have stayed healthy, practically bathing in purell and vitamins. I think I forgot to knock on wood.

On the drive to the airport yesterday I started feeling a little tickle in my throat. I'm sure it's just allergies, I whispered to myself unconvincingly. The headache started as I sat waiting in the airport for my flight. Maybe I'm just hungry, the delusional voice said. So I bought a chicken caesar salad to take on the plane with me.

By the time I got on the plane and buckled in, I had the uncontrollable need to cough. I will not be that annoying person on the plane I promised myself. You know, the one that everyone glares at for bringing their coughing germs to the shared air space. Instead I took a sudafed and spent the next 6 hours clearing my throat a lot.

About halfway into the flight I got sick. Really sick, the kind of sick you don't want ever be, but especially on a plane. The salad wasn't sitting with me well. I made...I don't know...12 trips to the lovely airplane loo. Now, I usually have a strong stomach. I'll feel queasy but not more than that. The last time I did that was 10 years ago. I have even spent an entire pregnancy without needing to do that.

My prayers in the claustrophobic bathrooms sounded like this: please help me to feel better. Or at least a little bit. Help me not to throw up on any passengers. And if I do, let them be really really understanding and compassionate. Please let me stay in the loo even if the fasten seat belt sign goes on. I will never take health for granted again.

At one point I asked one of the flight attendants for a bag to take to my seat just in case and she gave me a big white garbage bag! (Whatever happened to those cute little bags that used to be in the pocket on the back of the seat?)

We finally landed & I found Greg in the airport, who had landed just five minutes before me. He took good care of me & I'm feeling much better this morning. Things are looking up.

I'd just like to send my apologies out to the passengers of flight 411 last night. I'm so sorry. And happy valentines day, from me to you. Ah, the gift that keeps on giving.

A stretch of charmed luck

We're in DC this week for February break (don't be too jealous...the down side to this week of school vacation is we don't get out of school until almost Independence Day). For some reason we've hit a vortex of good fortune. We must look like the Clampetts freshly arrived in California because we are being treated like refreshing novelties everywhere we go. Apparently tourists are uncommon in mid-February (or we really do look like hicks or a traveling circus).

Our trip down here was not only uneventful but even enjoyable and shorter than we anticipated. We arrived and the hotel clerk upgraded us to a two-bedroom suite. The weather took a balmy turn the day we arrived...apparently the first time above freezing for 25 days...and it's in the 50s today. The lady at Krispy Kreme gave us 5 doughnuts for the price of 3 (this one particularly delighted M, who suggested we continue testing this generosity every few hours). The hotel provides not just breakfast but also dinner!

While I am enjoying this blessed good fortune, I can't help thinking--we are due a really nasty piece of bad fortune in the near future.