The drive went pretty well considering Baby Bug has a terrible cold. She sounds like she's got an ocean of phlegm in her lungs just waiting to be coughed up. Thankfully she spent most of the drive sleeping. I guess if you're gonna be sick you might as well do something else too, like drive down the road over hill and vale to Grandmother's house! I packed a bag full of fun things to do but we only used up half of it---which is good since we have to do the drive all over again on the way back.

We also made a lot of stops so Baby Bug could get out of her torture chamber (car seat). Even though we hate that Toby is a smoker (cough cough, hack hack), it is kind of handy that he needs to take smoking breaks every four hours or so. Of course if I had the choice I’d much rather suffer with cramped legs in the car and have him live a few years longer but that is sort of moot point. I’m just glad we were able to stop along the way and get the wiggles out.

Speaking of Wiggles! Guess what we listened to in the car? The Wiggles! I can’t believe that Toby put up with it. He hates catchy commercialized tunes. He even got a chuckle out of Baby Bug singing “Hot Potato” as loud as she can in her super duper toddler voice. It’s amazing what a little child can do to a grown man. He didn’t sing along but I saw the sides of his cheeks scrunch up from my back seat point of view. I just thought I better put that down for posterity. It may never happen again.

He’s a good dad…. and a good husband too! I might as well go with this for a theme because Toby really scored some brownie points with me on this trip.

This time the trip was different (besides the fact that we now have a toddler that we never had before). Toby played travel agent. It was sort of a behind the scenes Christmas gift to me that I really really appreciated. He usually asks me to do the online researching for booking hotels and such but I just don’t have the time and brain power that I used to for this sort of thing.

So when he told me he had taken care of all of it I was filled with glee. A holiday trip AND secret surprise stays at hotels that I did not pick. I know to most people, that sounds like a recipe for disaster but I am a true adventurer at heart and the thought of not knowing where I am going to stay for the night (but still knowing that it will be pleasant and nice) is fun fun fun. If I wasn’t such a picky eater I would sign up for the Amazing Race in a heart beat. I want to travel the world someday!

The first night we stayed at the Hilton in Sonoma Wine Country. It wasn’t super snobby fancy but it wasn’t the Motel 6 either. It was really really nice. Ever since we had that horrendous stay in a Motel 6 in Vallejo where some drug dealer called us up on the phone in the middle of the night and said he could see what I was wearing… we pick our hotels a little more carefully. That was the creepiest hotel stay I have ever had in my entire life. It even included mysterious brown poop matter and cockroaches. But enough about that. You get the point. It was really bad.

Not like our stay at The Hilton. Hiltons are nice! I couldn’t help thinking of the Hilton sisters as I sampled the fancy shampoo and admired the faux plein air paintings of local landmarks and cows. I wondered if Nicki or Paris helped their Dad pick any of this out. Probably not. But it was a fun day dream.

I don’t really care about hotels though. What was really fun about staying in Sonoma was waking up the next morning and exploring a little bit. Toby and I have toyed with the idea of moving to this part of California because it lends itself to the type of photography he does for a living. We aren’t set on it yet but we talk about it from time to time.

It was really fun for me to wake up early and take Baby Bug on a brisk walk in the crisp morning air. I imagined what it would be like to live here where the grass is so green and the sky is so blue. I know it might be a lot colder in the winter and a lot hotter in the summer but I think I could manage it. It’s very very pretty. I think Secret Agent Josephine could find plenty to blog about in wine country. Who knows though. We’ve talked about a lot of different areas around the bay area and north… I don’t think we’ll be moving anytime soon but it’s fun to think about.

After a delicious breakfast (included at the hotel stay–hot dog!) we hopped back in the car and headed north. This last leg of the journey was definitely a lot easier. There is so much more to look at and the scenery is beautiful. We really appreciated the moon roof in our car as we drove through the redwood groves. I should have take a picture but it was too dark and blurry as we whizzed by going 90 miles an hour. I might try again on our way back. What’s the point of having a moon roof if you can’t take pictures out of it, right?

And that was pretty much our drive…with lots of stops along the way.

Next up: Christmas at the Grandparents: Baby Bug gets SPOILED ROTTEN!

