Georgia with Mike and the Access Services Conference

Sadly, I did not think to take ANY photos while I was in  Georgia with my parents in November!  I was only there a couple of days. We didn't do anything special (But watching Hallmark movies with my Mom was fun!) and we got to play rummicub in the morning, we did a little shopping and errands. It was pretty low key. 

The trip had very interesting logistics, overall.

November 8 in the afternoon, Mike and I drove up to Salt Lake and spent the night with Nick and Kaylee. We just barely got there in time to see the kids before they went to bed. We had to get up early as Mike's flight on Friday morning was at 7 am. He was heading to Atlanta airport to drive on down to Fort Valley and stay with my Dad so Mom could travel with Donna from Georgia to SoCal and go to All Girl's Weekend at Aunt Tuny's house.

Well, this ended up being a very forgetful trip for me. I forgot all kinds of things.

For starters, as we were driving up I-15, I realized I'd forgotten Rachel's Carrots. I'd shared the picture above of my garden carrots and told her I'd bring her some. She loves picking carrots and they have had a few in their little grow boxes, but I wanted to bring her some nice fresh big ones with the tops on them. But I forgot them.  Oh well.   Luckily, Mike DID remember to bring Mom's car key she'd mailed to him the week before. Mike was going to get on the Groome Shuttle at the Atlanta airport and get into Mom's car at Warner Robins and drive to Fort Valley.

Kaylee was the lucky one to get up at 4:30 am to get us to the airport close to 5 am. (yawn). We got there, Mike and I went through security and I realized I had left my phone on the windowsill in the basement bedroom at Nick's where we'd slept. Poor Kaylee!  She had barely gotten home (or maybe not even) and had to turn around and come back. But she found my phone, found me curbside where I was waiting for her, I got it and all was well. Except Kaylee missed out on a lot of sleep.  Thanks, Kaylee!  You are such a sweetheart!

Mike's flight was delayed, and he got to his Groome shuttle in Atlanta with only one minute to spare! But mine was okay. I was on JetBlue going down to Long Beach. It was a very short flight and I enjoyed it as we flew over the I-15 corridor in Utah and I could see my neighborhood--probably my house had I looked hard enough!

Aunt Tuny came and got me, we had a nice visit while waiting until later in the afternoon for the rest of them to come.  We went to get Mom and Donna at the airport.  I realized that I'd forgotten to bring the family portrait photos that I'd wanted to mail to Mom and she said back in August or September, "Oh just bring them to  AGW." But I forgot.

I also forgot my paper with the exercise assignments that I'd been given by my PE 4040 gals I'd been working with as a guinea pig. 

I also forgot to bring a notebook to take notes on during the conference I was going to attend after AGW. The last time I went, there was no bag or notebook or anything--just a mug (?).  So Aunt Tuny gave me one of hers, so that was very nice.  I felt more prepared for my next adventure.  Except I also forgot to bring the hotel information for where Mike and I were going to stay in Atlanta while I was at the conference.  That was a little disconcerting since I didn't have a confirmation number or anything.

Mike spent those few days with Dad (Friday evening, Saturday, Sunday--they went to Church together) and I was with Mom and Donna and the gals in Huntington Beach for those few days. And then we got to Atlanta on Monday afternoon/evening and joined Dad and Mike there in Fort Valley. Donna just dropped off me and Mom and she went on home to her house.

Mike and Dad had picked up pecans!  They boxed them up, so one afternoon, we went out to see how much it would be to ship them home, or if we should instead spend $25 on Delta and take it as luggage. Luggage won. It would have been over $60 to ship it UPS. Yikes!  We did go out to eat with Mom and Dad that day and went to Golden Corral. I bought a birthday card and mailed Ella's birthday present I found in Huntington Beach.We really didn't do a whole lot at Mom and Dad's. Just chilled. 

Donna was so sweet and drove Mike and I up to Atlanta on Wednesday afternoon so I could attend my conference there.  We found the hotel, dropped us off and headed back home. Quick trip!  Luckily, they did have my reservation and we got checked in. Comfy suite on the 8th floor.

We decided since we were there early enough that we'd walk down to the Georgia Tech Conference Center and attend the opening reception. They always have good food. And this year was no exception. We also stopped in at Publix and got some snacks and drinks for the room.

It was a cold, rainy, windy walk there and back that evening, but it was kind of fun and exciting. It's a 15 minute walk or less to the conference center from the hotel. Which was under construction and a bit inconvenient on occasion and in places. (our hotel, not the conference center)  Our room was comfortable, but cold.  Our heat didn't work after the first night and poor Mike froze all Thursday while I was at the conference and he was inside reading.  Brrr. They finally brought a space heater the second night. On Thursday, while Mike read his novel, I learned at the conference and we ate in that night. I grabbed us some Taco Bell from down the street. He was too cold to go out in the wind and cold.

