This flower has nothing to do with this post

hisbiscus, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I had a good time in Michigan. It was nice to be able to relax, unwind, and get tanked without having to chase Brenden about. It was good to see Hector again, as well as his brother Victor and their always cool parents. I will post pictures eventually. I don't know if any of them are worth posting. I blame the beer.

My brother and his hilarious wife Jen were there, as well as mom and Price. I was also happy to see Hector's friend Dave there - counting him, Ed, Hector, and Victor, it was a reunion of my old Dungeons and Dragons group. I definitely hope some of those photos come out! I'll write more later.

I met Victor's fiance, Kim. They're getting married next month! I wish they had spaced it out more because I can't go.

This wedding was the second I've been to where I have seen a Shrek wedding cake topper. It makes sense - Shrek is the most romantic movie to have come out in a long time.

Speaking of movies, I saw Spider-man III Saturday before the wedding. I concur with Nancy: it's a better movie than the critics are giving it credit for. It's not as good as the second movie, and there was way too much jammed in there, but overall I was very happy because Sam Raimi did not forget that the first two movies were about Peter, MJ, and Harry and he brought the story to a satisfying (and open-ended) conclusion.

Brenden did something pretty cute Sunday: he dragged a teddy bear out of his room, put him on the couch laying down with his head on a pillow. Then he pulled a small comforter we keep on the couch over his bear, patted it on the back, and said "ni-ni! Ni-ni!" (night- night).

Happy Towel Day!

Happy Towel Day!, originally uploaded by mmuzzy.

It's been a while since I've nattered about my favorite redhead. I'm still quite fond of him but lately I have realized that if I could be any inanimate object I wanted to be it would be Jamie Bamber's towel (hence the title of this post, though it is towel day. Surely you know where your towel is?).

Anyway, Damian Lewis is going to be in a new series on NBC this fall. The bad news is it's a cop show (Life). I predict it will last about 4-5 episodes. I'm thinking the success of Hugh Laurie in House has made hiring Brits to play Americans the fashionable thing to do. Speaking of Mr. Laurie, it took several seasons of House before I finally recognized him as the goofball twit from the many incarnations of Blackadder.

It worked for the aforementioned Laurie and Bamber (though technically Lee Adama's not American - he's Caprican) but failed for Ioan Gruffudd who was in some Lawyer show a few years ago that tanked mightily (Century City, if I recally correctly). I won't mind a cop show if the writing is good.

Birthday Present

Birthday Present, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

In response to Alan's comment yesterday:

I will give Hector your congratulations. I should have posted this before, but here is a link to his wedding info.

His brother Victor is doing great, still lives in Atlanta (I think) and has an important lady in his life, too. No word on any impending marriage yet.

What I'm (not) watching:

After poorly marketing it and placing it against the powerhouse of garbage that is American Idol, Veronica Mars is no more. I had to quit watching it after the first 7 eps of this season because my husband likes AI. That royally sucks. I wish Fox or one of the other networks would resurrect it and let it find the audience it deserves. Hell, the USA network has a good track record with detective shows.

Battlestar Galactica is on hiatus until 2008, but it has at least one season left. The show's creator doesn't want it to go on indefinitely, but wants the show to resolve its story then bow out gracefully. I think that's a fantastic idea and something Chris Carter should have understood when the X-Files wound down.

Season 3 of BSG was uneven; the first half was awesome with the humans breaking out of New Capricra and dealing with the aftermath plus finding the next signpost to Earth. the second half deteriorated badly with some horrid episodes. I found out later that the show's writers had to axe a story line and rushed to fill in the episodes and it shows with some awful writing. The season finale kind of and sort of made up for it when Apollo reads the riot act* to the entire fracking fleet during Baltar's trial. I also like the fact that Starbuck *is* alive, and I have no clue whatsoever what is going to happen to the fleet in season 3 (it doesn't look too good).

Lost 's season ended with a bang in its season finale, and like BSG, plans to bow out gracefully by telling its story then leaving the stage (in 3 more seasons). I am officially liking this series again after an uneven start. I could use more footage of Jack beating up Ben next season!

