All in all, there is not a good explanation for my absence in blog world. There are explanations, just not sure they are particularly good ones. More than anything, I find myself frustrated with my limitations, as they have been the biggest deterrent to my getting anything useful done over the last couple of weeks. But I will backtrack...
Brad and I did finally have our weekend alone in Seattle. We woke up in darkness on the 29th and made our way to LAX, a trip I’d made many times before, but Brad had only had to endure a few times. We were flying on Virgin America, because when I had bought the tickets for our cruise trip from the year before, and while I could cancel the cruise, the tickets were just a credit which had to be used within a year’s time. Since Virgin America only flies to a few select cities, Seattle was still the best choice for us, and I was eager to share a city I loved with Brad, who hadn’t been there since he was a child. We were flying first class, which I have to say was one of the absolute highlights of the trip. Virgin America has some cool planes anyway, with the purple lighting and cool rave music as you board, but their first class seats were simply amazing. So much leg room that Brad, at 6’3, could stretch his legs out completely without even brushing the seat in front of him, and not only did the chairs lean back in a million different configurations, but the foot rests elevated as well. Seriously. Cool. We had our own TVs, and with our fare came free everything - any movie, TV show, or music video we wanted. I had my first Mimosa (with blood orange juice and the coolest bottles of champagne) right after take-off, and since we’d mentioned we were on vacation, Charley, our attendant, made sure my glass was never empty! Our first course for breakfast was a bowl of exotic fruit, cut into beautiful shapes, served with a small shot glass of yogurt. I couldn’t eat most of the fruit, because of allergies, but Brad enjoyed it, and we traded off for the yogurt. Next came cinnamon rolls, straight out of the oven, still gooey in the middle. Oh. Wow. Then we had a choice - Brad chose a breakfast brioche with eggs, prosciutto and cheese served on Kalamata olive bread, while I had a goat cheese omelet. Our entrees came with plane shaped salt and pepper shakers. SO cute! At this point, I didn’t want to get off the plane - I just figured if we flew around the whole weekend, I’d be happy! But the view from the plane was beautiful - first the Sierra mountains, then the mountains of Oregon and Washington state. Two hours later, too soon, it was time to put away our tray tables and TVs and land back in the real world.
Seattle’s airport is beautiful - so much artwork imbedded in the structure. It’s another reason I’m such a fan of the city. We got our bags and were on our way to the car rental. We were hoping for a Focus or a Malibu, which is the class we had reserved (those were the two cars mentioned), and I only say this because it’s important for later :) Instead, we got a Dodge Caliber, which has no trunk - it’s a hatchback with no cover, no security, no nothing. And we laughed because it had California plates. No hiding our tourist class!
Rather than go to the hotel, I wanted to get straight to the heart of the city and see Pike Place before it got crazy busy. Brad was nervous about parking in the city lot, because out luggage was so out there for everyone to see, and I totally understood, but we didn’t have a whole lot of options. We backed it right up to the wall, hoping that would be enough to keep people out of it, and made our way to the market. I’m still not sure I’ve done this place justice. Every time I go, I am so overwhelmed by the sights and the sounds - I want to just sit there for hours and people watch, take in every smell, from the fish to the flowers, the honey to the produce, the coffee to the aromas coming from the restaurants, I just want to drink it all in, but there’s just so much it’s hard to do.
After walking around for a bit, we decided to eat at Lowell’s before the lunch crowd got too crazy. We got a table overlooking the sound, and I was informed that Copper River Salmon was on the menu. Copper River Salmon is such a rarity - the wild form is available for such a short window of time, and though I’ve had it at a restaurant in Los Angeles before, there is nothing that can replace the freshness of having it in Seattle (except, I suppose, having it in Alaska!) It was expensive, but oh so incredibly worth it. I am not a food critic - I don’t have the right words to do justice to such a masterpiece. To say anything would put myself up there with Rachael Ray, where I would just say, “Yummo!” But I won’t :) Let’s just say it was a meal I will not forget! Brad had a crab salad that he described simply as, “Wow, that’s really good,” and a cod roll which was also quite tasty.
