San Francisco

DH and I took a trip to San Francisco last weekend. His mother had given us two nights of watching kids and a gift certificate for an inn an hour away for our birthdays. I told her the babysitting was more than enough. DH decided that we would go to the inn for one night and then we cashed in a gazillion air miles and hotel miles and went to California for about 30 hours.

It was fabulous! I couldn't believe what a stress reliever it was. Maybe it was being away from the kids. Maybe it was just walking all day.

I have to start this out by saying I detest flying. Every bump terrifies me. Flying out it was pretty bumpy and I was getting sweaty palms. What I can't figure out is why I wasn't totally terrified of the shuttle driver. He didn't seem to speak any English and drove 80 mph on the freeway. He cut off more people than I care to count. That was really a danger yet I wasn't terrified. Why is that?

We didn't have much time so we set out immediately after getting to the hotel. We wandered around here and there and then went to Chinatown. I am such a sucker for places like that. I still can't understand the need to go in all the shops when most of them seem to be owned by the same people and carry the same goods. We were starving and decided to do the dim sum thing at a restaurant off the main drag. That wasn't a good idea. We had no idea what to do or how it worked. An although we were in the middle of an American city it seemed like nobody spoke English. We finally figured out what you do. I told dh the next thing that came our way we were going to try. What did I learn? I like Americanized Chinese food. DH told me I could have whatever I wanted if I tried the 'barbecue' chicken. I did. It was too gingery for me. It just wasn't my cup of tea. I ended up getting C an additional outfit as my prize. Then we couldn't figure out how to pay. It seemed like the people you pay just wouldn't look at us. I think it was probably a good lesson to feel like we were in the minority. We were the only non Asians in the restaurant. When leaving we saw another couple like us waiting to be seated. I almost wanted to warn them but then thought about how funny it is to make those memories.

There were a few other funny things in that city. DH and I saw 3 single shoes. Two were in streets and one was a little kids shoe stuck in the bottom of an escalator. How does an adult just lose a shoe in the street and continue walking? That is so bizarre to me.

We also thought it was pretty interesting what people will do for money. Of course there were people playing 'drums' using things you find in your kitchen. They were usually pretty good. There was one guy down by the coast that had a couple of tree limbs he was holding. He would jump out from behind them and scare people. The guy had quite a crowd and when he would actually scare someone he would get tips.

After our icky experience in Chinatown we decided to just take to the city for snacks. We would walk and then find something good to try. I had been off sugar for 3 weeks but decided to break my streak for what will most likely be my only chance to go to that city. We walked to Pier 39 and had mini fresh donuts. We walked some more and then up to Ghiradelli Square and shared some ice cream. We walked back to the hotel and had room service.

Then we had to go home. DH surprised me and got us first class tickets. Wow! I haven't ever travelled first class. DH does more frequently for work. It's pretty sweet up there. Oh and the timing was perfect because I finished New Moon just as we landed. Not only did I get to go to another town on 'vacation' but I was able to finish a book I have wanted to read.

We picked up the kids and MIL told us a little about what they were up to. T was sick with a fever. Apparently he wasn't sick the entire time though and he was about to beat S up trying to defend D. S let a little bit of herself show for MIL. She ate a crayon, peed on the floor, pushed C, threw fits, etc. This of course was after destroying a ton of things in the room she shares with M on Friday (she didn't only eat and smear lipgloss and M's treats everywhere but she also found a thing of diaper ointment and ruined everything she could and then ate what was left.) MIL looked tired and happy for them to come home.

We took S to therapy yesterday. They changed our therapist and moved her to a supervisor. He seems right on and knows exactly how she is already. He gave me a little hope. I need it. She's had a hard morning. DH told her she couldn't have her favorite cereal until she went on the potty and she wouldn't . She pulls every excuse in the book. Today it was that she couldn't get her jammies unzipped. I told her to go to the bathroom and the unzipped her jammies without issue and peed all down my hall. It's all a power struggle. MIL told me that she does great if you take her to the bathroom and give her the attention she wants. I didn't say that we have tried that and she'll go 20-30 times a day. We've been told to not let her manipulated her like that. We need to give her the attention she needs but not when she's manipulative. She's having a hard time. Luckily, I expected it to be a little bit harder for a few days because they were off their schedules the two days we were gone.

We had a supervised visit yesterday with the social worker and she said she could see this coming before we even went to pick the kids up. She asked if we were ready to throw in the towel yet. We said no. There's a fight to fight and we have to keep at it. It wouldn't be any better for these little ones to have a failed placement and be shifted to another home.

Positive Note-I've got to think a bit here... Oh this one is easy. We have my dad here and he is wiring our basement. We are on our way to having more space.