Month: February 2007

John and I have spent the last week in Utah where the weather was sunny and the red cliffs were beautiful.  Now I am in a La Quinta in Bakersfield for the night on the way home.  Once there, we need to get back to Florida because John’s dad is ill.  I am not sure how long we will stay.  In any case, posting will be spotty.

When I wrote my blog below, I hadn’t yet downloaded my most recent pictures. Here’s Nathan in his sweater!

You can see I’ve been busy! Here’s is Nathan’s Stanford letter sweater that I knit for him. He wore it to the Stanford Harmonics 15 year reunion. He looked sooooo cute.

John and I babysat a lot this weekend and it all went pretty well except for a hard time getting him to take his afternoon nap (due to Beeba and Zayde flunking current bottle technology) and a bonk on the head when he tripped over a giant bear and banged his head on the corner point of his little rocker. He’s a new walker and not always totally steady on his feet. I felt so bad that he hit his forehead and I hope that Ryan and Jon don’t think we were derelict in duty.

At the concert both Ryan and Jon had solos. They are so talented and I was so proud. Nathan, though, was confused. He could see mom or dad on the stage but the voice was coming from the big black speaker. He would look back and forth from parent to speaker trying to figure out what was going on. It was hard for him not to be with his mommy especially having had to endure Beeba and Zayde for the past two days.

But, as I said, it all went pretty well. He wore his little sweater and wowed the crowd. Ryan and Jon had most of two days to themselves. We had some really fine grandparenting time. I think it was a win-win-win situation.

I heard on the radio this morning that if you take a nap at least three times a week then your chances of having a heart attack are greatly decreased.  And, of course, it is well known that drinking red wine also helps your heart.

I’d write more but I have to grab a bottle of wine and retire to the bedroom.

On Tuesday we had a travel adventure.  In the winter we always are careful to try to route our trips through airports which are less likely to have snow and ice.  So we were supposed to be traveling from Ft. Myers to Washington D.C. to Oakland.  Yes, it seems like going to Washington is sort of going backwards but it was all that United could offer and we were using free miles.  But you can’t just figure on the airports you are using, you also have to consider where the planes are coming from.

So with plenty of time we arrived at the airport in Ft. Myers.  Our plane was to leave around 2.  However, at 1 the plane that we needed to use had not left Chicago because of ice and snow.  No worries, we have a 3 hour layover in Washington.  At 3 we start to get concerned.  So we ask the ticket counter about alternate flights.  However, the agent in Ft. Myers is not enabled to make reservations.  You must call United for that.

John calls.  That afternoon we reach many nice Indian people assuring us that the flight has left Chicago on time and that our flight has also left on time.  No, that cannot be so, we reply, because we are still here in Ft. Myers and there is no plane.  The weather must be nice in Bangalore because there are no flight delays.  How frustrating!  And the more you press them for information or to escalate the problem, the longer you are put on hold.

Well, long story short, our 2 PM flight does not leave until 5:30 PM and we miss our connection to Oakland.  We are able to find a flight to San Francisco that leaves at 9:40 PM and we get home at 2 AM.

Whenever we told people down in Marco Island that we were from California they were always amazed about it.  Now we know why.  You can’t get there from here.