My trip to visit Rachel in NY, April 8-11, 2010

So, I'm setting apart time at the moment to record my trip to visit Rachel last weekend. Grab a drink, this one is gonna be a long one. Right now the kids are supposed to be sleeping, but I keep hearing Violet sing. At least she's in her room. They are both very tired, after you probably read about their very "off schedule" weekend with Mr. Mommy. They all picked me up at the airport last night (my flight came in at 9 pm) so they didn't get to bed til after 10 pm again. My mom came down to Cedar Falls Wednesday night to get Violet and Calvin out of my way so I could prepare and pack. Violet had preschool Thursday morning, so mom took Calvin for me on a walk outside and entertained him for two hours. I was able to pack in silence and get prepared. I could feel my nerves a little creeping up on me, after all, it is a little weird to just "disappear" for a few days in the lives of my children. I purposely didn't tell Dave a lot of things that I thought he should know before I left...for a couple reasons. 1) I didn't think he'd remember and 2) I knew he could handle any situation on his own just fine. And since he's daddy, not mommy, he's different that I am. He only called me once to ask for help ~ the question was how to use the Oxiclean stain remover (the instructions were taped to the inside door of the cabinet in the laundry room...that was the only answer he needed). :) My trip began Thursday afternoon. My flight was scheduled to leave at 12:42 pm, so after we picked up Violet from preschool at 11:30, we left for the airport. I had 3 flights that day, one from Waterloo to Minneapolis, one from Minneapolis to LaGuardia airport in NYC, and another short flight from LaGuardia to Albany. The drive to Albany from Rachel's place was an hour. I had wrapped up some candy bars (KitKats) in wrapping paper as presents to give to the kids right when I left so they could have something fun and different when I was leaving. It seemed to work like a charm. Violet told me she was going to be brave and told me to be brave and not cry either. I knew Calvin wasn't really understanding what was going on, so I just told him I was going on an airplane and I'd be back in a few days. Everything with him is momentary anyway, no need to explain much. All he knew over the course of my absence was that I was in an airplane. They loved the surprise of chocolate and happily munched away while I gave them hugs and kisses in the car. Dave and I said our goodbyes, and I was in the airport by myself. I had already printed my boarding passes so all I had to do was go through security. Soon I was on the airplane and landed in Minneapolis a short 37 minutes later. I communicated to Rachel and Dave mostly with texting as I updated my flight status...about to take off, just landed, etc. When I got to the Minneapolis airport, I found where my next gate was and asked the flight person behind the desk if I could get an aisle seat. No such luck today. I got stuck in the middle between two people. I was hoping to have that freedom to get up whenever I wanted so I could go to the bathroom and stretch my legs...but it didn't turn out to be that bad. I asked the guy I sat next to if he'd be willing to switch with me but he said he'd get up for me if I wanted, and kept his aisle seat. Conversation between the people I was in between was short and brief. The lady next to me began intently working on sudoku puzzles and the guy who wouldn't switch with me plugged in to his Ipod music for the rest of the flight. Fine with me, I just relaxed, read a book I brought along, and snoozed a little. The 2nd flight was 2 1/2 hours...definitely enough time to be in an airplane. I was glad to get out of that spot. I had a couple hours to wait for my next flight so I stopped for a meal. I ended up with a huge bowl of fresh fruit, yogurt, and a bottle of water. I settled into a spot in the airport and ate slowly knowing I had lots of time to kill. My third flight was a bit confusing, I had to ask a few people where I was supposed to go. My first two flights were on Delta and my third flight was on US Airways. I had to go out of the airport to a different building nearby, check in and go through security again with US Airways, and board a plane there. The last flight was only 40 minutes. Rachel was excited to see me, and surprised me with some yellow and purple flowers. The airport in Albany is very small so getting out to the spot where she parked her car was really easy. The drive back to her condo was only an hour. I was kind of tired of sitting but it was nice to be in a space that was more socially comfortable, not among a group full of strangers. We chatted all the way back to her