Ch...ch...Changes

A lot has happened within the last few weeks. I'm trying to believe that changes are good things. However, in reality they sometimes bite the big one!
I was pretty discouraged when I was told that I was being laid off from the County. I worked for them for over eight years. I love the County and the people I've worked with throughout my career there. I kept telling myself, "The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide." Well, guess what! I was offered a job today. It's the one and only interview I went to! It is in the big city, so I'll have to move about two hours away. That makes me sad, but I'm so excited about this new opportunity. Quentin is excited too and that makes me really happy. I'm going to go and look for a place to live this weekend. I want to get to know the general area and try to pick a good place for Quentin to go to school and close to work for me.
Thank you to everyone that has been so encouraging and supportive to me. You are wonderful friends!

Donnell Vista Point

I hope everyone is having a good time on their long weekend. Quentin and I have! He's really enjoying the kids that moved here. They've been swimming and he ditched me and went to the movie with them.

I had planned on going to Yosemite today, but after reading about the head-on collision that killed two people because someone was passing in a double yellow line zone on the road home from Yosemite, I decided against it. I know better than to plan anything on a holiday weekend, I don't know what I was thinking. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

So this morning we hung around the house and I made Quentin clean his room. This did not impress him very much. But, he survived and suggested that we go for a drive. I was getting restless, so I agreed. We headed up the hill and ended up at Donnell Vista Point.

Here's my handsome little man posing for me.

Here's a shot he took of me. Jeez! This Stress Diet is not working fast enough!

Okay, now here is my favorite part of the trip! I had forgotten that I can't take Quentin anywhere now without him trying to immitate Bear Grylls from Man vs. Wild. On the episode where Bear is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains he eats pine needles, because he says they hold a lot of moisture. So, of course Quentin asks if he can try it! I say okay thinking he'll have them in his mouth for a second and then spit them out. But NO!

He's chewing them up!

He's not really liking them, but he refuses to give up right away. If Bear can do it, he can do it!

Ah, he finally has had enough. This is him spitting the pine needles out of his mouth and over the railing of the vista point!

Apparently, the Wild wins this round...

Jean-NAY, It's your Berf-day! It's your Berf-day!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

I bought a bag for Quentin,

And I bought one for you too!

I hope you had an absolutely wonderful day! Your cookies will be waiting for you when you comme back to work.

Mother's Day Weekend

Wow! I really know how to pack some fun into a weekend! I'm exhausted...

Typically Quentin and I go to the Motherlode Round-up Parade and Rodeo during Mother's Day Weekend, but this year I'd had enough of Sonora and decided to get out of town. I chose my normal "Happy Place"...Monterey! It really is so beautiful there right now. The flowers are blooming and the harbor seals are having their pups and the weather was absolutely perfect.

We left Saturday morning after a stop at one of the three local Starbucks (yes, three). On the way we saw a sign for Mission San Juan Bautista and we decided to go have a look around since Quentin is working on his mission project for school.

The garden had tons of roses and there some chickens and roosters chasing each other around. We met several nice people. One gentlemen Quentin didn't care for too much, because he talked A LOT. He was "not all there" if you know what I mean, but a very nice man none the less. Another nice man volunteered to take a picture of Quentin and I.

Once we finally made it to Monterey I was planning on taking Quentin to a kite festival. As we were driving by he decided he wasn't too interested in that, so we skipped it. We checked into the hotel and headed for the Wharf. Once we got to the Wharf we decided we were starving and we'd like to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., which of course is located on Cannery Row! So, we walked. Along the way we came to the Coast Guard Pier. We had to do a little exploring because Q is fascinated by the Coast Guard. Here are some harbor seals that were sunning on the rocks.

And, here is Quentin running so that he didn't get arrested for trespassing! What you can't see in the picture is the Coast Guard ship that he snuck up close to in order to get a picture of it. His pictures are in the other camera and I can't wait to see how it turned out.

At Bubba Gump's Quentin faught the shrimp and the shrimp LOST, but just barely! He ate it all. There had to have been at least 20 pieces of assorted shrimp in his meal. Said in my best Bubba, "There was Coconut Shrimp, Shrimp Cocktail, Tempura Shrimp, and Fried Shrimp."

After that huge meal we walked, or waddled, back to the wharf to get the truck and we headed for the hotel. It was early evening and I decided to let Quentin go swimming and I'd sit by the pool and read my book. Well, there were people there already. Two mom's and one shared daughter. Uh huh, that's what I'm saying. Anyway, the three of them were a lively crew and so I couldn't concentrate enough to read my book. Instead I counted while Quentin raced back and forth across pool trying to beat his time from the previous attempt. After a while I'd had enough of that and I was freezing even though I was the only one that was dry.

