So Very Much

The other morning I was brushing Cate's hair in an attempt to wrangle it into a ponytail. One side was a bit matted and stiff, so I asked her if she had accidentally put some of her breakfast in her hair.

"No, but I think Daddy put syrup in my hair".
"That doesn't sound like something Daddy would do."
"Maybe you put syrup in my hair?"
"That doesn't sound like something I would do either."
"I think maybe you did."
..... ...... ...... ......
"Do you have any idea just how much I love you?"
..... ...... ......
"39."

Why I Love my Brother

So my brother Chris called me last night to chat. He doesn't usually do this, but he was on the road, headed up to Yosemite for a friend's he-man birthday camping week-end (no girls allowed!). I think there was some sort of surprise element involved, but how you surprise someone with a camping trip to Yosemite is beyond me; "Hey I'm going to the liquour store for some smokes.....wanna come? Oh, and bring your sleeping bag. You know - just in case....." But whatever.

My friend Shannon was over with her kiddos, so I told him I'd call him back in an hour. And then totally forgot until I was about to go to bed. I figured he would be out of range by then, but gave it a shot anyway. Surprisingly he answered:

Chris: Hey sis!
Me: Hey dude. I thought you would be out of range by now....
C: I was, but then I got pulled back in to range...
M: Yeah? What's going on?
C: My car caught on fire.
M: Whuh? Really?
C: Totally. I was going over the Grapevine and it caught on fire. It burned all the way to the ground. The metal in the ceiling melted. I got the raddest pictures!
M: Are you okay?
C: Yeah. I got most of my gear out before it got too hot.
M: Mmmmm.....okay? So what are you going to do now?
C: I think that if I can get a cab to the Burbank airport I can get a rental car and then get back on the road. If I don't stop I think I can get to the campsite before they pack-out for Half Dome.

Do you not love this? Do you not love how even though his car has burned to the ground he is still totally fixated on getting to Yosemite in time for the man-fest? No "Shit! How am I going to get home?!?" or "How am I going to get to work?" or "I can't fucking afford this kind of crap!!". Just "Keep on target. Keep. On. Target." That level of focus takes a special kind of mind.

And then some.....

I'm finally recovering from my week-end. Sounds like there was drinking involved, doesn't it? Well you are right. In hindsight, there should have been more. Much more.

On Friday my beloved friend Jess flew in from New Jersey for some serious quality time with The Girls. I haven't seen Jess since way-too-fucking-long ago; I cleared the calendar to make the maximum amount of time to hear her stories about life in the Big City and why Jazzercise! is coming back in a BIG WAY. The plan was to have Girl's Night with the 5 originals (Jess, Lo, Joie, Kate and moi) on Saturday, a picinic at the park on Sunday with the boys and the kids, and then dinner at the Melting Pot on Monday as a final farewell. Sounds busy yet manageable, no?

Second layer: On Saturday afternoon another good friend of ours, la petit Remie, flew in from Australia. I think it has been over a year since we have seen Remie? I literally can not remember when we saw her last. She was on a mission to commune with her dad and so purposefully did not schedule any visits with friends; this shocked me as Remie is one of those people who knows EVERYONE and so has a consistently jam-packed social calendar. But she did make time to see us, which made us feel very special. The plan was that she would come straight to us from LAX, spend the night and then hang out with us the next morning until her dad came to pick her up. Which was awesome except see above. But whatever, we can juggle right?

Third layer: Sunday afternoon was my nephew Xander's 1-ish birthday party. Xander's actual birthday is December 27th, but as you can imagine it easily gets lost in the Christmas shuffle. So my brother and sister-in-law decided to celebrate his 1/2 birthday instead which I thought was a great idea until it fell on the weekend that 2 good friends from out of town were visiting who I hadn't seen in forever and really wanted to spend quality time with. "So don't go" you say. Ha! Easy for you, internet. What kind of jerk skips her nephew's first-ish birthday party?

