I Survived the Whales

Since moving to sunny California, Luis and I have wanted to go whale watching.  Taking a tour boat is a little pricey, but we found a deal online and finally decided to make reservations.  However, before Luis made the phone call to reserve our spots, I suddenly became extremely nervous.  I was worried that while we were out on the ocean, surrounded by whales, one would swim up and tip over our boat.  I asked Luis if he thought that would happen.  Assuming I was joking, he laughed.  I wasn't joking.  Realizing this, Lu tried reassuring me that whales were nice.  I've seen Pinocchio.  I've heard of Moby Dick.  Whales can be mean.  Plus, what if one was crazed?  I told Luis to ask the receptionist about the percentage of boats that had been "whale-tipped."  He refused until I threatened not to go.

He called and made the reservations, but before hanging up, he told the receptionist that his wife needed to know if the boats ever got tipped over by whales.  She laughed.  I didn't think it was THAT irrational.

We went.

We did stop at Target beforehand to buy some sea bands for me since Lu was worried I would get sea sick.  Aren't they fashionable?

During our trip we were able to catch some high-quality, gallery-worthy shots.  Copyright infringement laws prohibit you from stealing these so please refrain.

To be honest, the whales were a bit anti-climatic.  I guess I expected to see them jumping out of the water like in Free Willy.  We didn't even see a tail.  What COULD be seen was a big gray lump rising slightly out of the water from a distance with a spout of water puffing out (unless you blinked...and then you missed the whole episode).  I thought my cute photographer did the best he could.

The dolphins were much more exciting than the whales.

The birds and sea lions weren't bad either.

We never were that far from the coast so there was a plethera of other marine vehicles (boats and such) out and about.  Our captain grew quite angry at the other boats when they would get too close to the whales.  He even threatened them using our intercom system.  One yacht driver in particular was being really dense.  After repeatedly threatening to report them to the officials, they drove off...but not before one of their passengers decided to exhibit some public indecency.  THANKFULLY I missed that episode!  People these days...

We did have fun thanks to the baggie of animal crackers (and sea bands) that kept my nausea away...oh yeah, and my traveling companion was pretty great too.

Was I glad we went?  YES!
Would I go again?  Probably not.

Flush

7:03 AM and I have visited the bathroom 4 times.  Thankfully, these trips have not been due to morning sickness as I only face slight sickness at nighttime.   However, that doesn't stop me from oh so FREQUENT bathroom stops.  After one of these particular moments, I found myself greatly annoyed by how much time I have to spend at the throne.

And then I thought,

"I'm sure glad my time is spent HERE...

...and not HERE."

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=outhouse&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbm=isch&tbnid=jeN91hkWp8tP6M:&imgrefurl=http://www.continentalranchatcreede.com/id1.html&docid=YngLafaMd5LpDM&w=327&h=490&ei=hppKTr2nOK7SiAKH6I2oBw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=194&vpy=146&dur=2077&hovh=275&hovw=183&tx=124&ty=189&page=2&tbnh=180&tbnw=134&start=22&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:7,s:22&biw=1280&bih=525

We Do Have Other Friends

I know I have posted a bunch about our friends, the Mohlmans.  We love our Mohlmans!  However, we DO have other friends.  Unfortunately, we're pretty lame and never get together much.  I'm determined to change this though, and  finally had a breakthrough when the McGarys agreed to have a game night with us.

Side note:  The name McGary is of Scottish/Irish descent and it turns out that "Mc" means "son of..."  Therefore, McGary actually means "son of Gary."  That would mean McDonalds actually means "son of Donald."  Which also means McIntire is "son of Intire."  Furthermore, McMillan means "son of Millan."  Also...well, I think that's enough.  Hopefully you get it by now.  Luis and I must be a little slow because we had to go through quite a few examples before the concept was understood:)

We decided to make home-made O*R*E*O*S before we went over and they ended up being XXL.  Next time, I'm not letting Luis influence me on cookie size.

Then, we just had some good old fun playing games...actually, just one game.  Qwirkle.  Have you heard of it?  It is a really fun game I got before my wedding from my Megan friend.

Thanks Jen & Ryan for such a fun night!

For the WHOLE year!

Luis started back to school on Monday, so that meant I had to take my little boy back-to-school shopping on Saturday.  Before we left, we had the talk about how he had to make sure he got enough of everything for the whole year because I was NOT going to buy a notebook for $2.13 if I could get it now for $0.20 (which happened last year one month after the back-to-school sales ended...mutter mutter mutter).

