He said:
Once again, I am tired and not in the mood to be writing. I'm told Shannon has more than held her own in terms of wit and levity; I have not read them yet. I've never really been a "do unto others" kind of guy. I write, I have my chuckle, I move on. I don't care if anyone reads it, and why would I want to read someone else? But I'm sure she's great. Taught her everything I know. Today was tiring. I watch myself (as I am truly never in the moment), and I don't know how we do it. I'm playing with Gillian, Phil is keeping Mara engaged, and someone else is handling Ryan. I don't know how the two of us do it at home, and how Shannon does it every day. It's insane. I don't want to travel any further without at least one additional person.
Today we made a run to Walmart to get some chalk and bubble toys to occupy the kids. Then we had a brief trip to the playground by the beach, followed that up with a walk with Phil and the dogs, and then returned 'home' for lunch. Gillian stayed with Phil to walk the dogs. Phil and Shelly had other friends with kids over, there was a bbq, and a great time was had by all. I think both girls really enjoyed it, and they were beat by the end of the day. They could barely drag themselves up the stairs to bed. Ryan did not do a repeat performance of pulling himself up (I think I failed to mention that yesterday), but he enjoyed the dogs and the attention. He's definitely using the same sound to refer to the dogs, but it's still not a word. I think I've change my opinion on dollar store/'walmart toys, slightly. Yes they're cheap crap poorly made, but when the kids lose a piece down the hill 10 minutes into playing, you don't feel so bad.
Not sure the plan for tomorrow. Looks like we're not going to Oregon anymore, which is a bit depressing. I liked the trip moreso than the destination. Heading down the coast, stopping on a whim, and basically having an aimless wandering journey of exploration. Like our honeymoon. We know the starting point, the end point and the timeframe, but the rest is random. I love that. Cultus Lake is nice, but I've sung that song before. I have 5 weeks and a theoretical blank cheque, and I've never liked monotony (though I do quite a bit of it). I can't even imagine the trip there. Cultus, I can see the day play out in my mind. It's like those studies of why children and adults perceive time so differently. Everything is new, new neurons are firing, new pathways are created, and you're always 'on'. Your internal clock is aware of every second. Once you head into the familiar, which is often the case for adults, the brain slips into sleep mode. A month can go by before you realize it. I was looking forward to 34.5 days of neuron firing. Jasper and Clearwater were great; it felt like I'd been gone a week. These last 3 days, pleasant though they have been, have been so familiar as to barely register. It's like mpeg compression which is based on tracking the delta. If one frame is the same as the next frame, it can removed. If the next frame differs by only one element, store that element. The more a scene differs, the more space it needs. A movie like Stargate, with it's random sandstorms, needed two discs when I first bought it. If Clearwater was Stargate, this weekend was a live feed of the Mona Lisa. Same background with the odd person walking by. Nice enough, but not taxing. I know the roads, the bed, and where the silverware is. I want this vacation to defy compression. I want this to be a 300TB raw feed of a trip, not a 700meg CD. But as the tagline for that documentary on homosexuality among farm animals says, "It's not about ewe".
Well, that last paragraph is more a main blog ramble than a journal of the trip, but it does reflect my state right now. Maybe I'm just tired. Perhaps I'll google national parks just south of the border and go back that way. Don't tell Shannon I said anything.
She said:
Well, Phil and Shelley are wonderful hosts and we had a great time with their friends. They each had 2 little girls so altogether there were 6 little squealers running around the yard. Thank goodness the weather was good enough for all that noise to be outside. What Time is it Mr. Shiny Pants was a big hit!! It was an interesting menu too....
Shelley: Greek Dip, Pecan and Mandarin and Romaine salad
Phil: Thin Bread (for the dip), burgers and hot dogs
Jeff: The best potato salad I've ever had
Blaire: Chocolate Dipped strawberries and cherries. When you have fresh picked strawberries it's impossible to also call those colorless flavorless things from Safeway strawberries.
The rest of the trip is going to be interesting. I wonder how Brad feels about not going to Disneyland???