Whirlwind L. A. Trip

On Friday morning, we got to the airport and Jet rode the walkways back and forth a good half a dozen times before sitting still for a strawberry smoothy for breakfast. We then took a plane to L. A.. Jet was great on the way over, spent three-quarters of the time entertained in his seat and the last quarter with John and the stewardesses chasing him around the cabin. We hit Tommy's World Famous, I got chili cheese fries for the first time with my double cheese extra chili hold everything but the tomato, and Jet is no longer a Tommy's virgin. He really loved the fries and ate bites off my burger. Woo.

We then got to the hotel and collapsed for a three hour nap. All three of us. Yay!

King's for dinner, and Jet wandered the hallways when we got back to the hotel and stopped three different groups of people by just stopping and staring at them. The Jet-stare worked on both males and females, and he got good conversation with folks and lots of smiles. He also experienced plenty of random walk experimentation with mirrored walls, finding that it's better to sit in an elevator than stand with all that starting and stopping, tried the 'down the stairs safe approach' to the unseeablely deep gap between the elevator car and the floor, plush toys behind glass, and nearly got over a railing into an indoor garden area.

He was great at dinner. Happy, played with everything, and made a complete mess on the patio dining area where we were seated. The hostess gave him plenty of crackers 'to throw' as she put it, and he fulfilled her prophecy. He charmed three waiters, two busboys, and four tables' worth of people walking by his chair into stopping and talking to him, playing with him, and going 'awwwww' as he ducked his head and smiled at them. He went dead asleep at 10, woke up twice at night, and got up at 6.

We got more done before checkout time than I can *remember* I've ever done in my life. We had breakfast at a little diner with lots of cars out front even at 7 in the morning, and he had a great breakfast, stealing oranges, bits of bacon, and hash browns as well as trying to steal Dad's coffee. Baby on caffeine that would have been funny. Then we drove down the beautiful, wooded, rocky, rolling Topanga Canyon road to the beach, where Jet was mesmerized by the ocean and we got to see Santa Monica while it was still asleep.

I am amazed to find myself thinking of L. A. as lush, now, compared to Colorado at this time it is, however. The air is thick and humid and wonderful around the ocean. The hills there are much older than anything in the Rockies and they're gorgeous. I could see living out in the canyon, and we even saw a new development going in with $250k and up houses. Not bad for being that near the ocean and that far from the city proper, we were only fifteen minutes from the 101. It was a lot like our place in Redmond that was all woods and water and fifteen minutes from a major freeway or two. If we didn't have to commute at all, and we didn't mind giving up on seasons, this would be a very nice place to live.

Back to the hotel for changes, nursing, and gift wrapping. Then we checked out by phone and hit the road to St. John Eules. Thomas was alone in the parking lot, looking harried and worried and tense. I was very glad to have him before the festivities, to wish him good luck and happiness before the crush of events. We played in the garden for a while and then we got to see Thomas and Donna get married. It was a nice little wedding in a beautiful Catholic church, and Jet only wanted to get at the pew pamphlets. I finally saw the last half of it at the back of the church with Jet playing with the stained glass. It was short, sweet, and nicely personalized for the venue, and instead of doing any bubbles, rice or other throwing of things at the now happily wedded couple everyone just scrambled for the reception.

Like srakkt I'll say that there's nothing to make one feel more alone than watching someone else get married in a roomful of complete strangers. We did good at socializing with our table, including another friend of Thomas's whom he'd gotten to know in the computer rooms, a lady who had known Donna on the phone for nearly a decade while they were working for companies that called each other frequently, and a guy who had known Donna from grade school. All of those connected had spouses that were also social and friendly. Jet, of course, kept wandering away from his high chair and stopping all foot traffic to stare at people and get them to play with him.

Jet did walk straight for the pool the first time out, but was persuaded to leave the ripply water for another time. He did his best to pull up weeds from the garden, eat the fuzzy seed pods out front and generally help clean up the garden; but we thought child labor was not such a good idea. He acquiesced with some gracefulness.

At 4:30, just before the cutting of the cake, we said our good-byes and thank yous and well wishes to Thomas and Donna and ran for the car, changed out on the street into shorts and t-shirts and hit the slow and rush traffic on the 101 back to the airport. Once checked in, Jet wandered around the hallways of LA international and stopped foot traffic, crawled into bars, tried to get into the liquor store and generally chortled and stomped his way around. On the plane he played the entire way home, walking the aisles of the mostly empty plane, playing in a row of seats by jumping up and down on the cushions, tackling the pillows, wrestling the blankets, and playing peekaboo between the seats with off-duty stewardesses, all of whom were surprised and impressed by his ability to stay AWAKE.

He finally dropped off when we got to the car, at 11, and was asleep when John and I hit the Krispy Kreme for a sugar fix on the way to home. He slept until 4, ate, went instantly back to sleep and stayed that way until 10 am. Yay!

So that was our quick trip to L. A.

