FINALLY! Vacay Recap Part 3!

Going from the coastal breezes of Southern California into the Southwestern US desert, you quickly notice a change in temperature. Especially if you are eating gummy bears. Mine melted into one giant, gummy lump the car, while the car and the A/C were running, full blast. It was just that hot. 102. Ugh. At the time, I remember thinking, "Why did we leave California to go back into the desert?" I didn't need to look much further than the backyard of the Cliffrose Lodge & Gardens in Springdale, Utah to find out. We were exactly 40 yards from the South entrance to Zion National Park. Absolutely spectacular views. Here's what we could see out of our hotel room: Ah. This is why we drove here.

We spent the first morning hiking in the park, a weeping rock trail, a trail following a river (beautiful walk!) and then a picnic. By 11am it was 102 again, so we spent the afternoon swimming while we await AMALY's arrival! She loves me so much that she drove 6 hours to Springdale from Phoenix, basically the entire length of Arizona. It was awesome to see her again. We hadn't seen each other since December! Addison was, as usual, immediately comfortable with Amaly. Addison does this with exactly two people beside her immediate family members: Amaly & Jason. I find this fascinating and wonderful. Anyway, we wasted no time getting Amaly into the spirit of a Watkins' vacation and went on a dusk hike. It was about one mile, flat, and paved, so it hardly constituted a hike, but we all enjoyed getting to see the park at night time. The following morning, we awoke early and drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive, on which I nearly got carsick. I attempted to sit in the back seat with Amaly & Addison. A mistake I will not soon repeat. We arrived and I was speechless looking at those canyons. No words can describe the size of them. Simply astounding to see. And, while I was not exactly EAGER to get up early on my last day of vacation and drive for two hours to see more rocks, I am extremely glad I did. It is something no picture can express accurately. We lunched at the North Rim Lodge, which was built in the 1920s. It was a beautiful building and the food was delicious. We also saw the most wildlife on this part of our trip: wild turkeys, including several babies, big horn sheep, porcupine, and tons of deer. I think that made Robert's trip.

We saw this on the way back to Springdale from the North Rim. This is my favorite sign of the entire trip. Be sure to read the fine print!
I was extremely sad to leave Springdale for several reasons: 1) Amaly was leaving and I never know how long it will be until I see her again, and 2) our vacation was O-V-E-R. We drove solemnly back to Las Vegas, slept a few hours despite all the obscenities being yelled in the hallway by drunken partiers winding down their evenings, and got up VERY early to head back home. All the flights were smooth and no major delays. We were glad to be back home but so sad our fun was over. We cannot wait to go on our next vacation. Spring Break 2010 we're hitting up NH, ME, and MA!
Check back later for my "Top 10" photos from the 2009 Watkins Family's Awesome Adventure!

vacation recap #1: Vegas & Yosemite

We went to Hoover Dam first off the airplane and it was 118! We braved the heat to take a quick picture. Then, we headed to Vegas. Vegas is totally over-stimulating. (So much so that I took less than 10 pictures there, and they were all of people, not the sights.) The lights, the constant movement of people and cars and busses. To arrive in Las Vegas from little old Tallahassee was shocking to say the least. It’s almost as if the lights and continual action were affecting my mind and telling me it wasn’t really 11pm EST, and that I should stay up and keep going, spending money, observing the sights. I fought the urge and went to sleep anyway. We woke up really early - about 4 AM Vegas time - and went to breakfast. We were pretty much the only ones there. The stores in the hotel were closed, we were the only ones in line for breakfast, and a few late-night partiers straggled in, looking haggered, carrying their shoes, make-up smeared, clothes buttoned incorrectly or missing entirely. It was quite a sight. My favorite observation came on our way out of the hotel parking lot. I observed a man walking down the road, carrying a very energetic (or perhaps agitated) woman over his arm, dangling her shoes in her hands, hitting him on the back with each step. They looked like they’d had a fantastic night on the Vegas Strip. As we drove away from the Strip, I was surprised at how quickly you go from seeing action everywhere to nothing by desert.

