Lost Bird Found

Needles

So I thought that the East Coast was hot. It was, well, it was humid hot. Yesterday the car was 118 degrees when we got back into it from the 105 degree desert weather outside. I dont know how people live in such hot places, or how people decided to live there in the first place. I love the desert in New Mexico, the colors were amazing. We drove from Oklahoma City to Albuquerque and stayed the night. I had been a on trip from Wyoming to New Mexico when I was in highschool with my mother. It was nice being back there. We had a really short but lovely stay.




I wish I could have stopped more to take pictures along the way. There is something called a nap, and when the car stops, it stops and then cranky seat kicking happens. We saw a lot of dinosaurs while Henry was sleeping. When we got to Flagstaff we found a not so awesome one, but Henry didnt care.


We left early from Flagstaff, and then drove through a place called Needles. I dont think that I will ever drive through a place called Needles again. The only thing on the radio was Montell Jordan and The Red Hot Chili Peppers....


So dorky but I was loving the pattern on the back of this truck so I made Thor take a picture of it.


After Needles on our way to Los Angeles. Thor had I had an extended "talk" about how Snoopy had a relative named Spike that lived in Needles. Thor is constantly trying to trick me into believing things and I did not believe this. I was proven wrong. So now of course I am going to fall for more of his tricks now.


Well, we are in LA and staying with Matt, Maddy & Brooke. They are excellent hosts. Its nice for Henry to have Maddy to play with. She didnt want to go to daycare today because Henry was here.


Im headed out to get coffee and see one of my oldest friends Sian at her work, with Henry. Lets hope we dont get kicked off the lot.

A Little Rock and Roll

Really?



We are in the thick of summer. I keep thinking to myself when I see signs like "Bridge Ices Before Road." How a place so hot, can possible ever be cold enough to ice over. We left Asheville 2 days ago (very reluctantly) and headed toward Memphis (we missed Nashville due to traffic and early nap).


Henry was super excited about the hot air balloon that we saw while getting gas in NC. He has now started to ask for really random things to happen. Then I realize that random things have appeared only now, as he gets older he is remembering them.


I find myself getting into the car first to cool it down for Henry and actually saying "its not that bad, its only 104 right now in the car" instead of the 114 it was the day before when we just jumped out to get ice cream (we are not ever leaving Henry in the car dont worry).


People often comment on how long we are taking on our trip. Sure, its taking a long time but factor in that the two of us are still working 2 full time schedules (just breaking the hours up a lot), catering to Henry's little legs that need to stretch and run around, eat lunch outside of the car and arrive in places before 5 (this is my main goal each drive to get out by 5). Sometimes we drive two days in a row but that means that we stay somewhere for two days so that Henry can reboot and not go totally insane. I also am still recovering from major spinal surgery and a giant blood clot in my leg so I often have to get out and do stretches too. It isnt easy, it is sort of a vacation...its more like we are traveling gypsies only we arent robbing people instead, we are sending large digital files to clients.


Each time we arrive at a hotel or a friends house Henry does two things. He asks to jump on the bed (we ask permission at houses not hotels) then he asks to go swimming. Every hotel has had a pool that we stay at. He seriously loves water. If we stay at a house I promise to take him to the sprinkler the next day, or if its early or cool enough we go that night. Boy loves the sprinklers.

We took a total chance and had Ethiopian food in Memphis. It was super good. Plus I got to meet a long time Livejournal friend of 10 something years. He was just as sweet in real life as I thought he would be. We learned about Graceland Too which we didnt have enough time to see sadly.

The hotel we stayed at in Memphis was pretty terrible but the fact that some gospel awards show was happening made it more amazing. The outfits in the lobby were amazing. I only wish I had brought my camera down to the lobby.




We stopped in Little Rock, for a sprinkler break. There were some seriously weird stores in downtown.

We got back in the car, drove through another insane rainstorm and arrived at the beautiful and peaceful home of Jeremy and Kathleen and were greeted at the door by the adorable Kathleen and Kelly. There was a lovely vegetarian lasagna waiting for us made from all local vegetables. Also Kelly made us the super awesome Strawberry Cream Pie.



Henry is loving the drum set in the room we are staying in. He has also pretty much been introducing himself as Mark from Devo and letting Jeremy and Kathleen know that "cats are great".


Working for a couple of hours while Henry naps. Landing in New Mexico tomorrow and attempting to drive overnight to LA the next day...Lets see how that works out.

