The place where all the Magic happens

On the Sunday of our vacation we headed for the Magic Kingdom. We looked over the park map beforehand and decided our plan of attack. Fantasyland (princesses, Peter Pan, Small World, all the fairy tale characters), Tomorrowland (Space Mountain, Astro Orbiter, etc) and then over to Adventureland (Pirates and the Swiss Family treehouse).

The Magic Kingdom is very much like Disneyland in California. I went there when I was 13 and given my foggy memory after 25 years, I could have walked into the same place.

We headed over to Fantasyland and got in line for the Peter Pan ride. This is where we learned that the time displayed on the “wait time” sign isn’t always so accurate. It stated 15 minutes, but it was a good 45 minutes. The kids were somewhat impressed with the ride and so we headed over to “It’s a Small World” next. The wait there stated 15 minutes and was actually more like 10 minutes. Skadi loved the Small World ride. Leif was a bit less than impressed with that one. The kids rode the carousel and when we realized that half the day was already gone (and our in hotel breakfast snacks weren’t sticking with us) we grabbed some lunch at Pinocchios. Very yummy meatball sandwiches.

We wandered around a bit and Skadi started spotting characters – Winnie the Pooh and a few others. Thankfully when I saw the mile long lines and subsequently gave her the choice of riding more rides or standing in line for hugs, she picked the rides. AB took Leif over to the Tomorrowland Speedway while I braved the Tea Cups with Skadi.

I don’t do well with spinny rides, so I was a bit nervous about this. Last thing I wanted to do was puke up that meatball sandwich. Still I was coveting the neat pictures my friend RAB and her husband had taken on the Tea Cups the week prior and wanted some of Skadi in a similar fashion. Happy to say I survived!

We met up with AB and Leif (who was a bit disappointed with the Speedway, “you couldn’t even go fast mom,” he lamented).

Space Mountain had a wait, so I grabbed fast passes and we ran over to Adventureland and made a beeline for Pirates of the Caribbean. The wait cited was about 50 minutes, but I would put it more like 20 minutes. They kept us walking the entire time. Both the kids dug Pirates and of course we ended in a gift shop. Leif isn’t a huge shopper… he whines a bit (kind of like AB) at the notion of having to shop. Skadi eyes it all, but is never overly insistent on buying stuff, she is picky. I am lucky that way, we got out of most everything to this point without stopping in a gift shop.

Then there was Pirate gear, and Jack (the pumpkin king) gear! And well, we spent a little time and money in the Pirates gift shop.

On to the next adventure… the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, which AB and I enjoyed and the kids thought we should just move in.

At this point we agreed that even though the kids weren’t seeming terribly tired that it WAS time for a break before our long evening at the Pirate’s Cruise. We headed towards the entrance to catch our bus and just so happened to make it to main street in time for the Parade!

Finally we hit the entrance, got on the shuttle and went back to the hotel for a quick break.

We had fast passes for Space Mountain and I (yes, Mrs. Motion Sickness) had wanted to ride it. AB was in no way interested. I had remembered Space Mountain from my 1985 trip and remembered thinking I may actually like roller coasters after that one. It was fun! And smooth! (And for the record, I didn’t suddenly like roller coasters, the two I tried after Space Mountain scared the daylights out of me.)

Disney Tip! Skadi couldn’t ride these rides, many of them either AB or I weren’t interested, but one of us would do it with Leif. When you get Fast Passes get as many as tickets you have even if not everyone plans to go on. On occasion we would ride twice – usually Leif would get to go twice and AB and I would trade off. Other times we would ride once and then walk up and hand the remaining fast passes to someone standing outside and more than once felt like we were gifting someone a hunk of gold with the gratitude they returned.

We headed back to the park and managed to hit to the entrance (like earlier, this was unplanned and pure luck) to see the castle frost over and all the colors. We jumped in with a photographer and got the best family picture from Disney that is gracing our Christmas cards this year. We tried to get pictures of the castle ourselves, but it just didn’t work. You really need good photography equipment to do this at night.

Leif and AB wanted to do the Astro-Orbiter. I wasn’t so thrilled, but that was fine. We all stood in line and listened to the music and watched the characters dance. Finally up at the top – you take an elevator up – Leif was my driver.

I guess one of my observations at Magic Kingdon was that everything seemed a bit old. When I think of how everything looked the same as when I was in Disneyland 25 years ago… and it seemed a bit dated then, it made me start to wonder when most of those rides were built?

This is not a good thought to have while getting ready to go up in the Astro-Orbiter. Because what if a few bolts broke and it sent Leif and me – or AB and Skadi hurtling through the air???

Leif insisted on flying us all the way to the top and not going up or down at all.

I told him he was scaring me and the little turkey only laughed.

Cruel child. He learned this from his father.

Soon enough the ride was over and we were forced down.

Thankfully.

As though I hadn’t had enough I ran over with Leif in tow to make the Space Mountain fast passes. AB and Skadi went in search of dinner as Leif and I flew past the throngs of people lined up. Here is where the fast passes kind of suck though. As we are walking through Leif is seeing video games that you play while waiting! And lots of information about space!

We aren’t ride junkies. We like the information just as much. Ok, *I* like the information… Leif just likes the video games.

We hop on the ride and can I just say that this was NOT the same Space Mountain as the one in Disneyland. It was bumpy and creaky and wow I was glad when that was over. It is official, I do not like roller coasters at all. Leif went running up to dad and started raving… about the video games he saw.

Can’t we go back in and do the video games?

We hurried ourselves over to an obscure little room at the Contemporary – we weren’t the only ones running late trying to find it – for our Pirates and Pals fireworks cruise. We signed in, got our bandanas and stood in line. (I know, surprise, huh?)

When we were finally released into the waiting room I felt like I was my grandmother. They had free snacks! And free bottles of water! Disney had turned me into my grandmother who covets free items. I think AB and I were so used to opening our wallets for every.single.thing that when presented with “free” things, we went a bit nuts with ordering the kids back to the table to get more packaged brownies and gee mommy would really like another bag of SmartFood, and oh, while you are at it, how about another bottle of water, hmmm?

Yes, I know. Free is in the mind. We had paid big time for the cruise. So it wasn’t really free… just prepaid… but it helps me to think that I was getting something for free.