After we properly stuffed ourselves, we walked a bit more around Pike Place, but I couldn’t find the glass artist whom I’d discovered on my last visit. She had a gorgeous sculpture that I fell in love with the last time I’d seen it, but at $200, I didn’t think I could make that decision without Brad seeing it as well. Alas, she wasn’t there anymore. The crowd in front of my favorite jam stand and the honey stand was huge, so we moved on. I know I can order them online, but still, not quite the same as buying them straight from the vendor, that feeling of being a part of it all. Once we left the market, we cruised past the original Starbucks, but there was a quartet standing in front of it, drawing a crowd, so we moved on. It was about this point where I got a call from Kieran that Ailish was hiding, wouldn’t come out, and Grammapoppa were really upset with her. Suddenly, with me on the phone, she reappeared, and I told her very sternly that I had only asked two things - remember to take her meds (which she hadn’t that morning), and please please please try not to make too much trouble for Grammapoppa. I was so upset with her for making this wrap around to her again. We tried to regroup, though, to remember we were supposed to be on vacation, so to the next street we went, where we found an Irish bar. The perfect way to forget your troubles! Once Brad saw that the bartender knew how to do a proper Guinness pour, he knew he wanted that. I settled for a Hefeweizen, and we sat there in the near darkness, sipping on our beers, trying to make sense of the soccer tournament on the TV, trying to forget everything we were escaping.
With our beers finished, we headed back into the sunlight. We walked up to the next street, and roamed for a few blocks. I wanted to try to get to this one really tall, architecturally interesting building, but Brad said it would be too far for me. My knees were already screaming, and the streets near the water are quite hilly. We eventually turned around and made our way back to the car. We decided to go to the ferries and see if we could catch a ride to one of the islands. I didn’t care which one, I just wanted to ride the ferry. We could have taken the car along with us, but the whole idea of trying to park it and all that just freaked me out, so we parked it in a lot and boarded the ferry, just the two of us. I was so surprised at the deal - $13.40 for the two of us, round trip. It has to be the cheapest and best Seattle attraction! We only had to wait a few minutes before the ferry was ready to board. I expected a crush of people, but at 3:00 p.m. on a Friday, it was pretty light, all things considering. We decided to sit outside on the upper deck, and it was such a beautiful sight. Honestly, you couldn’t have asked for better weather that weekend. It was sunny, mild, and you could see Rainier as if it were right next to you, not two hours away. I think that Seattle and Los Angeles have traded weather for the past few weeks - not that I’m complaining, mind you. Our June gloom has turned into a downright depression, with temps never quite making it out of the 70’s and cloudy, foggy days. I love these days, love that I don’t have to worry about turning the air on, *love* the power bill! I know they will come to an end, and I will soon be sweltering, but it is nice for the moment! Anyway, back to Seattle - we rode the 35 minute trip out to Bainbridge, and then got to watch as first the bicyclers were allowed to disembark, a flurry of wheels and colors that resembled a bike race. Then, the motorcycles rumbled out. Once the cars started out, the ramp was in place for us to walk off the boat. We weren’t sure where we were headed, but we knew Bainbridge was fairly small, and couldn’t be too far of a walk to downtown. I marveled at the houses - so much of Seattle’s homes look like my dream homes. All the wood and the shutters and the covered porches. It’s not Brad’s dream - he likes the 60’s modern look, much more likely to be found in Palm Springs, which is funny, since he prefers the Palm Springs weather, where I like mine straight out of Seattle.
We walked up the street for a block and found the main drag. There was one grocery store, several restaurants and realtor offices, and a number of boutiques which I’m sure cater to the tourists. We had to laugh as several cars cruised down the street full of teenagers. They were yelling to each other about a party at someone’s house that night, but the best part was the hard core rap they were blaring. Of course, my first thought was Ben Fold’s song, “Rockin’ The Suburbs.” There’s nothing more ironic to me than sheltered teenagers “empathizing” with kids who have grown up in the most crime-ridden, poverty-stricken areas.
We stopped into a dog store, because I’m a sucker for dog stores, where we found leashes on clearance - and yes, I’m a sucker for clearance. After that, we found the ice cream shop that people on yelp had raved about. The shop itself was gorgeous - very hip and light and open, and there were so many flavors to choose from. I chose blackberry, because I know Washington state is known for their berries, and I expected some good berries in there. Brad got a mix of dark chocolate and peppermint. Mine was positively disappointing, but Brad’s was yummy, so we shared it. :)
We walked a bit more, and then made our way back to the ferry for the trip back. Everyone kept telling me there is nothing like coming into the city on the ferry, and they were right! It was one of my favorite moments of the trip. Once we disembarked, we headed to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe, a very touristy store next to the ferries. Brad remembers going there as a child, so we had to stop and let him get a squished penny (or two)!
