…the crossword puzzle that “helps”?

Sorry I have been absent for so long.  But I have been sleeping!

You don’t know how exciting this is for me.  I normally toss and turn all night.

Granted I go to bed around 9pm and fall right to sleep.  Yet, I struggle to stay asleep.  Then I toss and turn, hear EVERY noise imaginable, either the King or I gets up to pee, then I fight the cat for my spot back and finally settle back into bed.

Then the hubby’s alarm goes off.  Typically between 4am and 5am.

Most times, I fall back to sleep for a bit – others, I wake and visit/write blog, drink coffee, do everything except exercise/meditate (like I should).

But, I’ve quit drinking wine with dinner.  And the weather is nicer so we’ve been sleeping with the windows open.  Plus, we’ve eliminated one of the down comforters from the bed.  AND… I think The King’s bladder is bigger!

So I sleep like a queen.  It’s been heaven.  Truly wonderful.  I’ve even managed to almost be late for work a few times.  Hooray!

So I apologize.  I’m still figuring out my new blogging routine.

Aside from taking a ride on a really cool train, another main objective of our trip was to catch a San Fransisco Giants baseball game.  We’re big fans.  The King has his own favorite player (#55 Tim Lincecum) and enjoys watching the games at home.

Plus, the hubby and I absolutely love the city.  I lived there for a while and the hubby grew up just north of there.  We’ve been trying to make it to a game for quite some time.

On the second day of our trip, we woke up early and enjoyed the view from our room.  We overlooked the pool and the docks.  We sat and watched people walk along the boardwalk and caught the ships sailing off in the distance.

We had plans to meet another child hood friend of the hubby’s for breakfast.  Getting to the city from Jack London Square is a breeze.  The ferry picks you up right outside the hotel.

The King really dug the ferry.  You pass huge barges being loaded and unloaded from all over the world.  There are also amazing tug boats doing the grunt work.  Plus tons of birds.

We (read The King) couldn’t decide if we wanted to sit inside or outside – up high or downstairs.

We hung out inside for a while at the bow of the boat.  Buzz Lightyear came along for the ride.  In fact, Buzz liked the boat so much he apparently decided to stay along for additional rides.  (Yes, he is missed dearly)

After about 30 minutes you arrive at the Ferry Building (which could be a separate post – it rocks).  From here we walked along the water for a few miles down toward the ball park.

We kindly asked a couple along the route to take our picture.

It just so happens (totally planned it) that this is the same location where The Hubby proposed to me 6 years ago.  Cool right?

We finally made it down to the ballpark and met our friends.  We enjoyed some pre game eats then headed into the park.  The hubby calls it his “mecca”.

The King got a Pablo Sandoval “Panda” hat.  But since Sandoval is really the hubby’s favorite player, I’m not sure who will wear it more.  Regardless, they both look cute in it.

Here is The King with a cut-out of his guy.  Too bad the real one wasn’t pitching that day.

We had great seats but ended up walking around quite a bit.  We enjoyed the Gilroy Garlic Fries and an ice-cream sundae.  The King went down the Coke slide and waited in line too long for the toddler t-ball game (we ended up leaving).

Overall the experience was better than we had imagined.  If only they had beat the Padres.

We had so much fun we couldn’t stand it.

What?  Oh yes, there’s more…

I’ve never really understood how people can be “savers”.  Yet, I realize that there are a lot of people out there who are.  As I write this, I am sitting on the bed watching Hoarders for the first time.   I am completely saddened by what I see.

I thought I was going to be oohing and ahhing at the messes.  Possibly laughing at the amount of crap people had.  But rather, I’m finding myself deeply emotional.

This  is a problem that they’ve likely lived with for a long time.  They simply cannot help themselves.

I always assumed that hoarding was due in part to laziness.  But now I realize that these people have a serious disorder that I’m sure they would give anything to have go away.

The overwhelming emotional attachment the seven-year old boy on today’s show has for his hundreds of stuffed animals breaks my heart.  And the woman who’s house is falling down around her because the structure of her house can’t handle the added weight – unbelievable.