Friday, he called about the heat, but it didn't work well enough so that's when they brought in the space heater. I met him at 11:30 a.m. and we did lunch together at the Varsity. We got our MARTA passes. He ventured out that afternoon and saw the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank and Monetary Museum. We took a trial ride out to the airport to time how long it takes to get there. We at out at a nice restaurant that evening (Sushi).

The conference ended on Friday afternoon, but we decided to stay that extra night and determined that we would go to the Georgia Aquarium on Saturday since Mike had never been there.
It was wonderful.
We could really dawdle around, so we did.  We had a late lunch/early dinner, retrieved our bags from the hotel and headed out to the airport via MARTA to catch our flight home to Utah.

It was uneventful, even hauling around a 35 pound box of pecans until we could get it checked with our other baggage.  Our seats were not together initially, but after a bit of shuffling, we did end up together for the flight home. Nick picked us up in Salt Lake, we headed to their house and had a good night's sleep. We went to Church with them at 11 am on Sunday after enjoying a good breakfast with the kids and we even had dinner, too, before driving home to Cedar. I think we got in around 6 pm or so.

And I was home for 2 days to bake pies and work and and train a new hire before we headed out again--this time to Denver for Thanksgiving at Katie's house!

Whew!  What a whirlwind fall we've had.

P.S. Whale Sharks are big.

We could have spent hours watching these swim by. Very impressive.

AGW 2018

We went to California this year for All Girl's Weekend. Most of us stayed with Aunt Tuny in Huntington Beach.

 No AGW is complete without the "Chocolate Bar."  And this one was no exception! Thanks to Suz and others for providing it. I didn't bring a thing! (but certainly ate more than my fair share)

 

 We went out to breakfast at IHOP on Saturday morning.

Mom with Suz.  I came in to the Long Beach airport around 11 am, Mom and Donna came later around 4 pm and Aunt Tuny picked us all up.  We had dinner of her yummy homemade Barley soup when we all got there.  "All" was just Aunt Tuny and Sandy and Suz, Me, My Mom and Donna. Small group. We invited Christi, but she wasn't feeling well and declined.

And chips with 7-layer dip that Sandi brought over.

 Saturday afternoon, we went to go see some Model Homes nearby.  The mirror above has an oyster shell frame.

 

 LLLLLAAAAARRRRRGGGGGEEEEE kitchen counter/island.  You'd need a long-handled mop just to wipe off the center of the countertop!

 And the bathrooms are big, too. The tubs are large and roomy.

 I think this is a Koa wood table that Mom and Aunt Tuny are sitting at.

 Sometimes we just like to sit around and visit. We ordered in using "Doordash" for Cheesecake factory. We wandered around and ate out at a local mall one evening for some yummy burgers.

Teddy was the only boy allowed.
(Teddy is Aunt Tuny's dog.)
 

 And sometimes we like to tease Suz about how much she loves Pumpkin spice flavoring.

Sometimes we like to do silly sibling toe comparisons. :-D

Thanksgiving in Denver, 2018

We drove to Denver on Wednesday, November 21, 2018.  "We" being me, Mike, Mike's Mom and Mike's sister, Gayela. She'd come down from SLC on the Shuttle on Tuesday.

The photos above are in Vail. Pretty dry and not much snow around there!

We were there in time to have Pizza for dinner in the evening.  We took Berenice and Gayela to Troy and Ecstacia Gardner's home in Aurora. Well, we tried to, anyway.  30 minutes later, we managed to do so.  I tried using the directions on my phone, but those dang fat fingers typed in the wrong address and we ended up 30 minutes away from where they lived.  Oh well. We got there eventually.  Dropped them off and said hello and went to Katies. I made sure I had the right address this  time.  And every time after that.  Sheesh.

 Proof that Hailey actually DOES wear clothing on occasion.
Below, Mike relaxing on the comfy couch. Eric slept on that couch. He flew in from Las Vegas earlier that day.  He took the red-eye. He's so funny. Visiting with folks in the airport about "So, where're ya goin'"  he managed to snag himself a free ride to Katie's and Casey's home in Aurora at 5 am so Katie didn't have to get up and go get him.  So that was nice.

Katie had a lovely meal planned for Thursday. Typical Thanksgiving fare, but more was added by Troy's family. Two are Gluten-Free, so that might present a challenge. Being newly diagnosed with Cilac disease, 12-year-old MaryJane should avoid dairy, too. So Katie made LOTS of Casey's favorite food (mashed potatoes) with lots lots of butter and cream; Ecstacia also brought mashed potatoes without those ingredients (and gluten free gravy and a yummy fruit salad).  Of course, I didn't think to take a photo of the lovely spread of food.  But it was nice. We ate early because their 18 year had to go to work at 2 pm (Justin works for Amazon there in Denver).  But that gave us more time to play games, so we did. And clean up food... and eat food.

Below, Corbin loves to help his mommy in the kitchen. He's seven, can use the can opener, empty cans, stir things up really well, smoothed the top of the green bean cassarole.  Poor Katie. She was making one 2-can recipe of cassarole.  But there were going to be 17 people!  So I suggested she double it.  Well, she has lots of leftovers.  (That's important for Thanksgiving, yes?) Corbin helped with the candied yams, too.

