CA blog post catch up

This is Joseph's girlfriend, Diana. She is really great. We had fun on Friday hanging out with them. This video is the only shot I got of her, unfortunately. I think that Sam got several, so I'll try to get one off of her nice camera later and post it.

We already made some nice memories with Diana. For example, we went out to eat breakfast with Sam, Joseph, Diana, and myself. I was driving the rental car. I pulled into the parking lot, and discovered that valet parking was required for this restaurant. I was thrown off by this so much that when we pulled up to the line of 5 other cars that were waiting to be parked, I somehow got out of the car while it was still in Drive! Diana was still sitting in the back seat, and she was like, "Ummm... the car is moving!!!" I quickly jumped back in and threw it into park before it could collide with the car sitting in front of it. We all had a good laugh about it later, once we could all breathe right again.

Sariah Playing in the floor at Grandma's house:

All clean and playing on the floor:

Safe? Probably not

Bathtime at Grandma's house:

Video

California Trip Blog Post #05: Day 3

11/25/10:

Grandma, cousin Tami, and aunt Carin were up early today to start prep for Thanksgiving dinner. We're going to have quite a feast!  Here is a video of them making stuffing: I'm having trouble getting the video to upload.

The video was taken at the end of a fun cooking session where Grandma was instructing Tami to just put in a few shakes of this and a pinch of that. Then Carin would say, "No, we need to measure it!" and look over at me like "These people are nuts!  You can't cook by just throwing spices into a bowl!"  Then Tami would be like "I don't know what to do here... I'm just trying to get it made!"

I was spending a lot of time laughing, but as soon as I thought to pull out my phone to take a video, everything was calmed down. This should be a great meal!

California Trip Blog Post #04: Day 2

It's 9pm on my 2nd night here, and I'm already in bed and blogging. We're all still tired from traveling. We didn't do much today, mostly just hung out and talked to my awesome Grandma Ransom ("Big G" as I call her. Though she's actually quite tiny, and weighs maybe 45lbs. She's called Big G because she's got about 400 grand kids. :)). Anyway, nothing else much to say about today, except that we ate a cool mac & cheese casserole that Big G made, and it was really great. We also went grocery shopping, and walked around grandma's yard to see what had changed since last time we were here 2 years ago. It's so beautiful in this area of California!  Grandma has orange trees, apple trees, lemon trees, and all kinds of other fruit trees and plants growing on her land here. It's fun to just walk around to see what all she has going on. 

Tomorrow Joseph comes in around 4:30pm, and my parents get here not long after that (5ish).  Should be a great time eating and catching up with everybody!

This pic is me and Sam. Only she didn't know I was taking it. Was kind of fun to sneak a shot in!

Sent from my iPhone

California Trip Blog Post #03: Landed

It's ten o'clock on my 1st night here. I flew in and met Sam and the kids at the luggage recovery place. We drove around L.A. for a bit looking for a place to get a bite to eat. Panera Bread sounded great, and we were headed to one, but then Sariah kept yelling from the back seat that she HAD to have French fries. The little stinker. In order to placate her, we found a Burger King and ate there. Traffic was it's usual horrendous self for L.A., leaving me in a suicidal state by the time we'd gone 11 miles (which took an hour to do). Once we got off of 405 and onto 101, it was pretty smooth sailing. Though it started to rain, and everyone was still driving like a maniac, except they'd all slam on their brakes any time there was even the slightest curve in the interstate. Lame. 

This pic is Sariah being shy at dinner and showing off her BK toy:

Sent from my iPhone

California Trip Blog Post #02: Flight 2

Well I got off of that flight just in time to run to my next flight and be the last passenger on the plane! Yup, it was only a 1/2 hour layover, and the first flight arrived late. Man was that a close one!

I ended up sitting between a bald guy who slept the whole time, and a dude watching an Adam Sandler movie on his laptop. Long flight. I also got pretty sick during the landing.

Luckily I had a really good new audio book on my iPhone, and was able to listen to that for much of the flight.

California Trip Blog Post #01: Flight 1

11/23/10:

Today I fly to California to meet the family. I have a layover in Denver, then fly on to L.A. I had my buddy Rob pick me up at the house, then we headed out for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I was just finishing eating, then planning to head straight for the airport, when Sam started texting me with last minute requests for things to bring from home! No, I wasn't planning to go back, but apparently she'd told Sariah I'd bring her favorite bear with me, then never asked me to bring it. :)

It turned out I didn't end up having to go back, but it added some stress to my trip thinking that Sariah might be at the end expecting me to be holding her bear in my hands for her.

...

I'm on the plane now, waiting to head to Denver. The captain has been standing up front playing the harmonica over the speakers for us. He's very good! I'm sitting in the back between a couple of people (yes, I'm in the middle... That always seems to happen to me. No window, and no isle).

The flight attendant is smoking a cigarette while giving the safety spiel. That's a first! Now she's going into coughing fits, still giving the safety speech. I'm laughing hysterically, while the girl next to me (named Donna) looks on in horror. I wish I'd gotten the whole thing on video! Man was it good Pre-flight entertainment!

I ended up spending most of the flight chatting about random things with Donna, then showing off pictures of our families that we had on our phones. That was also a lot of fun. Traveling makes me remember that there are a lot of very interesting people in this world. It saddens me that there just isn't enough time to meet them all, let alone have a decent conversation with all of them! It's also kind of nice talking to someone that you know you're never going to see again. Some people, no doubt, think it a waste of time to do so. I feel otherwise.

Here's me and donna, just hangin' out.

Why is Diet Mountain Dew the cure for anything that ails you?

Because Rob thinks it's the best thing on Earth. :) It might cure things that ail you, but someday I really do think they're going to find out that soft drinks cause cancer.

Ask me anything