Tag: ruby

We’re on vacation!

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Up and into work this morning.  It was one of those days that seemed to grow steadily more hectic as the day progressed.  I kept an eye on Doug’s flights, and I headed home around lunchtime to wait for him to arrive.  They got here shortly after noon, and it was really good to see them.  The kids had gotten sleep on the plane but Doug and Rachel hadn’t gotten much sleep.  I gave them a quick tour of the house and then showed them their room.   Doug was very happy to see that the kids had their own place to sleep and that he wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor.

I headed back to work for a couple more hours and then around 3 PM, after my last meetings were over, I headed home.  I stopped at the library to return my "overdue" book, but as it turns out, I had my dates mixed up and the book was not overdue after all.  I also found out that I could return the book to my local branch, which is very convenient.

Kelly’s parents were out most of the day but were back before 4 PM.  Doug, Rachel and the kids were up shortly after 4 PM.  And were the kids ever hyper!  It was a lot of fun.  We gave them the gifts we got them.  Doug and I picked up Kelly from the metro station, stopped at Starbucks, and then headed back home.  We all walked up to Shirlington for dinner, where Kelly’s parents treated us to a nice meal at Capital City Brewery.  Both Carson and Ruby fell asleep at dinner.  I carried Carson back home the entire mile-plus walk.

I got an invitation to join Will’s writer’s group today, which I accepted happily.  I can’t do much there until I get back from vacation, but I’m looking forward to working with the group.

I got a card from a bunch of people at work today.  It was very nice and included an extremely generous gift.

We’re on vacation!  I still feel so busy with wedding stuff that it hasn’t sunk in yet.

stubiebrother  arrived tonight, as scheduled.  We picked him up around 10:15 PM.  Stopped at the grocery store on the way home.

Mom and Dad get into town tomorrow.

Scuba

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Yesterday, while the girls went to their fancy spa to get their fancy facials and whatever else people get in spas, the boy went scuba-diving.

Mom arranged it with a friend of hers who teaches scuba diving. Doug, stubiebrother and I headed to Thousand Oaks to the Sports Chalet, where at about 10 AM, we signed our lives away and proceeded to learn how to scuba dive in the 13 foot-deep pool that they had on site. The pool was kept very warm so that we didn’t need wet suits.

We learned how to wear the gear. We learned how to clear out our masks. We learned how to breath through the regulator. We learned to different ways for clearing the regulator while underwater. We even learned how to recover the regulator underwater if we lost it. We learned some basic hand signals as well. Once we’d done a few practice runs, we headed for the deep end. We spent a total of about 40 minutes underwater, and might have spent a little longer if Doug hadn’t come close to running out of air. (When we finally surfaced, me and Jason’s tanks were at about the 1,000 PSI mark. Doug’s was almost at 0 PSI.)

It was an interesting experience. For the first few minutes, I found myself much more conscious of my breathing than normal. I made sure to practice removing the regulator from my mouth, clearing it, and getting it back in. It was easy. We tossed around underwater frisbees. We swam through hoops. We laid down on the bottom of the pool (making sure to equalize the pressure in our ears). It was a lot of fun.

After it was all over, Doug, Jason and I headed to a nearby T.G.I. Friday’s for lunch.

We spent the afternoon hanging around the house. Then, in the evening, we headed to Wood Ranch grill for dinner. Almost everyone had tri-tip and it was excellent! We celebrated Ruby’s birthday after dinner, with a birthday cake from Coldstone, and a bunch of presents (Ruby turns 4 on December 1). By the time that was over, I was exhausted. Mom, Jen and Jason put on a movie but I was out cold. When I next woke up, the lights were out and everyone had done to sleep.

I head back home tonight. My flight departs LAX at 10:20 PM. I’ve used some more upgrade credits to upgrade to first class. The airplane is a 767 on the flight home so First Class may be a little bit nicer than on a 757. There are fires in Malibu, so we’ll probably have to take the freeways to LAX this evening, and miss the pretty ride along the coast. I get into Dulles at 6 AM, and if everything goes well, I hope to be home (and in bed for a little while) at 7 AM.

Dinner at Daniel’s

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Doug had to work most of the day yesterday and he finally got home around 5 PM. Shortly after he got home, he, Mom, Dad and I headed out to the Keg to have some drinks and sit around chatting, while Rachel, Ruby and Carson got a break from our hijinks. We then headed over to the restaurant around 7:30 PM. We had to take two cars and we dropped Carson off at Theresa’s house on the way. Doug was playing Richard Cheese in the car and Dad was in the back seat and Doug managed to leave the car at the worst parts of “Baby Got Back” and “Badd”, leaving me to fend for myself.

Daniel’s in Bellevue is on the 21st floor of a hotel and when we were seated, we had a pretty nice view of downtown Seattle in the distance. The food was really good. I had a 13 ounce fillet mignon with a peppercorn brandy sauce, and a baked potato. I had some clam chowder, too. Ruby was with us and was very well-behaved. She had a hamburger and fries, and some root beer, all of which are among her favorites.

It was a very nice dinner and a very nice evening, and we were all wiped out by the time we got home last night. Now it’s 8:30 AM (PST) and I’ already hungry again! My flight leaves Seattle at 5 PM this afternoon.

Thanksgiving dinner

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We had a great Thanksgiving dinner yesterday, courtesy of Doug and Rachel. Rachel’s sister Theresa and her son Alex were over to have dinner with us as well. We had a turkey, some delicious mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, macaroni and cheese, stuffing, new potatoes and onions. It was all delicious. After dinner, we had a birthday celebration for Ruby, who will turn 3 years old on December 1. We had pumpkin pie and birthday cake, and Ruby got to open some presents.

We also had an iChat video chat with jen_ashlock and jkashlock since they were in New York and couldn’t be here for Thanksgiving.

I am both stuffed and exhausted. I was ready to go to bed at 7 PM (after having gotten up at 1 AM PST this morning)! But it looks like I’ll be off to bed in the next hour or so.

In Seattle

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My flight got into Seattle on time, and since I arrived at Doug and Rachel’s, about 4 hours ago, we’ve been hanging out, and talking while preparing Thanksgiving dinner. I finally got to meet Carson in person and he looks just like Doug did when he was 8 months old. It’s uncanny! Looks like we’ll be having our dinner around 4:30 or 5 PM. Then there is a video conference with jen_ashlock and jkashlock later on this evening.

Technology!