Boy Genius

While I've suspected it for a while now, it was finally confirmed today. Josh is a genius. I know that every parent thinks their kid is the smartest kid out there, but Josh really is. Today, he put together a puzzle all by himself. Albeit, we've done it 100 times before. And there are only 12 pieces. Yet, he did it himself. After much complaining that mom wasn't helping.

If we save a mere $150 a month for the next 15 years, we can send Josh to Yale for his freshman year. After that, he'll have to pave his own way. Hopefully, he's no Doogie Howser and finishes med school at 16. Otherwise, we'd be a little short on cash. But, I can't squash the dreams of my boy genius.

And to think, just last week he pooped in the bathtub. My, how the tables have turned.

Edukation

extricuating and extruiating from yesterday's post should be excruciating. Me know big words.

And to think I won the spelling bee in 6th grade.

I Will Survive

I survived! I did the impossible. I ran a half-marathon--13.1 miles--without training a stitch. Well, maybe I trained a stitch or two, but definitely not very much. It wasn't pretty, but I finished and received my medal.

I was on some euphoric high after running the St. George marathon in October and so I agreed to run a half-marathon with the neighbor, Christina. November came and went and I did some running. Then December came. We ran a long run of 10 miles the 2nd Saturday in December in the snow. Shortly afterwards, Wade broke our treadmill and it was snowy and the holidays came and I was really busy and...the next time I ran was New Years Day. I vowed I was going to change my ways. Wade fixed the treadmill. It was a new year. A blank slate. Then I had to start getting stuff ready for the cruise. And then the cruise came. And then I lost count of how many ice cream cones I had eaten and it all seemed a lost hope.

Monday afternoon I call Christina to see how set she is on running this half-marathon. She is SO excited. I can't bail now. She's put in so much work. So I suck it up and drive with her down to St. George last night.

I wake up with the worst stomachache. Probably because I'm so nervous about running 13 miles in my present state of sluggishness. I eat some oatmeal and feel a little better, but realize I've forgotten "normal" underwear. Not good. I end up wearing compression shorts to compensate. It's not the same, but it's going to have to work.

We start off and I'm feeling pretty good. It's a little chilly, but the sky is cloudless and the surrounding area is gorgeous. I keep up with Christina for the first two miles and then she's off. At mile 7 I look around at the red rock cliffs and realize there's no where else I'd rather be. At 7.01 miles I remember I was sitting on a beach in Cabo San Lucas last week and I'd much rather be there. Then I start seeing the lead runners passing by on the other side and I'm reminded how slow of a runner I truly am. I'm on mile 7 and they've just passed the mile 12 sign. The next 4 miles are extricuating. At mile 11, the only comfort I feel is that this time, at 11 miles, there are only 2 miles left instead of 15.

I limp my way in and collect my finisher's medal. I finished. 30 minutes behind Christina, who I beat easily in the 5k, 10k and triathlon we did together last summer, but I finished. And I'm proud she did it in such a good time. She deserves it.



The drive home was extruiating. My legs, butt, arms, skin--it all hurts. I deserve friend of the year...wait, the century. I need a new hobby like guitar picking or knitting.



Us before--unaware of what was about to happen.

Us after--proof that we both finished.

Book Review Friday 1/18/08

Book: Brother Odd
Author: Dean Koontz
Pages: 464

This is the third book in this series by Dean Koontz. I fell in love with Odd Thomas in the first book, aptly named Odd Thomas. I devoured it in a day. It was a little bit different than anything I had read, so it captured me wholeheartedly. The second book in the series, Forever Odd, I didn't care for as much. It was okay, but I didn't love it like I did the first book. I was a little hestitant to pick up the third book because of my experience with the second book, but again, it was a tad different than what I've been reading so I decided to give it a whirl.

Odd Thomas is a normal frycook that also sees impeding doom in the form of "bodachs" that gather around an area that is about to undergo major tragedy. He feels it's his duty to determine what is going on and save as many people as he can.

While it's not necessary to read the first two books before embarking on the third one, it does help with the background information. He refers a lot to Stormy, a girl he once loved, and it's nice to know the story behind that affair.