I’ve always prided myself on not pre-judging people.  I tend to give most everyone the benefit of the doubt until you prove me wrong.  In this case, I just didn’t have a clue.   I had already judged these people because of the state of their house.  I made assumptions based on pure ignorance.

I feel bad about that.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have an issue with stress.  Stress, anxiety and worry are synonymous in my world.  One causes the other and they all start to become one.  I don’t go a day without one of them being present.

So when Jen over at Sprite’s Keeper said this week’s Spin Cycle was to be about stress, I laughed.  Why? Because I am a stress expert. I don’t know how to operate without stress.  If there is none, I create my own.

As Gretchen from Second Blooming say’s, I need to “relax my asshole.”  When I read her Spin for this week I almost spit out my coffee.  Her words were right on, what I really need to do is to learn how to take a deep breath and relax my asshole.  My sphincter, I’m sure, would thank me.

Then I got to thinking about the times when I’m NOT stressed.  And it occurred to me that just recently, I had a few stress free days.  What was I doing during that time that made me feel relaxed?

I was reading a book.

A friend and neighbor had lent me “The Blind Side” and although I haven’t seen the movie, I new it was supposed to be good.  She sent me home with the book and after 2 day of fully submersing myself in the novel, I  had cried, I had laughed and I felt good.

I enjoy reading.  I find I become a part of the story – totally  immersed.  If it’s good,  I find I can’t put it down.  I forget about TV programs and allow my brain and imagination to take over.  I feel smarter.

Why I haven’t figured this out before now is a mystery.  Which by the way is my favorite type of novel.

So now that I’ve figured this out, do you happen to have any reading suggestions for me?  I think I’ve finally found the magic relaxation potion that will help keep a balance in my life. ( a massage every once and a while might work too.)

If I can only find the time.

I have to say that although lengthy, traveling by train was very relaxing.  The hubby even commented that he didn’t feel as stressed out at the end of the trip as he does when he’s driving.  This is most likely attributed to the fact that you don’t have to pay attention to traffic.  You just sit back and watch the countryside roll by.

What beautiful countryside it was.  We were told that the trip through the Sierra Nevada’s is one of the prettiest trips you can take.  It didn’t disappoint.  Granted the train only goes about 30 miles per hour so you have plenty of time to take it all in.  We were lucky enough to have volunteers from the Sacramento Train Museum on board who shared historical information with us as we traveled over the mountains.  We learned about each little city we passed through and about the travels of those who went before us.  It was very interesting.

Finally,  about the time we hit Sacramento the train picked up some speed.  We managed to arrive in Emeryville right on time, roughly 7 hours after starting back in Reno. (Amtrak is notoriously late.  We left 2 hours after our original departure time.  They rely on you to check their website for updates which can either move back or even up depending on the trains ability to make up time.)

Once in Emeryville, we boarded a shuttle which took us to our hotel in Oakland’s Jack London Square.  Jack London Square sits right on the water and is a really nice little area made up of several blocks of shops, restaurants and hotels.  The nice thing about staying here (The hubby and I have stayed here before) is that the ferry dock is right outside the hotel doors.  This comes in handy when you just took the train and have no transportation to take you over into The City.  That city being San Fransisco.  My favorite city of all time.

We arrived at the hotel just in time to check in and then meet one of The Hubby’s childhood friends for dinner.  My girlfriend (and coworker) had suggested a BBQ place called Everett & Jones.  Apparently they have restaurants all over Oakland and have made quite the name for themselves.  Let me just tell you, it was fantastic.  We will definitely stop there again next time we’re in town.  The King had BBQ sausage but was upset he didn’t get ribs.  Out of spite, I think he decided not to eat the sausage.  We packed it up and gave it to the homeless man we saw on our way out of the restaurant.