We hung out and met Captain Hook and Mr. Smee. Skadi walked right up and told Captain Hook to “WALK THE PLANK SCURVY DOG!” This was met with lots of chuckling from the staff.

We headed out to the boats where we watched the electric boat parade, then the Disney fireworks. AB likes to be right up there under the fireworks. This worked best for me. I despise crowds and it was getting crowded in Magic Kingdom as people were saving their spots 1.5 hours before the fireworks. Our emcee for the event was a great pirate, but I did wonder how loaded he had to get to do this every evening?

Leif won a Pirate pistol. Skadi won a pirate ducky. (More “free” stuff.) The fact that Leif won the Pirate pistol made it all the more special and AB and I spent the entire remainder of the trip saying, “no you cannot take the pistol to X”.

When we got back Peter Pan met the boat and then hugged each kid and posed for a picture. One of the staff saw Skadi coming and yelled to Peter, “watch out for that one, she told Captain Hook to walk the plank!”

We finally landed back at the hotel, fully exhausted, with two sleeping kids. Ever try getting two sleeping kids and a stroller and backpack off a shuttle bus? Somehow I got stuck carrying Leif… I can barely lift him anymore, let alone carry him off a bus. AB did have Skadi, the backpack and the stroller though. Yeah, it was brutal. But we got them back to the hotel room with neither waking.

Then we crashed.

Four Ingredients

to deliciousness.

When I was a little kid I loved getting the phone call from my grandma saying that they were having hamhocks and beans for dinner. Because it meant that I got to go over to their house and eat it with them.

My grandpa would mix up four ingredients and come out with my favorite dish - or one of two of my favorite dishes (the other being tuna fish casserole). One of my favorite memories is sitting there at that old metal table of theirs eating ham hocks and beans with my Pa.

My version:

Soak one bag of Great Northern beans overnight.

Brown 4-6 ham hocks on all sides in a large stock pot.
Remove ham hocks.
Cook 1 diced onion in stock pot (if need be, add a bit of canola oil so it doesn't stick).
Cook until translucent.
Add 2 quarts of chicken broth.
Add soaked Great Northern beans.
Return ham hocks to pan and bring to a boil.
Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook for 2-3 hours.
Salt as needed.
Enjoy.

I have worked the kids up to eating the ham from the soup. And the other day Leif ate a bean accidentally that stuck to the inside of the ham. And it wasn't awful! I will have them eating ham hocks and beans. It is a family tradition on my side of the family that runs as deep as Swedies on AB's side.

Princesses Galore!

The most magical evening we were at Disneyworld was that Saturday night with the princesses. We managed reservations at Akershus for the princess dinner courtesy of friends who held the reservations previously, but were giving them up after lucking into a Cinderella Castle dinner. A little finagling and wrangling with the online reservation site and we were in!


Akershus is a Norwegian restaurant and for that reason, we were thrilled to have dinner there.

Skadi dressed up like a princess, Leif in nice clothes (after whining about "princesses, ick") and we all hauled it back to Epcot. (Yeah, don't pay attention to the shoes... I was willing to haul the princess dress... I wasn't hauling a pair of dress shoes that she might - or might not - wear.)




For having reservations, we were surprised at the line. We were checked in, informed that they were running behind and told to wait in front of the restaurant.


We wandered over to the Norwegian shop. All while keeping our ears peeled for our announcement.


Soon after they started announcing families.


And we waited some more.


Finally we were lead into the restaurant.


Belle was ready to meet the kids at the front and much to our surprise we were presented with a photo of the kids with Belle with wallet sized photos too! Explanation of the high price was now starting to become apparent.



The kids ordered from their menu - Leif opted for the roast chicken. Skadi for the pasta and sauce. I ordered something I couldn't pronounce - meat wrapped in pastry. Never can go wrong with that and AB ordered the beef tips. There was a buffet to partake in while we waited, which was super nice. Both kids filled up on salmon, cheese and crackers.


Then we saw our daughter's eyes grow wide!


She wanted to get up and run over and wrap her arms around Aurora. But we convinced her to wait patiently at the table and she would be there soon.




For all the princesses ick we heard from Leif, he didn't miss out on the photo ops.



Midway through there was a princess processional where the princesses brought the little girls (including the one dressed like Buzz Lightyear) out onto the floor and they paraded around the restaurant waving at the onlookers. Snow White picked Skadi to walk right behind her and Skadi beamed the entire processional!


The highlight of the evening came at the end for Skadi.

Ariel.



And she realized quickly that she was Skadi's favorite. She helped her twirl and then gave her a big smooch on the cheek that left red lipstick marks that Skadi wore like a trophy the next day. We were not allowed to wash her face.



The food was "eh". My meat wrapped pastry was missing the pastry and the gravy a bit sweet for my tastes. AB's beef tips lackluster. The kids loved their food, the dessert plate (we got the whole plate of desserts, no picking) was great and after Leif asked for a second chocolate mousse (and we protested that we did NOT need another chocolate mousse), they brought him one. Oh well. Three chocolate mousses in one day (one from the French pastry shop earlier)... Disneyworld doesn't happen everyday.


I expected grumblings from my frugal husband about the bill.


"Seeing the look on Skadi's face that entire dinner was worth the price," he declared.

And Skadi declares this as her favorite part of Disneyworld.

That place with the big silver ball

It is called Apricot. According to Leif.

At the Will Call window the attendant (coincidentally from Walla Walla, so she knew that Washington is a state and that SE Washington state is dry) said to Leif, "are you ready to go to Epcot?"

"No, I am going to a place called Apricot," he said matter of factly and continued to call Epcot, Apricot for the entire trip.

We hit a few rides - Spaceship Earth (the big silver ball), Skadi's favorite was the Finding Nemo ride and then we got hungry and headed to the pavillions for some lunch. After fish and chips at the British pavillion we walked out and much to our surprise, there was someone waiting to meet Skadi!

Skadi went right up to her and told her she had seen her movie. Or actually, she said (as I have been corrected a number of times now) "I saw the movie you were in!" Mary Poppins was super, very sweet and very in character.

Since AB and Leif weren't terribly interested they headed across the way to the French pavillion as chocolate mousse and fluffy pastries seemed much more interesting to them!

Skadi and I followed and had a photo op on the bridge...

When we crossed the bridge we were met by...