Land Of The Sky

Henry in his new cutoffs which I find totally charming on him. They were total mom jeans before that I never could put him in so this was the perfect solution. I still call these Never nudes.

We had a nice breakfast of super sweet and local watermelon in Virginia before we got in the car to head towards Ashley and Glen's place just outside of Asheville, NC.


One thing that we have learned while driving cross country through places we dont know very well or at all, is to always stop for gas when you have half a tank left. You literally can not be sure where the next station is or when your phone will have service again. When its summer, and you have a kid you do not want to have anxiety about breaking down on the side of the road. To be fair, I am a pretty good packer so I have a gallon of water, a suitcase sized first aid kit, three ice packs, 2 bottles of gatorade and enough snacks to hold us over for 2 days at least in the car. Also, stop for lunch right when you are hungry. Try to go to a place that has a few cars in the lot, where it might be safe to eat since local regulars seem to be in there.


In this case, Ernies. It is true that our waitress that was wearing a total Paula Poundstone tie, told me that she had never had a salad and then when I ordered one, she asked if I wanted mayonnaise on it...shortly afterwards she was replaced by another waitress who seemed to be more aware of you know, the world.


Henry also instructed me to vandalize this dudes face. "Draw the glasses?"
"Draw the moustache?"
It went on until he ended up like this. I figure that Henry has a future in comics like his Papa.


Asheville is beautiful, I might have scared Ashley with my driving. We went to a super super great place for dinner last night called Sunny Point Cafe. Oh so good. They had a garden out back too where they try to grow a lot of their own food. I had a sandwich with pecan crusted fried green tomatoes and goat cheese on a croissant. Holy crap. Thor went to bed talking about his dinner.


Henry had pancakes for dinner. Because he was awesome on the drive in and was super well mannered at dinner even though he was exhausted.



This morning, a lot of time was spent talking to the chickens. The conversations went like this:
"Cluck cluck cluck!!!" Chickens.
"HEY! Whatchoo laughin' about?!" Henry.
"Cluck cluck???!"
"You wanna da raisins?" Henry chomping raisins, I take a couple and toss them to the "girls". They go crazy for them.
"They like-a da raisins!" Henry to me.
The chickens then ran back and forth hoping for more. They are some serious personalities.


Ashley braved the hot hot hot heat and took us to downtown where there was a huge festival going on. We made a beeline for the fountains. Henry is under the impression that he has a bit of talent when it comes to mind control. Im not really correcting him on this front. Why not? Because its funny. And Im getting away with as much as I can before he knows any better. I like to tell him when he is crying for a snack or special treat "Henry, when you cry it makes it taste bad. If you stop crying I will not only give this treat to you, it will taste better." Last night I offered him 500 dollars if he used the potty that I would give him when he was 18 (he didnt care).


Tomorrow we head to Memphis and are stopping for lunch in Nashville. We are then heading to Oklahoma City! With the exception of our stop in Chicago this trip back has been the best way! We are having so much fun and actually getting a lot of work done considering all the car time. Thank god for telecommuting. Seriously. We also just got a last minute invite to go to Baja and stay in a 26 bedroom house for a few days right on the beach....good thing we brought our passports.

Friends Forever

We left NYC for the second time in much better moods all around. This was helped by the fact that the heat was only 98 and not 104. That we stayed in Park Slope which is like super kid friendly and that we were across the street from a huge huge sprinkler and we slept in a place with central AC and a nice place at that. We also had a great dinner with amazing people all at once. We loved seeing Jenna, Anna and Evan, Mackenzi, Tom and Leela, Jesse, Alita.
It was short trip. We met with a client on the way out of town, whos new site will launch next week. It is possible that Henry fell in the gutter while we were loading the car but, these things happen.


We stopped in Maryland on our way to Virginia for a coffee break (me) and a milk break (Henry). I have to say, Henry has been really amazing on this trip. We are trying to plan staying in each place for at least two days. He gets a little bonkers and at that point we slow down and go at his pace.


It is funny that the older I get, the more I realize how irrelevant time can really be between people who knew each other well when they were in highschool. It is awkward for a few a seconds but your tone, your jokes the way you treat each other just reverts to when you were 16. We have been staying with someone who was one of my best friends in highschool. I have no idea where we got the picture above taken or why one of us even still had to for scanning but it cracks me up and clearly was taken before we discovered tweezing eyebrows. (For the record I am the one on the right, not the far right, thats a chimp).




