Minneapolis recap

I had a work trip to Minneapolis this week and here are some highlights:

- lots and lots of snow (seriously???  It's spring!  How can people live this way?)
- calling home and asking Clyde what was on his shirt and his response "puffah fish"
- the lady at Chipotle who asked me "What are you having?" To which I responded "A chicken burrito" when all she wanted to know was if I was having a boy or a girl
- related to this, the man who ran up to me in the street yelling "Girl!  You look like you 'bout to pop!  I'm not a gynecologist but I can catch it!"
- watching planes depart on snowy runways and heavily falling snow.  Coming from the land of "We don't go outside if a single snow flurry has been spotted," I had no idea this was even possible.
- thereafter sitting on the plane for 3 hours (THREE HOURS) before finally taking off.  not fun!

Baby Girl sure has had some last minute in-womb adventures.  Snow, plane ride, and lots (lots) of stares.

Needless to say, I am happy to be home where it is sunny and in the 70s, and not 30 degrees.

Lessons from the plane

After little man's 3rd plane trip, I've learned a few things:

1. Traveling with a 6 month old is MUCH easier than with a 14 month old.  Less stuff.  Less acrobatics.  Less vocal gymnastics.

2.The #1 best circumstance on a plane is getting to sit next to another family with young kids.  For one, they entertain each other, and two- if any of them start screaming, you have an ally. Strength in numbers.

3. (C)RAISINS!  One by one.  I found them to be the best food distraction and prevented at least 30 minutes worth of screaming.  They were such a lifesaver that I didn't even care when they all reappeared in his diaper a day or two later...

If anything makes flying more miserable, it's United Airlines.

#ifIhadTwitterthatwouldbemytweetaftereverysingleflightwiththemasfarbackasIcanremember

Exploring

I love to travel and only wish I could do more of it. My ideal vacation is one where I'm always on the move, and seeing as much as possible in as little time as possible. This requires some extensive research and planning prior to the trip, and there is nothing I love better. Forget about sitting in the hotel room flipping through pamphlets, deciding "where to go next" or "rest and relaxation". I can get R and R at home, and there are few things that put me in a more sour mood than being cooped up inside a house or hotel room when there is so much to do and see out there.

Sometimes I'm a bit overly ambitious in my planning, squeezing too much into one day, but I think it's better to err on the side of having to drop one thing from the agenda than to wonder at the end of the day if I could have seen more. My true exploratory and independent nature comes out when I'm traveling solo (usually on a work-related trip)-- in between meetings and seminars I'm riding public transit, jogging downtown, or taking a stroll at the park on my own. I absolutely love it. Any city with a good transportation system (D.C. takes the cake--- I'm pretty much in heaven) allows me to go everywhere and see everything. Public transit or not, one essential item that must be packed is a pair of running shoes. How much I can explore a city on foot! Even in the dark! Even without a map! It's glorious.

This week I'm in Minneapolis. I'm ready to get back to the warm weather at home, but I have to say that this city is quite attractive. It's clean, pedestrian-friendly, there are huge parks for running, free exhibits, and it's easy to navigate. Unfortunately I left my running shoes at home. I'm never doing that again. Oh well, at least I still got to see the spoon and cherry.

Flying with Mr. Wiggles

Flying with the little guy wasn't as scary as some people make it out to be... he actually did fairly well even though no one around us could possibly have taken a satisfying nap with all the yelling, grunting, and banging. He's not a cuddle baby... in other words, he doesn't like to be held all the time unless you are moving (and unless you are Ama). He's been like this since Day 1; he would never fall asleep in our arms (unless you are Ama) and was much happier lying down with enough space to wiggle and roll. So being constantly held by Mom and Dad in our seats for 3 hours wasn't exactly fun for him. Thankfully both legs of the trip we managed to have an empty seat between us and plastic cups for entertainment.

Cheers to a great summer!

ok, folks... I started this post a while back, but I am obviously behind on blogging and even some emails if I owe you one. I am working on catching up....
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Hello from the depths of summer heat and travels! One would think that there would be more time on my hands to blog in the summertime but that simply was not the case. We have had a jam-packed summer and it has been lovely. I'll get this blog all caught up here, and then we can resume as though it's a new school year, since it's back-to-school time around here. I won't promise more frequent posting but I will assert my sincere desire to post more.

I think a fairly standard definition of summer based on the school calendar is Memorial Day through Labor Day. So I will begin this update with Memorial Day.

I have been fortunate to have seen every sib in the Ahern family between January and June of this year. John was here in January, in March I was in DC and saw Abe and Bekah then Rachel in L.A., and then Nate and I saw Rachel and Ed in Norman in May, and Mary Grace was here in June. And we will close off this summer over Labor Day visiting Canaan Hills and the entire family for the wedding of Grace and Jason. Whew!