Actually I have no idea who she is, I think an Aristocat. Skadi was still excited to pose with her.

After some pastries and feeling absolutely stuffed, we headed back to the rides for AB and Leif to hit the Mission Mars ride and Skadi and I thought we would go on the Finding Nemo ride again.

That was the plan until we saw through a window something else going on...

And then the big one...

We had a relatively non-busy day at Epcot. As we were still figuring out how Disney worked, we could have been far more effective in hitting the big things.

After meeting up with friends to talk to Crush (the turtle) and getting our picture taken in front of the big silver ball with them, we headed back to the hotel for some pool time and "relaxation" before the big evening... dinner with the Princesses at Akershus.

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Our room was pirate themed - who can resist a picture of sleeping kids in a pirate ship bed?

Dolphins and Whales and Manatees oh my!

AB and the kids arrived in Orlando at about midnight Thursday night. They crashed hard after a long day of travel and then got up and headed to SeaWorld. I joined them mid-day after my conference ended.

Before I got to SeaWorld - AB and the kids took in the Shamu show and raved about the 400 lb "baby".

However, they really raved about the Dolphin show, and since Skadi loved it so, and I hadn't seen it, we hit it again.

See how close we are? AB set us in the "splash zone", where I kept saying, "are you sure we want to sit here?" Yes, he assured us. We won't get *that* wet, plus look how close we are!

This is where I should learn not to implicitely trust my well meaning husband. Yes, this time we didn't get *that* wet... days later though at Animal Kingdom the definition of soaked comes in.

We left the show and Skadi whined, "I want to do it now!" And since I am a sucker for my daughter loving animals. We went over and fed the dolphins.

Hello there!

That night we shuttled over to our new hotel - The Caribbean Beach Resort - a Disney Resort.

The happiest (and busiest) place on earth

I went to a conference in Orlando last week. Back when I was contemplating the conference we decided that we would transform it into a family vacation! Orlando for the family! Yay! So when the day arrived, I kissed my family goodbye and got on the plane, anxious to see them 5 nights later.

Disneyworld. What an institution. We had a good time. The kids enjoyed it. But no, we don't have intentions of going back, maybe ever! Part of this is probably that as I stated before and now I can confirm that it just isn't our type of vacation. I thought I might be proved wrong and that we would all fall in love. But even the kids aren't chomping at the bit to go back. We are very happy we have gone, and very happy we did it when we did (Skadi being 3.5 and Leif being 6). But nobody was crying about leaving.

Should you decide to go... here are my suggestions. Subsequent posts will serve as my travelogue and you will be subjected to vacation photos and details!

1. Plan. In the world of Disney vacations, you can't plan enough. Flying by the seat of your pants isn't really going to work here. I planned a bit - as much time as I could afford as I have been so busy the past few months - but I could have planned substantially more. And I AM a planner. Things to plan outside of your arrival and departure? Where you are going each day, what restaurants you will eat at (you need reservations well in advance for many), what additional activities you might want to do (we did a Pirate fireworks cruise). Once you decide the days you are going to be there start getting your reservations. You can always cancel reservations - or at least many of them you can - but reservations can be hard to come by the closer you get.

2. Prepare. Learn as much as humanly possible about what to expect. Spend time just reading those Disney vacation websites and discussion boards. I didn't do this, that whole lack of time thing. I checked it out if I had an occasional question in advance, but I could have never anticipated the number of questions that I would have once there.

3. When I was on the plane the woman next to me called this our "learning trip" and suggested I not expect a lot because of the learning curve, no matter how you prepare. She wasn't kidding. Those first two days we were on our learning curve and could have been so much more effective had I prepared mentally for it.

4. Know your vacation style. AB and I aren't the type of people to hang out at a hotel room or at a pool. We get out and get things done. While it would have been absolutely fantastic to be at the Contemporary directly next to the Magic Kingdom, it is a fair bit of money and we were nearly never at the hotel to do much other than rest or squeeze in a swim (if we could) for an hour in the afternoon or to sleep. Decide where you want to spend your money in advance. A nice hotel? Or in the parks? Dining maybe?

5. Money. Have lots. This place is freaky expensive. $2.50 for a bottle of water.

6. Consider shopping in advance. I was lucky and had a car for the week prior and took one lunchtime to run to Whole Foods and stock up since the hotels have fridges in the rooms. I bought yogurt sticks, water (I didn't buy enough), granola bars, juice boxes, cheese sticks (which my kids devoured in two days), bananas and a few other snacks. I had heard that the resorts have "grocery stores" and so I didn't buy a ton. Mistake. I should have bought more. Keep in mind that what the "grocery stores" stock are the popular things that the general public like and IMO, not terribly healthy options. If you are particular about this type of thing, like I am - yes, I know we are on vacation - then shop in advance as best as you can. We plowed through everything we had and the "grocery stores" stock individual things that are freaky expensive. If you don't have the luxury of a car rental to go buy food, consider a cab on day one to a local grocery store to stock up. I should also caveat this with the fact that we ate breakfast in our rooms all but one day. Just one place we were willing to cut corners to save a bit of money.

7. Consider your level of foodie and adjust your vacation accordingly. AB and I are foodies. I had read a number of places about the fabulous food at Disney, everywhere. Yeah, we weren't impressed for the most part. AB and I covet our yummy home breakfasts and knew that nothing could live up, so we planned low key breakfasts in our rooms. Lunches (save for one) were on the fly. (Pinnochio's Grill in Fantasyland had a great meatball sandwich.) And dinners were all reservations. Now that said, the best meal we had was at The Tusker House in Animal Kingdom - for lunch. The only lunch reservation I grabbed. The other meals were decent - Boma was good and our second favorite. But by our foodie standards, the meals were lacking. Plan according to your love (or not) of food.

8. Prepare mentally for lines! There are lines for everything. Obviously for the rides - get Fast Passes EVEN if you arrive and the ride is "only 30 minutes of wait". Get your Fast Pass and go do something/anything with less wait. That is the only way to maximize your time. There are also lines even when you have reservations. Also know that it takes awhile for the "wait times" to update. There were a few rides that boasted 15 minute wait times and we were in line for 45 mins (Peter Pan) and others that stated a 50 minute wait and we waited for 20 minutes. It takes A LOT of time to update those wait times. How they do it? I was picked to hold a tag when we got in line for the Astro Orbiter and when I handed it to the agent on the other end, they timed how long it took me to get there. So their new wait time took a good 45 minutes to update.