place, I told her about my travels. As we got closer to Queensbury, she talked a lot about the town and where she goes to shop, etc. The night was really late by the time we got home, neither of us could handle much more conversation as she had worked a full day at the office and I was really tired, so we both were happy to go to bed and start again in the morning. She was kind enough to let me sleep in her bedroom where there were room darkening curtains and a fan. She slept in her guest room. Friday morning we rolled out of bed around 9 am. We fixed breakfast in her condo before heading out for the day. I made her a fried egg with the yolk a little runny on top of toast. She even had lawrys salt to season it with...that is Dave's favorite way to make fried eggs - and now its my favorite too. She was surprised to see the egg cook with just nonstick spray - no need to "fry" it. We also ate muffins, friendship bread, had coffee with real whipped cream, and a dose of 1000 mg Vitamin C. The day was filled with going to many places. She was excited to show me around the town, her local places to go, and the office where she works. We went to the office where she works (Dean Bartlett Orthodontics) and met many of the staff. It wasn't a patient day - so everybody working was catching up on things. Dean arrived a little while after we did with two trucks FULL of paper products; toilet paper, paper towels, etc. He said he makes a run to buy paper products in bulk about three times a year...this was one of those days. My eyes got big and I think my mouth even dropped looking at the amount of stuff he had purchased and was loading into the basement with the help of his friend Henry. But I guess a busy office that sees around a thousand patients a month plus a full staff needs that kind of stuff for their daily operations! Rachel and I kept moving. Dean told us he'd put us to work if we just kept watching! So we moved on. Rachel drove me up to see Lake George, a 32 mile long lake that sits at the bottom of the mountains. It was only 10 minutes of a drive up there. It wasn't tourist season so almost everything was closed, but it was still very pretty. We walked along the beach for around an hour. Both of us felt hungry for lunch so we went to the place she had planned on going, called Suttons Market. It is a combination gift shop/market. They have a quaint little restaurant on the bottom floor of the gift shop that served us THE BEST soup and salad combo I have ever had. It was really delicious. I got cauliflower-cheddar soup in a bread bowl with a fresh veggie salad topped with their homemade poppy seed dressing. It hit the spot. We walked around the gift shop ooh-ing and aah-ing over all the cute little unique things they had. I got Violet a little bouquet of flower-shaped lollipops. She wanted me to see another gift shop so we drove to another one called Silo. They were closing soon so we didn’t have too much time to meander around. Thinking we had spent enough time away from home, we went back to her condo to relax a little before dinner. We watched an hour of TV, then changed clothes to get ready for supper. Rachel had made plans to go out to eat at one of Dean’s favorite restaurants called The Log Jam. Dr. Dean Bartlett joined us along with his son-in-law, Matt Drexler. His wife Marilyn and his daughter Nicole were gone for the weekend at a dog show. It was nice to meet the doctor Rachel is working with that I had heard so much about. His eyes reminded me immediately of Barney Fife from the Andy Griffith show. Very open, bright, and wide-eyed. He was well-spoken and polite, and we all made good conversation. The food was also really delicious. We had a full salad bar, ordered entrees, and I was instructed to save room for dessert. I did – only eating a small salad and half of my steak entrée. It was hard to stop eating my entrée though. I ordered a dish that came with two steak fillets covered in garlic butter sauce, tomatoes, feta cheese, and shrimp. My side was smashed potatoes. I was wondering why I had to save room – but I quickly found out. The dessert menu is displayed on a special wooden paddle – and I didn’t have a choice other than to order a “mud pie”. My eyes got really big and I said “whoa!!!” when it was placed in front of me. Everybody ordered one mud pie – so there were four on the table. That added to the shock effect of the size of the dessert. This was a huge slice of ice cream pie, probably 6 inches tall…made with coffee flavored ice cream, enormous chunks of oreo cookie inside the pie, drizzled with a huge amount of hot fudge and covered with whipped cream and a cherry. I ate half of it, and took the rest home. Dean always orders his mud pie with no whipped