Gin and Juiceboxes » A domestic cocktail

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On my mind this Monday.

 

  • I’m tired of listening to The Doors. (But realize it could be much much worse). The girl’s have moved on from Roadhouse Blues and now their favorite is L.A. Woman. Followed by Riders on the Storm (but not that actual storm parts. Those parts scare them. Also the first line of L.A. Women sounds nothing like “I just got into town about an hour ago” and we will continue to sing it as it’s sung…in complete nonsense, giberry, goobledygook.
  • Did you know Jimmy Fallon does the most spot on impersonations ever? He does Jim Morrison but this Neil Young version of him singing “The Fresh Prince of Belair” is my favorite.
  • Speaking of TV, we are nine episodes into Game of Thrones and can’t wait to watch the finale. Week nine’s killing off of my favorite family didn’t surprise me but it did leave me speechless for a few minutes. I’m ready to see what the finale will bring.
  • Neva is two and still uses a pacifier (no transition on this one). We cut the paci out for Grace cold turkey at one year old. On her birthday actually. I just threw them all away. But Neva is a bit more attached. And my real fear comes from the fact that she’s a good sleeper. There are very few nights that she wakes up in the middle of the night. Grace was an all or nothing type sleeper. She’d either sleep twelve straight hours without a peep or she’d be up for a few hours around three in the morning. One time, just after Neva was born and she was still teeny tiny and sleeping in our room, Grace kept my mother in law up for a few hours. We had a box fan on in our room and had no idea what was going on. Oh, and that one time in Chicago when we were traveling home to Texas the next day. She was up crying from midnight until 3:30 a.m. and we had to be up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a flight. And there’s a small little part of me that thinks that stuff might NOT have happened if she had a paci. So Neva gets to keep the paci a bit longer. Unless Donovan makes it his mission to get rid of it (he mentions it from time to time). But I’m warning him that I’m not having any part of it. Not yet.
  • June gloom is really gloomy. Even in Irvine.
  • Many of my friends from college attended our ten year reunion this weekend. I wouldn’t have lived through the weekend. I feel like I need to recover from one mojito on Friday night and two glasses of sangria at lunch yesterday. I have no ability to hang anymore.
  • I’m reading Cold Tangerines which is a book I’ve heard so much about. But I just can’t get into it. Like at all.
  • I’m in this weird place of having too many mom’s groups I’m just not committed too.
  • That’s it.
June 10, 2013 - 7:24 pm

Patty - Loved the post today! I enjoyed that your thoughts are kinda all over…I like that. Admittedly I am not much of a Doors fan…but since the passing of the keyboard/piano player I have been paying much more attention. I wouldn’t have gone to ANY reunion…no matter what the reason! I feel gloomy, too. But…it too, shall pass! Thanks for sharing!
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Camping in Big Bear

One of the most exciting things for us about moving to California was the proximity to the mountains. When Donovan and I lived in Arizona, we spent a lot of weekends camping up on the Mogollon Rim near Payson. Due to lack of primitive camping near us in San Antonio and having two kids under the age of three, we never made it out camping in our two and a half years in Texas.

We spent this past week getting Gracie and Neva excited about camping. So excited, in fact, that both of them had trouble sleeping the night before we left for Big Bear. After I put them to bed for the night, Gracie would creep into our room and ask, “Is it time to go yet?” And I’d tell her that we would have to wait until morning – and then ten minutes later, we’d repeat the same conversation.

We headed up to Big Bear early Saturday morning. It took us almost two hours to get there with a quick stop at a Ranger station where the girls were given bracelets, balloons, and stickers by the elderly rangers. Admittedly, I had some fears that the girls might be bored – so I packed some books and a small tupperware container with little figurines but they had no trouble keeping themselves entertained.

