I'm back. I've been back for a while actually, but, unfortunately, despite the high single-digit readership of this blog, other things often take priority over it. My break was good -- as good as it can be in 2017 with a madman still running our country.
We first drove to Columbia, South Carolina to visit S's parents, which I always enjoy, except for the actual driving part. It's a guaranteed fight between S and I straight out of the gate because she always wants to leave at some ungodly hour, 5 am, or something like that, and I don't. I'm down to leave early, but my early is more like 8 am. S has good reasons to want leave that early -- less likely to hit traffic, more likely the kids will sleep, etc. -- but I have a good reason to not want to leave that early: It's too goddamn early! She always tells me, "you can sleep in the car." But I can't. It is almost physically impossible for me to sleep in a car. I can try. I can close my eyes and lie still, but I won't fall asleep. S is one of those people who falls asleep really easily and can quickly adjust her sleep schedule without too much trouble, and she doesn't really get that other people (e.g., I) can't do that. It's a little bit like a happy person telling somebody who's sad, "just be happier." Anyway, we did end up leaving early (but it was more like 6 am, by the time we actually got out of the house) because, when it comes down to it, there are only a few things in life over which I'm going to absolutely dig in my heels. For the most part, I utilize a complain-and-cave negotiation strategy.
Anyway, Columbia was nice. I had to work remotely the entire week before Christmas, but I didn't mind much because many people (clients, bosses, coworkers, etc.) are on vacation around then, so it's almost always a low-stress time of the year. Also, if I'm being honest, working is often preferable to being with the kids all day. The little one in particular is a hellion at the moment -- an absolutely adorable hellion, but a hellion nonetheless. He's full-on "terrible twos," which in our experience is actually "terrible two-and-half-through-four-and-a-halfs." The big one is past that stage, thankfully. He still gets in trouble, of course, but the random tantrums are much less frequent, and when they do come you can usually reason with (i.e., bribe) him to clam down.
S and my big getaway for the week was going to see the new Star Wars film, which apparently is a new annual tradition. It was fine. I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I give it one thumb sideways.
On Christmas Eve Eve, we drove to Hilton Head Island where we met S's sister and their cousin and his family. We rented a house about a five minute walk from the beach. S's dad and I drove down together in the same car -- a three hour drive. It went pretty well. We chatted a bit and then when he would start to doze off, I put in an earbud and listened to a podcast. The only annoying thing is that he kept wanting to navigate using a road atlas, and I'm like, "uh... I got this thing called GPS on my phone..." At one point my phone told me to get off the major highway and take a back road, so I did, and S's dad insisted that I stay on the highway. I told him that the phone usually knows the best way, but he was adamant, so I went back to the highway ("complain and cave," remember). You know what's coming: Smash cut to us sitting in a traffic jam. To his credit, he was very apologetic, but that didn't make the cars in front of us move any faster. At least from that point on he let me follow the GPS instructions without protest.
Hilton Head is a weird place. It's really nice, even in the winter, but something like 70% of it is gated communities, so you get the feeling the rich people are keeping out the plebes. There's this historically area with a little lighthouse and a bunch of quaint, kitschy establishments that is inaccessible by public road. You either have to pay a fee or use the beach (or pretend you're part of a group of people who have an access code, like we did one time). But the entire island is cozy and fun and you can rent bicycles and pedal around for a day. (I ended up riding about 20 miles, so I also got in a good workout.)
The housing accommodations were good. For the most part everybody got along. Putting seven adults and four kids into a moderately sized house can cause problems, but it wasn't bad. The kids constantly had something on that was making noise -- TV, iPad, what have you -- so that was annoying. Also, our kids are at a bad age for sleeping in their own beds. Lil' S1 is fine by himself, but what happens is Lil' S2 demands one of us sleep with him, and then Lil' S1 feels left out and also demands one of us sleep with him, so to sleep somewhat comfortably, we really need two queen-size (at least) beds. If they are in the same room, it's a plus, as we can sometimes get the kids in the same bed. Also, if the floor is carpeted and we have enough blankets or a pad, we can jimmy up a makeshift bed for them on the floor.