cream, and didn’t even have to tell the waitress – she already knew. Dean polished off his entire piece, and also finished Matt’s piece when he couldn’t eat anymore. I didn’t expect that from the slim, fit doctor. But he had only eaten a piece of broiled swordfish and a plain baked potato for dinner. We ended our meal and took home our leftovers. Dean was generous and treated the whole table to dinner and dessert. Rachel and I headed back to her place and finished our TV show, feeling very full. We went to bed shortly after that. Saturday morning we woke up at 8:30 am. Rachel wanted to take me to breakfast at a local coffee shop called Cool Beans. We got ready by 9 am and left. We both had yummy mochas and blueberry scones. We made plans with my mom’s Uncle Dean (I guess he is my great uncle?) to visit with him at 9:30 am that morning. He lives in a retirement community right across the field from Rachel’s house. He is my grandma Delores’ brother. We finished the last sips of our coffee a little late and made it to his place by 9:35. He was waiting for us in the library of the building, and we sat and talked to him for about an hour. He asked Rachel about how her work is going, and was really excited to talk about the Bible, what TV preacher he was enjoying, and how much he liked going to the church up on the corner. He looked a lot like Grandma Delores, same face shape, same hands, same feet. He talked similarly to her intonations too. We snapped a few pictures of us together and then left. Rachel really wanted us to experience downtown Saratoga Springs together. Saratoga Springs is about 15 miles south of Queensbury, so we drove there and found a parking spot quickly. Rachel is a very good parallel parker! We walked around the downtown strip for a couple hours. I noticed a store called “Violet’s” so we decided to explore. It was a high-end clothing store with unique fashions ~ and me being super pregnant I felt a little silly looking at these types of clothes! I really thought I was the only pregnant lady in that whole town. We tried looking at a few stores for some summer work shirts for Rachel to wear underneath her white doctor coat, but didn’t find anything. Almost everything had fabric that was too floppy and unprofessional looking. She wanted to take me to an Italian place called Fornos, but it wasn’t open for lunch. We opted for another place that I chose, called Wheatfield’s Restaurant Bar. I wanted to go there because the sign on the door said it used local produce dealers to buy their food. I like fresh stuff, so we tried it. It was also another Italian place ~ a nice surprise. We each ordered lettuce wedge salads with pancetta, goat cheese and tomatoes. We split the bruscetta for an appetizer and split an Italian sausage pizza. She kept the mushrooms on her side, I left them off. It was a really delicious lunch, and we decided to go to a different mall nearby. Rachel stocked up on some hand soap from Bath and Body works, got some shampoo and conditioner from a salon, and found some other clothing items. Matt had mentioned at dinner the night before (at the Log Jam) that the Trans Siberian Orchestra was “in town” performing Saturday night. “In town” meant in Albany, an hour away. He thought it would be fun to get tickets and go. We thought about that idea for a minute or so and agreed that yes, it would be cool to go. So while we were shopping in Saratoga Springs, Matt worked out getting the tickets and agreed to drive us there. We made a pit stop at a little german restaurant called the Heidelburg and Rachel picked up some potato skins to go ~ and we ate those quickly for supper at her house before driving to Matt’s house to meet up and drive to Albany. The Trans Siberian Orchestra was definitely an experience!!! I am not sure how to describe it. A guitar show? A light show? A piano show? It was all of the above! An amazing orchestra of 8 string instruments, three or four electronic guitars, amazing vocalists, and talented piano players all played some intense, lyrical loud music along with some very crazy lighting effects. I guess you’d just have to look them up on www.youtube.com or something to get a taste for their music. It was pretty crazy, and very entertaining. We got seats in the last row of the main floor near the back, so it worked out for me to stand up in a more comfortable position for the last hour of the show. We got home after midnight and went right to bed. Sunday morning we slept in til 10:30. I really needed the extra sleep. A whole day of walking the day before left my feet tired and throbbing. I did wake up feeling refreshed. Rachel wanted to take me to another favorite restaurant, but we chose to skip it and just have breakfast at her