We headed northward, toward Oakhurst, California, via I-15, but as soon as we got onto the interstate, my Dad called on my cell and indicated he did not want to drive that way. He had a “scenic, but direct” route he wanted to take, since we would be driving back to Vegas in two weeks via I-15. We all said, sure, not a problem. We assumed that he’d carefully plotted our directions and deemed this route comparable to the interstate. How wrong we were. We set out and quickly realized this was not the route we’d planned. Our Garmin nuvi immediately re-routed and projected a time of arrival in Oakhurst that was almost 3 hours longer than the original route! The further we drove on my dad’s route, the more our Garmin (affectionately called ‘Karen’, after the name for the Australian pronunciation voice) re-routed us and projected a later and later arrival time. It was a V E R Y scenic drive, one that will forever be in my memory. We stumbled upon the California/Nevada state line and stopped to take pictures. Yes, I am a nerd.
We also stumbled upon miles and miles of open range signs. We finally found civilization again when we arrived at the entrance to Yosemite National Park and wound our way through miles of park. Lovely drive, but at the point in the day, no one wanted to stop to take photos. In the end, after almost 11 hours in the car, we arrived at the delightful Houndstooth Inn Bed & Breakfast. We all crashed very early that day and awoke early the next morning. We had loose plans and debated for some time about what activities to select for our first real day of vacation. Robert selected a back massage because after 11 hours of driving on Sunday and all the plane travel on Saturday, his prior hip/back injury was causing him a lot of discomfort. Dad & Hoyt went off on a fly fishing expedition with a guide and the rest of us headed back into the park for a picnic at Wawona and a tour of the Yosemite where we spent quite a few pennies on gift shop finds. Addison picked out a Christmas ornament in the shape of a black bear, Mom got a copper-coated pinecone wind chime, and we bought Addison a National Park “Passport” where she can document which parks she visits with a stamp. Robert had one when he was little and he was excited to start Addison’s book so early in her life. (Over the course of this trip, she visited a total of four National Parks). Besides touring the park while in Oakhurst, we also checked out several restaurants and their local children’s museum. Here's Hoyt humoring Addison (or was it visa versa?) at the Children's Museum. My favorite restaurant was Todd’s BBQ, but others really enjoyed a place called Crab Cakes. One night, we headed out for pizza at “Me-N-Ed’s Pizzeria” (awesome name, right?!), but I didn’t get to really enjoy my meal. I knew my head hurt, but it didn’t get better when I took Zyrtec (I thought it was allergy/sinus related). It didn’t help when I took Tylenol, either. By the end of dinner, I couldn’t stand to hear any noises, see any lights, adjust to any movements, without an overwhelming sense of nausea seeping over me. My mom took me to lay down while the rest of my family went to bowl and see a movie. I laid still for almost two hours with no improvement, and added another piece of discomfort. When I laid my head down on the pillow, I felt as though my head was spinning, very rapidly, around in a circle. When Robert got back from bowling, I still felt awful. I told him I wouldn’t wish how I was feeling on my worst enemy. He then googled the symptoms I was having and decided that it might be a tension headache, so he gave me an ibuprofen. Within 30 minutes, I felt like a new person. He also googled the spinning-head thing, and found that it might be vertigo, which I have suffered from in the past. He told me to prop my head up under a few pillows, and magically, that disappeared, too. Bless my wonderful husband who fixed me when I was so miserable on vacation.
He made me promise that I would call for an appointment with my MD as soon as we return to Tallahassee, so this is my public promise that I will do so. Once I felt better, I got the full report on bowling, which included a short story about Addison walking into a bowling ball that her daddy was preparing to throw. She survived with little injury, thankfully.