9. Figure out in advance how to get places. We were late for only one reservation - Boatwright's at Port Orleans. We were told to shuttle to Downtown Disney, get on the boat and go to Port Orleans. Wrong. Shuttle to Downtown Disney - find the one of three boats that will take you to Port Orleans, ride the boat (which was gorgeous), get off at Port Orleans RIVERSIDE, not the French Quarter. We were 20 minutes late at a half full restaurant and were treated as though we had completely screwed their entire night. It should have been one of our best meals, but it wasn't simply because of our service (they brought all our food - appetizers and main dish at once, and then packaged up our dessert to go - since they were trying to keep their schedule... in their half filled restaurant.)

10. Build in flex time. Don't schedule tightly. You will spend more time everywhere than you anticipate.

I read through this and realize it sounds as though I didn't have a great time. We did have a great time - the rides were good - and neither AB nor I are ride people at all and we learned that Leif has a tolerance at about our same level. Seeing Skadi encounter the characters was great. And seeing Leif in Hogsmeade (which we ventured in a cab off property for at Universal Studios) was truly spectacular. More about all that later!

Happy Thanksgiving all. We are recovering today, hosting my mother in law this weekend (she flies in this afternoon) and we will have our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow once we recover.

Leading the conference life

It seems that nearly every profession holds conferences. Opportunities for people within the industry to get together, tell about what they are doing, shake hands, exchange business cards and hear about the cutting edge technology. It seems we always hear about medical conferences, but conferences penetrate many, many areas. On Sunday when I was flying down to Orlando a group of guys next to me were coming down for their conference, with their company, John Deere. My company doesn't host conferences in neat areas...

AB's does. Well, I suppose if you can call Baltimore neat. But last summer we compared notes about his conference and my - albeit limited - conference experiences. At his conference there was free flowing alcohol and bars that were opened with the purpose of partying at the hotels.

You can't do this for my organization.

It's called bribes and kick backs and we learn all about it on an annual basis in our required ethics training.

I am not a common fixture on the conference circuit. This past year I have travelled seven times and only one was for an open (as in nearly anyone can attend) conference. I attend client meetings and program reviews routinely. But conferences? Not really.

In the past few years I have obtained a new client who likes a lot for us to share all the great and wonderful things we have done on the projects and so when this conference came onto my radar - coincidentally about the same time I had been discussing Disneyland and Disneyworld with my friends - I jumped.

Ok, I will admit that being a bit out of the loop on the public conference circuit, that I wasn't quite sure what to expect. And like all walks of life, you get all types of people. Ok, so with scientists - maybe you get a bit more of a certain type of people... those people that may or may not look like Einstein and are absolutely brilliant, but a bit lacking in the social sense.

I have had the pleasure of hanging out with my good friend R, this week. I think she is a bit more versed in the conference routine and so it has been nice to have her here. Oh and while she is brilliant, she isn't one of the socially awkward ones and in fact is a bit outgoing. (Which I am not.) I suck at walking up and introducing myself.

The conference has been nice - the food has been mostly hit, with a few misses. Truly, the fact that they are feeding us at all is nice and unexpected.

We both had posters to present. For those of you unfamiliar with the routine, a poster session is where you are given a few hours to stand in an approximately 4' x 8' x 2' piece of real estate and answer questions presented to you by anyone who walks up and inquires about your research. Poster... this is your prop. It's what shows the project or projects you are presenting and displays your groundbreaking (or not) research.

This is also the opportunity for all those socially awkward people to purchase alcohol at the end of the long day.

Given my introverted nature, I am not terribly fond of poster sessions. I would actually rather stand up in front of a crowd and at a podium for 20 minutes and present my research to people than stand for 2 hours and be one on one with people. Just my preference.

This may go back to my first ever poster sessions as a grad student.

One of them I was scooped. My very first poster session I talked at length to a group of guys from Stanford about my research who then published my research 6-9 months later. Scooped.

The second poster session I had a leach of a Japanese professor who wouldn't leave me alone. He smelled of alcohol, patted my butt and then offered me a post-doc position in his lab in Japan and suggested I come back to his room to discuss "opportunities". I quickly grabbed the older male Chinese post-doc in my group and with some difficulty (he spoke little English) managed to convey to him to not leave my side.

No such experiences at this conference. One man (who was slurring his words a fair bit) thought my research would make for a fascinating CSI episode and suggested I should write a screenplay and sell it. My two hours went by fairly quickly, thankfully.

We are halfway through the conference and I would call it a success. I met one of the reviewers for the proposals I have out currently who smiled, told me he thought he recognized my name, but he was very sorry he could not speak to me anymore about my research once I told him I had these two proposals pending.

I have shaken hands, exchanged business cards, tried not to act too naive or inexperienced. I have stood at grad students posters and smiled while they eagerly explained their research to me while it dawned on me that I am at least 15 years their senior and wasn't it just yesterday that I was doing this? I met up with current and former coworkers and even a parent of one of the students working on one of my projects - who looked amazingly young and once again reminded me that maybe I am not as young as I think I am.

It's been a good week. But frankly, I am counting the hours until AB arrives with the kids and the Disney and Harry Potter fun begins.

Why gymnasts don't wear shoes.

Skadi is a story teller. And what is a bit scary, is that she is surprisingly convincing. I am not a great storyteller. Neither is Leif. I am absolutely convinced that Skadi would make a great lawyer. The girl argues her point till you give up in frustration, she has the quickest comebacks, and she can spin a yarn like nobody.

She told me all about what happened to her gymnastics teacher the other day.

Skadi: “My teacher was on the edge of the foam pit, and I threw a foam block at her, and she fell all the way down the stairs. THEN she rolled all the way down a mountain and when she got to the bottom of the mountain, she rolled into a very deep lake. Then a snake swam up and bit her, but the snake didn’t think she tasted good and spit her right out! When he spit her out she flew on to the top of a house and she landed on her feet. But it was so hard that her shoes broke! And that is why she doesn’t wear shoes to gymnastics. Isn’t that silly?”

Me: “Wow. That is crazy silly.”

Adding to the list...