After the last bit of tragedy that Odd found himself in, he comes to live at a monastery to regroup. The monks bring him in and allow him his space to heal. He becomes good friends with the brothers, as well as with the sisters in the neighboring Covent and school for the severely handicapped. One night, while he's staring out the window, he sees three "bodachs" enter the school. He seeks them out and in the process is reminded of his lost love. In the days to follow more "bodachs" gather and a mad search is underway for the cause of the impeding doom.

I really, really enjoyed this book. Written with a little humor and some wacky imagination, it captured me from page 1. It was almost not believable, but I really like the Odd Thomas character so I could forget the lack of science behind it. I would recommend reading the first two books first, but it could picked up off the shelf as is.

Book Review Friday 1/11/08

Since I was gone last week, this is last weeks book review:

Book: The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters
Author: Elisabeth Robinson
Pages: 352

I found this on the bargain table at Barnes and Noble as I was leaving on our cruise so I picked it up. I read the synopsis and put it in my pile. Olivia has moved from her small Ohioan town to make it big in the movie producing world in LA, but is suddenly called back when her once vibrant, younger sister is diagnosed with Luekemia. In letters written to her ex-boyfriend and a best friend from high school, she has to come to grips with her shortcomings as a human being and a sister.

Once her sister has regained some of her health, Olivia leaves again to regain her life and then cooresponds with her sister and mom through letter writing. There are a few other correspondences included to make the story flow.

Overall, I thought it was a decent book, though--as most books are--forgettable. I could sense what was coming from the beginning so I didn't build a strong connection with the characters. At first, I found it annoying that I didn't know what the letters were sometimes referring to--much like being at dinner with a group of friends who were all at the same party last weekend when you were out of town. You can pick up a lot of what happened, but "it" and "that" aren't really clear. As the story wore on, however, pieces began falling into place, so it flowed much easier.

I got tired of listening to Olivia whine to her "amazing" ex-boyfriend about their flawed relationship. The dissection of the failed relationship took over the middle third of the book and got to be tedious and repetitious. Yes, we know you broke up. Yes, we know it was hard. Move on! It was very much like a high school drama unfolding on paper.

With that being said, I had the entire book started and read by Tuesday, so I guess it did capture part of my attention.

Warning: Ensuing Travel Log

The following chronicles--day by day--the seven day cruise we embarked on last week. Skip this entry if you don't want to hear about the sun or fun I encountered.




Day 1--Sunday, January 6

Wade's dad shows up a teensy bit early (read: 30 minutes) to drive us to the airport. In normal circumstances this would be okay, but seeing at it was 4:00 in the morning, he catches us sleeping.

We drag ourselves to the airport, say our goodbyes (Josh [age 2] starts to understand what all the prepping we've been doing was and is not happy about still being strapped in his carseat as grandpa takes off for home), and make our way to the gate. Who would've guessed that 5 am on a Sunday would be such a busy time, but we make it to the plane with minutes to spare.



We enjoy a rather uneventful (considered a good thing) flight to the Long Beach Trailer. It could be the smallest airport in the United States. But the flight was cheap, so I'm not complaining. However, since we did start off at such an ungodly hour, we are in California at 7 am. We aren't suppose to board the ship until 1:30. With no place to go and 5 bags of luggage, we settle onto stained couches Wade has found on the second floor (who knew there was a second floor) and try to fall asleep.

After being rudely awakened by pilots wandering about trying to locate a restaurant, we reassess our situation. It's nearing 9 am. California is cold. Not as cold as Utah, but still chilly. I'm hungry. I'm cold. And I'm bored. I am, however, quite pleased with myself that I thought to pack my fleece jacket. I'm not as cold as I could be. In fact, I'm thinking this very thought as I unwrap a smores granola bar. A few minutes later, after devouring every last crumb, I reach down to retrieve my book from my bag and Wade asks what is all over my (white) fleece jacket. I look down and gasp. A wayward chunk of chocolate managed to smear itself all over the front of my coat. I try to clean it up in the bathroom, but it's a futile attempt. I trick myself into thinking that it's not that bad.