What else was there to do after that but eat some more? Seriously, I think that’s all we did! But this was totally worth it. We found Chinooks, one of my favorite memories from my last trip to Seattle. It is right on the fisherman’s wharf, with a great view of the water and boats. I ordered alder planked halibut - truly amazing. And they served it with green beans which were still crisp, and their wonderful potato creation - it was just an incredible meal. Brad wasn’t as impressed with his ling cod, so I shared my halibut with him - I had to pay him back for the ice cream :) We were trying to save room for dessert, because they have the most amazing berry cobbler, but there was no way we could fit it in! We walked around the wharf for a bit, and then decided to finally check into our hotel, which ended up being further out than I thought it was. I am slightly directionally challenged when it comes to maps!
Still, it was right off the freeway, super quiet, and the room was great. Plus, there was free breakfast every morning, and it was real free breakfast :) It was in the midst of checking in that we discovered a problem at home - Ailish’s meds had been left behind in Northern California while Brad’s parents were driving back home. They couldn’t turn around at that point, so they were going to have to go around and get the meds from our house. My first thought was ugh, I felt so bad that they were going to have to add an extra two hours to their already stressful trip, and secondly, UGH, they are going to be in my disaster of a house! They called around 2:00 a.m. and I walked them through the meds she needed to be taking.
The next day, we headed to Woodinville, which was just a few miles away, to check out the wineries there. It was interesting, because Brad and I are very familiar with California wineries. As a kid, his parents took him to many wineries throughout Sonoma and Napa Valleys, and he and I have visited several during our trips up there. More recently, the Paso Robles area only a few hours from us has been another favorite stomping ground. But we’ve never seen wineries like the ones in Woodinville. Most of the grapes are grown in the Walla Walla area and trucked in for fermentation. And many of the wineries were not wineries so much as tasting rooms. It was an interesting experience. We did find one that, though it is mostly based in Walla Walla and Northern California, did have some good wines. We also found one of the best burgers ever, which was totally unexpected. Teddy’s Bigger Burgers, which is a Hawaii tradition, now has a restaurant in Woodinville, the first mainland restaurant. I had the Barbecue Bacon Cheeseburger and the spicy fries, and it was seriously the best burger I have ever had. The barbecue sauce had just a hint of pineapple to it, just so yummy!
After the wineries, we headed back to our room for a bit, but the call of World of Warcraft was too strong for Brad, so I dragged him back out to, what else, eat some more! This time, we headed for a Thai place recommended by Yelpers. It was probably my least favorite meal of the trip, but that isn’t saying it was bad - it was very good, just not the same level as the others! After that, I wanted to find a park where we could walk along the water, but we had some troubles trying to find any water that was open to the public. Finally, we just decided to head back into the city and go to one of the landmark parks. We were up on the hill overlooking the city, with the sun setting behind us. There were several prom pictures being taken, which gave it an even more festive feeling. Such a pretty night - it was perfect. The next morning, we went to a donut shop I’d read about. Brad is a serious fan of fried dough, so I knew he’d be happy! These donuts were some of the best I’d ever had. Even the cake donuts, which I normally hate, were so delicious!
After that, I wanted to go somewhere nearer to the airport, because I get worried about traffic and unexpected issues before a flight. I am known to become, um, crabby, when I’m preparing for a flight. I don’t know where this reputation comes from! It’s just my worst nightmare is missing a flight. So we drove down to a Japanese Garden I’d read about from Yelp, just five miles from the airport. We could have gone to the museum of flight - we should have gone to the museum of flight, but I thought, with only 90 minutes, maybe we wouldn’t make it out of the museum in time. The Garden seemed safe. Safe - ha! We pull into the parking lot, and there are literally SIX signs stating that this is a high car prowl area, do not leave any valuables in the car, do not leave any radios in the car, it only takes 30 seconds for someone to break your window and steal your things! Remember that we had a car with no trunk? No protection at all? A person could look in and see two suitcases, two laptop bags, a camera bag? Yeah...this was not going to work out so well. We parked as close to the entrance as possible, but we only made it in for about five minutes before I lost my nerve and said we should head back to the car. They were *beautiful* gardens, I just wish I’d been warned about the security situation, because the “relaxing” part of the garden is not possible when you’re constantly worried all of your possessions will be taken!
