Solar Eclipse 2017

I have been looking forward to the solar eclipse for over a year. I'm pretty sure it was still 2015 when I first read that there would be a total solar eclipse in the USA in 2017 and, bonus, its path of totality would go just north of us. We could totally see it! 

Obviously I jumped at the chance to view the eclipse from Lake Doniphan, a campground where I spent many summer weeks growing up. We drove up Sunday afternoon, and spent the day swimming, canoeing, and exploring. They even put on a campfire for us eclipse-chasers. I have told my family so many times about campfires and how much I loved the singing and fun of them; I was thrilled that they could experience a little of that fun too. 

Then Monday morning, this morning, arrived, Eclipse Day. And a huge gray storm rolled in. Lightning. Thunder. Rain. Very little chance of seeing the sun. I was devastated. How could nature do this to me? 

Andrew and I talked and I fretted and we obsessively checked the weather radar. (Or tried to check; the wifi was not keeping up with the demand.) Our dear friends Christy and John and their kids left camp just before lunch in search of clear skies. Should we do that too? We decided during lunch, around 11:25, that we should leave too. It was too gray, too rainy there. But the weather radar showed we didn't have far to go to find sun. 

We rushed through lunch and headed to the car. Totality was happening at 1:08, so had about an hour before it was really just too late. We drove west. We debated driving north. Just 5 or so minutes into the drive, we saw sun. We pulled over when we could and grabbed eclipse glasses from the back of the van. We let the kids out momentarily and we all peeked skyward, glasses in place.

It. Was. So. Worth it. 

That first glimpse of the moon crossing the sun. Just a teeny bit, you'd never notice the sun wasn't quite as bright. But we were thrilled. Cheering and jumping. It definitely felt like we had made the right call. We were going to see it, not just wonder if it would be clear enough to see it. 

But the storm still seemed close, so we drove on a bit further. When we got to Liberty, we debated going further north, like the radar indicated was a good choice. Or, I pointed out, we could just stop near there. The sun was shining and there appeared to be plenty of blue sky. 

We parked in the lot of a large church. Quite a few other people were parked there watching the eclipse as well. We set up our chairs and blanket and settled in. 

Christy and John texted, said they were still trying to find a clear spot but were in Liberty. We're in Liberty, I said! Come to this church, watch with us! And they did. And it was so much fun. 

How lucky that they found us, that they motivated us to venture out to see the eclipse and not miss it. How lucky that though the clouds surrounded us on every horizon, the sky above stayed clear long enough to see through totality. 

We had totality for just over 2 minutes. But that time flew by. I remember looking up, looking around for stars. Saw just one. Noticed the parking lot lights came on. Noticed how dark it was. Noticed how light it still was. Noticed how the horizon looked pink and orange, just like a sunset--but that the sun was still high in the sky. Tried to also notice my kids, my husband--what were they thinking and experiencing? 

I took a short video. Two short videos? It's (they're) terrible. I wasn't really looking at the phone, just wanted to soak it all in. It was emotional, overwhelming. Went by way too fast. I wish I could have stopped time for a few more minutes. 

And then, so quickly, it was over. Glasses back on. Saw the sun's sliver on the other side. And the clouds moved in within moments. Our timing was incredible, really. We got to see the most amazing part of the eclipse, and then before we even loaded the lawn chairs back into the van, it was raining. Unbelievable. 

I feel so fortunate to have experienced this. I hope Milo and Olive will remember it. That's the downside of having a once-in-a-lifetime experience happen when you're only 5 or 7 years old. Who knows, maybe we'll travel to the 2024 eclipse. 

June 18, 2017 - Day 7

No rushing for us this morning. Our first big plan of the day was to go to the children's science museum, the Exploratorium. It didn't open until 10am, and since we were all up by 6:45, we had plenty of time for a good breakfast. We walked a block or so down the street to the Cable Car Cafe. Not bad. Lovely people working there, decent diner food.

After breakfast, we stopped by Union Square. Not a lot going on there at 8:30 on a Sunday morning. From there, we caught a bus over to the museum. And guess what? We still had an hour to kill until it opened! Should've watched more TV in our hotel room (or slept later. ha.).