So as I just mentioned, we were in Norman, OK in May, over Memorial Day weekend. Nate and I packed up the car and drove north where we camped in Chickasaw National Recreational Area and rounded off the trip with a visit to the Knudsens and stopping to see my parents and the new Baby Hendricks in DFW on the way home.
Shortly after we returned, Grace arrived in Houston for a 2+ week visit with us while she went through some violin training a couple miles from our house. It was nice having another body in the house and someone else to share runs and spend the evenings with. We all had fairly busy schedules during this time but we managed to give Grace a taste of the city and even made it to an Astros game and a Houston symphony performance at Miller Outdoor Theater.
A week or so after Grace left, Nate and I went to Alaska with a group of new friends. It was breathtaking just seeing the majesty of God's creation. We spent some time in Denali National Park and the Kenai Peninsula/Homer.

We also had the opportunity to go to Canada this summer. I had a conference there and Nate came along. We managed to find enough time to tour Vancouver while we were there. What an awesome city! It was clean, friendly, and breathtakingly beautiful.
This is a very condensed version of our summer, but it's the best you're gonna get! Cheers to a great summer!
And today, I leave for Grand Junction. Grace is getting married!!

CC loves her Uncle Nate

She'll be 5 in June. Time flies!Compare to just a year and a half ago:

The most beautiful time of year

If you're going to be driving in Texas, now is the time of year to be doing it. The highways and by-ways and parks and fields are dappled with an assortment of Texas wildflowers. And it's marvelous. These pictures don't do it justice- you just need to see it for yourself.

Recent Travels

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of travel. Early in March, Nate and I journeyed to the Grand Canyon, hiking down and back up in one day. It was an incredible experience. If you've never been to the Grand Canyon in the winter (or if you've never been... gasp!), you should definitely go.
The weekend immediately following that, we ran in the Dallas Rock and Roll Half Marathon. Nate signed me up for this race in December for my birthday, and so I was coerced (oops, I mean, given the opportunity) to train for and run in this race.

I then left the following weekend for a work-related trip to D.C. then to L.A. I have to say that this business trip was the most stressful by far in terms of travel. Almost all of my flights experienced delays, forcing tight connections in the connecting city. Furthermore, I learned how horrendous traveling out of LAX is. It is absolutely ridiculous. No one warned me about the 2-hour line to get to the security checkpoint. The line begins outside on the sidewalk, snakes around, then up the escalators inside, then another snake once you get upstairs, before you actually even make it to the security belts. Thankfully I was surrounded by assertive people which helped me to force my way ahead of others in order to catch my flight. I vow never to travel out of LAX ever again unless I have absolutely no other choice.

The plus side from my work trips was that I was able to see family in both destinations, which was a definite bonus. But I have to admit that looking down on Houston from my plane today never felt so good. The sun was bursting forth in full cheer, and I could see the lush greens and bodies of water, and even the downtown skyline. Oh Houston, how I've grown to adore thee!

And now, although it's not even 8pm in L.A., it's almost 11 in D.C., and I'm off to peaceful slumbers with Nate by my side.

The Rodeo is almost here!

I said enough about this last year.

Tomorrow is Go Texan Day.

I can't wait to smell the cows.

Yeehaw!

Library perks

I'm a big fan of the public library. Always have been. When I was a kid, my dad used to take me and a friend to the library for the morning or afternoon, and we'd go out for lunch together. That was the kind of playdate I liked. Sometimes, I would ask to spend the entire day there; I would go to work with my mom (who worked at the library, and still does) and read books from 8-5 (mind you, there was no such thing as "surfing the web" back then, so I was not wasting time on the computer like most kids do today), then go home with her at the end of the day. I would take her 15 minute breaks with her, eat lunch with her, and once in a while she (and the rest of the staff) would let me make the closing announcement.

Attention patrons, the library will close in 15 minutes. Copy machines will be turned off in 10 minutes. Please bring materials to the circulation desk.

Attention patrons, the library is now closed. Please exit the building.

Or, something like that. :)

Anyway, I don't reveal this to make you think I was a bookworm (even though I was), nerd (far from it!), or person prone to spending hours cooped up in the library in college or grad school (huh? not me.), but just to say that the public library is quite a fine invention. I regularly check books out from our local library -- books that I don't want to buy but just want to read-- and it is a wonderful thing. We even check out dvd's fairly regularly.

Nate and I don't go to the movies much because it costs my arm and his leg. In the past, we used to rent movies from Blockbuster, but even that can get pricey, and you have to return it within 48 short hours. We haven't jumped on the Netflix bandwagon because even though it's reasonably priced, we simply do not have our eyes glued to the tv enough to justify it (unless it is baseball season).