Our last task before turning our car in was getting gas. I wanted to get the best deal, but some of the car rental places were not in the airport, so it seemed like every time we got far enough away from one, we’d run into another one, and the gas prices around it would skyrocket accordingly. Just as we were about to give up, I spotted a Safeway gas station. This is very exciting for me, because we don’t have gas stations attached to our stores. Every month, I earn gas rewards, and every month I’m not able to use these rewards because there aren’t any near us! So here we were, we’d finally found a station with decent prices, and I had rewards of .50 per gallon! So stupid, I know, especially because we only needed 9 gallons, but hey, that means I saved 4.50! And actually, compared to the other prices, I saved more like 7.00 :)
Once we boarded our rave airline again, I was sad to leave Seattle, and I felt like I only got to see about a quarter of what I really wanted to experience, but I was happy we had come. On the way home, we were served lunch, which was maple roasted chicken, sweet potatoes and broccolini. I watched Marley and Me and cried like a baby, and then discovered the Dodgers were playing on ESPN. It was a great flight home!
Once back in our car, we headed straight for home, to pick up the dogs (they’d been watched by Aly and Sandy) and drive up to Ventura to get the girls. It was a late night, but we had to get to bed so Ailish could get to school the next morning.
I don’t know if it was the travel, or just my time, but my body began protesting loudly starting that Monday. The exhaustion set in, making it very difficult for me to get up and moving. The body aches were there in full effect. But I just didn’t have time to succumb - there was so much to be done. I gave in and started taking the steroids, as much as I didn’t want to. I just had to keep moving.
I had Kieran’s last Brownie meeting, my Service Unit’s last Team meeting, the last Leader meeting for my Service Unit, plus all of the activities for Ailish’s class, a yard sale I’d been planning with Sandy for months, *and* Brenna’s arrival! There was just no way I would be spending any time in bed. Somehow, I limped through these things, taking my meds, hating having to take them but knowing it was the only way I could do it. I got through all of it - loved the gift my leaders gave me, a basket full of tissues because they know I cannot make it through an awards ceremony or recruitment night without crying, plus a bunch of gift cards, which was so thoughtful and unexpected. The next day after the leader meeting, Brenna arrived. Brad and Kieran drove down in one car while I followed with the other. Brad had to go to work afterwards, but he wanted to be there to see her once she got off the plane. It’s nice since she was unaccompanied that we were able to go to the gate and greet her. I know why we can’t do that anymore, but I miss those days of gate greetings! She flew in on a plane dedicated to the State of Nevada, which was pretty cool :) She said she had a good flight, and was very happy to see us, but most especially she wanted to get home and see her dogs! She looked a lot healthier - she’s still pale, still has the dark circles under her eyes, but she has more meat on her bones. She’s making an effort to eat, which is good. Behaviorally speaking, I’m trying to figure it all out. I can tell she’s on her best behavior, but she has this voice, it’s small and sweet and completely unlike her normal voice. I know this is probably not right but I call it the serial killer voice, because it sounds to me the way it would sound if she were standing over me with a knife in her hand. I know, that’s awful, right? Terrible terrible terrible, but I can’t get the visual out of my head whenever she uses that voice. I remind her every time she uses it to stop. It reminds me a lot of the voice Ailish used when she came on home passes from her placement in San Francisco. She faked her way through months, so I know it’s possible for Brenna to do the same thing. And while of course I want everything to go well and everyone to get along, I also don’t want to play the game and have it all be a facade. But, on the bright side, aside from some relatively minor issues, things have gone well. We have learned that Brenna really needs 12 hours of sleep to act like a reasonable person, and I’m wondering if that’s part of the problem at school. She had a late night with Grammapoppa Saturday, and then had to be up for Kieran’s swim meet on Sunday morning. She was no fun to be around yesterday...no fun at all. She went to bed on her own at 8:00 last night, and here she is, a shiny happy person again! :)
Ailish has done her part to avoid Brenna, which is all we asked for. I would love to have them be the best of friends, but all we can hope for right now is civil behavior. Ailish has definitely had her moments, but she hasn’t provoked, and that is the biggest hurdle. Of course, it helped that last week was Ailish’s week - every day was a different kind of party at school, culminating in graduation Friday morning. She looked wonderful, and I was really happy that not only was she able to come full circle and graduate with her class, but that the whole family was able to be there to be a part of it. Grammapoppa came along as well, and we sat with Sandy and her family - well, they sat. I stood on the side and took pics :) After the ceremony and the really cool cake we had, we headed out for breakfast which turned into lunch because we forgot that every 6th grader in the district was graduating.