Mad because she wanted to be in the photo by herself and she asked for a photo first. (He did jump in there rather rudely.)

What a long hour that turned out to be. The kids were fighting and bugging each other, which was bugging Andrew. I was surprisingly not bothered (this time) by the fighting so was trying to mellow everyone out. We separated the kids, checking out different mini-exhibits in the lobby. This hour did turn out to be a great time for extra coffee. So there's that. I also bought us all a giant cookie to share because Vacation.

When the doors opened, we barely even knew what to check out first. This place is HUGE and all very hands-on. It's open-flow, so no path to travel around or loop to make. Every exhibit is designed to be touched, manipulated, explored, and figured out. We all had a great time.

 

This was a fun one. Andrew called this phone from down the way (see below). When Olive answered, he gave her a code to unlock the door. Inside the door was a video screen of the caller (Andrew, in this case) and he could then see a video the person who answered the phone.

Intently working on my sand art.

Spinning dizzy chair.

The kids chose markers, then swung the platform around until they liked the pattern it would draw. See below for our final masterpiece.

Milo was willing to try out the toilet drinking fountain.

Olive preferred the standard-looking drinking fountain, even though both had fresh clean water.

This little room was awesome. Yellow light made everything look yellow, but when you shined a little flashlight on things in the room, you could see their colors.

Human kaleidoscope! (And no, I do not know what face I am making.)

This cool mirror made us all look upside down.

Rainbow shadows!

Took a break for lunch at the museum's restaurant, The Seaglass Cafe. The food was pretty high-quality, we thought, though one of our children wouldn't even eat his or her macaroni and cheese. Typical. Back into the museum after lunch, where we explored til around 2.

Our plan for the rest of the day was to head over to Golden Gate Park. We had researched the night before what route to take. Underground or bus? Uber? What would be the best option? In the end we settled on taking the bus. Our first bus was fine, then we had a transfer. And that's where we ran into trouble. We were looking for the #7 bus, but saw a stop with #7x and wrongly assumed that was the same thing. After wondering and wondering why no #7 bus was coming after 30 minutes, I started asking the drivers of other buses where to get the #7, and the two drivers I asked pointed to a spot half a block up. So we went there, and within minutes a #7 bus arrived. Coming from around a corner instead of down the street. Damn. We probably missed at least the first two buses that came by because we were staring the wrong direction. It was so hot again today. Standing there, waiting for a bus that never seemed to come, did not cool us off. (And the bus we did get on was like an oven, seriously. I've never sweated so much sitting still.)

(Side note to mention Bus Anecdotes: This morning there was a fight on the bus because a man who clearly had some mental illness really needed the windows shut and another man did not like him leaning across, trying to shut his window. On the first afternoon bus, I told the kids to take a seat, then noticed that the lady a few inches from Olive was not only super drunk, but also had her pants (and underwear) pulled down to mid-thigh. Naked butt on the seat. My takeaway: observe the area before having your kids sit. Also, SF has a big homeless/mental illness problem.)

(Side side note: Later in the evening we saw a totally nude man saunter through the crowd. He wore socks, shoes, and an extra sock to cover his twig and berries. Thankfully the kids had their backs turned and missed his little display.)

So anyway. Bus to Golden Gate Park, finally. Olive fell asleep on the bus, so Andrew carried her for a bit as we made our way over to the Conservatory of Flowers. The park was pretty, but OMG I was still so stinking hot and the sun was everywhere. We had to stand in a line to get into the conservatory. I guess it was pretty neat in there, but for the most part I was only mildly impressed. The heat does that to me. They did have one special GIANT FLOWER there that bloomed last week or something. It only blooms once a year. It was honestly about four feet tall. And there was a butterfly garden, which Olive adored. I do enjoy seeing my children enjoy things. At one point, Olive asked to feel this little waterfall. I gave her the go-ahead, and when she stuck her hand in, she exclaimed, "It isn't glass, it really is water!"

Pretending to be monkeys and pointing at the bananas.

The enormous flower. Olive is Unimpressed. Or mad at her brother. One of those, though.

Trying to get the butterfly to walk on her hand.

The butterflies were her favorite.