So recently, we have been checking out movies from the library. For free. With 2+ weeks before you have to return it, it's the way to go. If you think you can only get old movies at the library, you are wrong. They have all the latest titles too. You can search for your movie title on the online library catalog, place the item on hold, have it delivered to your local branch, and pick it up.

Some of the titles we've recently viewed are:

Shawshank Redemption
Singin' in the Rain
Disney's Robin Hood
Lawrence of Arabia
Run Fat Boy Run
Fiddler on the Roof
Gran Torino
Henry V
Master and Commander
Marley & Me

I had never seen any of these movies until now.

While we were in Chicago last weekend I caught the tail end (ha ha ha) of Marley & Me on HBO. It's a drama/comedy based on a true personal account about a mischievous golden lab and the family who owns him. I cried watching just 10 minutes of the finale. I couldn't stand not having seen the entire movie, so I picked it up from the library on Friday and watched it last weekend after an afternoon of volunteering at the SPCA. It's not what I would call a quality family movie, but it was moving nonetheless. Although I've never owned a dog, I pretty much lost buckets of tears. I can't help it- I'm an animal lover through and through.

Recent Travels

I've been getting my travel on in the past couple of weeks. I began with a work trip in Dallas, followed immediately by Cincinnati for a wedding, then to Chicago the weekend after for the marathon. With all of these back-to-back travels, it is easy to look back and offer up a few rankings:

Airport rankings:
1. HOU (Houston Hobby): Small, clean, renovated, and pleasant. No crowds. Airport of choice when traveling in/out of Houston
2. DFW (Dallas/Ft Worth): Gigantic yet extremely organized, efficient, and easy to navigate from terminal to terminal using the sky train.
3. IAH (Houston George Bush Intercontinental): Great airport, though not as comfortable as the first two.
4. CVG (Cincinnati): Security checkpoint three miles* from gates.
5. ORD (Chicago O'Hare): If you want to catch your flight, arrive at the airport 5 hours* in advance. That will give you enough time to get through the security checkpoint, which operates at a snail's pace. The plus is that it's connected to the L-train.

Airline Rankings:
1. Continental- Food service... and not for purchase! With your beverage, get a muffin for breakfast! Bring headphones and watch tv/listen to the radio from your seat. Flight attendants return for second rounds of beverage service. Also, very prompt.
2. American- Probably the most comfortable planes; courteous flight attendants and some planes with wi-fi.
3. Delta- "The Friendly Skies" is an appropriate motto- their flight attendants are super nice and accommodating. Get your choice of three snacks with your beverage of choice.

Cincinnati was a whirlwind trip, so I can't comment much on the city itself except that it was COLD. But not as cold as it was in Chicago. It hit below freezing while we were there; I cannot imagine what it's like in the thick of winter. They don't call it the windy city for nothing... I much prefer mild temps and it is a relief to be back in the warmth of Texas where my chapped lips can recuperate. I'm thankful that our rare cold days** in Houston don't actually hit until January. However, we really enjoyed Chicago. Every city needs an L-train or Metro train (DC) as a form of public transportation. You can actually conceive of not owning a vehicle, which I have long thought would be an amazing luxury. Just hop on the train and go, not to mention the great exercise you get by walking to/from the train stations and going up and down the stairs (my quads are killing me... who needs a marathon to make you sore when you can climb stairs to get on the L?) We didn't have enough time to thoroughly explore the city but we did hit the hot-spots and although most of the city did not appeal to me (what's with all the honking horns? They far surpassed Houston's honking abilities), I absolutely fell in love with Lincoln Park. Lots of green, flora, and a free zoo and conservatory, surrounded by beautiful, quiet neighborhoods with quaint shops and a variety of eateries. A great place to go on a jog too. I'm sure there are other pockets of Chicago that are just as nice which we didn't get to see, and we'll have to defer further explorations to another time.


* perhaps, slight exaggerations
** temps in the 30s

Oh, technology

Wi-fi is now offered in flight!
http://www.aa.com/i18nForward.do?p=/urls/gogo.jsp&anchorLocation=DirectURL&title=gogo

I'm flying back from DFW to IAH and we were all given free internet access. Whoah!

It's pretty neat, although I really can't decide if this is a good thing. Despite the advantages of improving technology, we are far too dependent on our computers, cell phones, dvd players, ipods, etc. We can't even escape it when we're thousands of miles off the ground...

I just hope I won't ever have to listen to ringing cell phones or cell phone conversations on the plane.

Rave Run in Maine!