But at the beach house, we only had one king-size bed, and the floors were hardwood. The first night we all slept together -- or rather we all laid there together. I don't think there was ever a moment in which all four people in bed were asleep. It was just too many bodies. The next night I slept by myself on the couch in the living room, which I realized halfway through the night folded out into an actual bed -- so, yay me. It still wasn't very convenient though, because it was in the main area attached to the kitchen, so I pretty much woke up whenever the first person woke up, and S's family is a bunch of early risers. They would try to be quiet, but, again, I'm not a normal sleeper. If people are whispering or making coffee or fixing breakfast five feet from me, I'm going to wake up. That's my curse of hyper-vigilance. I probably slept less on my vacation than I sleep at home.
After Hilton Head, we went to Columbia for a few more days. S and I went to see The Shape of Water (our second movie of the trip!) at the local indie theater -- you know what I'm talking about. There is at least one in every city. It's an older building in the downtown area; the theaters are small; it's staffed by a bunch of young people of indeterminate race and gender (plus one old man with stringy hair in Chuck Taylor Converse); the concessions are actually reasonably priced; and they show movies that are actually decent instead of Superheroes: The Reawakening, Part Six. The movie wasn't great, but it was pretty good -- thumbs up. I spent the first half of it trying to figure out where I knew that guy from. Thankfully it dawned on me (he was the lead in A Serious Man) or the entire movie might have been ruined.
Anyway...
Back in DC now, and it's fucking cold. I don't think the high for the day is going to get out of the teens. To make matters worse, I'm having trouble starting my car. I have to push the button like 20 times before the engine actually starts. I couldn't start it at all last night after I picked up the kids from school/daycare, so we had to take the bus back, which required me to walk with two kids a quarter mile or so to the bus stop and then wait for 15 minutes in the cold. (They didn't seem to mind though; they always get a kick out of riding the bus.) I had AAA come out to test the battery, but that might not be it. I might have to take it to the shop -- so annoying! My least favorite part of being an adult is the need to own and maintain an automobile.
Alright, I gotta call it a post. Until next time...
We first drove to Columbia, South Carolina to visit S's parents, which I always enjoy, except for the actual driving part. It's a guaranteed fight between S and I straight out of the gate because she always wants to leave at some ungodly hour, 5 am, or something like that, and I don't. I'm down to leave early, but my early is more like 8 am. S has good reasons to want leave that early -- less likely to hit traffic, more likely the kids will sleep, etc. -- but I have a good reason to not want to leave that early: It's too goddamn early! She always tells me, "you can sleep in the car." But I can't. It is almost physically impossible for me to sleep in a car. I can try. I can close my eyes and lie still, but I won't fall asleep. S is one of those people who falls asleep really easily and can quickly adjust her sleep schedule without too much trouble, and she doesn't really get that other people (e.g., I) can't do that. It's a little bit like a happy person telling somebody who's sad, "just be happier." Anyway, we did end up leaving early (but it was more like 6 am, by the time we actually got out of the house) because, when it comes down to it, there are only a few things in life over which I'm going to absolutely dig in my heels. For the most part, I utilize a complain-and-cave negotiation strategy.
Anyway, Columbia was nice. I had to work remotely the entire week before Christmas, but I didn't mind much because many people (clients, bosses, coworkers, etc.) are on vacation around then, so it's almost always a low-stress time of the year. Also, if I'm being honest, working is often preferable to being with the kids all day. The little one in particular is a hellion at the moment -- an absolutely adorable hellion, but a hellion nonetheless. He's full-on "terrible twos," which in our experience is actually "terrible two-and-half-through-four-and-a-halfs." The big one is past that stage, thankfully. He still gets in trouble, of course, but the random tantrums are much less frequent, and when they do come you can usually reason with (i.e., bribe) him to clam down.
S and my big getaway for the week was going to see the new Star Wars film, which apparently is a new annual tradition. It was fine. I didn't love it; I didn't hate it. I give it one thumb sideways.
On Christmas Eve Eve, we drove to Hilton Head Island where we met S's sister and their cousin and his family. We rented a house about a five minute walk from the beach. S's dad and I drove down together in the same car -- a three hour drive. It went pretty well. We chatted a bit and then when he would start to doze off, I put in an earbud and listened to a podcast. The only annoying thing is that he kept wanting to navigate using a road atlas, and I'm like, "uh... I got this thing called GPS on my phone..." At one point my phone told me to get off the major highway and take a back road, so I did, and S's dad insisted that I stay on the highway. I told him that the phone usually knows the best way, but he was adamant, so I went back to the highway ("complain and cave," remember). You know what's coming: Smash cut to us sitting in a traffic jam. To his credit, he was very apologetic, but that didn't make the cars in front of us move any faster. At least from that point on he let me follow the GPS instructions without protest.
