Vacation: Overview of a Week

Whew! Nothing like a week of fine hotel living to make you wish you had the money for your own staff. There is no feeling better to the new mom than the feeling of walking into a freshly made up room that she didn't have to make up. This was I last week. A week of living in the Hyatt Grand Manchester in, not Manchester England, but in San Diego California.

Ah San Diego. My spiritual home. "God's Naval" as my mom likes to call it. John, Maia and I went for an IEEE (read: major work related geek fest) conference and stayed for Comic Con (read: major fantasy/sci-fi/comic book geek fest). It was wonderful. While I didn't party as hard as some moms I know (well, their kids are older) I did manage one night of unabashed drinking at the best sushi joint in the state. Sake and beer to the point of singing Social Distortion along with two guys in a pick-up as I crossed the street while John strolled the baby in weird circles through a small park. That night we fed the baby a bottle, I pumped and threw out the breast milk. I even had a small hangover. In a way, it made me happy.

The days in the beginning of the week were long and filled with daytime TV. No Internet. I didn't want it. I wanted Oprah and Law and Order. I don't have television, as most people know it, so it's a treat to have a remote and watch whatever the networks put out there. And commercials. I don't miss them so much but I like how I feel slightly disturbed after watching them. I also had a cabana day by the pool. Tuesday afternoon is a good time for the pool. The cabanas were sparsely populated and Maia and I had a lovely time hanging out in a chaise lounge and ordering the pool boy around. Well, I ordered the pool boy to bring me a pineapple daiquiri. Maia just smiled and napped and ate her own food.

Wednesday Maia and I headed to one of my very favorite spots in the world, La Jolla Cove. The last time I was there I was pregnant and not far from delivery. John and I just strolled along the edge of the coast talking about the new life we were about to have. This time, I got to stroll with that new life and show her the ocean for the first time. We spent some time sitting on a large expanse of green lawn overlooking the cove that is a favorite place for divers and kayakers. I wonder if she'll remember any of that in her subconscious, and if she dreams of the ocean now?

Thursday through Saturday were spent at the convention center, and those days are entries in their own rights. Highlights? Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, Ray Bradbury and Joss Whedon. The Joss is the best story, at least for Maia. There are pictures of her first encounter with stardom up on the picture site. Too cute baby!

This week we've been settling back into the groove of things. Maia is keeping me jumping. She does everything in clusters. Today, after a week of not napping and staying up late, she's zonked out. I may pay for it tonight, but I've taken advantage of it this afternoon by doing laundry and picking up the living room...somewhat. I'll share more stories. I hope this nap thing lasts for a couple of days...but for now, my vacuum cleaner misses me.

I Really Need...

...to blog more. Sorry. I hope to better perfect one-handed typing in the future.

The 4th of July is my very favorite holiday. I look forward to it like a kid looks to Christmas. The combination of food and fire just makes me happy. Today, I have a piece of pork just a few ounces smaller than my daughter on the grill and a red-white-and-blueberry star shaped Jell-O mold in the fridge. The Fourth makes me crave nostalgia food...hence the Jell-O.

Tonight, we will try to bust out the 20lbs of fireworks smuggled back from our trip to Louisiana. Did I ever mention that John and I almost rented a car to fill with fireworks for the trip home? That plan was under serious consideration...but sanity prevailed and we made due with shipping them UPS ground. Somehow they made it past the state line, so big booms here we come. I, of course, have a large stock of "girly" fireworks: ground blooming flowers, tanks that spit sparks, hen laying eggs, star balls, and sparklers. The sparklers excite me. They are the magnesium ones with metal sticks to hold on to...the ones that look like little stars are popping off when lit, not just a stream of light. The sparklers we can get here, where they are legal, are really lame. I am always disappointed with them. I hope the Louisiana sparklers are the ones from my youth. When it was OK to run around with flaming sticks and you might burn yourself if you weren't careful. "Safe and Sane" give a false sense of security in the firework world. I'd rather experience the joy of mastering the dangerous with my fire. But that's just me. Again waxing nostalgic.

Happy Fourth!