Worlds of Fun - He Finally Made it to the Fury!

After spending days 2 - 4 of our recent vacation at family camp, we had to settle the score with Worlds of Fun. This Kansas City amusement park denied Connor entry onto the Fury of the Nile last year, and Connor was ready to show them he rocked that height limit now. And show him, he did. (Though I can't say that anyone affiliated with the park actually noticed.) Helen also rode the log ride several times, which avenged her tears from last year.

Connor can now ride most of the rides at Worlds of Fun, but I'm happy to accompany Helen in the small people area. In fact, by the looks of it, I might have been having more fun than Helen on the car ride!

 

 

I'm not quite sure why I agreed to ride an enormous roller coaster with Connor, but I did. And I even let go of the safety bar long enough to snap this photo with my mom's camera. I believe we are in a stationary position at this point. I think Ed and I will forever be sad we didn't purchase the ride photo at the end because Connor had the best - I'm completely freaked out what did I get myself into? - look on his face. He's quickly become an old hat at these rides, so we're unlikely to see that crazed look on his face again anytime soon.

And I believe that's us in the log. Only surprising thing is seeing Helen's jacket. Her typical strategy is to tuck herself entirely under the front of the boat so she doesn't get wet at all. I remember doing this when I was the little one on the ride many years ago. Now, I've ceded that beloved first position to her.

We're still solidly in the getting along phase of vacation, but after family camp and now a day at an amusement park, we're starting to get a little bit tired. Will the kids sleep on the flight to California? Stay tuned...

Elaine

Muscle Beach / Venice - Vacation Day 16

One of the stranger LA attractions we visited was the original site of Muscle Beach. Today's Muscle Beach is up the boardwalk about a mile in Venice Beach, but the remnants of the original remain. Muscle Beach (both the former and current) is a place where bodybuilders gather to build their muscles. Apparently, Arnold Schwarzenegger used to go here. And I'm sure you're already guessing that this was totally a place I could fit right in - being as I'm so loaded with muscles and all.

I don't know why this place kept making me laugh. Perhaps I was just delirious from all the travel at this point. Some of the equipment actually looked pretty fun - but there was no way I was going to wait in line and try it out- though I would still like to know if I could complete the rings/monkey bar obstacle. I settled on conjuring up my rope climbing skills from elementary school, and actually made it to the top. This impressed Connor greatly. Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of my feat. In fact, Connor and my father-in-law might have been the only people who saw it. But trust me, I was awesome.

Connor's attempt to climb a rope - it's harder than it looks, he reports.

I'm not actually sure what this piece of equipment was supposed to be used for, but it made an awfully nice balance beam.

Next time, she's going to actually try and climb!

By far, the best moment of the day was when we walked up the boardwalk to Venice Beach. It was supposed to be a 20 minute walk, but that time was clearly thought up by someone who was walking without two young children. We did eventually arrive at our destination, but we took a cab back to our car after we had lunch.

Street performers crowd the boardwalk at Venice Beach. At one point, I asked Helen if she had any tricks of her own. She came to an immediate stop, dropped to the ground, and did a front roll. Sadly, I didn't capture it on film, and it hurt her head, so by the time I had my camera ready, this was the best stunt she had for me - which was better than anyone else in the family. It drew applause from onlookers, although you can see in the background that Ed, Connor, and my father-in-law had no idea what was going on. Helen was laughing pretty hard about the whole thing, probably dreaming about what her life would be like when she became a street performer, and someone on the side of the road declared that she was "full of happiness". At this moment? It would appear so. At bedtime? Not so much.

After our workout and long walk, Helen collapsed in the sand.

 

Connor also collapsed, as he started showing signs of wearing down. We were all wearing down, in fact, and much of our conversation starting going like this:

 

C: Helen, quit it!

H: I'm not doing anything!

C: Yes you are!

Me: Both of you need to keep your hands to yourself and not look at each other.

H: I didn't do ANYTHING!

C: Yes you did, Helen, and you know you did.

 

And I started dreaming about coming home a few days early. The largest downside to a home exchange - which is what we did on this vacation - is that if you come home early, you're stuck in a hotel because somebody else is living in your home!

 

 

 

This particular night, a friend of mine from grad school met us at the house we were staying at and it was completely fantastic. Her two kids immediately started playing with Connor and Helen, which allowed Connor and Helen to put their energy into something besides bickering with each other. My friend and I attempted to procure pizza for everyone, but instead drove around in circles for a while with the top down on her new convertible. We should've gone to Vegas...

