Welcome home. Have an enchilada.

Getting ready for bed in the RV at grandma's house

Hey kids,

Even though I spent a four-day weekend with you, and whisked Jakob away for a day and a night in Monterey by ourselves, I miss you horribly. Tomorrow (wait, it's after midnight, so .... later today), you come home to me.

Jakob, our weekend getaway was fabulous. Why the hell can't I just win the frickin' lotto so I can quit my job and spend my days just travelling around with you kids doing fun stuff?

I took you to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and managed to have a blast, even though it was wall-to-wall summer weekend/father's day crowded. I've been to the Aquarium at least a dozen times before, so there was nothing pressing that *I* needed to see. I let you set the pace, and let you linger over things that you wanted to linger over, and skip the stuff that bored you. You seemed most impressed by the big orange jellies and the tiny newborn seahorses. You grabbed my hand and made me stand there beside you as you watched them for the longest time. I bit my tongue when you briefly skimmed past the huge octopus and then the world's most beautiful seahorses...



...in favor of any interactive exhibit that featured anything vaguely videogame-like.

I gave you the camera for a while and let you take some photos:


Seahorse



Otters playing



People watching otters playing



Fish (imagine that!)

Here are more photos if you are so inclined.

We went back to our last-minute Hotwire.com find -- the Travelodge right off the freeway that I stayed in a couple months ago when I went to see Cracker in downtown Monterey -- and you laid down and took a two-hour nap. Of your own free will! So cute. You went around closing all the curtains, then you curled up in bed and went straight to sleep. When you woke up, I let you pick where we had dinner (Wendy's, your favorite) then we went to Seaside Beach to take some pictures of the ocean and watch people fly kites. Back at the hotel later, we watched the Simpson's movie on HBO, played hide-and-seek for at least an hour (amazing how many hidey-holes there are in one hotel room) and finally went to bed at around midnight.

When left to your own devices, you can cruise-direct a pretty fun and interesting itinerary. I'll have to remember that more often. I think we both have a much better time when I don't micro-manage you.

The next day we met up with Auntie L and went to Pescadero, where you started feeling kinda punk. One minute you were climbing rocks and running down the beach, the next you were huddled on my lap, saying, "Keep me warm, Momma...." You moaned and groaned your way through lunch in Half Moon Bay, and then we headed home to grandma's, where you succumbed to a pretty high fever and a sore throat.

Poor thing. That's how I had to leave you the next day when I had to drive home. I've kept in touch since Monday, and apparently you feel much better. When I call, I can hear you and Wavy in the background playing Wii Rock Band. And rumor has it that you Wii-bowled a 204 tonight. Daaaaang!

I made a pan of turkey enchiladas for dinner tomorrow night. You and daddy and baby will get home before I do, so just take 'em out of the fridge and stick 'em in the oven at about 5, mmmmkay? Love you both and can't wait to squeeze the stuffin's outta the two'a yas.