Next was the search for a bathroom, then over the the kids' playground and carousel. The carousel was closing as we got there, which I didn't mind at all. We spent quite a bit of time at the playground, though. There was this concrete slide going down a hill. The kids there grabbed pieces of cardboard from a big pile at the bottom, climbed up, then slid down on the cardboard. I was really impressed with how Milo and Olive observed the other kids, then just jumped in to try it. Olive flipped over at one point and scraped her elbow. She got bandaged up, and we were glad to see that she was willing to go slide down again (though she did hold her injured arm up for the next hour).

Andrew and I wanted to see more of the park, but I don't think the kids had it in them at this point. We left the park around 5pm and walked back east along Haight. The Entire Street Smelled Like Pot And I Am Not Even Making That Up. At times I didn't even see any people who could've been smoking, yet the pot smell was so strong it was like someone right next to me was smoking.

We got pizza for dinner (two nights in a row--hooray for pizza!), then caught the bus back to the cable car stop. And because we weren't sure what our transit options were, we stuck with the cable car. Andrew and kids watched the breakdancers there for awhile and I took line duty. Eventually we got back to our hotel. We had promised the kids ice cream earlier in the day, and since we couldn't find any at Golden Gate Park (during our very limited exploring), Andrew took the kids upstairs since they had to go potty while I went to the market across the street and got little ice cream bars for us all. Also picked up a container of raspberries since I knew Olive would eat them (girl needs nutrition!) and some beer. I was pleasantly surprised to find the store carried not only Boulevard, but perhaps my new favorite Boulevard, the tropical pale ale. We enjoyed our desserts al hotel floor.

This was our last night of vacation, so Andrew and I packed as much as we could, got the kids off to bed (poor exhausted Milo couldn't fall asleep til almost 9:30), drank a beer or two, and whispered together by the window in the dark. Tomorrow we go home--and we are all ready.

Of Course

Last week I was on my way to the dentist when I realized I had forgotten to grab my phone off the kitchen counter before heading out the door. Dang. I considered turning around, but there was no way I could have gotten to the dentist on time, and then since I was already going to be so late to work, I decided I could do without it for a day. "Remember ten years ago, when I didn't even have a cell phone?" I reminded myself. "You can get through one silly day without it."

I got to work and emailed Andrew, Tara, and Kristin, saying that I had forgotten my phone, so here was my work number and of course they could always email me--I am rarely far from the computer during the workday. An uneventful morning passed.

Around noon, Andrew called my work number. "Well, you've missed an exciting morning," he says.

Um, what? What do you mean by that?

He went on to explain that he and Olive were now on their way back to Tara's house (side note: normally Tara comes to our house, but since our gutters were being replaced that day, Olive was at Tara's house) after having lunch at Winstead's after Olive had to go to the EMERGENCY ROOM.

Uhhhh... panicangerheartracingomgwhatthehellwhydidn'tyoucallmeearlier?

Lots of things racing through my mind, primarily, oh my god, my baby just went through something terrible and I was not there for her. Seriously, of all the days. The ONE DAY I forget my phone is the FIRST DAY Olive has to go the ER. (And yes, I said "first day" because I am certain she'll end up there again. Girl is cray-zay.)

It turned out to not be so bad. She fell into a barstool and cut her chin, just below her lip. Her teeth cut her somewhere inside her mouth. Her lip was swollen and there was lots of bleeding. Tara tried to call me (this was before I had been able to email about the lack of a phone), then reached Andrew. Because of the excessive bleeding, Tara thought Olive should go to the hospital, maybe needed stitches. But by the time Andrew even got there, it had stopped bleeding. But you know, better safe than sorry and all that, so he took her anyway.

She did not get any stitches, just some neosporin, basically. By the time I saw her after work, the cut was barely noticeable. She was fine, honestly.

But I was kind of a wreck. I felt horrible that I wasn't there. And I felt horrible that no one was able to reach me. I did let Andrew know that in the future, if something like this happens and I don't answer my phone, please please please keep calling until you reach me. Call every number, email, text, call someone else who might be able to reach me. If I had heard that he was on his way to the hospital with her, I would have dropped everything and rushed to my car so I could be there. Olive was perfectly fine with Daddy, but Mommy wasn't fine without Olive.