Out last morning in Yosemite, we awoke early and hiked in the Mariposa Grove to see the giant sequoia trees. That was humbling. It was a beautiful walk & really energized us for the next part of our morning at Glacier Point. We picnicked at Glacier Point and headed back for afternoon naps and packing. The next morning we left for Solvang for the Watkins Family Reunion.

One of my favoirte moments with Addison on this portion of our trip was early one morning when she, my mom and I were hanging out together. We decided to go for a walk down the path behind the Inn in search of the resident cats, Boots and an unnamed Orange kitten. We walked and sang a little song which Addison adjusted to better suit her speech patterns. It ended up like this: “we’re goin’ on a a-benture, a-benture, a-benture. We’re goin’ on a a-benture, all day long.”

Here are a few other pics from this portion of the trip. Remember that you can see my "condensed" collection of 500 photos at: http://picasaweb.google.com/NWBrown82/WatkinsFamilyTrip2009#

vacation, part 1

We left early on Saturday morning, only to have our flight delayed by more than an hour. The flight from Tally to Atlanta was smooth and uneventful. Addison did an outstanding job, especially considering she was awakened at 4:30am. The lady behind us go up to leave the plane and said, "Oh! I didn't know there was a little girl in front of me. You, little girl, did a great job on that plane ride." We then told the lady that was Addy's first ever flight, and she clarified her statement with, "You, little girl, did an EXCELLENT job on that plane ride!". Addison loved the landings, laughing & giggling through it all. The ride from ATL to Vegas was my longest ever flight, and boy did it seem endless, though in reality it was only about 4 hours long. We had a few bumps on the landing, and something called "clear air turbulence" which startled Addy a little bit. She thought the snacks were fun. When we ordered juice for Addison, the stewardess informed us that until children are about 3 years old, they should not drink juice on airplanes due to the high amount of acid in the juice. Evidently, it causes stomach upset as the body cannot process the acids when at such a high altitude. Who knew?

So, we landed in Vegas, found all our luggage pretty quickly, and rode the shuttle bus over to the rental car terminal. We had quite a wait for our cars, but in the end got two good ones: a Pontiac Torrent and a Saturn Vue. Addison even rented a carseat that didn't gross me out...you know I was worried about renting a car seat! The only problem with her seat is that it's black, so in this extreme heat, it tends to be pretty hot when we first get in the car. We had lunch at a great restaurant near the rental car terminal, Wenchell's and headed over to Hoover Dam. We arrived there to find construction on a new bridge, tons of other sightseers and 118 degrees on the thermometer. We got out to at the visitor's center, but mom, Addison & I didn't make it. We stayed in the gift shop, rather than crossing the street. That was a heat unlike any other I've experienced before. We were all red-faced and sweating profusly, draining water bottles faster than I ever thought possible. Robert called Hoover Dam the civil engineer's "Mecca"...he really enjoyed the quick tour, in spite of the heat. My highlight of the trip there was purchasing a copper bio-medical bracelet that is not only pretty, but could potentially have healing properties. I'll keep you posted on whether or not it heals any ailments.

From Hoover Dam, we drove back to Vegas and wound our way to The Flamingo, on the strip. On our way in, we saw enormous lightning and rain - very cool to watch rain across the desert, watching it's every drop fall in huge sheets. The check-in line at the Flamingo was never-ending, and once up at the desk, we found our rooms were not ready. On the plus side, we got upgraded to rooms with two queen beds. Addison got up on the bed and immediately stated, "This bed is nice and comfy!". She started asking to go home about 10 minutes after that. By this point, we've all been awake for about 18 hours, and still haven't eaten dinner, eventhough it's now about 9pm EST. Robert suggested we check out Serendipity because it was "right across the street" from the Flamingo. This statement, I later learned, is relative in Vegas. You can't just hop across the street. Oh no. There are a seriers of stairs leading to crosswalks that you must manuever around and through in order to cross the street. Serendipity had a 20 minute wait for outside seating (they offered misters for outside seating, which made it almost bearable to eat outside), which turned into a 40 minute wait. We were hot, exhausted, and starving by the time we were seated in a section that had been empty the entire time we waited...Dad suggested that they were short-staffed. I don't know what to think about it, I just found it frustrating & a tad annoying. Meeting my expectations set by the extended wait for seating was the service - extremely slow, didn't get the orders correct. However, the food was delicious, especially their cheesecake. OMG. I would go back just for dessert next time. Poor Addison fell asleep while waiting for her dinner to be delievered...so we boxed it up and she ate it the next day in the car. We all crashed super-early for having been in Vegas. My bros and sister-in-law caught a Blue Man Group show and said it was fantastic.

