Monday, June 15, 2015

Phones, kids and the trip from Texas to Louisiana

My update:

Ah, the phone saga.  So after it fell in the fountain, it worked on and off.  Or so I thought.  When I brought it into the Sprint store, they quick-charged it, reset it to default, and lo and behold I had 5 voicemails and 6 texts.  And then it blacked out.  Long story short, the motherboard has corrosion, and I am now the proud owner of a new phone.

Other fun things of the day: took Xander out to play in a splash park and then have pizza while the other two boys napped, and he loved it.


All smiles before he ran around like crazy.




Karate chopping the water with a new friend.  (Note: these are the only photos of the last two days, as it was the first place I went with new phone in hand.)


Other fun things: had coffee with Debra.  Saw Antonio for an hour and he taught Xander some new origami tricks.  Poor Ari had a serious night-time meltdown and I finally said the exact right thing at the exact right time: "Honey, no matter where we live, in Sacramento or Long Beach or Florida, I'll still be your mommy and I'll always love you and be with you."  And he smiled, stopped crying, and rolled right over and went to sleep.  Melted my heart a little.



Jonathan's updates from Facebook:

(Yesterday)
So I drove from one end of Texas to the other today and on into Louisiana. Here are some highlights from today's trip:

 As I was driving towards our hotel I came across this, a drive through daiquiri shop. You drive up, buy a cup of alcohol like it's a soda, then drive off. I'm sure this in no way contributes to drunk driving. 




 A very fancy Exxon bush where I got gas in Louisiana. 





 Texas hotels seem very proud to be Texan. 





 This gets the award for "Best use of dead space in a hotel."  


(The next morning)

So I realized one day in that my electric shaver charge cord didn't make it into my suitcase and is likely in a box inside a moving truck. Yesterday it was gasping for power so I'm likely to be a bit scruffy when I get to Florida. Ug, so much for first impressions. 




We stopped for lunch at a local fast food rib place. It was actually pretty good! 





 This place is pretty tasty! That sign....yeah....I'm in the South for sure. 




 I really don't have words for this but felt compelled to share. My wife is going to give me hell for it too. :)


My travel through Texas and Louisiana has been slowed due to severe weather. This is pushing my timetable out another day. I hadn't taken in account the summer storms common in the South. It seems so strange from my West Coast perspective. 


 I finally got to Louisiana and was greeted with a real bayou that you can see approaching in this picture. So cool! The problem I ran into was that the weather went from this sunny shot to.... 




 ....this in minutes. On again, off again. Often I would drive into a curtain of water that was so thick I couldn't see the car in front of me, just the lights. Most of this leg of the drive was done at 25 to 45 MPH. I will see if I can post a video later.

3 comments:

  1. Michal, Mazal Tov on your bew phone. May it serve you well and faithfully for long and longer.

    Xander in the Splash Park looks so tall and slim, and whatever he is doing, his body moves with gracefulness. He is loaded with personal natural artistic gifts.

    Sleep soundly and serenely, Arii. Transit will give way to permanence. Even if Mommy goes away for a few days at a time, she always comes back. You can count on it.

    Jonathan, thanks to you, I'm enjoying my cross-country tour in the comfort of my private room. Yes, you're in the South and it's a whole different world. The Louisiana Bayous! Their mysterious dark waters filled me with dread when I was there. Those are the tops of trees you see above the water. I shudder when I imagine what's going on in the depths of those murky Bayous! The ribs advertised make my taste buds wake up. Southern ribs are he best. You took marvelous shots of driving through rain. Keep safe and keep 'em coming, Jonathan! Kol haKavod!!

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  2. Thanks for your wonderful words Savta. You make every post worth while.

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