Andrew reassured me that everything was fine and that Olive really enjoyed her butterscotch shake at Winstead's. It took me much longer to calm down.

The whole thing was good practice though, for when Olive climbed over the top of Milo's big wheel and face-planted on the street tonight. Andrew brought her inside, blood dripping out of her mouth, and calmly said, "Mommy, can you help us out? Olive hurt her mouth again." And we got her all taken care of. No trip to the ER required.

Switcheroo

Milo: Hey, Daddy, tomorrow you're going to Miss Kristin's.
Daddy: What? I'm going to Miss Kristin's?
Milo: Yeah. And I'm going to work!

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the tenth Valentine's Day I've celebrated with Andrew. Here's to many, many more.

Uugggghhhhrrrrrrgggguuhhtthhhh

Let's talk about sleep for a moment, shall we? Oh, how I miss it. The last three nights, Milo has decided that going to bed isn't a good idea. He lays down initially, but five minutes later is up, out of his room, and heading downstairs.

We calmly walk him back to bed, kiss him goodnight, and leave. He wails. He gets out of bed, opens his door, and walks out.

I take his hand (which he very willingly lets me do), calmly walk him back to bed, kiss him goodnight, and leave. He wails.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

It has taken somewhere between one and two hours for him to give up and go to sleep.

Then 5:00am comes, and Olive is wailing in her crib. She's been waking up this early for the last couple of weeks. It's getting old.

This morning we had the added bonus of Olive crying at 5:00am, and either waking Milo up or letting him know it was time to get up anyway, and he opened his door, walked across the hall, and opened Olive's door. Just wanted to say good morning, I suppose.

I'm losing my mind, a little bit. Something desperately needs to change. I know you can't make kids eat or sleep. I'm over worrying about what they eat. I know they're doing okay overall when it comes to nutrition. But sleep? This is directly affecting me. And Andrew. And our relationship. Because when we don't get enough sleep, we get cranky, and when we get cranky, we argue. It's no good.

Any advice for me?

My Husband Is a Soccer Mom

Oh my. So much has happened in the last week; it feels like an eternity has passed. I think I'll sum it up with the end of the story first (but you know I am Wordy, so I'll fill in the blanks after): We sold the Prius. We bought a minivan. I am now driving the Mazda, while Andrew is taking the minivan. We're 30, have two children, have stable jobs, and live in the suburbs. Eight years ago, you could not have convinced me that this would be my life, but there you have it. And I've never been happier.

But this post is not really about my station in life. It's about an incredibly stressful week and the quick turn for the worse the Prius took. You may remember my very recent post about the brake issue? After spending so much money on a repair and discovering that hundreds of dollars of other repairs were needed (namely the leaking water pump), we decided it was time to start thinking about selling the Prius and fulfilling Andrew's lifelong dream of being a soccer mom. We figured we'd sell the car in a year or two, no rush.

Ha! Hahahaha.

It was not long before Andrew began scouring craigslist for used Kia Sedonas. We wanted one that was still pretty new (2010 or newer preferably) without a ton of miles. And lo and behold, he soon found a 2011 model with 24,000 miles. It was in amazing shape and was only being sold because the lovely family that owned it was dealing with some unexpected medical issues and the bills were piling up. When we went to check it out, it was obvious how much they adored the van. They bragged about its features as if they were talking about their children.

We decided maybe it was time to go for the van and sell the Prius now. Why wait a couple more years when more things might go wrong, right? Should have knocked on some wood.

We made an offer on the Kia and began moving money from various accounts into our checking account so we could actually pay them. And we set the wheels in motion to sell the Prius. Andrew took it in to the shop last Monday to get the water pump fixed and an oil change. We figured we'd have an easier time selling it if it was all fixed up. A couple hours after leaving it at the shop, Andrew got a call from the mechanic. "You probably ought to just come out here. There's a whole bunch wrong with the car, but it'd be easier just to show you rather than explain it over the phone."

Ugh.

As it turned out, the struts were totally shot. I am bad at routine maintenance, and they should have been replaced ten thousand miles earlier. Whoops. The bad struts were causing the tires to wear extremely unevenly, to the point where my non-car-guy husband could immediately see that there was a major problem. It was kind of a wonder that none of the tires had blown already considering the damage.