Whirlwind L. A. Trip

On Friday morning, we got to the airport and Jet rode the walkways back and forth a good half a dozen times before sitting still for a strawberry smoothy for breakfast. We then took a plane to L. A.. Jet was great on the way over, spent three-quarters of the time entertained in his seat and the last quarter with John and the stewardesses chasing him around the cabin. We hit Tommy's World Famous, I got chili cheese fries for the first time with my double cheese extra chili hold everything but the tomato, and Jet is no longer a Tommy's virgin. He really loved the fries and ate bites off my burger. Woo.

We then got to the hotel and collapsed for a three hour nap. All three of us. Yay!

King's for dinner, and Jet wandered the hallways when we got back to the hotel and stopped three different groups of people by just stopping and staring at them. The Jet-stare worked on both males and females, and he got good conversation with folks and lots of smiles. He also experienced plenty of random walk experimentation with mirrored walls, finding that it's better to sit in an elevator than stand with all that starting and stopping, tried the 'down the stairs safe approach' to the unseeablely deep gap between the elevator car and the floor, plush toys behind glass, and nearly got over a railing into an indoor garden area.

He was great at dinner. Happy, played with everything, and made a complete mess on the patio dining area where we were seated. The hostess gave him plenty of crackers 'to throw' as she put it, and he fulfilled her prophecy. He charmed three waiters, two busboys, and four tables' worth of people walking by his chair into stopping and talking to him, playing with him, and going 'awwwww' as he ducked his head and smiled at them. He went dead asleep at 10, woke up twice at night, and got up at 6.

We got more done before checkout time than I can *remember* I've ever done in my life. We had breakfast at a little diner with lots of cars out front even at 7 in the morning, and he had a great breakfast, stealing oranges, bits of bacon, and hash browns as well as trying to steal Dad's coffee. Baby on caffeine that would have been funny. Then we drove down the beautiful, wooded, rocky, rolling Topanga Canyon road to the beach, where Jet was mesmerized by the ocean and we got to see Santa Monica while it was still asleep.

I am amazed to find myself thinking of L. A. as lush, now, compared to Colorado at this time it is, however. The air is thick and humid and wonderful around the ocean. The hills there are much older than anything in the Rockies and they're gorgeous. I could see living out in the canyon, and we even saw a new development going in with $250k and up houses. Not bad for being that near the ocean and that far from the city proper, we were only fifteen minutes from the 101. It was a lot like our place in Redmond that was all woods and water and fifteen minutes from a major freeway or two. If we didn't have to commute at all, and we didn't mind giving up on seasons, this would be a very nice place to live.

Back to the hotel for changes, nursing, and gift wrapping. Then we checked out by phone and hit the road to St. John Eules. Thomas was alone in the parking lot, looking harried and worried and tense. I was very glad to have him before the festivities, to wish him good luck and happiness before the crush of events. We played in the garden for a while and then we got to see Thomas and Donna get married. It was a nice little wedding in a beautiful Catholic church, and Jet only wanted to get at the pew pamphlets. I finally saw the last half of it at the back of the church with Jet playing with the stained glass. It was short, sweet, and nicely personalized for the venue, and instead of doing any bubbles, rice or other throwing of things at the now happily wedded couple everyone just scrambled for the reception.

Like srakkt I'll say that there's nothing to make one feel more alone than watching someone else get married in a roomful of complete strangers. We did good at socializing with our table, including another friend of Thomas's whom he'd gotten to know in the computer rooms, a lady who had known Donna on the phone for nearly a decade while they were working for companies that called each other frequently, and a guy who had known Donna from grade school. All of those connected had spouses that were also social and friendly. Jet, of course, kept wandering away from his high chair and stopping all foot traffic to stare at people and get them to play with him.

Jet did walk straight for the pool the first time out, but was persuaded to leave the ripply water for another time. He did his best to pull up weeds from the garden, eat the fuzzy seed pods out front and generally help clean up the garden; but we thought child labor was not such a good idea. He acquiesced with some gracefulness.

At 4:30, just before the cutting of the cake, we said our good-byes and thank yous and well wishes to Thomas and Donna and ran for the car, changed out on the street into shorts and t-shirts and hit the slow and rush traffic on the 101 back to the airport. Once checked in, Jet wandered around the hallways of LA international and stopped foot traffic, crawled into bars, tried to get into the liquor store and generally chortled and stomped his way around. On the plane he played the entire way home, walking the aisles of the mostly empty plane, playing in a row of seats by jumping up and down on the cushions, tackling the pillows, wrestling the blankets, and playing peekaboo between the seats with off-duty stewardesses, all of whom were surprised and impressed by his ability to stay AWAKE.

He finally dropped off when we got to the car, at 11, and was asleep when John and I hit the Krispy Kreme for a sugar fix on the way to home. He slept until 4, ate, went instantly back to sleep and stayed that way until 10 am. Yay!

So that was our quick trip to L. A.