Nate subscribed me to Runner's World Magazine for my birthday, and I love it! In every issue, there is a photo of what they call a "rave run." They always look pretty enticing- from the Hawaiian islands to the French Alps. But I was tickled pink to see that in the newest issue the featured rave run was in none other than Acadia National Park, Maine!

I just have to go back. Besides, we need a second attempt at pushing over this boulder.

Summer Travels

Pictures say more than words to describe our recent travels.

COLORADO
Rachel and Ed's wedding (Grand Junction)
Norrie

From GJ-Norrie

DALLAS
Sarah and Jaime's wedding

Blueberries

As promised, here is evidence of our blueberry picking adventure. Despite the freeze that the farm experienced a few months back, there were enough blueberries to keep the farm open to visitors like us. Together, Nate and I picked 12.5 pounds in about 3 hours or so. Needless to say, we've been eating lots of blueberries. We've frozen a good portion of them which should last us a while. I plan to make some blueberry jam when we get back from Colorado.

Between the four of us we picked at least 20 pounds, I'd guess.

Of course, we made blueberry pie.

This is a yummy blueberry coffee cake. The recipe calls for yogurt. Anything that calls for yogurt and blueberries has to be good! And it is.

Flashback...

Remember our trip to Maine last September? (photos here)

I was thrilled to see this post come through my Google Reader, and even felt compelled to leave a comment. The photos posted here are in the very same location where we spotted the great Martha Stewart. I am kicking myself for not saying hello. The people in the picture even had the courage to take a photo of her dog! Perhaps if Nate hadn't been shushing me, I might have. But then again, if I had, I might have made a fool of myself as I was hyperventilating and barely suppressing the shriek-ish sounds that were trying to escape from my throat.

It just brings back such great memories of that trip...

Posts to come shortly: my ten year high school reunion, blueberry picking, and more.

Embracing Mother Nature

Last weekend we embarked on camping trip #2 of our married career... and camping trip #3 of my entire lifetime. Between my junior and senior years as an undergraduate, I went with a group of friends in Tennessee... was it Fall Creek Falls? I can't remember, but I will forever remember this as the camping trip where the guys were throwing rocks at raccoons that were attempting to invade our campsite, we got lost on our day-hike, and I hoped it didn't rain. Here we are somewhere in the middle of our hike, smiling and probably unaware that we weren't quite hiking in a direction that would get us back to our campsite before sundown...
By the time we hit a road, we knew we had taken the wrong turn somewhere. I believe at least a few of us had to hitchhike back, if not all of us.
More recently, Nate and I have discovered a quiet park north of town that feels quite secluded from the big city. We've been there twice in the last six weeks, and both times it rained on us, but this past weekend, it poured. Nevertheless, the indestructible Nate managed to keep our fire going both during and after a lake formed around our campsite. As far as I could see, we were the only campers who had a campfire after it stopped raining. Booyah!

Here is our healthy fire from our first excursion.
It was perfect for s'mores and hot dogs, which made our tummies ache.
So this time around, we switched to grilled chicken and potatoes. YUM!
This photo below was taken from the shelter of our tent during a downpour.
I was just emerging from the tent when I took this photo. Do not be deceived by the seemingly put-out fire. It's still burning, and we were able to stoke and enjoy it for several more hours.This last adventure was fun but sleepless, as we chose to forego using an air mattress (what were we thinking) and mother nature was having an all-night party, including two hoot owls having an extended conversation near our tent, and a shrieking donkey on the other side of the park. But that's the beauty of the great outdoors. I still vote for bringing our air mattress for the next outing...

Happy Earth Day!

Today I brought 3 trees home from work.

You heard me right: I brought three trees home from work.

I know we live in a condo and have no personal yard space, but they were giving them away, what can I say?

We now have 1 Overcup Oak Tree:

And 2 Loblolly Pines:

(The above photo is actually the Eisenhower Tree in Augusta, GA.)


But these trees are just wee ones, growing on our back porch:

Sing us a song, you're the piano man!

We finished celebrating my birthday last weekend. Nate had gotten us tickets in San Antonio to see Elton John and Billy Joel in concert. What a show it was. The venue was jam-packed and we were treated to over 3.5 hours of performance, with no breaks in between. Elton and Billy started out together, followed by a solo performance by Elton, a solo performance by Billy, and finally the two of them back together at the end. Elton is just brilliantly flawless, and you can tell he simply just loves to be out in front of the crowds playing the piano and wowing the crowds. Billy Joel was a definite crowd-pleaser, in constant banter with the audience and just having a grand ole time.

Here's Elton performing one of my absolute favorites: Levon. Nate didn't want me to post this because he doesn't think the video quality does the song justice, but in person, it was better than his album recording.

Introducing... The San Antonio Elton John Fan Club Chorus in Crocodile Rock!