July 2006 Archives

We spent a wonderful seven days on Oahu last week, but it did not begin auspiciously. Everything seemed fine when we went to the Austin airport on Saturday. We arrived in good time, we even got a lift in a van from our car to the airport entrance. But when I identified myself in the self-check in kiosk, the monitor display the terse message "Plane already left gate"

WTF?!? I frantically checked my itinerary printout only to discover that I had looked at the Los Angeles arrival time instead of the Austin departure time the night before! Apparently we haven't learned from our "missed flight lesson" in Brazil (me to double check the dates and times, and Jfer to not take me by my work).

Now, as we lined up for the manual checkin, I had visions of expensive rebookings and days spent on stand-by. Luckily, AA came through for us. They booked us on stand-by to Dallas, which we made. However, that flight was delayed, so we had to race across DFW to our Honolulu stand-by. We made that one too -- and actually arrivied in Honolulu ahead of our original arrival time (via LA)!

Magda was awake pretty much all of the flight and spent the wast majority of it with Jfer. I didn't get to sit with them, but beggars can't be choosers. Beside, they were only one row over.

We did manage to get our flight back home without a hitch. And this time, Magda slept all the way from Hawaii to LA, and then a good portion of the way from LA to Austin.

BTW, flying from Austin to Hawaii, it's much nicer to connect via Houston or DFW -- that way you won't have to change planes in LA at some early morning hour on the way back. And you get to fly with a bigger plane most of the way. Oh, and they're not kidding about cutting their costs: we got some measly drinks but had to pay AA $5.00 for a crummy turkey sandwitch.

Magda is starting to have fun with counting. Numbers don't hold quite the interest as letters, but she does enjoy repeating numbers from one to twenty when we recite them to her. Sometimes she counts for herself, skipping around non-sequentially when she gets past "three". She is currently fascinated with saying "eleven", probably because it's got three syllables and is easy to say.

She can actually count up to three things -- if laid out in front of her. But whenever you ask her "how many X are there", she invariably -- and without hesitation -- proclaims "two!" This feat amazes strangers, whenever we actually point to two things and ask her how many there are. She's a bit of a Clever Hans that way. Jfer managed to teach her to answer "one!" when she's asked how old she is, so that's something that she'll have to re-learn in a few months.

We had a pretty busy weekend planned -- with three parties, including two pot lucks. Our "gourmet club" had a Carribean theme and we found a bunch of great recipes, including a Melon Salad with Orange-Lime dressing, a Mango Avocado Salsa and a Mojito Pie. All of these were easy to make, although the salad and the salsa was way too much food (you can't have too much pie, of course).

Meredith O. also talked us into a walk in the Walnut Creek park that we somehow managed to squeeze in. She wanted for the new dog they found to have a chance for a bigger hike. The walk was proceeding quite nicely (including a stop at the playground and at the Snow Cone stand) until the last water crossing. While we were taking a break, skipping stones for the dogs to chase, Meredith walked along the slick creek side with "Balto" and when he jumped after Rose (to give her some "lovin'") she slipped and fell in the water. I though it hillarious, until she cried out that she had broken her arm!

And so we were in the middle of the park with three rowdy dogs, three kids and a stroller. After some quick deliberations, I headed home with our pups (including jogging a couple of time along the way!) to retrieve a car. Jfer took the kids and Balto and slowly walked home and Michael and Meredith hobbled back towards the parking lot, which was the closest egress.

By the time I got there with my car, there were three fire engines and a couple of ambulances at the park, since someone had called 911 -- against the O's wishes. I ended up driving them to the hospital and we kepts the boys for the rest of the day, while Meredith was getting her fracture placed and resting hopped up on "the good stuff".

So M's going to be out of commission for quite some time -- a broken arm is a big bummer for a massage therapist -- although hopefully everything will heal up right. Of course now, when she points out how well behaved Balto is compared to Rose, we can point out that at least she has not broken anyone's arm...

We spent a great extended 4th of July weekend at the farm in Kansas. As usual, Pat and Cynthia were gracious hosts. All of us enjoyed their company and Magda especially was glad to spend some time With Kayleigh and Jonathan.

The weather also very much cooperated, and while Austin was being deluged on the 4th, we enjoyed a pleasantly warm day with a cool evening -- perfect for fireworks. When we first got there, it was actually hotter than in Texas, but the humidity was low and the heat quickly disappears as the sun sets.

We got to do some road trips, visiting the Leavenworth Carousel (see photos) and the Watkins Woolen Mill in Missoury. The steam driven mill was very fascinating, but the mid 19th century working conditions make me glad I'm living in a cushier time.