24's season ended with a whimper. I think this show is done for, and it should have ended with season 4. Maybe *next* season the writers will listen to me and understand that they don't need to put the world on the edge of apocalypse to make a show exciting. I doubt they will listen to me though.

So once again it is summer rerun time, also known as the long, dark tea time of the soul. Anybody got any good movie recommendations?

What's on the Beach

What's on the Beach, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon broke his foot last weekend, and no it wasn't on a skydive. His foot looks real ugly but the doc didn't even cast it. He should be able to walk on it by next week. I am flying up to Detroit Friday to my friend Hector's wedding and I was worried I would have to miss it because of the busted foot but Jon found someone who will help him with Brenden. I will take the camera ans snap a bunch of photos, of course.

Real quick, because I'm like 3 weeks late with this:

Letter to Brenden Month 23: You are doing three new things since I've written one of these:

The good: you love to dance. I mean you put on your boogie shoes and get down. You didn't get that from me!

The bad: quit stage-diving, little buddy! You are finding things to climb on and then launching yourself at me. So far you've been lucky and I haven't missed. When we go into the pool next time I think I'm going to deliberately miss, so maybe you will learn a little caution.

The ugly: stop eating bugs!

Stoplight Parrotfish

Stoplight Parrotfish, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

FYI, parrotfishies are the main culprit behind St. John's soft sands. They are called parrotfish because they have beaks for mouths (kind of) and they scrape old coral for food. They poop out the coral, which has been reduced to small grains (sand). That's right, and it's the best damn fish poop I've ever walked on.

Trip Report: May 8,9,10 Trunk Bay, Cruz Bay, and Coming Home
On the morning of May 8 we chose to go to a different beach. Trunk Bay is one of the more famous beaches of the Virgin Islands - it is very pretty plus it has even better facilities that Cinnamon Bay. That's the problem: there's a $4 entry fee and many, many people go there and it's especially crowded when tour groups from one of the cruise ships shows up. The whole trick to Trunk Bay is to arrive real early, say 7:30 in the morning. You won't have to pay to get in and there's usually only a few other folks on the beach. Jon snorkeled along the underwater Trail:



Brenden was even more bold in the water, which was very calm. He'd try to walk out as far as he could then he'd insist on me carrying him as far as we could. He kept pointing at this blue bouy and saying "Ball! Ball!" and wanting us to go to it. It was too deep, and I didn't have any trustworthy floaties I could load him in and swim with him to it.



The day was cloudy and showers kept threatening but we lasted until about 10 when it started getting too crowded. Brenden, with his endless fascination with running water, had a major meltdown when I insisted we leave the shower area. He fell asleep by the time we drove back into town.

If you guessed we played in the pool in the afternoon, you wouldn't be wrong. Jon went on a night-time scuba dive and I stayed with Brenden.



We decided to slack even more on the 9th. We went into Cruz Bay to window-shop and snap some photos. We found a little children's park near the National Park dock but it was getting hot about then so we went and ate at a restaurant (The Balcony) which is on the 2nd Floor of Wharfside Village (a shopping area near the Passenger Ferry dock). The food was better than we had in St. Thomas, more plentiful, and less expensive. Go figure. Brenden loooooooooooves shrimp.



During the entire vacation, Brenden would take long naps (3 hours at least). No, we didn't mind; there's something about the tropics (the heat, duh) that wears you out and Jon and I would take naps during the afternoon, as well. But any time B is asleep it's quality time, so I fought the sleepies and sat out on the veranda and watched the boats come and go. I also walked around the grounds and snapped photos of the flora and fauna. I saw 2 iguanas while we were there but I decided photos were out because both of them were sadly roadkill.

Brenden got more quality pool-time that afternoon, of course.



Coming home was like clockwork, too, surprisingly. We loaded up the jeep, checked out, caught a car barge back to st. Thomas, brought the jeep back to the car rental place, they drove us to the airport. Dependable in St. Thomas has friendly employees, by the way. That reminds me: The fellow who drove us from the airport to the car rental place was quiet but polite. When he left us, he said "goodbye" and I said goodbye, too. Brenden surprised him (and me) by waving and saying "bye-bye!" and the guy gave us both a beautiful, sunny smile. He was more talkative when he drove us back to the airport a week later.