Remember when you were 13 years old and you found out that Michael Jackson was coming to town? Ok, so it was to the city 6 hours away, but your dad agreed to take you if you stood in line and got tickets? And there was only a small block of tickets sent to the sporting goods store at the mall in your tiny town, because it was, well, a tiny town comparatively. And so you stood in line, shaking with anticipation! Would you get the tickets?? Would you? Would you be holding Michael Jackson tickets? Or would it all just have been for naught?

Ok, so flash forward 25 years. Technology may be different. But I sat on the computer after the kids were in bed trying to pick up dinner reservations.

Not for the French Laundry. Or Chez Pannise.

Nope. I sat there trying to get reservations for dinner with princesses.

At Disneyworld.

Because I know my daughter would flip.

Yes, I had lunch reservations, but good friends we will be traveling with had coveted dinner reservations they were looking to unload in favor of other options they lucked into. Making the princess dinner my coveted goal. We timed it all. We sat on the phone. And I hit "Search for a Table" over and over and over and over.

Then it happened.

And we cheered.

Thanks for sharing that experience with me. (And yes, when I was 13 I did see Michael Jackson in concert. All five of the Jacksons appeared to be less than an inch tall from our nosebleed seats reserved for the Casper, Wyoming block at the top of Mile High Stadium in Denver. I don't normally readily admit to this. It's your special day.)

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I have this huge list of things that before I had kids I swore I would never do... and it seems I just keep adding to that list. I mentioned a few months ago the main one of recent... Disneyworld.

We are well onto our countdown to liftoff. There was a little trauma last week when I realized I had miscounted the days way back when we were on something like 47 sleeps until DisneyWorld. Then last week the numbers got smaller and I realized I was off by a day.

Me: "Sorry Leif, we are really 15 days to DisneyWorld, not 14."

Leif: "WHAT! NO! You are wrong! We counted all this time!"

It was a rough day, with a bit of arguing. Yes, mommy makes mistakes on occasion.

I suppose it could be said that I have embraced this vacation completely.

In typical NM ding dong fashion, I realized last week when I was mapping my hotel that "oh, look, it looks like it is pretty close to SeaWorld." Then I found my hotel online to see if they happened to have shuttle buses and found out that I am actually staying at the Fairfield Inn AT SEAWORLD.

Ok, so that Friday that I have to work a bit, AB and the kids will have an easy source of entertainment at their toes. Love how that works.

I have the hotel booked, park tickets bought. You might think that sounds about normal... but then the list continues... and this is where those lists of things I would never do comes back to haunt me. Covet the reservations. What reservations can I score?

Dinner with the Princesses on Saturday
Pirates and Pals Firework cruise booked
Animal Kingdom Tusker House lunch booked
Finding Nemo musical reserved seating booked
Dinner with friends at Boma booked
Harry Potter Land all scouted out
Dinner at Boatwrights (the old boat making shop) is the special treat for AB.

Leif in typical OCD fashion has become all obsessed with Harry Potter Land and the website. He plans to go to Olivanders first to get his wand (with his own money) and has asked that we bring the special pencil (an eyeliner pencil) to draw his lightning bolt scar on his forehead (or two-head if you are Skadi).

It will be quite an adventure for the family!

Wanderlust Take Two... or Three?

I was a bit surprised to see that my last blog was from nearly two weeks ago. A bit surprised, but not totally. See my team had this big review in DC and we have been working literally night and day to prepare for it. Since I defended my dissertation, this may be the most important presentation I (actually we) have ever made in my career to date. We did it! We got compliments! We were successful in conveying our information! Phew!

While in DC I had hoped to connect up with good friends who moved there recently. Unfortunately it just didn't work out. On conference travel a person is a bit more free to wander around and meet up. But when meeting with a client for two days, the constraints are greater. But that's not to say that I didn't think about them often while there.

I really like Washington DC a lot. I have been there three times in the past year alone and I don't see this visit schedule declining at all in the coming months. I enjoy the Metro and moving through the city easily. I absolutely love the history and the museums and monuments. And I love the good food.

All these are things, I remind myself, that as a resident of a city you don't necessarily view as positively. The Metro probably gets tiring - a friend of mine who recently returned from an offsite assignment in DC cited that everything was hard. Getting groceries was hard, taking kids to a park was hard. That we don't know how easy we have it in a rural region where you hop in the car and drive a mile (if that) to the grocery store. I can see this. I have been in big cities to know that the convenience of public transit as a visitor translates into limitations as a resident.

The museums and monuments? Well just as I don't spend my time in wineries all the time (contrary to popular belief, of course), we wouldn't spend all our time learning through immersion. Same with the food - a different cuisine experience each night is fine while on travel, but not realistic as a family.

I wondered what it would be like to pick up and move? Ok, not the whole logistics aspect - that's a pain and my friends who moved in August are still living this pain. But picking up and starting over in a new town where establishing friendships starts at square one, getting to know the area, the endless options... it all seems somewhat romantic I guess! An adventure!

On the way home we flew into Atlanta. This is a part of the country that I have never been in. I didn't order iced tea at lunch out of fear it would be sweetened. There was lots of big hair and people I had trouble understanding. But it was different! And gorgeous as we flew in and out and saw all the trees. What would it be like to live in the South?

Oh then the mountains of Colorado, we flew right over those and I could identify the ski areas from the sky. And the snow. I love the snow. I miss the snow. Maybe we will get some this year.

Then I thought about the area my children were growing up in - very little snow, very little history I want to share with them at this age, though maybe when they are older they will appreciate growing up in the area that produced the first plutonium for the atomic bombs... no scratch that. Nevermind. Very little recent history, though a significant amount of interesting geological history. Yes, that is what they will learn!

I was a bit down as I ran to my flight in SLC. My poor kids, growing up in an uncool place. Sure, it is great for raising families, but at what cost?

Then we started approaching Southeast Washington and I was filled with fondness. AB and I both have very good jobs. I love what I do - I am very lucky in that aspect. Look at all the crops out there finishing up the remainder of the season. Wow, we are lucky to live in a place with access to fresh fruits and vegetables. And our friends.

I am not sure we would ever find friends like those we have made here. Not to mention, the schools! How could I forget about the high quality schools we have?

Snow? We can drive to that. Museums make for a fun vacation. Eating out? So we don't do it much here, but my kids will grow up to be great cooks and to know good food from the ground to the table.

