Stinson Redux
I've fallen off the wagon on posting recently, so I'm going to break this into two pieces -- a couple of recent events and then a pre-Memorial Day weekend post. Today was Roxanne and Eliza's birthday, the daughters of our friends Vicky and Jon. Vicky's mom has a place at Stinson Beach, and last year they had a party there when Roxanne and Eliza turned 3; this year when they turned 4, they had another party at Stinson. I mentioned before that this house -- which is really more of a compound -- is super kid-friendly. When we arrived, the small trampoline was filled with beach balls and kids, a bit like one of those bouncy houses crossed with a pit of rubber balls. Devon initiatlly went in there but quickly exited, saying there were "too many kids."
I was actually surprised that she wanted to try it at all, since she had gotten carsick on the way there. Stinson is on Hwy 1, about about 2/3 of the way there, Devon started sounding a bit like she did on the Hana Highway -- which ended the same way as it did today (although at least at Hana we had luggage and not just the 5 paper napkins wadded in the glove compartment.
Walt and I had a lovely time at the party, especially when we went down to the ocean and plopped down on a couple of chairs just as the fog was burning off. Devon wasn't so happy, though, and was out of sorts for the whole time. After a few false starts trying to figure out if we needed to take her home or not, she fell asleep on a towel at beach -- even sleeping, remarkably, through a loud rendition of Happy Birthday three times (one for Roxanne, Eliza and Vicky's mother, who also has the same birthday). Devon did finally wake up later and demand some cake, which turned out to be our downfall, since she got sick twice on the way back. Walt and I are blaming the cake.
We did have one moment on the ride back that I thought was rather amazing. After Devon got sick the first time -- she called throwing up "squirting" (not sure where she got that) -- we had to stop and mop her up. Luckily we had borrowed a towel from Vicky to hedge against such an eventuality, and we were really glad that we had it. For the second time, though, Devon first said that she felt sick; but Walt and I hoped that we could get home before anything happened. Then a couple of minutes later she said the following:
My tummy is hurting. Daddy, can I have a cup? I'm squirting in cup.
Then about 5 seconds after Walt handed her a cup, she threw up into the cup (which, sadly, was far too small for the subsequent volume). At any rate, I thought she had a clever idea with asking for it in the first place.
We didn't do much at all for Memorial Day -- no big plans, no grand travel schemes. It's often quite nice in the city over long holidays, and this was no exception: most people had gone back to wherever they came from (since almost no one is from San Francisco) and the city was delightfully empty. It was one of the first times since we moved here that parking spots were regularly available.
Our friend Jon and his kids came over for a bbq, and normally we go out of our way to save parking for anyone coming over, especially if they from the East Bay (or elsewhere where parking is plentiful). This time we didn't even bother and they found parking right across the street.
It was especially nice to see Jon since they live in Oakland and we don't see him very often. He wasn't able to come up for my 40th since he was in LA that weekend, so it was good to do a post-party catch up. Devon also had fun with his kids -- even though they're all older than her (although Anders, the youngest, is 3), she really enjoyed hanging out with them, playing ball in the backyard and generally horsing around. I had Hayden and Walker (the two older kids) help me make brownies for dinner, which was a big hit -- although a big mess for me. Kids just have no concept of slop factor when it comes to stirring wet stuff in a bowl. Even though the whole thing was totally overmixed and I think 1/4 of the chocolate never even made it into the brownies, the end result was actually pretty tasty. But then again, who can ever really argue with a brownie?
I was actually surprised that she wanted to try it at all, since she had gotten carsick on the way there. Stinson is on Hwy 1, about about 2/3 of the way there, Devon started sounding a bit like she did on the Hana Highway -- which ended the same way as it did today (although at least at Hana we had luggage and not just the 5 paper napkins wadded in the glove compartment.
Walt and I had a lovely time at the party, especially when we went down to the ocean and plopped down on a couple of chairs just as the fog was burning off. Devon wasn't so happy, though, and was out of sorts for the whole time. After a few false starts trying to figure out if we needed to take her home or not, she fell asleep on a towel at beach -- even sleeping, remarkably, through a loud rendition of Happy Birthday three times (one for Roxanne, Eliza and Vicky's mother, who also has the same birthday). Devon did finally wake up later and demand some cake, which turned out to be our downfall, since she got sick twice on the way back. Walt and I are blaming the cake.
We did have one moment on the ride back that I thought was rather amazing. After Devon got sick the first time -- she called throwing up "squirting" (not sure where she got that) -- we had to stop and mop her up. Luckily we had borrowed a towel from Vicky to hedge against such an eventuality, and we were really glad that we had it. For the second time, though, Devon first said that she felt sick; but Walt and I hoped that we could get home before anything happened. Then a couple of minutes later she said the following:
My tummy is hurting. Daddy, can I have a cup? I'm squirting in cup.
Then about 5 seconds after Walt handed her a cup, she threw up into the cup (which, sadly, was far too small for the subsequent volume). At any rate, I thought she had a clever idea with asking for it in the first place.
We didn't do much at all for Memorial Day -- no big plans, no grand travel schemes. It's often quite nice in the city over long holidays, and this was no exception: most people had gone back to wherever they came from (since almost no one is from San Francisco) and the city was delightfully empty. It was one of the first times since we moved here that parking spots were regularly available.
Our friend Jon and his kids came over for a bbq, and normally we go out of our way to save parking for anyone coming over, especially if they from the East Bay (or elsewhere where parking is plentiful). This time we didn't even bother and they found parking right across the street.
It was especially nice to see Jon since they live in Oakland and we don't see him very often. He wasn't able to come up for my 40th since he was in LA that weekend, so it was good to do a post-party catch up. Devon also had fun with his kids -- even though they're all older than her (although Anders, the youngest, is 3), she really enjoyed hanging out with them, playing ball in the backyard and generally horsing around. I had Hayden and Walker (the two older kids) help me make brownies for dinner, which was a big hit -- although a big mess for me. Kids just have no concept of slop factor when it comes to stirring wet stuff in a bowl. Even though the whole thing was totally overmixed and I think 1/4 of the chocolate never even made it into the brownies, the end result was actually pretty tasty. But then again, who can ever really argue with a brownie?
posted by Devon Szalva at
8:06 PM
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