(Quick time-out: I am furious at Toyota, specifically Hendrick Toyota at 67th and I-35, for doing a "complete diagnostic work-up" and failing to notice to the struts or the tires. Did the trained mechanic really not notice something that even Andrew could see, or did the Toyota tech ignore the problem intentionally? I can come up with no reason not to tell us. And I am half relieved/half terrified that the tires were so close to exploding but didn't.)

Nearly $1000 later, we had a fixed water pump, changed oil, and four new tires. The struts were just going to have to wait, because our wallets couldn't take it. (Did I mention that we're doing a bunch of landscaping right now and found quite a bit of termite damage? Good times!) Selling the Prius quickly was starting to sound better and better. Quick, before anything else breaks!

The next day (I kid you not, it was really the next day), I was on my way to my mom's house and all these warning lights suddenly flash on the dashboard. Car silhouettes with bold red exclamation marks and codes I couldn't begin to decipher appeared. I stopped as soon as I could, at a nearby McDonald's, and looked in the owner's manual. The VCS, vehicle stability control, was having a problem. The manual told me to stop driving immediately and contact my Toyota dealer. Terrific.

I called Andrew in tears. He calmed me down. Yes, this sucks. But Olive and I were just fine, and we'll get through it. It's just money. A whole lot of money going out the door. When I haven't earned a paycheck in six months. But it's just money. Okay, calm. I called my mom to pick us up, called AAA to get another tow. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Sigh. (The tow truck guy commented on the tires. "Those look pretty new," he said. "Yes," I said. "We got them yesterday." He clearly pitied me.)

Turned out the coolant was low. May not have been as dire as the warning lights indicated, but could have led to an overheated engine which is never good. Especially in 100+ degree heat, I imagine.

Once again, Toyota, in their amazing diagnostic work, failed to mention the broken struts, which I complained about. I got a weak apology and a lot of empty excuses.

We decided we must sell that car. Forget listing it on craigslist, we couldn't wait that long or afford to make the required fixes. Or wait for a buyer who would take it as is. So we asked Toyota what they'd pay for a car already on their lot. First the offer was $3500. Then the guy discovered the car was driveable and offered $6500. We said we were getting a quite from Carmax too, and he went up to $7000. Sketchy, since all this was based on nothing, not having even checked out the car in question.

We took the Prius over to Carmax, and after a practically enjoyable experience, got a $7000 offer. I cleaned out all the junk that afternoon, and that evening, I drove my (formerly) beloved car for the last time. A bittersweet moment, handing over the keys and the title. That was my first grown-up car; it carried me almost 92,000 miles across the country. But I had become scared to drive it. Every time I turned it on, I drove with hands clenched on the steering wheel, anxiously anticipating the moment when something else would go wrong. And that's not any way to drive.

Two days later, we officially purchased our Kia. And so far, we're loving it. It still surprises me to see a minivan out on the driveway, but I must be the slow one to adapt. Even Milo is already used to calling the van "Daddy's car" and the car that was once Andrew's car "Mommy's car." I'm just glad the whole thing is over. I had enough to worry about this week before any of this car stuff happened. Did you know I'm going back to work Tuesday? But let's chat about that in another post. This one is clearly too long already. (Thanks to both my blog readers for sticking with it.)

Sigh... and Random Thoughts

At the risk of sounding like a broken record (a reference sure to sail over Sissy's head, if/when she ever arrives), I still have not had the baby. Today is my due date. I'm going to start charging her late fees after this. Three weeks ago when my doctor told me I was three centimeters, I did not think for one second that I would still be pregnant at this point. And yet here I am.

Andrew and I went to a movie this afternoon while Grandma Susan watched Milo. We saw The Descendants, starring George Clooney. Good film, but made me cry a lot. I'm a crier in general, but pregnancy doesn't help matters. But it was nice to get out and go on a date. It reminded me of the days just before Milo was born, when Andrew and I thought, better get out and see movies while we still can.