I'm tired of writing now and need to get Addison ready for bed...I'll write more tomorrow provided I have free WiFi in Solvang. If not, it'll be a week before anymore updates.

my lovely husband

Why do I love Robert so much? One reason is because he never stops working to make life better for Addison & me. Today, his last work day before he heads out for a long weekend in Vegas, he spent much of the late morning and will spend much of the late afternoon dealing with our dead refrigerator problem. (Our fridge died sometime yesterday. Do not buy Hotpoint appliances - this one was only 4 years old!). He asked what I wanted, found it, priced it, went to two stores to see if one would outbid the other on price (they did) and he's going to leave work early to meet my dad and get the fridge installed today. And he somehow found time to get his real work done, too. He's amazing! Things like this - all his hard work today - is why he so very much deserves this trip to Vegas! We love our Daddy!!

this week

So, Addison's been doing great with using the potty. She has done AWESOME at school and pretty good at home. I think at home she's tired at the end of the day and just forgets...we'll just keep trying. We're almost there!

Robert leaves on Thursday for Vegas. I think he's excited, but anxious about leaving us behind. He's never been away from Addison for four days, so I'm sure that's going to be hard on him. And her. That's what I'm most nervous about - her asking for Daddy and not being able to fulfill that need. I also don't sleep well when Robert's gone...I seem to notice every single little sound when I'm alone at night. It's always at 2 or 3 AM, too. Then I can't go back to sleep. Wish me luck...

22 days left of school. It's getting tougher. The kids are anxious about summer break, so they tend to act out more. I'm trying to adjust the assignments to things that are a little more predictable (they thrive on sameness)...but it doesn't seem to be helping so far. I have one other project to try next week. It's called Rock & Rap Middle School. Seems like it will be fun, but I'm worried it may be too abstract and different for my babies. We'll see how it goes. I may just do this project with one class.

Addison just turned 28 months old. She's become very rational and easy to reason with. She frequently responds with, "Oh, OK." or "Oh, wow!" when you answer her questions. You can tell she's really processing and understanding what you say. It's amazing to watch. She has also learned to match tones pretty well with music. She's hardly on pitch, but she knows that songs have melodies that go up & down, and she emulates that when she sings songs. I've been impressed so far. Also, I will play a chord on the piano and ask her if it's a happy (Major) or sad (minor) chord and she typically guesses correctly. That girl has an ear...I'm proud. :-)

Love to you all!

updates

YEA! Addison has now had three days of no accidents at school. We had one day where there was three accidents, but she's bounced back! Today they had to change her clothes only because another kid peed on the floor and Addison found it with her shorts. GROSS!

Work is painful lately for me. I am counting down the days until the year is over - 27 tomorrow. There are problems with co-workers and problems with students. I can't wait for summer break. I have never needed it more than I do now.

Robert leaves me on the 30th to go to Vegas with Marcus & Jason. I'm nervous about being alone with Addison for so many days - mainly because I suspect she will really, really miss her Daddy Bear. I'm excited that Robert will get some down town with his friends. He is an amazing husband and father and really deserves a fun vacation to just be himself!

Trevor posted this game on his blog, and I've become addicted...check it out only if you have endless amounts of free time: http://www.addictinggames.com/bubblespinner.html ENJOY!