Wade thinks to call the cruise hotline and is told they indeed have a preboarding place at the dock that will also store our luggage. Bonus. We hail a cab (a first for both of us and a first of many cabs rides over the course of the next week) and head to the pier. We check in and walk around outside for a bit. Everyone walking by is staring at the stains on my coat. I quickly go from this:





to this:



But there's not much I can do. It's too cold not to wear the jacket, so I press forward.

They let us on the boat at 11:30 on the condition that we don't go to our stateroom until 1:30. By now, I'm ready to gnaw off my own arm and start chewing on it, so it's all right by me to go eat lunch first.

The boat is HUGE. It's 12 stories high and has a mini golf area, a jogging track, a basketball court, 3 pools and a waterslide.

We are eventually let into our cabins, which are roughly the size of my walk-in closet. There's a desk, two night tables and twin beds pushed together with a queen fitted sheet over them. And a small bathroom. We don't have a window overlooking the granduer of the ocean. I'm a bit sad about this, but I figure we won't be in the room a lot, so I'm not too worried.

At 4:30, we set sail. Wade is immediately motion sick. I'm feeling pretty good, but really tired. So I take a nap while he explores further. Our scheduled dining time isn't until 8:15.

At 8:15, we head to the dining room where we are seated with another couple, Daniel and Erin. To maximize space in the dining room, the tables are filled to their capacity. It's a little awkward eating dinner with complete strangers. Luckily, they are close to our age, so we have a little in common. The food is great and you can eat as much as you want. There's an appetizer, salad, main course and dessert. You can order as many entrees or desserts as you would like. Wade isn't feeling very good, but he sticks it out.

After dinner we head to the show. It's about what you'd expect on a cruise ship. The comedian that was on afterwards was hilarious. Wade is feeling really sick and we head back to our closet. I stay up late reading. When I turn out the light, it's pitch black. Not a single light can be seen.

DAY 2--At Sea, January 7

I wake up early, don my running gear and head to the jogging track. **Blonde Moment** I turn on my GPS watch and start off. I check my pace and stop in a heap of confusion. I'm running at a 2:50 min/mile pace? I'm Superman? It takes me a second longer than it should to realize that it's catching the boat's speed, not mine. Oiy! A mile is 15 times around the track, and while it's warm it's not perfect weather and in any case I lose count of how many times I've gone around and so I quit embarrasingly early. I get some food for Wade and head back downstairs. We reemerge at 11:00 to eat breakfast. Wade is feeling better, but this epitomizes how we spend the afternoon:

I just cart my book around and enjoy the peace while I read.

There's an ice carving demonstration going on. Very cool.

Then a rousing game of Scattergories. I take a nap and then we lounge around until dinner time. It's formal night, so we get all dolled up. It's not as awkward eating with Daniel and Erin tonight as it was last night. I was surveying the boat earlier during the day and I was happy that we ended up with them and not some of the other people on baord.

After dinner we go to a cheesy show and then the comic did an "adults only" show at midnight that was pretty funny.


DAY 3--At Sea, January 8


We awake at 11:00 and make our way up to breakfast at noon. It's a hard life, but someone has to live it. We're passing by Cabo and the weather is PERFECT. We lay out on the deck...the entire afternoon. Read a little bit. Talk with some people for a while. But mostly just look out at the ocean and land. We even saw some whales and dolphins. It was awesome to see them in their natural habitat. I got brave and did the waterslide. It was okay. I guess I did it wrong, because Wade said if you lifted your butt off the slide you'd go a lot faster. Since we left our camera in the room, we have no pictures of us doing the waterslide or the whales and dolphins.


DAY 4--Puerto Vallarta, January 9


We have to meet our tour out on the pier at 8:00, so we actually have to get up at a decent time this morning. We head up to breakfast and look out at Puerto Vallarta. Here's what we see:

It's like we haven't left the U.S. at all. There's a Walmart and a Sam's Club right off the dock.

We head off to our hike, which was a blast. We hike through the rain forest. It's a little warm, but heck it's January 9. This is our guide Jerry. He's a little weird, but he has a really good attitude and some interesting stories. He apparently really likes Tequila.