Last night we actually watched the MU-kU game (I'm still a Tiger at heart; see how I lowercased the k?). To say that we are not sports fans is an understatement, but it was fun and our team won, so that's always good. Tonight I hear there is another sporting event on the television. Something called the Super Bowl. Maybe Sissy is just not into the sports, so she figured she'd wait until all this hullabaloo was over before making her appearance. Crossing my fingers that that is the case.

Milo has learned how to cross his fingers. To explain what it meant in simple terms, I said it meant good luck. So he's been crossing his fingers a lot lately and saying "guh lllluck." It's adorable, the way he works so hard to get the right finger crossed over the one next to it. Hearing him learn all these new phrases and things is so fun. Weird to think that this new baby won't be able to talk at all. She'll have everything to learn still. Good thing she'll have her big brother to explain it all.

Signing off, before I start crying for the second time today.

Getting close?

Today I am two days away from my due date. A certain someone who shares my DNA was born two days before his due date. So clearly today ought to be the day. But so far, no dice.

Things have been rough in the Langford household lately. Milo spent the better part of the week sick. Throwing up and feeling extra sleepy (except at night, obviously). Good for cuddles, not good for our stress levels. I've had a cold, and so has Andrew, but we have avoided the stomach bug, it seems. I've spent more than one evening in absolute misery, crying while every single part of my body ached. Convinced that I could not be pregnant another night.

Every night I'm up multiple times for bathroom trips and leg cramps. Oh my god, the leg cramps. After the months of nausea and vomiting, they're my least favorite part of pregnancy. "Get your sleep now," random people say. Shut it, I think. I'd much rather be awake nursing a baby several times a night than up peeing and whimpering in leg-cramp pain several times a night.

Today is my last day at work. That's for the best, as I am completely unable to focus for more than five minutes at a time. I cannot tell you how many times I've had the same conversation at work. It goes something like this:
Other person: You still here?
Me: Yep, still here.
Other person: When are you due?
Me: Sunday.
Other person: Oh wow, so soon!
Me: I know, any day now!

It's really happening, though. Hard as it is to believe, I will go into labor at some point and end up with a baby. A baby girl, my daughter. I will soon be a mommy of two, and my son will be a big brother—the oldest child rather than the only child. I'll see my husband turn into a father all over again, and I'll fall in love with him all over again.

Soon. Very soon.

Mini-Vacation

Last Thursday Andrew and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary by going on a mini-vacation to Weston, MO. It was our first time to go away together since we became parents and my first night away from Milo.

And it all went really, really well. Of course I missed Milo and wondered what he was up to. How was his bath? Did he get a bedtime story? Did he wonder where we were? He was with his nana, my MIL, and I know he adores her. But still. Obviously no one can take care of him quite as well as his daddy and me.

Andrew and I had a great time. We desperately needed a night away from our daily grind. It's wearing, working all the time, constantly doing chores and being responsible for a tiny person's well-being. We didn't have the time or the funds for a huge trip, so a single night at a B&B it was. We've never really spent any time in Weston, so it was all new to us. We wandered into every single store, sampled the local wine and beer, had a couple of great meals, and watched about half of a dull video on Lewis and Clark. But mostly we just had fun being together.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We saw this shop: Old Geezer's Mantiques. I thought it would surely be the most awesome shop in the entire town, but turns out not so much. The smell in that place made me nauseous, literally. It smelled like incense and cigars and body odor and a moldy old basement, all rolled into one overcrowded space. Gross.

Exploring Weston made us T-I-R-E-D. We had to stop to rest at least five times in a two-block stretch of shopping. Perhaps we should have napped instead?

When we got back, Milo was not nearly as excited to see us as I hoped he would be. He was happy we were back, even though he didn't give me the huge grin and excited welcome that I had imagined. But who can blame him, when going home meant leaving Nana and Grandpa Mark?

(Side note: I'm still nursing Milo in the morning and before his bedtime, but when I'm away from him, he just goes to bed without any milk. So while we were gone, Milo didn't get anything to replace his breast milk snacks. But I took my pump in case I needed some relief. And, well, I did not. At all. In fact, I went about 36 hours between nursing sessions, and still felt like there wasn't really any milk in there. Crazy. Makes me wonder if Milo isn't nursing so much as just hanging out and being close. Perhaps complete weaning will come soon?)