We’re here! We arrived early yesterday evening and had a delicious dinner at Toby’s folks. I have lots of photos and stories from the road but I haven’t had a minute to process my photos or upload them to flickr. The internet connection here at the hotel is slower than molasses. I’m hoping it’s just because they have a full house and things will pick up later in the week. (Go home everybody so we can have the hotel to ourselves like usual!)

Today we are off to the Parents again and we hear Santa has visited. This will be Baby Bug’s first experience with Santa… it should be interesting! So far the dogs and “bug cookies” have gone over quite well.

I hope everyone is having as much fun as we are!

Cheers!

We’re leaving tomorrow and I’m not one bit ready. I have to do laundry still and wash the car. I also have to pack some suitcases and figure out some kind of emergency fun kit for an eight hour road trip with a toddler.

What am I doing instead? (Besides typing this blog of course.) I’m sitting here making a Baby Bug calendar for 2008. Some of you asked how I made my calendar that you saw on my card wall of fame. I use Qoop through Flickr. They are decent quality for what they are.

Just make sure you don’t position your baby’s head on the page so she gets a punch hole right next to her eyeball and it looks like someone shot her in the head. I’m sure that was lots of fun for all my relatives to gaze at for the month of May.

Speaking of gazing, I’m also looking out my front door (that is a sliding glass door so I can look right through it) at a giant box. A giant box that is going to be a shelf (except it will be horizontal not vertical) in Baby Bug’s room to store all her toys. I’m so excited about it. I’d put it together myself right this minute if I could just lift the dumb thing. It seriously weighs 200 pounds. I know IKEA furniture is cheap but this shelf must be made of solid lead or compound wood matter or something. It is HEAVY. Or “Hehbby” as Baby Bug says.

I know I’m not supposed to be shopping at IKEA anymore after the great desk explosion of 2007 but where else am I supposed to get cheap furniture that I can track down in a single afternoon? I have no time for shopping or scouting out garage sales and Craig’s list anymore. I’ve snooped in the trash and there was NOTHING. Finally, I just buckled and bought exactly what I wanted for ONLY $79. You can’t beat that. Let’s just hope it isn’t made of lead or explodes.

I love IKEA and I hate IKEA. I love the simple lines of their furniture but I hate that it falls apart. I love that everything is affordable but I hate that they keep their prices low by cutting other places, like in the customer service department. I love their fun show room that you can walk around and pretend to play house in but I hate that you have to hoof three-thousand miles to get to your box of furniture in their warehouse. I also hate how when you are three thousand miles away down some long dark alley of towering boxes, there isn’t a soul around to help you lift a 200-pound box.

You see that box up there that Baby Bug is surfing on? I bought that all by myself. I mean ALL BY MYSELF. I did not speak to one human being from the time I walked into IKEA until the time I walked out. I didn’t even talk to one person in the parking lot as I teeter-tottered it into my trunk ALL BY MYSELF. Not a peep. Not counting Baby Bug of course. With her I had a running commentary about the whole episode.

I was just waiting for someone to say, “Please don’t let your child ride on top of the box while you wheel it down the aisle.” To which I would reply, “Oh! Please help me! Can you push my cart so I can wrangle my toddler and get this GIANT box to check out? Please! Please! Somebody pleeeeeeeese help me! Anybody!”

But no. Nobody helped me. Nobody even cared that Baby Bug surfed on top of a 200-pound box on top of a wheely cart. We were fine-and-dandy just helping ourselves because we are fancy-free and independent like that. Plfffff. I actually made three trips in and out of IKEA, checking the size the 200-pound box and the size of my 200-pound car to make sure that one could fit inside the other. I wasn’t sure.

I wheeled that thing through self check-out, wrangled Baby Bug before she teeter-tottered off the end of the 200-pound box and wheeled it right out the door with my receipt without speaking to a single soul. It was so un-American. But hey, it only cost $79. I guess I got what I paid for.

And that is what I am thinking about instead of packing my suitcases. I am not putting the bookcase together no matter how badly I want to. I’m leaving it for my Dad who will be staying in our house for a day while we are gone. My mom is house-sitting and my Dad will be home from the road for one night. Of course he wants to spend it putting together a bookshelf! That’s what Dads are for.