We then walked along the water for a while and learned the story behind this little and very old bar situated in the middle of everything.  Apparently, it got its name from being the last place that fisherman could get a drink on their way out to sea and the first place on the way back home.  Hence the name, First and Last Chance.  It apparently was frequented by Jack London himself who the area is ultimately named for.

Knowing that The King needed to get to bed (and apparently poop), he and I headed back to the hotel.  He was so funny.  He actually thought that we had moved.  When we got into the room for the first time, he immediately asked where the toy box was.  I explained to him that this was just a hotel and we weren’t staying.  He proceeded to show concern for the fact the room had no kitchen.  He even went so far as to tell complete strangers that “we lived in a hotel.”  Hoping to get him to understand, we explained to him that his real house was where the kitty cat’s were and this was just a place we were sleeping for a few nights.  Overall, he kept coming back to the hotel and being concerned with where it was and when we would be going there.  Just this morning, he says to me, “Mom we have two swimming pools.  One here and the other at the hotel.”  I can’t seem to convince him otherwise.

Once ready for bed, we tucked him into his own double bed.  He was so wiped out he fell right asleep.

I on the other hand, spent the entire night worried he was either going to fall out of the bed (which he doesn’t do in his own bed) or pee himself in the night (because he was so tired – and of course the mattress pad may not have been waterproof).  I swear, I always have to worry about something!

With Day 1 of our adventure behind us, we were excited and looking forward to Day 2.

To be continued (yes, there’s more!)

Whew!  What a fun couple of days we’ve had.  After taking some time (longer than anticipated) to recover from our stomach flu,  the family and I took off for an adventure.

We’d planned this trip a while ago and after slowly crossing the days off the calendar, the big day finally arrived.  On Wednesday, the three of us boarded the Amtrak for a seven hour adventure to the Bay Area.

What would normally take 3.5 hours to drive, took 7 hours by train.  I’ll have more on that adventure later.  But wanted to share some quick highlights.

All Aboard!

We boarded the train in Reno and headed West to Emeryville.  We had big plans to catch a Giants baseball game.  As an avid train lover, The King was thrilled to be on board – that is for the first 3 to four hours of the trip.

Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job for a three-year old.  I actually think he did better than I did.

On coming traffic.

We saw some beautiful scenery in the Sierra Nevada Mountains as well as several on coming trains.  If you’re not  paying attention, they’ll scare the crap out of you as they come speeding by.

After about 5 hours the trip gets a little boring.  So a few trips to the “bar car” were in order.  We figured since we had absolutely no need to drive the entire trip, we could at least sit back and enjoy the freedom of having a driver.

We walked from the back of the train to the front of the train, then back to the back of the train and to the front of the train.  We played games and read books, we sat in the observation car and mingled with complete strangers.  We then let The King have free reign of the camera.

When we finally arrived at our destination we were tired and relieved.  Our journey had just begun.

Aside from recovering, we’ve got a big week planned here, so don’t worry if I’m not around much.

I’ll be back to 100% in no time!

My Mom & The King (8 weeks old)

 The Top 10 Best Things About Being A Mom! 

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mom’s out there.  Have a wonderful day – The King says so! 

The King @ 3 months

 Fore more great Mom spins – stop on over to see Jen and the Spinners. 

I’m not quite sure why but my husband absolutely LOVES the shark in the movie named Bruce.  Even more, he enjoys walking around the house hollering, ” name’s Bruce” in a low yet loud tone.  Then he laughs. Does it again. And laughs some more.

So last weekend (May Day to be exact) we finally broke down and bought The King his very first bicycle.  After much research on appropriate size, we located the ideal bike at Toys R Us. 

Not only is it really cool to get a new bike, but it’s also overwhelmingly fun to break out the man tools and assemble the bike with dad. 

Once complete, The King donned his “brain bucket” and immediately got to pedaling.

Oh the joy!  Now I don’t know if you can see it or not (click to enlarge) but this special bike is actually a shark.  Coincidence?  I’m not sure.  What I do know is The King might be the only kid I know whose bike has a name. 

I bet you’ll never guess what it is!