A nice day

I got up at 5:30, and drove to the track.  I did a minuscule amount of running, and walked most of the time.  I love being able to see the sun rise.  I came home around 7, and I could hear Bertram waking up.  I got him up and took off his diaper and put on his undies.  A minute later he ran up to me and said "I wet, I need to potty".  His undies were a little damp, and he ran off to his little potty.  He really had to go!

Then he said he wanted a toy out of his closet.  It was a big garbage truck that he got for his first birthday (I think).  It's a German toy, and it's pretty well made.  After I showed him how to use it, and gave him some little pom-poms to put in and dump out, he played with it for two hours straight!  I did yoga, and got all our stuff together for the beach.  He cried for a minute when I said he needed to get ready, but calmed down quickly.

We headed off to Santa Cruz, well, Aptos, actually.  The drive there was uneventful.  Bertie read a book most of the way there.  When we got to Rio del Mar, we both went to the bathroom (he was dry when we arrived).  Then went back to the car to get all the necessary beach crap (towels, sand toys, snacks, and a blanket).  That was a difficult trip, the stuff was heavy, and Bertram was walking so slow.  But we got set up, and he went to play in the little stream that goes to the ocean.  He did a lot of digging, splashing, finding different rocks, and sticks.  We stayed for 3 hours, and stopped to add more sunblock and have a snack about halfway through.  It was a beautiful day.  Warm, and comfortable, with a nice breeze.

When we left, around 1:45, we went to Marianne's in Aptos for ice cream lunch.  I put Bertie up to the counter, and asked him what flavour he wanted.  (99% of the time, he chooses mint).  He said "white".  The ice cream guy said "ok, let me bring you some samples".  He brought 4: Vanilla, Coconut, Banana, and I can't remember the last one.  He chose Banana, I got Heaven (peanut butter base, with brownies).  He ate almost all of it.  We went to the bathroom there, and got ready to hit the road.

I wanted a drink before we got back on the highway.  I thought if I drove down the main drag (Soquel Ave), I would see a drive through.  We drove 7 miles, from Aptos to Santa Cruz, and didn't see a single drive thru.  I found one when we were back in Santa Cruz, but it was on the wrong side of a divided road.  So we stopped at Macca's, the one without a drive thru.  The line was super long, and of course, Bertie needed to crawl around on the floor...

We got on to Hwy 17.  I was driving pretty slowly, I was hoping he'd fall asleep.  We hit the summit and started down the other side.  (The harder part of the drive, there are a lot of sharp turns).  We came around one of the blind curves, and there was a car, stopped.  The car was stopped, the driver was standing next to it (on the highway!) and he didn't have his hazard lights on.  (I should mention this all happened in a matter of seconds).  I couldn't slam on the brakes, because there was a car right behind me.  So I eased on to them hard.  I stopped in time, and then kept my eyes on the rear view mirror.  I willed the car behind me to stop.  And miraculously, he did.  And the car behind him swerved around without issue.   When it was safe, I went around.  The car I didn't hit, looked fine, I have no clue why he was stopped.  There was another car in front of him, which also looked fine, but maybe hit the guardrail.  Neither looked immobile, so I'm not sure why they didn't move to an area with a shoulder.  I was shaking.  (I somehow managed not to swear).  Once I'd calmed down a little, I said a prayer of thanks.  That could have been terrible.  (I checked Google Traffic about an hour after that, the accident was still there, so I assume someone probably hit the first car).

The rest of the drive was fine, thankfully.  We ran to the grocery on the way home.  Then Bertie went to see his grandparents, and I started dinner and showered.  I got a little sunburn on the back of arms and shoulders.  I can never make rice correctly, it's either burnt or soggy.  I made cilantro lime chicken and rice.  It was still good, even with mushy rice.

It was a good day.

Long Weekend

What a great weekend!

Friday Aaron and I went out to dinner and did a little shopping.  He got suspenders.  They are awesome.

