Family Vacation.....

As the saying goes,"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Or in my case, like my second home. A few days at Grandma's house after our week of vacation was just what I needed. It was an interesting week. The definition for the word vacation is "an extended period of time for pleasure, rest or relaxation." The rest and relaxation part did not apply to our trip. 7 days, 2 flights, 1500 miles of driving, 4 states, 8 baseball games, 2 memorials, 1 museum, 4 universities, 5 hotels...like I said, not much rest or relaxation, but there was pleasure along the way.
As with any vacation, there is always "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". Whenever you put 4 personalities in a car and hotel room together for 7 days and nights, there are bound to be "issues". But let's start with the "Good"....

Everything baseball-related was terrific. We saw 4 major league games, 1 minor league game and 3 College World Series games. Yes, it was a little over-the-top, but it was fun to get to see the different stadiums. The Husband took some great pictures, The Boy is still convinced he wants to be a major league player, and Little One and I now know who has the best concession stands and cotton candy...

We also visited 4 university campuses: U of Texas, U of Oklahoma, TCU and Texas A&M. The Boy liked TCU and Oklahoma. Even Little One could see herself at Oklahoma...a surprisingly pretty and homey-looking campus. The Husband had planned for us to spend 2 days in Austin, but as we drove into the city and past the university football stadium, he said "That is not the main campus...just a satellite campus." The Boy and I looked at each other and shook our heads. "Look at the stadium. Holds at least 50,000" I noted. "Yeah dad, UT is in Austin". Still, The Husband insisted we were wrong....Of course, the next day when we drove to the campus, it turned out we were right. The Husband had to ask at least 5 people, somehow thinking that we had contacted everyone in Austin, and they were trying to fool him......Finally, when we walked into a campus store, he asked the guy behind the counter "Is this the main campus for UT?"....I wish you could have seen the look on the guy's face, surrounded by all of the UT merchandise. The Boy and I left the area in order to burst out laughing...

Later that day, we attended a minor league ball game. It was so much fun, and The Husband actually caught a foul ball. This made him a minor celebrity...and he proceeded to give autographs. He kept waiting for the announcer to praise him for his catch...but alas, it was a minor league game, so there was no announcer....

There is a story about spending hours on a bridge in Austin to see a million bats fly out at dusk. I won't tell the story because The Husband feels I embellish sometimes. I would like to say that I feel this is a myth...we were there from dusk to night time...and I believe we saw 4 pigeons....

The Husband had scheduled several trips to "Drive-Ins, Diners and Dives", but after driving a couple hours out of the way only to find one closed...and being totally disappointed by another...we sort of abandoned that little side-story. We had some really great meals, but The Boy continued his record of the most number of consecutive meals which include a barbecue burger and fries....

Next it was on to Dallas for the JFK museum by the "Grassy Knoll". This was very interesting, although The Boy felt that he already "knew it all from school"...and The Husband had deja-vu and realised he had taken the tour before with an ex-girlfriend. Of course he had no idea who, when or where...but that is normal with The Husband. There were many previous who's, when's and where's.....

Finally, we arrived at our main destination: the College World Series. Clemson, The Huband's alma mater, had made it to the final week...a really nice turn of events since you can't plan on things like that. Unfortunately, the temperature was hovering around 95. But we sat through 3 sweltering games and saw some great baseball. Unfortunately, Clemson lost...but still, it was a great experience.

Let me tip-toe around something for a moment: here is the problem at events such as these. The Husband is always in a hurry. He is also impatient. This does not bode well for any older people, handicapped people...or generally anyone who gets in his way. The Boy and I are just the opposite. We stroll. We get distracted. We apologize for everything. If you mix these two personalities together...you get trouble. Thank goodness for The Boy. He is forever the Mediator. He stays in the middle between me and The Husband and tries to slow him down...and speed me up. It's a thankless job...but he does it well.

Our last city was Kansas City. I love this city, and though we only had a short time there, we enjoyed it. But let me touch on another "issue". The Husband and Boy wanted to watch a ballgame on TV on a Saturday night. (Yes, you understand...after a week of 7 games, they had to watch another on TV). This delayed dinner until 9:00 on Saturday night in a city known for it's dining. Well, off we go at 9:00 to find a place. As previously discussed, The Husband does not like to wait. This means nowhere with a wait of more than....say 20 minutes. So here is what happens....The Husband drops me at the restaurant door (where there is already a line around the building) to ask how long the "wait" is....by the time I get back with the bad news...he has already driven a mile down the street due to traffic. This means that I literally have to sprint to catch the car. This little scenario plays out about 5 times. Finally, I fib and say that the wait is only 20 minutes so that I don't have to sprint anymore. Thankfully, we ended up at a great little Italian place and the wait wasn't too bad.....All's well that ends well...

And so we headed back home, going straight from the airport to another ballgame...The Boy wanted to see his beloved Braves. It was another hot afternoon, but So worth it to see The Boy have such a good time.