Below. This little guy loves to color. And color. And color.

 Above: Katie enjoying the feast. I should have used a smaller plate. I was so stuffed!!

We had pumpkin pie and pecan pie(s) and apple crisp. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, yams, green bean cassarole, rolls, fruit salad and creamed corn.

Above.  Quintin had so much fun for DAYS playing with Tenzi dice .He lined them up, stacked them, counted them, sorted them.  Non-stop for days. 

 Above. This is the dining room area. Katie had a fun paper coloring Thanksgiving cloth on the table. And she had a comfortable bed in the front living room for me and Mike to sleep on. It's their old Sleep Number bed.  SOOOooo comfy!  K & C got a new king sized bed. Those twins were really crowding them out of the queen sized one.

 Above: Mike is anxiously waiting in line to get his food on Thanksgiving . :-D

 Hi Eric!  It was fun to have him there.  He and Katie had fun chatting and visiting.  Eric played games and visited with everyone, as well as other friends he has in the area.

 Above: Alex loves to chase Hailey around. And Hailey loves to be chased around.

Above: Left to righ, Justin, Berenice, Ecstacia, Alex, Troy Gardner.

 Counting those dice.

Above: The Potato Guys. Or, rather, Pumpkin Pie. I thought it was a photo of them having potatoes, but I was looking at a teeny tiny thumbnail image and couldn't tell exactly what they were eating.

Below: 

Katie has been trying to refinish the banisters on her stairs.  The wooden oak finish is what came with the house and not her preference. The black and white on the right IS her preference.

 She and Eric were going to do some more painting on the other side, which has a "Juliet  Balcony" overlooking the family room. Since one cannot use a ladder and paint in a house with three year olds who like to climb the ladder, Mike and I took the kids to "Sea Quest" across town and spent a few hours looking at fish and reptiles and other fun stuff.

 Quintin and Hayden petting Iguanas (above)

 Mike wrangling kids to pose them in a canoe for a photo op.  It's hard to keep track of four kids!

 Hayden's favorite mammal is the Orca!  Who knew?  One of the few smiles I've ever captured with a camera. :-)

 A large Komodo Dragon [model]. Quintin is pointing out the end of the tail (below).

 Hailey was a bit unsure and kept her distance for a bit.

There was a Tortoise enclosure with a locked gate that the twins were desperately trying to UNlock.  But the turtle wasn't even there--it wandered around with the animal handler.  Sea Quest is far more than sea animals.  There were lots of reptiles.

And Birds!

 Lorikeet Experience. Mike went in with the boys and I trailed the twins.  Hayden got bird pooped on. Twice.  I nearly got hit from outside the enclosure--it kind of just shoots right out if they are hanging on the wire fence .

 Hailey was keeping her feet clear of the passing "Norman" the large tortoise.

 But they did have a fun time following it around later. I got a cute video of them jumping around when it walked past them.

 Corbin wasn't afraid of the big lizard!

 Near this tortois enclosure (left) were more reptiles and very large lizards that the twins are looking at, plus a camel figure.  They had a wallaby nearby, too. He was kind of cute. And a SLOTH!  It was hanging from the ceiling of his cage in plain sight, was large, and I actually saw him MOVE!. Cool.

 The koi pond was fun.

And so was the ray and shark aquarium.

 They had a cool topographical sand box the twins played in for a long time while Corbin and Hayden spent a LOT of time petting the rays. It took them a while to get up the nerve to actually put their fingers in there and touch them. They even touched the sharks.

We also put Hayden and Corbin in a Hurricane Wind Tunnel experience. That was kind of fun. I took a video of that, but have never had any luck posting videos. Plus, I turned the camera sideways, so you would have to look at it like this :-)  ha ha.

Down in the maw of this here shark is Hailey's PUPPY!  But she was brave and retrieved it.

I asked Hayden to give me his best pirate "Arrrrgh". Not bad.

That was on Friday.  Saturday was the twins' Birthday!  We blew up a lot of balloons for decorations and some pretty paper fluffies and decos in a rainbow theme.  We had cake and ice cream, they opened presents.  Happy third birthday, Quintin and Hailey!!

A rainbow cake!

Get coloring!  Quintin got markers and coloring books, Hailey got puppies.  She gave back the "Puppy" she'd taken from Corbin as soon as she opened the bag with "Stacie" in it. It was really cute when she did that. Then she reclaimed "Puppy" and really upset Corbin.   THEN she got a barking doggie (white poodle), too.  We'll see how it all pans out.

We drove home on Sunday.  It snowed on Saturday night, making for some snow-packed and slushy roads up over the rockies.  It could have been a whole lot worse and we made it home in fairly good time. I think we left close to 8 am and were home before 7, so that's not bad at all. No incidents, we stopped to eat lunch on the way and had plenty of potty stops, due to the massive amounts of soda that was consumed by the driver.  I'm just glad Mike likes to drive, though that drive was a bit stressful. I only drove for a hundred miles or so each way.