On Friday, I took Ailish to school to pick up her paperwork and say goodbye to her teacher and aides. I didn’t expect it to be emotional, especially after the year we’ve had with Kieran’s situation, but it was really tough. After seven years there, our family would no longer be a part of the school, and though they’d only been a part of her life for a matter of months, Ailish’s team was quite attached to her, and she to them. I took a few last pics, and off we went. I just hope her Jr. High team is as supportive of her as they were. They were a wonderful group!
Once Ailish was done, I had to check in with Kieran’s home school supervisor and turn in all of her work for the past five weeks. Then, I spent much of Friday afternoon getting Kieran ready for Jr. Lifeguards. We went to Target and loaded up on a new thermal lunch container, sunblock, water bottle, plus tasty snacks to keep her going through the day. Friday night, as soon as we were done with swim practice, we had to get to the parent orientation. Suffice to say, it was just another busy day.
Saturday morning, Kieran’s swim meet. We left Brenna here to be picked up by Grammapoppa later in the morning, but Ailish had to come along. Ailish has become quite a good sport about the whole thing. She is learning how to use video editing software, so she likes taking video of Kieran’s races, and she is a really good timer with Brad. Kieran had another weird day - I wish meets could be three days, or at least maybe the first day only have one race, because she reminds me of those pitchers I can’t bare to watch for the first two innings. They are shaky, they throw more balls than strikes, and the strikes they throw have a penchant for turning into doubles or triples or worse. If they make it through the first two innings, then they settle down and throw no hit innings for the rest of the game, but it’s the first two that can really do you in if you are too far off your game. That’s Kieran - that first day is always a crap shoot. She wanted to get her blue times, and she has three races where blue is less than 5 seconds away. We plotted it out, talked about it, did everything we could to prepare without overanalyzing, but that first day, she was swimming like it was a walk in the park, very lackadaisical. She added time to every race. By the last race, I told her she really needed to get it together and at the very least be out of breath by the end. It was 100 back, very tough on a 9 year old, and she had been disqualified several races ago for adding a stroke to her flip turn, but I knew she could do this if she didn’t overthink it. She had a great race - won her heat, yet still she added .3 seconds to her time. I know, it’s nothing really, I just wanted her to be able to improve on one race.
After the meet on Saturday, we went to pick up Kieran’s gear for Jr. Lifeguards. It’s all very official! The shorts are ridiculously huge, but still everything else is so cute, and all with her name on it. I hope she really enjoys it - I think it’s going to be a great program for her.
Sunday, we experimented, letting Ailish stay home because we were relatively close to home. Having Brenna and Ailish together at the meet didn’t sound like such a great idea, and Ailish had done her time, so we decided to let Miss A sleep in and just bring Brenna along. As I said before, tired Brenna is not a good Brenna. She slept for another hour while Kieran warmed up, and then grudgingly headed over for her timing shift with Daddy. He says he wished he’d had some berries or something to toss in to Brenna’s mouth as she sat slack-jawed with the timing pickle in her hand. I figure if we can convert Ailish into thinking timing is exciting, Brenna not being the least interested has more to do with her than the sport itself, because it is quite exciting. As for Kieran, she really did try hard yesterday, but better times eluded her. This was the first meet ever where she didn’t improve on a single race. She won two heats, got two 2nd place ribbons, one 3rd and a 7th, but she never beat herself. I know these things happen sometimes, and there doesn’t seem to be a real rhyme or reason. Lots of kids we knew were adding time left and right, but Kieran’s friend took 6 seconds off one race and 4 off another, so it was hard to convince her it was the pool. It just wasn’t her weekend - shake it off, get ready for the next one, right? That’s all you can do.