So that brings us to the end of the vacation blog. After a brief discussion with The Husband, I was forced to abandon and edit many stories. He feels that I often "create" or "tamper" with stories in the blog. I insist that this is not true. I feel that it is sometimes difficult to see the truth in print...but this is a subject for another day...

On a final note, I do want to say (under duress) that this vacation would not have been possible, except for the amazing sense of direction and driving skills of The Husband. You could drop this man anywhere, and he could find the nearest baseball stadium in 10 minutes. ( Of course, anybody in his way better darn well move out of the way, but anyhow....)

Thanks to The Boy for his sunny attitude...and to Little One for being such a trooper....

It's good to be home.

On Why I Just Can't Joke About it Yet...

I know. I had promised to blog all week. A sort of daily vacation report. I keep getting messages asking for some details. But there are 2 good reasons that I haven't. The first is the practical one. This is WAY different than the beach trips where I have the whole morning to sit on the balcony in my swimsuit and write. This morning is the first morning on the trip that we have not gotten up early and left our hotel for our next destination. In the first 2 days, we saw 3 baseball games, a museum and 2 historical sites. We literally crawled into our beds in a new hotel each night.
The second reason is more personal, but with my apologies to those who were looking for some sarcasm...here goes:
We headed into Arlington Park Tuesday night to see the Rangers play. It had been a long day, and we were all hot, tired and a little grumpy (Ok, maybe it was just me). I asked The Husband if we could eat in the Grill that overlooked the park and watch batting practice to avoid the heat. You had to have a certain level of tickets to get into the Grill, and thankfully, ours were good. As we walked in, we looked for a table by the window so we could watch. There were none available, so we sort of frustratingly walked back towards the back. Suddenly, a man sitting alone at table for 4 looked up at me and said, "Here, take this one." The Husband said " No man, keep it". But he insisted, saying he would grab one alone in the back, and he took off. We sat down gratefully, and The Husband sent a beer to his table. A few minutes later, he walked over and said thanks. He explained that he was an active duty soldier. He trains our troops before they are sent overseas. In his spare time, he coaches his local high school football team in Iowa. For Father's Day, his wife had given him one ticket so he could come to the game and enjoy his beloved baseball. He was so excited that you could just feel it.

We chatted with him for a while, and then he went back to his table. I looked at the kids...and then unfortunately, I launched into the "Mom lecture" on thankfulness and gratefulness and being a little spoiled. I was actually lecturing myself. The kids were very impressed by this man. The Boy suggested we ask him to eat with us, but The Husband pointed out that he looked very content eating his hot dog, drinking his beer, and reading his program. On his way out, He thanked Us again...

And so today, as we prepare to got to the College World Series and watch The Husband's Alma mater that has amazingly made it to the finals on the day we are here...I am determined to overlook the 95 degree heat and be thankful...

But you know, by the time I get home next week, I am sure I will be ready to discuss the realities of the trip. From waiting on a bridge for hours for bats that never came...to The Husband catching a foul ball at a game and deciding to give autographs...there will be plenty to talk about.

But for today....only a sincere sense of thankfulness for a vacation that may have been different, but terrific...

With 3 days and 4 games to go.....

The Texas Crawl...Pre-Trip

Well, it's almost here. Sunday morning marks the beginning of the "Texas Crawl". This is when we begin our trip that will take us to Houston, Austin, Dallas,Topeka, Wichita, Omaha and Kansas City. We will see 6 baseball games in 7 days, including the College World Series. The bags are packed (almost), the tickets are bought (more on that later) and the hotels are booked (not exactly).

The Husband began suggesting this trip a couple months back. His favorite description of it included the terms "something different" and "a change of pace". I threw out the idea of a trip to Paris...now this would be a change of pace. Especially after our year of baseball and softball tournaments. But The Husband really wanted to see that College World Series, and also some other stadiums. Let me me quickly state that I am not martyr in this situation. A few people have said "Oh you are such a good sport" or "Oh you are such a trooper"...and though I love these accolades....they are not quite true. Frankly, I love baseball, too. If you read the blog, you know that growing up with 3 brothers and a father who was president of the Hawks (basketball), my childhood was consumed with sports. We lived at the baseball field or the basketball arena...so I am very comfortable at either place. A few summers ago when we took our disastrous trip to Connecticut and New York, it was my idea to go to Yankees stadium one more time before they tore it down....so my point is, don't feel sorry for me for this part of it...

There are many things to be thankful about regarding this trip. Number one...I get my own carry-on bag. Usually I have to share with Little One, but The Husband agreed to all of us having our own. The down-side of this is that this trip really does not require anything besides t-shirts and tennis shoes. (Ok, I did sneak in a t-shirt dress and sandals...)