In the end I did it all. It was Mr. Toad's wild ride on steroids and I loved every moment of it. Until it was all over, when everyone had left, the cake was all gone and it was just me, my sunburn and a tequila headache.

Awesome.

All She Needs is a Monkey.....

Brian downloaded a bunch of pictures this evening and this was one of them. We were having MUSIC! TIME! and Cate was in a rather Bohemian mood. She grabbed her sock monkey knit hat and the accordion and began a long, slow, sighing tune with a couple of jaunty riffs just to keep you on your toes. Makes me want to toss her a few bucks....maybe a subway token....

Blah

That's me. B. L. A. H. I'm crazy-busy, but bored all the same......possibly a touch of post-vacation let-down coupled with a horrible bout of viral bronchitis and ever waning iron levels. But it is time to rally, dammit!

So here we go:
Ron and Kathy (B's parents) spent the first week of June with us and we had lots of fun including our best-ever-yet trip to Disneyland, a great group beach day with friends Kate, Lo (+Owen), Nicole&Matt (+Ella), Danielle&Ben (+Amelie), and an adventure that involved taking the Pacific Surfliner down to SJC and going to Zoomars petting zoo and Ruby's Diner and then taking the train back home again (you can imagine Jack's glee), and lots of good quality family time. A truly wonderful visit.

And then came the viral bronchitis, which is the BEST kind because of course there is no actual treatment other than drinking tons of fluids and laying in bed coughing your lungs out and feeling sorry for yourself. Thankfully two kids and Brian got away unscathed - Cate had a bit of a cough and played it up as much as humanly possible, but overall she was fine. I'm still coughing, but at least now I have some of the good cough syrup with the hydrocodone. Have I ever told you how much I love opiates? If I had no responsibilities or goals or plans to live longer than 2-3 more years I would become a heroin addict tomorrow.

Today I shlepped myself into the office for most of the day, which was good even though I didn't get much done. Tomorrow will be better; we start the Fos ICC comparing the tacrine alone and tacrine+caffeine groups, so if you have any "differential-counts" candles, do me a favor and fire them up.

Oh, and the kids are still cute. They wanted to go to "Ice Cream Street" (aka Baskin-Robbins) last night, but realized that such a trip would require the presence of Auntie Kate. We called Auntie Kate, and good sport that she is she hopped in her car and sped over to join us. The kids had cones and Ava was surprisingly neat. Jack and Cate looked like they had been hand-dipped themselves. Ah, summer.

A Walk in the Woods

I dedicate this post to Brian, who says that he sounds like an idiot in all of my stories.

This morning we decided that in lieu of church we would talk a family hike along the Fullerton Trail. It's a very nice trail that meanders through woodlands and open spaces, alongside a creek and there are lots of fun things to see like HORSES! and CHICKENS! and DOGS! So we loaded up the kids and the dogs and off we went. The kids ran all over the trail finding rocks and sticks and butterflies and the occasional golf ball - 3-year-old heaven. Brian and I were also enjoying ourselves, getting lost in the scenery and the balmy weather. As we walked through a shady lane I watched Jack skiddle in front of me, dragging a stick behind him while Ava walked quietly to the side of the path, searching for butterflies. No Cate. You know that feeling of instant panic? The kind that grabs you up all of the sudden and sends your heart beating out of your chest? "WHERE'S CATE?!?!?" I desperately yelled ahead to Brian. He turned and gave me a quizzical look and all I could do was stand there, gripped with terror, thinking "OUR DAUGHTER, YOU MORON! CATE!!!!". But he just continues to stand there doing nothing, looking puzzled with WHAT IS THAT? IS THAT A GRIN? A SMIRK? WHERE THE HELL IS OUR CHILD YOU IDIOT???? and finally says "On your head."

Oh right, I put her on my shoulders 5 minutes ago. Forgot about that.

People, this is what motherhood does to you. You have been warned.