Another day

1)  Jonathan's total route, fait accompli:

2) The Arby's on Palo Verde and Spring St has now been turned into a drive-through Starbucks.  Goddess be praised.

3) Yesterday we found a stylist who can cut curly hair without chopping it off, hooray!  Unfortunately we probably won't see her again for a year or two til we come back.  Pity.

4) We visited HUC-LA today to meet all of Mom's coworkers.  I enjoyed talking with the people; I think the kids' favorite part were the Red Vines in her office. :)

An end to the road trip, and an extension of the SoCal trip

Jonathan's update:

"I'm here!"

He's very happy to be done driving.



Mom's update:

Xanderism: After I read the big boys a couple quick stories before bed last night, Xander wanted to go to sleep. Ari, not so much. So after a little bickering, I made some comment to which Ari responds, "I hate Xander!" And Xander turns to his little brother and very calmly says to him, "No you don't, Ari. You love me."


My update:

Because the movers are going to arrive three days later than we had anticipated, I changed our flights to Saturday.  So I get to go to Mom's service on Friday night!  This required an emergency Target run in order to get something to wear, as all I had packed was jeans and t-shirts. I rocked the house and got lots on sale to wear at work, using up all my gift cards and still only being gone 2 hours.

The kids and I spent an easy day at home, playing, then Barbara and Cristina came over to visit, followed by haircuts, Big Stick popsicles for snack, and more playing: fuse beads, puzzles, Duplo, origami, etc.  Bedtime was much easier tonight.

Cristina took some wonderful photos of their visit, below.  It should be noted that this was specifically a pajama visit: they came early in the morning and told me to stay casual and not change, so I didn't.  I've known these women since before I can remember, so it's deeply ingrained in me to listen to them... plus, it really helped not having to argue with the kids to get dressed. :)

Barbara explaining her cane, holding the origami penguin Xander made her.

Xander's origami. I can't recall all of them, but the orange is a penguin, the green is the back of the piano, light green is a pelican, I forget what the blues are... but he also does frogs, houses, swans, "fancy boxes," and lots more.  We got him this Easy Origami book as a travel gift, and then Antonio brought him a packet of paper, and he's spent quite a lot of time on it.

Connor trying on Mom's glasses.

Telling Ari his fortune, using a Xander-folded fortune-teller that I had written up.  I remember them from my own childhood, it feels a little strange to be the parent this time round.

"Hi Cristina.  If I wait very patiently and coo at you, will you please give me your phone?  I'm really good at pressing buttons."

Panorama of my mother's house.

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Mom built the outdoor enclosure for Simcha.  It became my kidlet's enclosure today, as last night she assured them that it could hold their weight.  I had been saying no, you can't go out there, but today it was a whole new world, one that was all about being outdoors and building Duplo.

Climbing up.

As high as the kitty cats.

Back in the house, there was more bonding.

Splash parks and the Deep South

My update:

Going back to the scene of the phone crime, the Long Beach Towne Center, to play in the splash park and the jungle gym with Martina, Aya, and Sydney.

Joy.

Playing "bad guy," where you kick the water every time it shoots up.  I stopped taking pictures when Martina and her family showed up, as it got hectic.

Then yummy pizza for lunch (cheese for kids, Greek for me), cake and fruit courtesy of Martina, home and naps for two youngest and origami for the oldest.  Then Antonio came over and we hung out, talked, and because he is a nice nice friend, he went to the mall with me to get the kids Crocs: Avengers for Ari, Batman for Xander, Minions for Connor.  Red Robin for dinner, and a horrific ordeal getting them to go to bed.



Jonathan's updates from Facebook:

I'm in New Orleans! First stop was the cemetery. Due to the high water table the dead can't be buried below ground so everyone has to be entombed in mausoleum or similar type thing. This means that there are incredible monuments to the dead. I wonder if this is why the dead and death (and conversely life and partying) play such a big part in the culture here?

They seemed to go on forever.

This is what I always think of when I imagine a mausoleum.  They build the foundation about a foot off the ground to make sure that the water can't get to the tomb.  I was amazed by the variety of tombs: some of the art is really beautiful.  Others are odd, or grand, or poor-looking, or even fancy enough to rival national monuments.  

This one had outlines of windows made out of the stone.

Best meal ever:

They have a breakfast made just for me! 

The Big Easy!

Here I am on Bourbon St.  Just look at the color!

Beads hung everywhere.  Signal lights, trees, and of course, street signs.

An alley full of art galleries and crafts.

My buddy Jason enjoying his meal.

Now THAT is presentation!

Drove through Mississippi and Alabama, and I'm in Florida! Just crossed the state line. Still got a long way to go to reach home though.  We'll stay in Tallahassee tonight.

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.

Day 5 of transition

Jonathan's update:

Day 5. The Godiva chocolate is gone. It was good (oh, so good) while it lasted. Thanks to my wife for giving them to me (with some encouragement).

We had some challenges going through Texas.  Bad roads, construction, tornado warnings, severe weather, and being totally rerouted because the I-45 was closed due to the Dallas police headquarters shooting.  Then there was this stuff:

Also military convoys, prefab houses, and trailer trucks that wander in and out of lanes.

Jason and me after successfully passing above truck. We rock!  Now in Louisiana for the night.

My update: kid playdates with Martina, Marleena's daughter Emma's first birthday party, and confirming the untimely demise of my smartphone.  Everyone call me on my mother's house line if you need me.

On pause

Jonathan's update:

Severe storm warning in Texas. 60 mph winds means too dangerous to drive. Waiting for it to pass. To boot... roaming signal is sucking my battery dry. Going into airplane mode until signal improves.

My update:

"No pictures," says Ari. They're rocking out on the keyboard of one of Mom's friends.

A kitty can't properly cuddle unless his head's on the pillow next to you.

Also of note in the day: Starbucks for me and Jamba Juice for the kids.  Chatting and visiting with Chana and Sheryl.  Feeling all my vertebrae shift back into place after seeing the chiropractor.  A sad unfortunate incident where Ari mistook the bidet lever in the master bath for the toilet handle and screamed loud and long, dripping water from his head to his toes.  A lovely Shabbat dinner at Chana's where the boys giggled uproariously while playing with her granddaughters.  

Unfortunately, while playing chase with the kids and stopping Connor from climbing into a fountain at the Long Beach Towne Center, I dropped my phone into said fountain... and it now seems to have shorted out and died.  Wish me luck at the Sprint store tomorrow.

Settling into the in-between

My update:

Ari, as photographed by Xander

Connor climbed into his high chair on his own and tried to buckle himself.  That was his way of telling me he was hungry.

Older boys coloring while Connor the hobbit had snack.

Osher and Yentl have been reunited with Simcha, and... it could be going better.  Here Osher is hiding on top of Mom's china cabinet to escape.

Jonathan's update:

Baby rabbit at my hotel this morning.

The fountain at the hotel in Arizona.

This is me at "Meteor Crater" in New Mexico.  A mile wide crater that was created by a huge chunk of nickle-iron falling from the sky at 40,000 mph. 

Capsule they had at the crater.

This is what I saw most of the day.  Beautiful.

Well... this actually is what I saw.  I WAS driving after all!

  

This has got to be the seediest motel I've ever been in. They didn't vacuum the room, I had to slam my body against the door to push it in, all the lights flickered outside, and there are bugs everywhere. It is only marginally better than sleeping in the car. I would go to the next motel but it looks even worse if you can believe it. But it's 2am, I've been driving all day trying to make it to Texas, which I didn't, and I'm dog tired. Looks like I'll be in Clovis NM for the night. At least the beds look clean.