Secondly, I have heard and read that Austin is a neat city. I am not a cowboy boot or hat-wearing type girl, but I am always open to new things. A friend sent me a link to the Blanton Museum there which looks fabulous....and despite The Husband's "We don't want to overwhelm the kids with that stuff" comment (really...6 games in 6 days...and we don't want to overwhelm anyone?), I will be searching this place out.

Next, The Husband loves that Food Network show "Diners,Drive-ins and Dives". Every night about 10:00, our tv ends up on this channel. Turns out there are about 5 of these places within a 7 hour detour of where we are going....and we will be hitting them all. This works out great for the Husband and The Boy, who have never met a plate of deep fried food they haven't loved. Maybe not so great for me and The Little One who really like to have an occasional vegetable or fruit...

The hotel selection was another debate. I am not high maintenance....but I do like clean and convenient. I am not big on driving 4 hours out of the way for anything either. And I cannot be plied with the comment "but they have a buffet breakfast". This caused a few bumps in the road, but all in all, I am happy with the ones I booked. The Husband has decided to leave a few to chance....this leads me to picture us on the side of the road in our car....

Last night, The Husband explained to me that the tickets we have to the College World Series do not actually guarantee us a seat. They only guaranteed us the right to line up outside the stadium after midnight and hope for a spot. Also, The Husband said, if you don't get in, you can watch on a big screen outside. Let's review....a trip across the US to see 2 games....and the chance of not getting in. Before the night was over...we had reserved seats.

So here we are, 2 days out from the big trip. I am prepared and excited. A friend has suggested that I re-watch "Family Vacation" with Chevy Chase to prepare. Another friend reminded me to pack the Tums. Brother-in-law merely wrote "t-shirts and sunscreen"...

I know there will be lessons to be learned on this trip. But you know, it is indeed a "Family Vacation", with all of the memories, good and bad, that go with those. I am prepared to be thankful and have a great time...

Yee Haa....Texas bound....I'll keep you posted....

She'll Always Have Paris...

One of Big Sis's friends e-mailed me over the weekend. She and her husband were in Switzerland visiting her in-laws, and they had been gifted with a 2 night trip to Paris. This was to be her first trip there, and she wanted to know what I thought she should see or do.
My first thought was, how lucky! To have the opportunity to take a quick 2 night, romantic trip to Paris is just amazing. Then I tried to give it some serious thought. After all, she hadn't been there before, and I wanted her to get the best she could out of her two days. I thought back to my first trip there years ago, taken with my sister-in-law. After years of studying french and dreaming of Paris, I had asked her to join me. In addition to her desire to see the City of Light, she wanted to retrace her father's steps during the war. He had lived right outside of Paris for a time, and she wanted to see if we could track down the house where he had stayed. This gave our trip a neat framework. We were there for a week,so we would have a chance to see the "biggies", including the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Given my love of art and fashion, I also wanted to see the Louvre and a few of the couture shops.
I remember flying over the city right before we landed and seeing the Eiffel Tower in the distance. I had tears in my eyes, tears that would reappear many times over the next 7 days. As I thought about what to suggest to A. for her 2 day trip, I tried to remember what had meant the most to me during my stay. Of course I loved seeing the Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame....but the most precious memories were not of actual sights. The first morning there , when our breakfast was delivered to our room, I can still picture it. A perfectly set tray of croissants, espresso, fruit, and tiny jars of honey and jam, of which I would allow myself one so that I could stash the others to bring home, hoping to bring into my life a bit of Paris. The next memory which stood out was standing in front of the American Embassy trying to take a picture (sister-in-law's dad had been there), and being told by gendarmes that we were not allowed to photograph the Embassy. These same gendarmes were not allowed to be photographed, but they discreetly posed for us when we hid behind trees and snapped away.
My next best memory would be purchasing a pair of pink suede boots in a shop called Ines de ls Fressange. Ines was a famous model for Chanel, and she had opened a small shop of beautiful well-made clothes with prices that were more approachable than Chanel. As soon as I spotted these boots (in the sale section no less), I knew I had to have them. 20 years later, they sit on my shelf, still looking like new despite years of wear.
And lastly, the most haunting memory is taking the train outside of Paris to search for the house of my S-I-L's father. This required a bit of courage, because we would be totally dependent on my french to get us around and ask the pertinent questions. My french was certainly good enough, but my courage was iffy. But after a few hours of scouring neighborhoods and asking questions, we found what we thought was the house. My sister-in-law had tears in her eyes. I did too. It was a magical moment in life.
So as I visited memories, I tried to remember that Paris is more than just the museums and the Tower. Paris, for me at least, is a way of life. So while I suggested seeing the Louvre and the Tuilleries, I also suggested just taking the time to sit in a cafe and have an espresso or a glass of wine and just watch the people walk by. Because after all, it is the small moments that are sometimes the most meaningful...

I wish A. a lovely trip...I hope that 20 years from now, she will look back and feel the way I did when I think of my first trip there...