And our kids, are two weeks apart and LOVE each other. Seriously. They have been doing some serious hugging and romping. Its totally adorable. Henry likes a lot of kids, but he REALLY likes Lina and she really likes him. Plus, Ive gotten to hold Lina's beautiful 5 week old brother Grayson a lot, though he really prefers his mama over me. I also LOVE that Lina tried to show Henry how big kids use the potty and she actually fell inside of it.





We are headed to Asheville in the morning sometime and will meet Ashley and Glen at 6 in downtown at some sort of drunken festival. SUPER excited about that. Will spend a few days there and then head to Memphis, then to Oklahoma City where we will stay with Jeremy and Kathleen and meet some more awesome people like Kelly. We must say that staying with actual people is way better than hotels. We feel like we get to see what the city is really like. Also, we hope that it will convince people to come out to our tiny island and visit us even though it is a haul. See you soon!

Westward Ho

Oh I lost the entry that I was writing last night. I also lost my computer charger and my camera charger, which is pretty intense considering the fact that I was staying in a place with no electricity. I wasnt able to take as many pictures as I wanted to this weekend, it was mostly annoying when we gave Jacket and Henry Pop Rocks for the first time. We then realized that they werent really phased at all, they just asked for more and didnt make any crazy faces.




We spend a couple days in Boston to see a sick relative. My sister upholstered my grandfather's favorite "dog head chair" with my fabric. She and her boyfriend are in the midst of remodeling the house he bought from his mother. Henry saw his great grandmother. We went into downtown Boston to visit my aunt and have some lunch on our way out, back to New York. I wish we could have spent more time there.


I was so excited to have Rebecca and Jacket come up to the lake! We had fun. Rebecca was super awesome and a great great mom. And Jacket was seriously cute. She was fearless in the water! Just jumping right in (in her lifevest). Hilarious. Our friends were there with their daughter Helen. Jacket thought that Helen's name was pelican and Henry thought that Jacket's name was Hyena and Jacket thought that Henry's name was Harry.


Jacket and Helen check out Henry's snack outfit.






Well, two days in NYC staying with Jenna & Mark. Running around finding chargers today, taking calls and working etc. Then, we head back the long way. See you soon.

Escape From New York Part 2

There was a considerable more amount of sprinkler time that went on last week. But the heat managed to break us and, at the last minute we were made to go to New England to visit an ill family member and to spend time with two people who I can only liken to being sort of like my godparents.



Henry managed to get even more tabouleh eating in, while we were in NYC at our friends Kevin & Mia's house. And some city swimming time. I do appreciate how New Yorkers take what they have and make the most of it in terms of space. Or how kids, take plastic cups and plastic bags and use them to make waterslides at the park. One day, I actually fed Henry a lunch that was only Goldfish crackers and vanilla ice cream.



While we were in New Hampshire, the cat gave birth to 3 kittens. It was sort of amazing seeing kittens that tiny. The next day while visiting the mama cat and maybe I was hand feeding her earlier that day...she stood up looked kinda funny then I realized that I was witnessing the next two kittens being born. Accidental cat doula. It was pretty crazy. Henry kept asking really sweetly to see the Mama cat. He would just gaze at them and whisper. Incidentally he learned how to use his "inside voice" this past weekend and that alone is pretty awesome.




We ate really well each night. There was loads of local food from the CSA in NH, which was heaven to us. Henry adored my godparents son Emmett who is 9 and Emmett was pretty much obsessed with Thor. It worked out well.
Right now we are in Boston, planning to head back to the lake on Friday, then we head back, the southern route and then are driving up the coast from LA.
The biggest lessons we have learned so far, always fill your tank when you only have half a tank. Keep a first aid kit in the car and a gallon of water and a blanket. For snacks pack non salty nuts and apples and bananas. Im curious how our trip will be heading back. We are pretty homesick but have been having some fun.

Escape From New York Part 1

I was an unexpected doula to a cat yesterday. More later.

It's Getting Hot In Here

We arrived at the cabin last week. It was wonderful. Jenna came with her beautiful family. I always find it funny that some people are willing to go down a two mile dirt road and meet me in person for the first time. It worked out well. Henry was pretty into Mia and her bubble skills. Claudine asked me why he was talking like a baby. I covered his ears and told her that in general girls were smarter faster.


Usually each set of guests is responsible for one meal while at the lake. It makes it way easier. Josh, Ben, Marci and Jenene made some really unexpected and tasty Korean sort of BBQ. It was awesome. And made for super good leftovers at lunch the next day.


Henry is seriously dinged up from all of his deep woods and hotel adventures. He is also ready to take care of some fig newtons. Clearly.