At the top of the "hill" there's a natural hot minerals spring. We sit in the pools for a little bit and then head back to the starting point where we're given a small tour of the tequila making process. We're offered free shots, but of course, we decline. It was hard to convey "we don't drink" to a tequila-loving native, but we are successful and avoid a potentially embarrassing situation (your first ever shot of tequila should probably not be in the presence of drinking naturals, much like smoking cigarettes).



After the hike we're taken back to the ship. We eat lunch and head out to explore the town. We first stop at an internet cafe, where for a $1 and hour, we get internet access. Compared with $1 a minute on the ship, this is a good deal. We also get to call Josh for 33 cents a minute. He doesn't talk much, but all is going well there.




Next, we take a cab downtown and look around. The beach is gorgeous and we stop in at a restaurant for dinner since we don't have to be back to the ship until 9:30.

We unknowingly order $8 in soda pops since free refills are not a given in Mexico. We also order an appetizer and our main meal. We want more chips to go along with our appetizer and so we inadvertently order a second appetizer. We end up plopping down nearly $60 for dinner. It was a bit of a sticker shock to see the final tab because while it was good, it was not $60 good.

We head back to the boat and enjoy the nice air outside while we watch the ship take off. We made it about 15 minutes through a lame-o show and then head to our room to go to sleep.

DAY 5--Mazatlan, January 10

We don't have a planned activity for Mazatlan, but we head out early anyways. It's really chaotic at the pier. There are people trying to get you to sign into a time share or get into their cab. It was all very overwhelming, especially since I don't speak the language. A van tour guide and a taxi driver were going at it over us, and I was afraid we weren't going to make it to the shopping district. We managed to convey our intentions to the cab driver and he takes us to the right place. We go to a diamond jewerly place and Wade picks out some earrings for me. He says he wants me to have something to remember our trip by. How cute. :) They are made from a rare gem found only in the southern tip of Canada called Ammonite. They're very pretty.

Mazatlan is a little more third worldy than Puerto Vallarta. We go to a "back alley" flea shop looking thing and barter our way through. We come out with a marble chess set for Wade that he's always wanted. I'd looked for one for Christmas for him and couldn't find one in our budget. Unfortunately, I'm slated to carry the sucker around for the rest of the day. It's feels like it's 40 pounds. It's not that heavy, but it was wearing on me towards the end of the day.

Our original plans were to go in the ocean but it was too cold, so we just sat on the beach and watched everything going on. Every five minutes, a vendor would try to hit us up to buy something and it became very tiresome after awhile. We ate nachos at a restaurant off the main drag. They were really good. Now accustomed with the local culture, we don't buy nearly as much soda pop.

We had to be back on the boat by 5:30, so we got there early and sat in the hot tub for a while. It was our first time getting in. It was a little chilly by now, so it felt really good.

DAY 5--Cabo San Lucas, January 11

We arrive in Cabo at 7:00 am and it is GORGEOUS. It's unbelievable what a change Cabo is from the other two ports. We're going sea kayaking (number 35 on the list) and snorkeling (number 80 on the list) in the Sea of Cortez.

Since the ship is so big, it has to hang out off the dock and we're ferried over to land. Our tour starts at 9:30, so it's another early morning for us. We make it over and call my mom (who now has Josh) to see how things are going. All is well on the home front.

We meet our guide and are taken on a glass bottom boat over to the kayaks on a beach around the bay. There's ten of us and we're given a short lesson on kayaking and take off. It's amazingly easy to get a hang of and we paddle around for a long time. The guide takes us over to this arch that separates the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Cortez. He asks if we want to head through. Of course! We have to time the waves just right so we don't crash into the side, but off we go. It's breathtaking. The coolest part of the entire trip by far. We paddle about a mile into the Pacific and then head back to Lover's Beach. Lover's Beach is only accessed by boat or kayak, so there isn't anything on it. We get out of our kayaks and he asks how many want to go snorkeling. Five people stay behind and Wade tries to convince me not to go. It's a tad bit chilly in the water, but I don't care. I'm here to snorkel so I'll brave it for 30 minutes. I tell Wade that he can stay back on the beach, but I really want to go. He reluctantly gets into the snorkeling boat and we take off.