place, relax, pack up and take off for the airport with ample time. Rachel made some cheesy scrambled eggs, and we ate more muffins and friendship bread, coffee, and vitamin C. My flight back home was scheduled to take off at 1:50 so we left her condo right at noon. The drive was nice, gave us a chance to talk, and she helped me record our adventures on a piece of paper, which has been helping me to blog about this trip. I have a terrible memory lately! My flights home were uneventful. The first flight was on US Airways ~ that flight was very short. I used the rest room on that tiny little plane and wow, was that bathroom small!! I got in the “lavatory”, turned around to shut the folding door, only to find my baby belly smashed up against the door with about a half inch to wiggle to use the restroom. Ah the joys of traveling while very pregnant. The next two flights were on Delta, so I had to do the same re-checking in, going through security for a second time that day. I had about 15 minutes til boarding time so I grabbed lunch while I could, knowing they don’t serve meals on airplanes anymore. I got some pasta and meatballs at Sbarro. Time went quick, I ate fast, and had to board the plane quickly. I was able to get a better seat in the aisle on the way home, which was nice. The airline had assigned me to a window but the man who switched with me was very kind. The second flight from NYC to Minneapolis, the lady who sat in the middle was very, very chatty. She struck up a conversation with the guy next to her by the window (who switched seats with me) and quickly found out that he is a Delta flight attendant who was traveling to an annual training class to keep up his flight attendant certification. She had plenty of questions about the flight industry for this man and their conversation kept me entertained most of the trip. I was in on a few parts of the conversation, but I stuck to reading a book, working on a Sudoku puzzle in the airplane magazine, and relaxing. I got up to walk around two times on that flight and was ready to get walking by the time the plane landed. I only had to wait an hour to board my last flight to Waterloo – so I got an iced decaf latte from Caribou Coffee and paced the hallways until they called us to board. It felt so much better walking around slowly than sitting in one spot. I was getting really excited to see my family! The last flight was very fast, 35 minutes from take-off to landing. I could see Calvin bouncing around from the window of my airplane seat when the plane pulled up to the airport. He gave me a huge running hug when I appeared in the airport and screamed “Hi mommeeeee!!!!” and Violet was anxious to hug me and give me a present she made for me (a cardboard box with an envelope inside of it which had a drawing inside the envelope). Dave had a bunch of purple chrysanthemums for me which Violet was happy to hand over to me too. I gave Dave a big hug ~ and both kids wanted more hugs. Calvin just kept saying “Hi mom! Hi mom! Home now?” and I reassured him that yes, I was home now, and I was all done with the airplane. I asked the kids for help getting my suitcase off the carousel at the other end of the airport and that was all they needed to hear ~ they both bolted off running at top speed to where the suitcase came inside the airport on the black moving sidewalk. Both kids were so cute in their pajamas. Violet was wearing her new white strappy sandals, too. Violet became nonstop chatter from the moment I appeared to the moment we got home, anxious to tell me everything she could think of. The kites they flew, the sticker book grandma Rowena had sent in the box, the sidewalk chalk, etc, etc. Calvin kept saying “Hi mom! Home now?” and Violet told me she was brave, but she still missed me and cried a little at times. It was hard to get them to bed when we got home at 9:45 pm. When Dave was at the store on the way to pick me up getting the flowers, he picked up a ½ gallon of strawberry milk so the kids were very excited to have “pink milk” when they got home. We eventually got them in bed by 10:30 pm ~ and they slept in til 8:30 am the next morning. It was nice to be home. I forced myself to relax and not worry about them while I was gone, and I’m glad I did. Both kids really need a bath, though! Mr. Mommy didn’t give them a bath, nor did he even brush Violet’s hair once while I was gone. Not that it looked terrible, but I could just tell they were ready for a bath. My plan for when they wake up from their naps is to throw them both in the tub for a much needed scrub-down. I trimmed Calvin’s finger nails before his nap today and under his nails was black, black, black. Ew ew! So here we come…scrub a dub dub, two kids about to be in the tub!!