Wanderlust? Nevermind. I am fine here.

Soccer

This year we signed Leif up for the semi-competitive soccer league. It's semi-competitive at this age - competitive in another year or so.

Leif missed the age cutoff by one day. In order to play U6 (since he is 6 years old) he would have had to have been born after July 30th. His birthday is July 29th, so he is the youngest on the team. I debated filing a petition to have him "play down" so he would be with the kids in his year, but I didn't. He is a soccer kid and is used to playing with older kids at school.

Then his team didn't have a coach.

And AB - being the good sport that he is - finally raised his hand and volunteered.

It's been a learning experience. AB's patience is running a bit thin at this point.

There is one boy on the team who is good, and quite serious. The others... including my son... have decided that being competitive isn't all its cracked up to be, listening is optional and making Coach put his hand over his eyes and shake his head is funny.

Here the kids are warming up. Look at AB's stride. This is where he is walking over to say something like "come on guys..." See the boys are very concerned about which ball they kick during warm up. They were sorting out the balls here "wasting time".

We have 7 kids on our team. They play three on three with no goalie, which is actually a step back from the summer YMCA team. So this means that there is plenty of time on the sidelines.

Here Leif is getting ready to do a goal kick. He likes to take his time setting up his goal kicks. (AB is looking a bit frustrated here.)

"Kick the ball Leif!"

Half time is always fun too... AB is trying to talk to the boys about listening. They just want to blow his whistle.

Oh well. As long as the kids are having fun!

What my kids did not get from me...

The tree climbing gene. I didn't get one. I never had a desire to climb up a tree pretty much ever.

AB might even tell you a story about the day we went for a walk and I got stuck in a tree. About four feet off the ground.

My kids didn't inherit that fear.

Skadi begged and begged for me to put her in the tree. She had refused to put shoes on earlier so I told her no, she couldn't go in the tree because she didn't have shoes on.

She was back 30 seconds later.

Fancy shoes and all.

I don't balk too much when she decides to hang out in the tree. I just grab the camera. Because being in a tree means smiles. And stillness. I am not chasing her for a picture.

Nope, I can get cute smiley pictures, like this:

Or this:

Or cute serious pictures like this:

All the while I am ignoring what is going on in the other tree. Something I want no part of at all. Something that I think is just wrong. Because I shouldn't have to look up and search for my son and find him 15' off the ground in a tree.

If at first you don’t succeed…

Increase the numbers!

So we heard the other day about Skadi’s new best friend, Linda. The key point to take home regarding Linda is that SHE does not have to go to school every day. Linda told her mommy that she didn’t want to go to school anymore and so Linda gets to stay home every day and do nothing.

Well that creative tactic didn’t work so well in trying to convince me not to take her to preschool.
So this morning I was introduced to Lala.

Lala also doesn’t have to go to school and also gets to stay home. This means that Lala gets to go play with Skadi’s best friend, Linda, ALL the time. And poor Skadi misses out.

Homebound weekend

It is incredible how productive a person can be when they are stuck at home. That would be me this past weekend.

Friday night Skadi fell asleep early saying she wasn't feeling well. By 11:30pm, she was up. Every 30 minutes she was up. Until 4am.

We would just start to fall asleep when she would yell again, "MOMMY I FREWUP!"

And AB and I would start the routine all over, AB swapping out towels under her head or changing sheets as necessary, me pulling off her jammies, wiping off her face, getting her a drink of water and comforting her. It was a long night.

We aren't used to this routine. My daughter, like me, gets carsick. But viral stomach stuff isn't a common visitor in our house. I read on Facebook updates from friends whose kids are sick, once again, with the stomach flu and I give thanks that it isn't us. Now, viral respiratory crud knows our address well.

I felt awful for my daughter, but figured I might as well make the most of the weekend stuck at home by actually doing some of the things I have been talking about tackling.

My October goal is to organize spaces. Namely, the kids' drawers and closets, their toys (I am itching to get rid of lots of plastic things that reside in the bottoms of toy buckets - I can't watch Toy Story right now, it might ruin my mojo). I also have stacks upon stacks of things to go back into the pretty play room. I need to go through all that stuff first. I refuse to put things back that we won't use or will just be clutter. I am not getting rid of the kids' Geotrax, the play kitchen and play food or the Little People things. Those items got a free pass back into the playroom. Everything else has had to prove its worthiness. Also on the reorg list is the garage... AB and his sister have been working that.

Accomplished? Skadi's dresser, her closet, her bedroom toys and 80% of the toys sorted for the playroom. Four large Rubbermaid bins were filled with size 2T clothes and baby/toddler toys. Not to mention the garage was worked to the just over 50% point. (Can you tell I am in earned value mode? Percent completes. I deem this project to be on schedule with a positive cost variance... I haven't spent any money on this project... yet.)

On top of the reorg going on in the house we also tackled spaghetti sauce this weekend and ended Saturday with 19 containers of fresh (now frozen) sauce. AB and I started this ritual either before or after Leif was born. We can't really remember. But in the 6 or so years we have perfected our recipe and even the kids don't care for the bottled stuff. We eat a lot of spaghetti sauce throughout the year - this should last us about 6 months we figure. I like knowing that this staple of ours all fresh at the peak vegies and no sugar.

I think it was Alice Waters who said, "if you have to add sugar to your spaghetti sauce then make pesto".

On Sunday we started the morning with homemade pumpkin pie (described yesterday) and load after load of laundry.

Of course the downside to this extreme productivity in a germ laden house is that come Monday night child #2 started vomiting. AB and I felt the nausea worm over us that evening and both woke up and told respective employers we would see them Wednesday.

As I am feeling much better I am thinking I can attempt continued organization efforts upstairs.

Or I could just go watch Glee instead.

Conversations with my kids

Skadi: "Mommy, what is on your two head?"

Me: "My what?"

Skadi: "Your two head, what is on your two head?"

Me: "What is my two head?"

Skadi: (Reaches up and touches my forehead.)

AB: "She must think you have a small forehead."

-----

Sunday, 7am I walk out of the bedroom and Leif is sitting there. It appears that he has been up for awhile, but he has been getting scolded for waking us up at 6am on the weekends. He is to play quietly until we get up and only come in and jump on the bed if he really needs us.