So anyway the flights back were unremarkable. Brenden did have a meltdown on the flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta but he fell asleep before the plane left the tarmac and didn't wake up until we were retrieving our luggage. We drove back to Hartselle right then, and didn't get to the house until 1:30, swearing right then that we would pay an extra $600-$800 to fly out of Huntsville or Birmingham next time.

Overall, I loved the vacation, but perhaps the Virgin Islands was too ambitious for a full family vacation considering Brenden's age. The Gulf Coast is 5 hours south of us by car, after all. But as Brenden gets older, I hope he continues to find the ocean as exciting and enjoyable as I still do. My mom tells me that my brother Edward was snorkeling at the age of 3. I opened the pool last weekend and as soon as it gets warm enough we are going to continue working with Brenden on his swimming lessons.

Scuba Day

IMG_0364, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Why interrupt a tradition on my blog?

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday Bill Paxton
Happy birthday to you!

James Lileks is vacation blogging, too; his entries are about his family's trip to DisneyWorld. I see he gets the same feelings I get whenever I encounter the House of Mouse: cynicism at war with the inner 5-year old who is genuinely getting a kick out of everything. Me, I can't wait to take Brenden.

Trip Report: May 6,7 Cinnamon Bay and Low-Key
We went to Cinnamon Bay again, except this time we did it right and left the condo early. Brenden felt more comfortable with the ocean and I felt more comfortable snorkeling. I sat in the water with B and we 'dug for treasure' - there's a line of coarser material about 2 feet into the water that includes small bits of broken coral, shells, and rocks. I'd dump some of this into B's toy sieve and pan through it in the water until the big stuff remained. Brenden was fascinated by the little bits and pieces left over; occasionally we'd find a larger shell that way.



The next day was the big day - we were going to go scuba diving. I had called a place recommended on various message boards. By the way, how can you trust info you get from a message board? Leave a message with the word "1337" in it and see how many responses you get that say "what the hell does that mean?" The more confusion, the more trustworthy the source.



Anyway, I called Christy's of St. John, and they recommended a babysitter. Tamisha is a very nice young lady who was shy with us but she and Brenden got along just fine. She watched him for the morning while Jon and I loaded up for some scuba diving with Low-Key Watersports, a company we have dived with both times we have been to St. John. I had wanted to try a company that dealt with smaller groups, but Jon wanted to stay with Low-Key. Overall, the dives were nice, but it was somewhat of a cattle boat. I hope next time we can try the other company.



Still, the first dive at Calf Rock was rough - I hadn't dived since Costa Rica and it took me a while to get used to the environment again. The second dive at Little St. James was much better although when I got out of the water I was shivering. The water temp was 82 and I only wore my rash guard over my bathing suit. Next time I'll wear a shorty, and I won't let 2 1/2 years go by before I dive again.



I did have a good time. I saw all kinds of nifty creatures, including an eel, pretty fish, a big honking barracuda, several rays, and the spider-thingy above. Our dive guide pulled it out of a hole and put it on my hand. I'm glad I don't have bug phobias. I still wonder what it is (I have identification books. I'll need to peruse them).

I also got to see one of my favorite types of little fishies: I looked them up once but I can't remember their official name. I call them "disco fish". These pretty, shy little fellas live in holes in the ocean bottom. They never go far from their holes, and the effort it takes to stay near their holes makes them look like their dancing. This photo doesn't do their coloring justice: their hues are almost neon. Hence the 'disco'.



Both days ended with trips to the pool. Brenden could never get enough of the pool.

Rainbow

Rainbow, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I went to visit my doc yesterday and was prescribed a whole slew of meds including antibiotics, decongestant/expectorant, and Singulair for athsma/allergies. I'm also throwing ibuprofen on top of all that for the sore throat. Last night I had spectacular dreams which bled over into reality. I dreamt I had heard a loud bang, so I woke up and had to search the whole house before I went back into bed and discovered there had been no noise (Jon was wondering what the hell I had been doing).