Good Lord! The heat in NYC is unreal. I thought I had the flu but it was really just heatstroke. It did sort of kill my crush in NYC a bit. But then you see your kid basically making out with a sprinkler and the gleeful noises he makes...see what did I tell you? New York City, you sexy, sweaty, bad boyfriend...dang you.




Henry and Huck "stand on heads" like Toad in Henry's favorite book.


I love that Henry and Huck seem to just pick up where they left off when they see each other. Bed bouncing in cool dark rooms was pretty much plan today.

The Town of Positive Thinking

Henry got some last minute playtime with Sarah and Jon.


What a serious napper does. How was he comfortable? We forgot his clothes at the lake so he went home in Thor's shirt.




I seriously look so tired still from all that driving. We went to bed at 8pm last night. Normally Henry is like a human hurricane whipping around in the bed when and if he sleeps with us. Last night he begged to sleep with us and I swear he did not move one inch.



Stopped twice on the way from Chicago. I drove until 4 in the morning until I said to Thor at 3:45 "Look at all the sparkles on the highway...." I pulled over and we stayed in a hotel room. We didnt even turn on the lights or bring in our bags. Just passed out. Henry had a harder time going back to sleep and kept asking Thor to sing "the wheels on the bus". He us also really into his own version of "monkeys jumping on the bed" but instead he asks for only 2 monkeys and makes them jump on "the special treat", "the meatball", "the moose muffin" and my favorite "the meats".

We got to Camp Llewoh yesterday. It was sort of surreal. Today I have to do a little bit of work at the library since they have electricity and wireless. I forgot that the town's slogan is "The Town of Positive Thinking". Funny.





This morning was full of stay in pajamas on the porch and play for hours time. We found a random plastic Hippo on the porch at Camp Llewoh. Henry is currently very obsessed with Hippos, mostly he picks the one has has up and says "In this case, issah MALE HIPPOPADADANUS" from his new favorite and overly played on the road trip "LIFE" documentary series. Now he has a female Hippo and they have been kissing a lot. He makes them kiss and then yells "SURPRISE" which we realized is from his favorite Hippo(s) book "George and Martha".


Today, is our 4 year wedding anniversary, which was the reason for the timing of the trip. While in the bakery/restaurant that catered our wedding I realized that I almost forgot. I quickly bought Thor's favorite cake and had them write on it. The writing color is terrible but they did the same thing at our wedding, so it was fitting.
Going offline for awhile. Im expecting a ton of friends this weekend at the lake. I am so excited! Will be writing about more of trip next week and some other stuff. Have a great weekend.

Dear Chicago

I have been to a lot of cities. I firmly believe that a city is always better when you have good hosts. Now, I dont know if its because Sarah and Jon are seriously amazing hosts or that some part of me has always wanted to visit Chicago for some random reason, but I love it here. Its pretty safe to say that Henry and Thor do too. It is breaking my heart to leave here. Sarah and Jon have been so generous with their time and place with us.


Plus, Jon is basically Henry's grown up doppleganger. I swear people think that Thor and Jon are Henry's two dads when we are walking around.


Henry checks himself out, checking himself out eating an apple.




They took us to a great huge sprinkler place in downtown, then to some amazing falafel inside of a jewelry shop. Henry's FAVORITE food since he was a baby has been tabouleh. He housed it. As soon as Sarah and Jon explained that the falafel was inside a jewelry shop we knew it would be awesome. And it was.




We followed up Henry's healthy lunch with a lunch of just french fries on the beach of Lake Michigan. I can not believe how big that lake is. We saw pirate like ships but they were too far away for my wimpy camera to take pictures.


The harder your kid sleeps after a day of activities, the more you feel successful as a parent. He really needed these two days to reboot, I hope the overnight drive to Pawling doesnt break his brain. I dont really care if it breaks mine.


Henry and Mega have exchanged words. Henry basically asks Mega "Hey whatcha doing down there?" Over and over and Mega just stares at him.




Jon shows us the secret garden near the house.

Sarah and Jon's place is super similar to our place in NYC it's kinda funny. It is almost like we were meant to stay here when we visited Chicago. They have been so great with Henry and that is always a plus. We are planning to take them out to the Green Zebra for a thank you dinner then, we are leaving at 7pm tonight to drive overnight to Camp Llewoh (12 hour drive). I'm sad to leave, excited to see my friends at the lake and in the city but even more excited to continue our adventure of working, driving and vacationing all at the same time.


See you soon.