Leif: "Oh good you are up!"

Me: "Yep, I am up."

Leif: "Can we make a pumpkin pie now?"

Me: "Umm, a pumpkin pie?"

Leif: "Yes, I was thinking about pumpkin pie and I would like some."

Me: "Ok, let's go make a pumpkin pie."

And so we did.

Meet Linda

Skadi announced today that she has a new friend. After a bit of a pause, she told us that her friend's name is Linda.

Linda doesn't boss her around like some friends do. (She has been fast friends recently with a new kindergartener who apparently friends the younger kids so she has someone to boss around. But Skadi's teacher said that she is getting wise to this and the friendship is on the rocks.)

Linda has long hair down to her toes.

Linda was sick this past weekend. Poor girl.

Linda doesn't want to go to school anymore and HER mommy said that she could just stay home.

Linda also has big feet.

And long arms that hug Skadi really good cause they are so long.

Linda lives next door to us also and Skadi can go over there and play whenever her brother is mean to her.

Linda's mom makes her hair beautiful every single day.

My favorite kitchen items

You know in cooking magazines how they interview famous people or celebrity chefs and ask them what their five favorite kitchen items are? I love that. I love reading what they pick and making snap judgments on whether they are (in the case of the famous people at least) serious cooks or not. "Ha! They picked a strainer? How boring!"

You will note that no one has asked me this question before. Nope, I am not famous. I have written a few journal articles and long reports. A dissertation about 9 years ago. But nothing that you would have picked up and enjoyed for light reading.

Given this, I may as well preempt the question and go ahead and tell you what my favorite kitchen items are. I am sticking with small items, not appliances, because yes, my Professional Kitchen Aid mixer is near the top of the list. But I don't know anyone whose Kitchen Aid isn't at the top!

#5 - Bamboo utensils. I have had all types. Wooden, plastic, rubberized, silicone, but nothing beats bamboo. Wooden splinters. After awhile so done silicone. Plastic gets hot and melts. Yes, bamboo will burn, but plastic also scrapes. When reaching my utensils I nearly always go to the bamboo ones.

#4 - Stainless Steel Nesting Bowls. Ok, mine aren't All Clad, but they are thick and heavy duty. Not wimpy stainless steel bowls! Love them. #3 - ok, no amateur / home cook / chef isn't going to throw a good knife into the mix. Mine is the Henckels Twin 8" Chef knife.

#2 - Long before I had kids I thought griddles were silly. Who needs a big old pan when you have a good skillet? This was also before I had a nice gas stove too. Now I have a nice gas stove and two kids who gobble up pancakes (with chocolate chips in them) and the All Clad griddle is my Sunday morning time saver.

#1 - My baby. The one that prompted this post as I lovingly scrubbed her this evening making sure to remove all the sticky residue... my Flame colored 7 quart Le Creuset Dutch Oven. I don't know what it is about Le Creuset - must be the colors - same thing happens in the Target dollar aisles - but the colors beckon me. I want another - in Cassis.

Invariably AB comes in and asks me what I am blogging about. I told him. So now here are his 5 favorite kitchen items. (His are in no particular order, because he listed them off for me and took off. So they are appearing in the order I uploaded them.)

Immersion Blender - We don't have this one, but we have a nice one with all the attachments. Great for quick BBQ sauce or puree'ing just about anything in the kitchen.

A good cutting board with a trench for the juices. Carve away and the juices collect for sauces and not all over the counter!

A mortar and pestle. Yes, we have like three of these. And big heavy ones too. And you know what? AB uses them all. I am quite positive that he has spice mixes in at least two right now. He also added in a spice grinder ( aka coffee grinder) - but that is just about the same thing and he only gets five choices.

A mandolin. My mom bought AB his mandolin - this brand actually - with the agreement that he would not cut himself. Guess what he did the first night? He was watching for his fingers and forgot about the heel of his hand. We all learned a lesson that evening and the mandolin has taken no more victims. Of course, I avoid the thing like the plague because it scares me.

As I said above, every cook has their favorite knife. For AB it is the 10" carver with fork. Great knife.

What are your favorite kitchen items?

2010 nearing the end

It’s that time of year with the change of seasons, the coolness of the weather (hello sweaters, I have missed you!), the end of the fiscal year 2010 that reminds me that there are only 3 months left in 2010. The real 2010. Not this fake business of starting 2011 three months early.

Fall is my favorite season. I used to write “by far” on the end of that sentence. But I have to admit that living in this region has altered my perception of the seasons. I have blogged about this before, somewhere, some long past day. I am less fond of winter here than anywhere I have lived previously. I love winter, I love snow. We don’t get that much here. We get grey, dreary, foggy, rainy crud with cold. Living in Colorado it wasn’t unusual to have a foot of snow one day and a sunny 60 degree day the following. Here it is the same old all the time. Grey, dreary, so foggy I am hoping I am walking the right way to my building fog, and cold. Not to mention a serious lack of understanding regarding driving on ice or snow (on the occasion that it does snow).

Ok, you get it. Winter leaves a bit to be desired here aside from the fact that I get to wear sweaters.

Spring. I never really cared about spring before, but now I love it because it means an end to the dreary, grey foggy crud. Then summer… what’s not to love about summer when you live in a major agricultural area?

Anyways. Fall. It’s the last hurrah, the last full season of 2010 before the rainy, dreary grey crud sets in. Inevitably I look towards the next three months and start planning the countdown to the holidays, the activities, the travel… the last hurrah of 2010.

On 2010 Goals

I got a lot accomplished with my goals method this year. And I still have a bit of time left. 2011 will be better, I know it will.

In August I meant to paint to my dining room and redecorate a bit. We started on this and then AB got a bee in his bonnet. (I love that saying.) He decided to replace the nasty flooring in the playroom with bamboo laminate. It is now complete, but the dining room redecorate went on hold. Then when success was in sight for the playroom it went on an even bigger hold when I decided that part of the dining room redecorate WILL involve installation of hard wood floors. We need a bit of time to save for this renovation, AB needs a few weekends whereby floor install is not on his list, and then new floors in the dining room (and office across the foyer… you can’t do one and not the other) will be mine!

So that takes us to October goals… I need to get the playroom reassembled. Yes, I know I can dump everything we pulled out of there back in likely this Sunday. But I have a fear of this. Because in the stacks of stuff, we have baby toys and way too much crap that the kids don’t use.