Next, we decided to go do some exploring around Carmel. We stopped at the beach there for a bit and then got back in the truck. We ended up going to Point Lobos Preserve and watching the sunset. It was so pretty!

On the way back to the truck Quentin gave me a hug and said, "Thank you Mom for taking me here. It was the first time I've seen a sunset." Holy Cow! How has my son turned ten years old and not seen a sunset?! Here is a shot I captured of him. I thought the shot was cool at the time I took it, but now that I know it's him watching his first sunset it makes the picture so much more.

Mother's Day we rented a surey and rode from Cannery Row down to Lover's Point and back. Those things are harder to handle than they look. Neither one of us were proud of the decision to rent that instead of regular bikes.

After the surey ride we headed off to my favorite eatery, Fisherman's Grotto. I'd thought ahead and made reservations for lunch. It was so yummy as is to be expected. When I paid the bill they gave me a rose for Mother's Day. They had also given me a free glass of champagne. I only drank half of it because it made Q nervous that I was going to drive us home after lunch.

And that was our weekend. I told you I could really pack some fun into a weekend!

I hope all you Moms had a wonderful Mother's Day!

Movie Line Trivia

I'm bored, so I've decided to do a little trivia game. I'm going to list a line from a movie and you have to leave a comment telling me the name of the movie. Each line is from a different movie. Some of them will be terrible and obscure movies, but others will be popular and mainstream.

Ready?

Here we go...

1. "I carried a watermelon."

2. "I could have been in a Bar-B-Q!"

3. "Do you hear me Gila Monsters?"

4. "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity...Two weeks from everywhere!"

5. "Freddy, don't involve me in your fantasies. I wouldn't come to your place with a quart of Lysol and a fumigation truck."

6. "Don't you just love New York in the fall?"

7. "Hang out with us man! We got the pizza dude coming!"

8. "I feel the need...The need for speed."

9. "Pilgrim you caused a lot of trouble this morning, might have got somebody killed. And somebody oughta belt you in the mouth. But I won't. I won't. The hell I won't!"

10. "I've got two guns. One for each of you."

You get bonus points if you can name the character too. NO CHEATING either!

A BART Adventure

BART - Bay Area Rapid Transit

In California the 4th Graders are required to do a report and project on a California Mission. Quentin was assigned Mission San Francisco de Asis a.k.a. Mission Dolores. The teachers ask that the students visit the mission they are studying if at all possible. Well, since San Francisco is only a couple hours away I decided to take Quentin to visit the mission. One of the things we learned is that the mission is the oldest intact building in San Francisco. It survived the earthquake of 1906 (I think that's the right year), but the basilica next to it did not and it had to be rebuilt.

I'm not too fond of driving in San Francisco. It was hard enough in the little car, but now that I've got the truck I really wasn't looking forward to it. After reading some information on the web about the mission I learned that there is a BART station just three blocks from Mission San Francisco. I thought, "Wow! Problem solved. I don't have to drive in San Francisco and we'll get to go on an urban adventure on the high speed train!"

This is Quentin when the train first started to move. He was so excited.

And then...

Talk about an urban adventure. On the way over a herd of teenage boys with bicycles sat right next to us on the train. They were so loud and unruly even Quentin was annoyed with them (see picture below). Then an Asian lady sat next to us that kept karate chopping herself. Seriously! And on the way back the train was so full we had to stand up for part of the ride. Quentin enjoyed that part. It was a little rough on my back though.

The mission was beautiful and very interesting. It was not in a nice part of the city though. I thought we'd eat lunch there, but I didn't want to even walk on the sidewalk much less eat at one of the restaurants! Oh, and that BART station that was just "three blocks" away was really more like six or seven blocks away! It's a good thing the weather was really nice.

A Parting Shot

This horrible economy is really hitting close to home. Justin and Chandel both have been laid-off of their jobs for months now. Just this week SPI announced the closure of the local mill. Approximately 150 jobs will be lost. This doesn't include the truck drivers and other contract workers that will be affected. The county is not looking good budgetarily speaking either. The school boards are considering closing schools and combining them with others. It looks like Gottschalks will be forced to close pretty soon also.

It's so hard to stay positive when the outlook is so dreary. So, when little golden opportunities come along you've got seize the moment, the day, etc....

Here is a golden moment I encountered when I went home for lunch.

That's right, it's Chandel cruising in Lily's Dora the Explorer Jeep!

Ah, and here is Miss. Lily whining and asking her Mama to get out of her truck! Oh, she did finally say please and Chandel did get out (with a little help from Justin). :-)

Carpe Diem people!