Wow - it's been a while!

I've been incredibly busy with work over the last couple of months and have not found the time to keep up on my blogging. My apologies to you who are avid followers. Both of you.

In addition to work-work, I've been struggling to (pardon the pun) keep my head above water with the pond. We've had disaster after disaster. As of this writing, I really should be outside repairing the filter. I'll get to it.

Steve and I just returned from a mini-vacation. We left a little later than we'd planned Friday morning so had to cancel plans to have brunch with Cory & Url in Modesto. We made our way down to Fresno by about 11:00. I drove to Roeding Park hoping to show Steve the gutted airplane I clambered all over as a kid, but it's not there anymore. Next to Belmont Memorial Park where Steve screwed his patience up a notch and accomapnied me in locating my grandparents' graved. I photo'd them and we left. Short and sweet. (I miss Grandma.)

When in Fresno, one must dine Armenian, right? I'd had a curiously difficult time locating Armenian restaurants via Google before our trip. Not because they don't exist on every freakin street corner in Fresno, but because the folks who run them are about as tech-savvy as my ex-boss. Maybe less so. So I followed the map to one of the two places I'd found that had few but glowing reviews. It was so crappy we didn't even order food. Used their bathrooms, then went to the next one. That turned out to be a good call, even though it was clear the hell across town. No lamb at the first place (wha-wha-whaaatt???) and yummy lamb at the second place (thank you Goddess!!!).

After lunch we toured the Forestiere Gardens. I'd done so a few years ago and have been anxious to get Steve down in those caves, sure he would enjoy it. He did. Go, if you're ever nearby.

From there we drove another almost-an-hour south to Visalia and got checked into the Holiday Inn just in time to connect with the kids. Joel wanted a little time to feed Landon and get him to nap, so we had a cocktail before heading over to their house. Cindy was at work but we got to hang out and play Peek-A-Boo, Suck The Toes and Bang The Table with Landon until we were all exhausted.

Next morning Joel's phone call woke us up. We got cleaned up and met Joel, Cindy and Landon downstairs for breakfast. Cindy hadn't slept all night, and had a job interview at noon, so after a hearty breakfast she took the baby and headed home to get them both a little shut-eye. Joel stayed with us. We chatted and had coffee downtown before having to get him back home. Then we found that Cindy didn't have to go to the interview after all, so while she slept we again just hung out with Joel and that perfect little brown bean of a child that is Landon.

Steve works Sundays, so we had to leave fairly early in the afternoon to allow time to drive back home and get him to bed at a decent hour. In his job, there is no room for error. He must be well-rested and able to focus and remain safe! On the way back we stopped in Sacramento for dinner, then just came home and crashed.

A quick Central Valley vacation, but a good time nonetheless.