Oregon Vaughns

Andy, Lily and I are enjoying our vacation like you couldn’t imagine.  Erik (Andy’s friend) left for England yesterday and we are staying at his house in Scotts Valley for a few more days (near Santa Cruz).  He has no internet, no TV, nothing.  Really, it has been awesome to be away from all of the electronic distractions.  Andy and I have worked out every day (running, swimming and lots of walking), we have gone to the Boardwalk / Beach, and just done nothing but family, family, family.

However, Andy and Lily are at home napping (or one of them is trying to….) and I decided to come down to a coffee shop with internet to post on the blog.  I have written LOTS OF POSTS below so make sure you scroll all the way down to see everything!

Today, we went to a Children’s Museum in San Jose.  We spent a good 3 hours there and Lily was in heaven.

Lily and Mama just getting started:

With Dada in the fire truck:

Playing in the ambulance:

In the Bob the Builder room:

Probably Lily’s favorite room: the “make a pizza” play kitchen:

Erik is the “Dungeon Master” of the D & D role-playing game that he, Andy and their friends have been playing for years.  This game is involved.  No wait.  Involved doesn’t begin to cover it.  This game is as nerdy as a nerd could imagine.  Involved.  Character sheets, back stories, “languages”, lands, worlds, you name it.  It is a whole new world.  As the Dungeon Master, Erik writes all the back stories / quests / details.  He invented these characters YEARS ago:  YEARS before Harry Potter.  Read the following character description that Erik wrote so many years ago:

“Dur’thar:  the unmentionable god.  Saying this (his name) implies that the speaker believes that he still retains his power and may someday return.  His true name is seldom ever spoken; when he must be referred to, it is usually in a hushed whisper and as “The Unmentionable One,” “The Alone,” “The Evil One,” “Durth,” or “The Twenty-Sixth.”

Now, read a little more about this Dur’thar character:

“Dur’thar:  The Unmentionable One.  Dur’thar is the original source of evil in the world…… etc, etc, evil, nerdy, evil, etc…… Killing him would be pointless…. Finally it was decided that his life-force would be divided up into 25 equal pieces , each of which would be watched over by a different god.  The segments were placed in inanimate vessels in the material world, as from here the power of the god is much diffused.”

WHAT???? HORCRUX???

Erik, Erik, Erik…. You could have been rich.

**I am dating all of these posts on the day that I actually wrote them — due to lack of internet access, I haven’t been able to actually get them online until now***

Warning: Long blog post ahead. Pictures too!

Vacation time finally came! I will tell you a bit about our trip. If I seem to provide “useless details” then ignore them — I do this for my own benefit (I like to look back to see what happened and use this blog to keep records). So, read on:

Wednesday afternoon we drove down to Phoenix, Oregon (near Ashland) to kick off our vacation. We had a wonderful visit with Andy’s Aunt Margie (Lorna’s sister) as well as some cousins. Great pizza and company. It was a short trip, but it was still refreshing to see them. We spent the night at Aunt Margie’s (although I didn’t do much sleeping).

(Don’t be deceived by this photo… I did most of the driving)

Thursday morning (June 24th) at 6am we hit the road for California. Let me stroke my own genius ego for one moment:

Used Elmo DVD at liquidating Hollywood Video: $7.50
New Thomas the Train DVD from KMart: $5.00
Replacement DVD Cable Charger at Fred Meyer in Medford: $14.99
Packing a Portable DVD Player for a long drive: Priceless Genius

I rigged the DVD player (using the new car carrying case) to hang between the two front seats so that Lily could enjoy endless hours of “Elmo Song” and “Hummus Choo Choo” (left to her own, she says Hummus instead of Thomas). Lily was very happy listening to hours of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours” as well as watching movies. Genius. Did I already say that?

She was a happy camper.

Driving 6am to 2pm and finally arriving in Scotts Valley, California (near Santa Cruz). It was great to arrive at a decent hour and still get to enjoy the day with Andy’s friend Erik (with whom we are staying).

Thursday night was Erik’s weekly poker game which we participated in (Andy won both of the tournaments). A fun night was had by all.

Friday comes. We have no responsibilities. This is fantastic. Vacation at its finest. Starbucks is a 3 minute walk and is right next to the local/organic market. Beautiful weather. Andy and Erik went on a 10 mile run with Erik’s cross country team, and I (Stacey) went on an afternoon run as well.

During Andy and Erik’s run, I took Lily down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. Lily hates sand. Hates, hates, hates. She did not want sand on her shoes, on her feet, or on her hands. However, Lily loved riding the carousal. Lily: “Horse. Up down up down.” This was a big hit. Adorable! (Videos and pictures of this to come).

Friday was also Erik’s birthday. We went into Santa Cruz for a delicious sushi dinner to celebrate with a bunch of Erik’s friends (and some of Andy’s old friends as well).

BTW: Andy and Erik know each other from high school (or maybe even middle school)?

At dinner, Lily made a little friend: Makani (which means “The Wind” in Hawaiian). Makani is the son of Andy and Erik’s friend, Sarma. Lily and Makani had a lot of fun playing together (see photos below).

Saturday morning involved a run for Andy and Erik and an afternoon swim for me. I bought a day pass to a local outdoor pool. This is heaven on Earth to me: swimming outdoors in the warm sun. After this, we went back to the Boardwalk so Andy could take Lily on the carousal. Another successful “Horse. up down up down.”