Hilton Head is a weird place. It's really nice, even in the winter, but something like 70% of it is gated communities, so you get the feeling the rich people are keeping out the plebes. There's this historically area with a little lighthouse and a bunch of quaint, kitschy establishments that is inaccessible by public road. You either have to pay a fee or use the beach (or pretend you're part of a group of people who have an access code, like we did one time). But the entire island is cozy and fun and you can rent bicycles and pedal around for a day. (I ended up riding about 20 miles, so I also got in a good workout.)
The housing accommodations were good. For the most part everybody got along. Putting seven adults and four kids into a moderately sized house can cause problems, but it wasn't bad. The kids constantly had something on that was making noise -- TV, iPad, what have you -- so that was annoying. Also, our kids are at a bad age for sleeping in their own beds. Lil' S1 is fine by himself, but what happens is Lil' S2 demands one of us sleep with him, and then Lil' S1 feels left out and also demands one of us sleep with him, so to sleep somewhat comfortably, we really need two queen-size (at least) beds. If they are in the same room, it's a plus, as we can sometimes get the kids in the same bed. Also, if the floor is carpeted and we have enough blankets or a pad, we can jimmy up a makeshift bed for them on the floor.
But at the beach house, we only had one king-size bed, and the floors were hardwood. The first night we all slept together -- or rather we all laid there together. I don't think there was ever a moment in which all four people in bed were asleep. It was just too many bodies. The next night I slept by myself on the couch in the living room, which I realized halfway through the night folded out into an actual bed -- so, yay me. It still wasn't very convenient though, because it was in the main area attached to the kitchen, so I pretty much woke up whenever the first person woke up, and S's family is a bunch of early risers. They would try to be quiet, but, again, I'm not a normal sleeper. If people are whispering or making coffee or fixing breakfast five feet from me, I'm going to wake up. That's my curse of hyper-vigilance. I probably slept less on my vacation than I sleep at home.
After Hilton Head, we went to Columbia for a few more days. S and I went to see The Shape of Water (our second movie of the trip!) at the local indie theater -- you know what I'm talking about. There is at least one in every city. It's an older building in the downtown area; the theaters are small; it's staffed by a bunch of young people of indeterminate race and gender (plus one old man with stringy hair in Chuck Taylor Converse); the concessions are actually reasonably priced; and they show movies that are actually decent instead of Superheroes: The Reawakening, Part Six. The movie wasn't great, but it was pretty good -- thumbs up. I spent the first half of it trying to figure out where I knew that guy from. Thankfully it dawned on me (he was the lead in A Serious Man) or the entire movie might have been ruined.
Anyway...
Back in DC now, and it's fucking cold. I don't think the high for the day is going to get out of the teens. To make matters worse, I'm having trouble starting my car. I have to push the button like 20 times before the engine actually starts. I couldn't start it at all last night after I picked up the kids from school/daycare, so we had to take the bus back, which required me to walk with two kids a quarter mile or so to the bus stop and then wait for 15 minutes in the cold. (They didn't seem to mind though; they always get a kick out of riding the bus.) I had AAA come out to test the battery, but that might not be it. I might have to take it to the shop -- so annoying! My least favorite part of being an adult is the need to own and maintain an automobile.
Alright, I gotta call it a post. Until next time...
J's parents were using the *paper* to inform them about traffic conditions when we visited them this summer. We tried to get them to use Waze to when we all visited his brother's family, about an hour away, but caved when they assured us the "back way" was faster. It wasn't. We had driven separately so on they way home we used Waze and, despite leaving 10 mins after them, we still beat them to their house by a good 30mins (I had already taken a shower and was making tea when they got home). A couple of days later when we drove to the airport J's dad was much more enthusiastic about using the app.
ReplyDeleteYeah if people see it work then they usually come around. The worst is when the app tells you something “wrong” even if it couldn’t have known. When we were in Joplin, Uncle J mocked the iPhone map app and refused to listen to it because once it took us to the wrong spot—because we put in the wrong address... lol
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