Donovan and I promised ourselves that we were going to let the kids just “be kids” all weekend. The dirt stressed us out a bit…mostly because we didn’t pack towels and so we couldn’t really shower the girls. It was hard for me to relax about it (I’ve been in the suburbs too long) but we managed to let them get pretty dirty. We then hosed them off with the well water and dried them with some extra clothes we had packed. Multiple times (it was super dry and dusty up there).

We camped with our friends Casey and Amber – and their friend Brett – and we spent Saturday driving down dirt roads with our Land Rover and his Jeep. Eventually we discovered a creek crossing. We’re at about 8000 ft elevation – I’m telling you, this creek had to be about 50 degrees! Brrrrrrr!

In the evening, after we grilled a pork tenderloin and some zucchini, and made S’mores, we took an evening hike to a ranger talk about rattlesnakes. The talk was not super kid friendly – but Smokey the Bear made a brief appearance. Just long enough to frighten the girls.

By the time we made it back to camp and got them settled into our (rather small) tent, it was almost nine o’clock and they were so exhausted that they fell right asleep. We didn’t hear a peep (from them anyway – we heard coyotes in the middle of the night) until morning.

Pretty successful overnight trip. It’s built our confidence for doing something longer and maybe slighter father away from home! If you’d like to see more photos from our trip, they’re all on Instagram.

June 4, 2013 - 2:30 pm

jessicasliman - It was super fun! Camping in the midwest is the best!

June 4, 2013 - 2:29 pm

jessicasliman - We are loving it! And I love that beautiful website you have up now too :) That portrait of Sally blew me away!

June 4, 2013 - 2:16 pm

Steph G - So jealous!!! That looks like a blast. I can’t wait to get out camping this summer. Awesome that your kids seemed to enjoy it and will probably count down the days until the next time.

June 4, 2013 - 12:44 pm

jenn - So so cute and fun. Hope you are loving the sunshine state.

June 3, 2013 - 10:19 pm

Rita Marie - Great! Thanks. I’m looking at the site now.

June 3, 2013 - 9:57 pm

jessicasliman - I think the sites were varied depending on the campground. Ours was not primitive, quiet though and we drove in. I don’t know if there was electric – we didn’t use it.

The campground lured us because we could have a fire. Otherwise, we would have gone primitive!

June 3, 2013 - 9:54 pm

Rita Marie - My husband and I go camping at Garner State Park all the time.

How is Big Bear? Are all the sites primitive walk-in or can you drive up to sites and do they have electric?

And so it begins.

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Neva Lou climbs out of her crib. My sweet girl, who refuses to use the potty during normal hours, has needed to poop four times during nap. She marches right in to the bathroom, sits on the toilet, waits a few minutes and declares “just a toot.”

Then she smiles as I put her in her crib.

Rinse and repeat.

Wednesday music and longings for something different.

When I was in high school and I was done with homework or chores or talking on the phone or whatever it is I did when I was in high school, I would lay on my bedroom floor and listen to music. And nothing else, just listen. Stare at my ceiling and listen. I had this boombox large enough to count as a piece of furniture and I remember being so still and silent and so moved at the same time. Sometimes I listened to the same song over and over and over again because that song, right then, spoke to me. And it made me feel so full of joy/anger/life/love/sadness.

No matter what I do, I find it difficult to have those moments now. It’s partially my life as a mom but it’s mostly the allure of media creeping into every corner of my house. This morning Donovan’s alarm woke me up early and I struggled to fall back asleep. So while he got ready for work, I laid in bed looking at my phone. Checking emails, looking at Facebook, checking out Instagram. I looked over at my husband, standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom, and he was looking at his phone too. Doing work, I’m sure, but still. Here we were. Together only kind of.

If I really think about it, it feels like such an invasion of my space and time and life.

I know it’s not just us. We’re in the majority here, I’m sure.

Here’s the song that pulled me in this morning. And a bit more inspiration I found a while back.

 

May 22, 2013 - 9:19 pm

torijohnson5 - Girl, I feel ya! Sometimes I’ll just sit in the car by myself and LISTEN! It’s the only time I can shut everyone out!
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