Day Trippers!

* First off-- Tracy and Tina, congratulations-- you both won a copy from the paperback pot, so well done!  And thanks for getting back to me so soon:-)

Okay-- now...

Mate is on sabbatical until early July.  His entire plan of sabbatical revolves around fixing the bathroom.  I know my Mate.  I know that he loves to travel.  He can finish the bathroom, and it could be GLORIOUS.  But still, he'd go, "I didn't really do anything."  Now, he's got some other plans-- he's training to run a half-marathon, and we're going to spend the night in San Francisco so I can greet him when he comes in from that, and we'll run around and shop during the day because, hey, Embarcadero, right?

And we're taking the kids to Monterey when Chicken is here.

But, still...  Memorial day was coming, and usually?  We just spend the weekend, well, spending the weekend.

This time, I wanted something different.  "Let's go to Tahoe.  For the halibut."

And so we did.

And Mate was... well, brilliant as always.  He looked up things to do, and the first thing he picked was the gondola ride up the hill.  GLORIOUS.  Seriously-- so pretty.  I can't even... just wonderful.

We got up there, ate some totally decent food, and came back down so Mate and the kids could play miniature golf.  Then we went to Sock City where I bought that terrifying Sock Monkey Serial Killer/Bank Robber mask that he wore for the rest of the weekend.  *shudder*  He promised to wake me up wearing it, and yes, he did.

Squish got herself (with a little help of my bank account) a big fluffy bunny made with alpaca fur.  We bought it about a half a mile from the hotel and then walked back, and, no lie, she TALKED to it, and about it, and extolled the virtues of it's incomparable flufftasticness and it's peerlessness in the realm of fluffantasy for the entire walk back.  She asked me what she should name it, and I said, Unicorn, after that stuffed unicorn in Despicable Me, the one that made the little kid grab it and shake it and shout, "IT'S JUST SO FLUFFY!"  And she took my advice.

Which is how she has an alpaca rabbit named Unicorn.  0.0

And the crowds weren't bad at all, and the day, Sunday?  Well, we didn't realize until the overcast today, Monday, but it was a gift from the Goddess.  Truly.  We went walking along the shoreline, and it was just so pretty I wanted to cry.

The ride home sort of sucked-- there was a car accident in Alta, and we went about a mile in a forty-five minute space, but once that cleared up, it was smooth sailing.

We'd forgotten Zoomboy's medication, but that's okay.  I compensated with a Starbuck's Vanilla Latte before we left this morning, and about the weirdest thing that happened was this:

"Mom, Dad, you know, I've figured out what Darth Vader and I have in common.  We've both suffered a terrible loss."

He was dead serious about this, so his father and I just looked at each other and mouthed, "Terrible loss?"

And then I got it.

"Zoomboy, are you talking about the dog?"

"Yeah," he said, nodding soberly.  "That broke my heart."

Well, I hope he holds out for the sand people taking me out in my sleep before he decides he wants to be an enforcer for the terrorist mob.

Anyway, we're home now, I"m snacking on snap peas and hummus (food of the gods!) and I'm wishing everyone a happy Memorial Day.

V.J. Summers posted a tribute to Memorial Day and mentioned my book, Keeping Promise Rock, and what I felt about Crick four years ago when I wrote that book has not changed.  Thank you, all men and women in service of our country.  I know that some of you (a friend of mine, actually) don't know what to say to this.  My friend says "I just wanted to make my life mean something."  Service to others does that.  Just thinking bigger than you and yours makes your service meaningful, and behaving with honor serves us all.  Well done.