On the way home, Kieran decided she wanted Macaroni Grill, so we asked Brenna, who looked like she was sleeping with her eyes open, if she wanted to go home and nap while we ate. She said no, she wanted to come, so we stopped at home and picked up Ailish, giving Brenna one more chance to beg off. Again, she said no. So off we went to Macaroni Grill. Things started off okay, but Brenna wouldn’t pick an entree, and after three tries by the server to take our order, I asked her what was going on. She wouldn’t say anything, so I asked if it was because she had a kid menu. Yes. Well, geez, that would have been easy to solve! After studying the adult menu, she said she wanted ravioli, for 12.99. I pointed out that the kid ravioli was the exact same, for 5.29. She said no, she was hungry. I said fine, but if she didn’t eat it all, she would owe me 8.00. At that point, things were getting out of hand, so Brad just took her home. The waitress came back and I asked, just to be sure, was there a difference between the kid ravioli and the adult ravioli, other than size? No. So I ordered her two orders of the kid ravioli, to go, and had to order Brad’s meal to go as well. Ailish and Kieran were sad that Brad couldn’t be with them, and I was irritated that Brenna couldn’t just listen to us and know that it wasn’t a bad thing for her to just go home and nap. It’s hard for me to separate what is Brenna being 13, Brenna being exhausted, and Brenna just being Brenna. Ugh. Still, we ate our lunch and then Brad came and picked us up. Brenna was asleep, out cold within five minutes of Brad taking her home. She was a much nicer person once she woke up, but still, she only ate two ravioli. She paid me for the difference today.
This morning, no summer time sleeping in for me, Kieran has to be at Jr. Lifeguards at 8, so we were both up at 6:00. She looked so small compared to the other kids - 9 is the minimum age, and it goes up to 17! They split them into groups at some point, but standing next to the teenagers, it was another wistful moment for me. Gee, I wonder why I got tissues for a present?
We are hoping today to change Brenna’s return date to next Tuesday instead of tomorrow. The real issue is the meds, and we’re trying to get that worked out. Things are going well, and that’s a good thing, but we want to see how things go with a little more time together. I’ve been through this before, been through the dream visits, I want to see if we can throw a little more reality in there. And, it will be so nice for Brad if he can have Father’s Day with all three girls.
As for me - emotionally, I’m okay with all three of them being here. The hardest part is the physical aspect right now. I’m so exhausted, and then with the pain, it’s hard to even be touched much less hugged. It’s hard for the girls to understand just how sensitive I am, but I try to explain imagine if they were sunburned all over - that’s how it feels to some degree. I want to be ready for anything with them, I want to be able to snuggle while we watch TV, I want to be able to enjoy it all, but it’s just really difficult right now.
I have more pics to share, which I will, and soon, but it has taken me nearly 4 hours to get this far, I have to pick up Kieran soon, and I'm afraid if I wait, it will take another week to finish!
Still, as with everything, we take it day by day and hope that tomorrow is a little bit easier.
Your trip sounds great, but exhausting. Loove the pictures!
If I'd known you were going to BI, I would have asked you to pop in on the fire chief,Hank, who is a longtime friend http://www.bifd.org/ (scroll down.) How cool to retire with a full pension to BI and then work just a tad? Wow.
That little-girl voice sounds scary to me, too, and I don't even watch slasher movies. Wish you luck with that one. We are all holding our breaths and thinking HAPPY THOUGHTS that the visit comes to a cheerful end with no bandaids needed.
Hugs,
Lisa M.
Posted by: Lisa M | June 15, 2009 at 05:12 PM
I have only read through half of your post so far, but I wanted to thank you for describing so much of your trip to Seattle. I had a friend in college from there and for several years after we graduated I traveled up there for a weekend every August(and once in November). The Public Market is by far my favorite place to go. Thank you for sharing your pictures :)
Posted by: Robyn :) | June 16, 2009 at 06:25 PM
Sounds like you have two pre-teens. :) Glad to hear the visit is going decently. Feel better!
Posted by: Kim | June 16, 2009 at 09:51 PM