 

Elaine



San Diego - Part 1

After leaving Kansas, we flew to San Diego. Helen insisted on sitting next to me on the airplane which turned out OK since she decided to sleep most of the flight. Thank you for that gift, Helen. It allowed me to finish knitting enough of Connor's sweater to realize I will be lucky if the thing fits you. Vacation knitting project basically aborted. Even typing this three weeks later I'm in denial.

The first night, we went to La Jolla to see the sea lions hanging out. About 10 years ago, Ed and I went kayaking here, but our recollection was of a friend's kayak tipping trying to get over the surf, and we weren't about to attempt it with the little people in tow. So we picnicked on the cliff and enjoyed the view from a different angle than we had before.

Just for the record, this is Helen and Connor at the start of the California leg of our trip, thrilled to be traveling with each other. Spoiler alert: their feelings will change over the course of the next 2.5 weeks of travel.

We were off to a vacation with a lot of promise. The California coast is just amazing. Part of this vacation was about learning to use my relatively new camera. What a fun place to do it.

Elaine

Long Vacation

This summer, we did a lot of vacationing. We made it to Chincoteague and Cape May in July, and spent the last 3 weeks in Kansas, San Diego, and Los Angeles. That's more than the two to three weeks we typically take. The idea was that Ed and I would both work some during evenings and we would plan a few days where we could work in the afternoon. Ed's dad joined us for the California leg of the adventure.

Two things that enabled us to have a drawn out vacation this were (1) willing employers and (2) home exchanges. The first meant we could work on projects even though we weren't present in the office (and I was able to complete a quick-turnaround project and keep other projects moving forward) and the second meant that our costs were greatly reduced. This made the vacation easier in some respect - we knew we would be doing work so were geared up to do it, but it also meant that we didn't have a lot of down time at night to process the day. Next time, I'd like to talk my nieces into coming and playing with Connor and Helen for four hours each day while Ed and I both worked. That would make the evenings a lot lighter - and Connor and Helen would love to have Anna and Emily along. That probably won't happen, but a girl can dream, right?

One thing that I didn't think through well enough was Connor and Helen's perspective. From my perspective, being on vacation is fun and different. I can see things I don't normally see. I can connect with far away friends. In general, it's revitalizing. But Connor and Helen's life is different than mine. Essentially, their life thrives on rhythm and their life is a vacation. Every day they have the opportunity to explore parks and do the things they want. And every day is pretty darn secure. It starts with a predictable breakfast, continues with an established rhythm of inside and outside time, includes time at the pool, and then ends with a dinner they probably recognize and a bed they know is theirs (except Connor, who has routinely taken to sleeping beneath a plastic climbing structure we store in the basement playroom - his cozy nest, he calls it).

Vacation to Connor and Helen is disruptive. They sleep with each other, they face new culinary challenges, and eventually, they really have no idea what day it is and they start to get a little fritzy. By our last week of vacation, Helen was rapidly deteriorating. She didn't want to sleep with Connor, nobody every did anything she wanted, and she did NOT like the ocean (even though she would have a ball at the ocean once she arrived). I oscillated between thinking I should be really understanding and cutting her some slack and thinking I needed to be stricter to give her more structure. My instability did not help the situation. This is something I'm going to rethink before we do this next summer.

Connor was a trooper. More than once, he commented that he had the best day of his life, and he really soaked up many of the experiences. Caution, though, is the theme of the day with Connor. On our last full day in California, we went to Abalone Cove in Palos Verdes. The scenery was just what you'd expect in California, and stunning. What we did not expect was the rather steep hike down to the beach - and the sign that warned of rattlesnakes. Ed thought Connor might refuse to go down the hill, but a casual discussion about how it was hot and rattlesnakes were probably hiding in whatever shady spot they could find off the trail seemed to keep him in motion. I have no idea if that's true about rattlesnakes, but it seemed reasonable and after the car ride we took to get to the beach, there was nothing that was going to stop us from actually stepping foot on it!

It was our lucky day, because as we headed off from the beach, we stopped at the Redondo Beach pier and walked into a restaurant that was serving clams and fries for half price. That is Helen and Connor's favorite meal. Ed and I were treated to half price salmon, raw oysters (which were disappointingly not very salty - no oyster beats Chincoteague!), and nut encrusted brie, along with half price drinks. We sat watching stingrays and schools of large fish swim beneath a pier that we had nearly to ourselves. Outdoor dining at its finest.

On our first morning back, Helen slept until 10:15 when I sent the babysitter up to wake her. I think Helen was really happy to be home.

Elaine