Saturday night Andy and Erik picked up their high school friend Garth and headed into San Francisco. They went to see one of their favorite bands: Concrete Blonde and had a fabulous time. Andy will probably blog about this later. Lily and I just played together at home and had another sushi dinner (yum yum).

Which now brings us to today, Sunday. Today, Andy and I took Lily swimming. So fun. She is really beginning to enjoy the water, and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait for more summer swimming!

Warning: Nerd alert.

Just to reminisce old times, Erik and Andy planned a “D & D” night with a group of old high school / college friends. Apparently, they used to play this all the time. In fact, I am writing this blog as they sit in the adjoining room “playing.” Nerdy, nerdy, nerdy. I cannot even explain D&D — I can only laugh. However, stay posted. Erik is the original inventor of “Voldemort.” Seriously. I will explain this more in a future post.

Nerdy, nerdy, nerdy. Ha, ha, ha. I can only sit back, watch their role-playing, and laugh.

Here is what D & D players eat (remember Andy’s older post on the gamer??):

And, Lily got to play a lot with Makani, again, while the boys played D&D tonight.

That is enough of an update for now. As Lily would say: “See ya boys!!”

Lily and I went to visit the neighbor kids last night and the little girl (5 years old) wanted to take me to her room to show me something.

Stacey: “What do you want to show me?”

Ava: “I want to show you the worst present anyone ever gave me.”

So, we went upstairs and she pulled our this head-band with strands of orange, sparkly hair attached (to make a kids dress-up wig). She handed it to me and said “See? This is definitely the worst present I ever got.”

Today, we took an impromptu family trip to Portland. It was wonderful – although not warm enough.

We got to see my friend Melissa (who lives in Portland) and spend the afternoon shopping and eating lunch at Whole Foods… My favorite! Andy bought his favorite type of cheese, so I would say that he had a good day too.

Then, we went and walked around Pioneer Square / Mall: played some chess in the park, walked around the mall, and then went to dinner at Malay Satay Hut. It was a very full family day.

Right now my dad is in Las Vegas playing in: Event #34: Seniors No-Limit Hold’em Championship down at the World Series of Poker. Today is the first day and hopefully he makes it until tomorrow! He calls us with updates during his breaks.

Right now, I am watching Alice in Wonderland (the new one) and playing around on the computer. Lily is dead asleep – tired after a long day.

Our big California trip is coming soon. Getting very excited for that.

I never would have bought this. I love frozen yogurt, but I never would have bought “Caramel Macadamia Crunch” I don’t do nuts. So, Andy bought it. Liquid gold. Delicious does not even begin to cover it. Fat free too.

Umpqua Frozen Yogurt — Caramel Macadamia Crunch. How did I ever live without you?

This actually happened to my dad, but I think it is hysterical:

My dad and his friend, John, stopped at a drive-thru coffee shop on the way to the casino and ordered a hot chocolate. As the girl was finishing up his order, he added that he would like some whipped cream on top.

As he was driving away, he realized that the whipped cream was literally on top: on top of the lid. He and John were laughing so hard that they had to pull over.

Overnight (basically), Lily has started repeating.  She will repeat anything I ask her to repeat.  Obviously it is still with a baby accent, but she will attempt any word.

She has a pretty good list of words that she uses on a regular basis:  Egg (Andy says she says it with a German accent), home (that is the car), keys, sauce (apple sauce), Elmo, cracker, sock, doctor, diaper, and a bunch more.  I am just trying to list some of the new ones.

She will sing “La la la, Elmo Song.”  And, the other day, she said “Elmo Sauce” either accidentally or purposefully, who knows… but now she says it all the time and thinks that it is pretty funny.  Elmo Sauce, Elmo Sauce.

Rain, rain, go away.

I am wrapping up work this week.  I have been working A LOT.  A LOT.  Andy, Lorna, Grandpa *Bob-bob* and Grandma *Na-Ma* have been watching Lily a lot while I have had a busy, busy month.  Tomorrow ends my last day of any real “tutoring” and then I will just have grading for Wednesday and Thursday… then I will be done.  I look forward to having more time with Lily (the hardest thing about working is obviously being away from her) — I foresee plenty of days swimming, library time, walks to the park.  If only that rain rain would go away.

Here is what Lily thinks wearing a winter coat in June:

I just turned to Andy and told him:  “Lily and I just went out and did the W-A-T-E-R.”  I wanted to let him know we already watered the plants in the garden so he doesn’t take her outside to do it later.  I obviously had to spell it, so Lily wouldn’t hear me and want to do it again.  But, right after I finished telling Andy, Lily turned up to look at me, pointed outside and said “Wa Wa?”

Yesterday, Andy and I “celebrated Mother’s Day”…. This means: Do whatever Stacey wants for the whole day.  It was a very excellent day.

It started with breakfast at Noah’s Bagels and a walk in the Farmers’ Market.  Then, we stopped at a few shops to pick up some plants and materials for our vegetable garden.  We dropped Lily off at Grandma’s to take a nap and we headed home to get some work done.  There was much work to be done in our backyard.  We weed-whacked, cleaned the grill inside and out, mowed, pressure-washed, you name it.  Lorna came for grilled burgers then we planted in the garden.  So far we have: 4 tomato plants,, 3 basil, garlic (will grow for fall), cilantro, chives, spinach, and chard.  I still need to plant jalapenos, then we will be set.

Lily just fell asleep in my arms (15 minutes before we have to go to dinner)… no more typing for now.