Saturday we got up early to do the food pick up for church.  Actually, no.  I got up early, and Aaron slept in.  That was fun.  Then we bummed around.  In the afternoon we left for a work thing for Aaron.  He had to go to a BSA troop thingy in Fairfax (north of Marin).  So we drove an hour and a half up there, it was a really pretty drive.  The event was alright, we had Vietnamese food for dinner.  I ate shrimp heads.  They were pointy.

Sunday we went to church.  Parts of that were better than usual.  Then we got to meet Aaron's cousin Sophie's baby!  Little Kaylee.  So freakin cute and tiny!  And squirmy for a newborn.  I want a baby.  :-/  Then we had dinner and hung out with Aaron's family.  We played cards and Aaron and I did great!

This morning we got up and took the doggies to Rio Del Mar beach.  It was so much fun.  And we saw another greyhound!  Zelda and Yoie both made instant friends!  (That is very unusual).  On the way home we tried to go to the Corralitos Meat Market, but they were closed for the holiday.  Went we got back I went to lunch with Amanda, and  had a great time talking about politics and church and such.  Then we went to Kohls and spent money.

Now I'm sitting around being sweaty, because the house is warm.

Quick Sunday Post

Psyching myself up to go to church.  Since Aaron's been gone, I've been pretty happy cloistering myself, so I'd rather not go.  But I'll at least go for the first part, and take it from there.  Here are some other tidbits:

• Took the dogos to Rio del Mar beach yesterday.  It was a lot of fun.  I'm embarrassed to say that I'm actually sore from all the sand walking/running.  It's easier with two people, but Aaron always gets nervous driving distances with the dogs.  Mostly because Yoie will trampoline back and forth across the front seats.
• Since we didn't have anything specific to do, I took the long, roundabout way home.  It was nice, except I was hoping to see all the little fruit stands I remembered from my youth.  But there were none.  I did, however, get the dogs lunch from a Jack in the Box drive through.  Grilled chicken strips, seemed dog appropriate, and they were so hungry.
• Friday was Humira day.  It hurt, as always.  And I have a nice little bruise.  I probably need to talk to my doctor, it seems like I'm bruising easily lately.
• I finally thought of a couple things for Aaron's birthday.  But since he reads the blog from time to time, I won't elaborate.
• It's birthday time. Friday was my MiL's birthday.  Saturday was my dad's birthday.  And today is my sister in law's birthday.  Plus Rebecca and Aaron's birthdays at the end of the month.
• I've been cutting out milk lately (just milk, not all dairy) in favour of soy milk.  A lot less calories, since I'm trying to drop a little weight.  One cup has half the calories of 1% milk.  So I think I'll be doing that for a while.
• As of yesterday, I'm down 6lbs in 5 weeks.  Yay me!  139 and feelin' fine.  Well, as fine as I can feel. :-P  I'm trying to get down to 135 right now (I should be there in another month).  And then maybe I'll aim for 132 or 130, we'll see.  Exercising is the hardest part, since I still have no energy.  I've been using the myfitnesspal app.  It's great, I love it.  So I'm doing it healthfully, and making sure I'm getting all my needed vitamins.
• There was a little hiccup at work this week.  Well, a big hiccup, but only a small one having to do with me.  I was entering some of the billing wrong, which I discovered a week or so ago.  But I wasn't fixing the error correctly.  So I'm working on going back and fixing that.  I'm meeting with the owner tomorrow, just to update him on that, and show him the processes.
• The big hiccup doesn't have to do with me, except that I'm helping out.  One of the front desk gals, J, is newly pregnant (10 weeks) and has been ridiculously sick.  As in she had to get IV fluids, and she's lost so much weight that her OBGYN said she can't work for at least 3 weeks!  She is the opener for the front desk.  Cue where I come in.  I'm now opening at the main office from 7 til 8 or 9 depending on the day.  Then I go over to the billing office for the rest of the day, barring any complications, in which case, I go back, and help out at the main office.  It's a lot of back and forth, but I don't mind too much.  I actually get to see people this way, since I'm usually all alone at the other office.