On with the show:

Trip Report: May 4-5 Cinnamon Bay and Charlotte Amalie We saw a rainbow over St. Thomas when we woke up and I managed to snag a few pictures of it. We planned to go to the beach and it took forever to get ready. By the time we left the condo it was 9 am and Brenden was already a little cranky. We also discovered that we had left the battery charger for our new camera (Canon PowerShot SD900) back home. Jon and I debated a course of action and ended up deciding to go over to St. Thomas on the following day to find one. We didn't come all this way to snap only a few paltry photos.

We stopped in Cruz Bay to see if we could find a charger (no luck) and to buy Brenden a few cheapie beach toys. St. John Kids, right next to the passenger ferry dock, had some nice toys that fit the bill. We decided on Cinnamon Bay for our beach destination because it has shower facilities, plus it is my most favoritest place in the known universe.




I watched el jefe at first while Jon went a snorkeling. He tested out the waterproof case for the camera and I tried to teach Brenden how to make a sand castle. I built them and he would go Godzilla on them. I took him out in the water a few times and he seemed far more interested in digging in the sand.





I went snorkeling too and kept getting foot cramps. I haven't been snorkeling / scuba diving since we went to Costa Rica 2 years and 8 months or so ago so I was a little out of practice. I didn't last long and went and played with B some more. Despite a powerful sun B and I managed to deter sunburn thanks to spf-rated rash guards and plenty o' sunscreen. Jon got some on his shoulders.

The rest of the day was unremarkable.

We took our time and left for the passenger ferry dock to catch the ferry into Charlotte Amalie at 11:15. Brenden was cranky, of course. Jon was carrying him around in our kiddie backpack but it was hot. I bought him a little hat which he wore occasionally.








In Charlotte Amalie we ate lunch at a restaraunt with AC. I don't remember the name but it was pretty expensive. Brenden got to sit by a window looking over the CA harbor. He decorated it with ketchup. Then we went shopping. We found a charger so we did some window-shopping and bought a few more toys for Brenden. He was allowed to walk a little and stopped for every puddle and fountain we came by. The boy is fascinated with water, particularly running water. I have to do battle with him every time I try to get him out of the bathtub.

On the ferry ride back he fell asleep, thank Neptune.

view from condo, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Trip Report: May 2-3 Travel Day(s) The hotel in Atlanta was a kind of good idea; getting Brenden to sleep was a major hassle (11:30 or so) so none of us were well-rested by the time we got to Hartsfield International at 5:30. Still it beat trying to leave the house at 1 am. Now here's the scary part of this travel day: everything went according to plan! Very spooky.

Security was a breeze, the flights were on-time and pleasant (would it be racist of me to point out the French flight attendants were kinda rude, though?), and Brenden was for the most part amenable. We had to break out the dvd player during the last hour of the flight from Ft. Lauderdale to St. Thomas to quell an attack of the crankies but that was it. We flew Spirit Airlines, by the way, in some of their brand-spanking new A-319 Airbuses. Anyone who is reading this who lives in Atlanta ought to keep them in mind because they have good deals on vacation spots.

So the flights were on-time, the luggage didn't get lost and the folks at Dependable Car Rental came and got us 10 minutes after we called them just like they said they would. We rented a 4-door Jeep Wrangler (yes, a 4 door. They make those now). Once the paperwork was finished, Jon drove from Charlotte Amalie to the ferry dock in Red Hook and we almost immediately backed up onto a car barge. Brenden by then had decided to nap again.





We drove off at the new dock at Enighed pond thus avoiding the chaos near the passenger ferry / national park docks. We made one stop at the Starfish Market for some quick supplies and found the Serendip Condos relatively easy. We had rented Echo unit, and for a less expensive alternative to renting a villa I think we got our money's worth. The condo was small, with the kitchen / dining room / living room being one room, then a bathroom (tiny) and a bedroom. These condos are perfect for couples or really small families.