October is going to be the organization month. My goal is to go through the kids’ toys and throw away, donate, give away the stuff that is going unused. Then I need to settle on an organization strategy for the playroom. I am planning clothesline style art hangers for the kids’ (read Skadi’s) art. I am also moving the big, huge photos of the kids up there. And I am loading my sister in law up with whatever she is willing to take furniture-wise from that room.

In addition to organizing the playroom I also need to go through the kids’ dressers. Change out the summer stuff for winter stuff. Remove the stuff they have grown out of, etc.

AB’s October goals? (Yes, he IS jumping onto my goals bandwagon!) It’s to organize the garage. Oh and I think he wants help with that.

Also on the October list, now that I have a new sewing machine (thank you Freya dog…) is to resume and finish my quilting project.

November goals? Dare I say replace the floors in the dining room and office? No. I probably shouldn’t. The thought of having my dining room torn up over Thanksgiving isn’t appealing to me. Not sure…

On 2010 travel remaining

I am headed to DC for a week at the end of October for a major project review. I always enjoy traveling to DC and am hoping for some good food while there. I have a layover in Minneapolis. Last time I did this route I was running to the next gate. I am hoping we land with time for me to stop and grab a Minnesota Vikings jersey at some random vendor in the airport for Leif. I told him I would try my best. Then he asked for a Minnesota Vikings helmet. Umm no. I am not hauling a Vikings helmet to DC and through my maze of flights home (DC to Atlanta to Salt Lake City to PSC) four days later. Though I am sure that my coworkers would enable to do this… and that I could count on them to never ever let me forget about it…

I am headed to a conference in Orlando the week before Thanksgiving. Well of course you have to take advantage of this and include personal travel. So AB and the kids are flying down on my last day of the conference, we are switching over to a Disney hotel and are looking forward to 5 days in the wonder that is Disneyworld. The free vacation planning DVD arrived the other day and has instilled loads of excitement and anticipation into my kids. We are doing the official countdown. Since we return the night before Thanksgiving the logical next step here is to talk about holidays…

On the 2010 Holiday Season

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. It is about food and friends and family and bringing everyone together to be thankful for what we have. One of my most favorite memories of Thanksgiving was the one when I was about 8 years old, in the kitchen helping my mom cook. I loved that she baked homemade bread for Thanksgiving and I loved having my own little ball of dough to shape and bake. Thanksgiving… I expect won’t be an easy time for me because I have so many memories of the holiday as spent with my mom. This will be my first without her.

I am normally the go all out person for Thanksgiving. This year it will be truly impossible since I won’t even have been at home for the 11 days prior to prepare. AB’s sister and mom will be here and aren’t expecting much. We have prepared them for the fact that there will be no cooking at the Thanksgiving magnitude done on Thursday. I am not sure what we will do. However, we WILL cook our Thanksgiving meal on either Friday or Saturday. This is going to be good for me this year to do something completely different for the holiday that will likely remind me the most of my mom.

Christmas will be in our house! AB and I have agreed that we have no intentions of traveling for the holidays potentially ever again. At least until our kids are grown and we travel to them. We have traveled for so many holidays and have done our share of it. I don’t really expect anyone to come to us, it would be nice, but I won’t be disappointed to host Christmas for my family here in town. I am thinking I will be taking nearly two weeks off and keeping the kids home with me. Yes, my sanity may be called into question at the end of this. I am looking forward to a real Christmas tree, lights on the house, Mina the elf making her appearance the day after Thanksgiving, shopping, planning our Christmas meal, the Living Nativity, Christmas Eve service and teaching what the holiday means to my kids.

Skadi has asked for a “big doll” and I haven’t started looking for one yet, but I have ideas. Leif asked for Wii games and I might have made a mistake in redirecting him. AB rolled his eyes at me when I suggested that maybe he should consider something other than Wii games since he has a lot. Something like maybe a Nintendo DS, for example.

Onto FY11

I have had a few really good years in a row. I am successfully managing a high risk, high visibility (within the community) multi-million dollar project. There are down sides, like I have never seen so much drama among grown men. But all that aside, I love it. I love the project, I adore my team, I feel a part of something important and it is just awesome all around. Except for the occasional bickering. Women, don’t be fooled, men can be every bit as petty and snippy as they claim we are!

I hosted a student this past summer on that project and it was a lot of fun to get her perspective of the project as a wide eyed, naïve, “going to be senior” at one of the top engineering departments in the nation. Nothing like hosting a college student to really, really make you feel old.

I will never forget sitting at coffee with her after her first exposure to a team meeting where she said, “I have never been involved in anything like that, it was really eye opening”. After a little while she also went on to say, “it is apparent that there IS really a gender bias in the workforce, I didn’t think it was real.” She explained further that all her classes in chemical engineering are 50-50 women and men. “Where have all the girls gone who have been in these programs?” She asked me. I told her that at my age… sigh, nearly 20 years ago when *I* was in college, that wasn’t the case. We also talked about the potential difference between being an undergraduate and the fact that most of my guys have either a Masters or Ph.D., like me. Ten years ago when I was finishing grad school (yes, that old thing again), I was the only female Ph.D. graduate from my department. My class didn’t start that way, we started almost 50-50.

Anyways… enough about gender disparity and feeling old, back to work stuff.

I have been trying to figure out a career path forward the last few years. I walk this line between managing and leading technically. I have struggled with knowing that in order to push through the next barrier I have to surrender an aspect of my career that I really enjoy. Which would it be? So I just continued to walk the line, maintaining the status quo, denying the path forward in my head that I kept gravitating to.

Last week on a whim, I picked up the phone and within minutes found myself sitting down in a high up manager’s office talking about career options. A few e-mails on the topic later per his request, I had an appointment with another manager. I got a few good ego strokes from the both of them, a few new things to write on my FY11 goals and most importantly an interesting new path forward. I am reminding myself of my mantra as a grad student, “I can only trust my career to myself”. It is easy to rely on your managers/team leads to push your career, to expect that they will recognize your every good move (and ignore your boneheaded ones), that they can read your mind and see what makes you truly happy in your day’s work. Easy. But wrong.

If you want something new, take that bull by the horns. Rely only on yourself.