We arrived at Target and headed back to the school bins.  Luis began by picking up 2 notebooks.  "Honey," I said, "is that enough for the WHOLE year?"  He paused and picked up 5 more.  Next, he went to the folders and took 3.  "Oh sweetie, will 3 folders be enough for the WHOLE year?"  He hesitated and then chose a few more.  He then went over to the note cards.  He told me there would be many presentations this year and he would definitely need some of those.  Can anyone guess what happened?  He grabbed one.  (I don't think someone was getting the concept of the WHOLE year.)  "Luis darling, are you sure you don't need more than that?  Because I'm stinking not going to buy note cards at full price when we can purchase deeply discounted ones now during back-to-school sales."  He took 2 more.  

He admitted to me he had never bought for the whole year before and was finding it hard to get into that mindset.  From then on, every time he went to a new section, I simply said, "The WHOLE year" and he knew what to do.

My proud moment came when he walked over to the pencils and picked up a 50 pencil pack all by himself.  My little boy is growing up!

I may have affected Luis too much because he had a sort of crazed look by the end of the night.  It still gives me nightmares.  

First day of school and I didn't even cry as he headed out the door!

Moral:  teach hoarding early to your young ones.

It's True

A while ago I posted about a blanket that some of you incorrectly guessed was for a baby.  It was and is not for a baby at all, but its purpose will continue to remain secret.

However, this little darling WAS made with a very special baby in mind.

That's right.  Estoy embarasada and Baby Moreno will be arriving in January 2012.  We are so excited about our baby and can't wait for the day when we can hold our little one in our arms.  I have no premonitions about  whether our baby is a boy or girl, but since nieces dominate in my family, I keep picturing a girl.  Luis however, thinks the baby will be a him.  Either way, of course, we're happy.

Although I'm only 3 1/2 months along, I have already been spending way too much time in Target's baby section making plans and wondering how we're going to fit another person in our little apartment.  Small space  & money saving tips would be very much appreciated.  Thankfully, we've already received a few hand-me-downs.  Thanks Jennie!

To conclude, I'm sure most of you are anticipating a glimpse of my belly.  I've noticed there seems to be great popularity with the month by month belly side shots.
I think I'll start a new trend.

This way, you can track my cankle progress month to month, which is by far more interesting.

Saying Goodbye

I have a hard time saying goodbye and letting go.  Luis experiences this daily when he goes to school or work.  I don't know how he manages to escape.  My family experiences this every time we see each other or occasionally at the end of a phone call.  I've known this about myself for some time.  I call it love.  Luis calls it clingy.  However, I had no idea how deeply embedded this problem ran until I did some thorough spring...turned into summer cleaning.

We've just had so many good memories together.  Did you know that that was the first ketchup bottle we purchased in California?  Our loyal had soap bottle is the first one we've come across with a working pump.  And that toothpaste was with me when I brushed my teeth during my Texan Spring Break.

I think I need an intervention.

Pedicure Time

Luis is unsure he wants me to post this because he's worried about what the brothers-in-law will think.  I reassured him that only women read blogs and they will all think he's a sweet guy.  He didn't buy it.  He already knows how women talk.  Oh well... he's not here to stop me.

Remember when Luis and I had our Easter Egg hunt and filled our eggs with IOU's?  I finally decided to cash in my pedicure IOU, but went with the thrifty "at-home" version since I already had some foot-spa product.  (Plus, I can't really justify spending $30 to get a pedicure when I just spent 4 days at Disneyland.)  Anyways, guess who was chosen to give me said pedicure?  You guessed it...Luis is so lucky!

Since Luis had not the slightest about what to do, I had to do some coaching; starting with the water temperature.  Sure, I like steaming water, but when it's hot enough to boil pasta, I draw the line.

Lu was a bit apprehensive about painting my toenails, but I'm not picky.  Besides, if mom could walk around Disneyland with nails painted by Phoebe, I could certainly walk around my apartment with toenails painted by Wicho.

The pedicure felt wonderful and I was sad when it ended.  To close the night, we watched The Wedding Planner. 

I think Luis had a really fun night.  I know I did!

Actually, I think it was all a ploy because during the pedicure Luis asked me if we could go camping this weekend.  Should I be worried that he is already learning how to get what he wants?  I mean, I've had it figured out for some time now, but I was hoping it would be a few more years before he caught on.