There were two air conditioners, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. The best part of the condo to me was the verandah. It was fairly large and I was able to let Brenden on it without too much fear he would try to climb anything. The view was nice and ironically of the car ferry dock at Enighed pond. I am of the opinion that when they built the dock and dredged the salt pond it helped this view. I spent plenty of downtime on the verandah drinking beer and watching the barges come and go.

I took Brenden for a walk in the neighborhood while Jon took a nap. These condos are in a residential area and most people who live there are working-class (I saw many taxis parked in the driveways). This area is also one big honking hill and all the streets have a steep grade. If you want to get in serious shape, go move to St. John for 6 months and do a casual stroll around this neighborhood every morning.

The condos themselves are older but well-maintained. The architectural style screams 70's to me. They were also freshly painted (white and light blue). The pool looks like the newest addition and someone is going nuts with his or her landscaping project. I showed Brenden some of the native life (chickens, feral cats, and lizards) and he had fun chasing after some of them (all too swift, lucky for them).





Once Jon woke up we took B swimming in the pool to wear him out. We were all wore out by bed-time.

Digging the Ocean

Momnb, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We're back from vacation, and I'm sick again. Same shit, different day. I'm getting caught up with everything and will eventually get around to posting a trip report. I have posted some of the photos from the trip on my flickr account and have a bunch more to process. We have a new camera and a waterproof casing and we were snap-happy on this trip.

In a nutshell: vacation was fun but trying, because doing anything that disrupts a toddler's routine means there will be hell to pay. The good news is Brenden loves the beach / ocean as much as I had hoped. Matter of fact the hard part was getting him to leave the beach. We had several episodes of having to drag him away kicking and screaming.

I would just like to take this moment and thank Stephen Hillenburg from the bottom of my heart for his inspired creation of "Spongebob Squarepants". Without the season 4 dvd's, none of us would have made it out of this vacation alive.

Anticipation and Trepidation

Trunk Bay@St. John, originally uploaded by NNBB_Alf.

I just did a search on my own blog and I am amazed at how many posts about James Bond I have written.

I have nothing else to say about that, I was just amused.

I'm impatient for work to be over. Even though we don't get on the plane until tomorrow, I will really feel like I'm on my way when we head for Atlanta this afternoon. Everything is packed, including the few liquid/aerosol/gels in less than 3 oz. sizes that I'm taking in my carry-on packed in one quart-size ZipLoc baggy (not a gallon-size, not a fold-over or twist-tie). The TSA folks will probably throw mine away because it's a Target knock-off baggie and not a real ZipLoc. Life in the 21st century is so much fun!

I want to get to Hartsfield by 5am local, even though our flight doesn't leave until 8. I'm hoping security won't be as crowded, plus if it is, we'll have plenty of time to go through. It should be an absolute hoot getting through with Brenden in tow. People are always pissed at other people with small children in tow. Now I get to pay for every time I was annoyed by some poor overtired child having a meltdown and their harried stressed-out parents. I bought every little toy and treat with Spongebob on it I could lay my hands on for bribes. We also have our portable DVD with season 4 of SBSP but that's for me too. All the websites with travelling tips say it's a good idea to keep your kid distracted as much as possible. I should go to Wal-Mart and buy 30-40 pairs of ear plugs for the passengers around us. I am worried about Brenden's ears, too - he finishes his antibiotics today, but how can I tell if his ear infection is gone? If it was caused by a virus the antibiotics would have been pointless (although the conjunctivitis cleared up rapidly).

Wow, this worry is stressful. I may need a vacation after all of this.

St. John or bust!

Caneel Bay, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We're getting everything ready for the trip - we're leaving Wednesday night and staying at a hotel near Atlanta because our flight leaves at 8am. I'm trying to bring everything I think we may need yet trying not to pack the house. Packing used to be easy before Brenden!

Speaking of Monkey-boy, his ears and eyes seem to be better but the antibiotics I'm giving him have given him a case of oral thrush. That's a yeast infection. It's not dangerous but it can make for a cranky child. I have packed many surprises and treats (code name:BRIBES) for the plane rides. Pray for us, or at least the poor people who have to sit next to us.