It's a bit of a shock to jump in, but the water isn't all that bad. What an incredible experience. I've never been snorkeling before so it was awesome to see all those fish and the water was so clear. It was great! Wade was very happy that I insisted on going.

We were led back to the beach to pick up our fellow kayakers. We were given a few minutes to explore Lover's Beach, so Wade and I walked over to the Pacific Ocean side. Amazing.

We kayak back to get our stuff and Wade and I spend some time on that beach enjoying the view. We take off on foot to walk back to the ferry dock. We have to walk around the entire marina, but it's a nice day. I don't mind at all. We stop and eat stale cinnamon rolls and continue on. We end up buying a wooden snake for Josh, a stone mask for my mom, and a Christmas ornament for me before heading to the ferry. We have to be on the boat by 3:30 so we don't miss them taking off.

We both end up taking long naps and bumming around until dinner. It's another formal night so we have to get all dolled up again. Additionally, it's also the Grand Gala Buffet. We eat a wonderful meal and then head to the comedian's last show. Afterwards, we go to the buffet, but neither one of us is very hungry, so we end up leaving early and going to bed.

DAY 7--At Sea, January 12

We are hauling butt back to LA. It takes us 2 days to get to Cabo but only 1 1/2 days to get back? Even I'm feeling a little sick.

We don't even get up on deck until 1:00. We are so lazy, but it feels great. We eat lunch and then play ping pong for a while. Not a lot going on today and it's pretty chilly so there's no lounging outside. We just enjoy the last day of our cruise. We pack our stuff and get ready for tomorrow.

Last Day--LA, January 13

When we originally booked our airline flights, JetBlue had a flight leaving Long Beach at 12:30. Perfect timing to get us off the boat, through customs and to the airport. In December they emailed us to say that the flight had been rescheduled for the new year to leave at 11:30. After talking with the cruise people, we decided it was too risky and instead moved our reservation to the 8:30 pm departure time.

Come to find out, if we play our cards right, we can actually get off the ship early enough to catch the 11:30 flight. A good plan as we don't have anything to do in Long Beach until 8:30 pm. As soon as Wade gets up, he runs up to the top deck to call JetBlue to rearrange our flight. He gets us guaranteed seats on the 11:30 flight out of Long Beach.

We grab our baggage and get in line to deembark. It's a long process and going through customs is a hassle. Since we carried all our own luggage off the ship, we don't have to waste time searching for our bags after getting through customs. We are probably in the first 10 people to get out of the terminal. We grab a cab and head to the airport, arriving with 3 hours to spare.

The plane is on time and I get to sit next to a funny smelling Catholic Priest eating a ham sandwich. It's a little weird, but it is what it is.

We arrive home safely and my parents pick us up at the airport with Josh in tow. He's pretty excited to see us, but more excited to be going home. My mom proudly announces that he's 100 percent potty trained. Seeing as he was before we left, I figure there isn't much news there, but she's insistent that it was all her doing. I'm just happy he didn't revert back to diapers while we were gone.

All in all, it was such a blast. The cruise was so much fun and I'm glad to say I finally did one. I can cross that (number 6 on the list) off and move on with my life. Wade and I didn't fight at all, which I was afraid of, being in such tight quarters. The food was getting tiresome and I was getting restless on the boat, so I think 7 days was perfect.

It took me until Wednesday of this week to finally feel like I wasn't still on the ship. Weird. Wade didn't have any trouble readjusting, but I was really sick on Monday. Less so on Tuesday and Wednesday, but still feeling a little wobbly.

Brief Interlude on Cruise

So we found an internet cafe in Mexico. $1 for 1 hour of time. Awesome. And it beats the ship´s price. So here I sit.

The cruise is awesome. Yesterday, we sat around and did nothing. Just lounged in the sun watching whales and dolphins. Life doesn´t get much better. 80 degrees. This is Heaven.

Having never been to Mexico aside from the border towns, I must say, I´m not as impressed as I thought I´d be. It´s still pretty dirty and people are always haggling you to buy crap. Much like the border. The difference being that you have the coast to look at.

Stay tuned for when I post the entire trip. There´s been some interesting things that have happened.

Keep digging yourselves out of the snow. Eventually it will stop. :)