Going Home - Trip Log Day 4

Mystery Trip

The trip home was very uneventful. I am not sure what time we actually left the hotel – I think it was about 6:45. We drove into LA and returned the car, hopped the shuttle bas to the terminal at LAX, went through ticketing, security (where we were both selected for the body scan), and found our gate. All by 7:45. Our flight wasn’t until 9:40. WOW. I guess it was non-peak travel time since it was early morning on a Sunday on the middle of a holiday weekend. The flight was great (I really like Virgin American – they do a good job), and we got to DFW without any problems. Got our bags at the baggage claim (which we discovered when we got home had been “selected for screening: and had been opened and trifled through), called for our shuttle back to the hotel, and made it back there pretty quickly as well. Our only hitch in the whole day was that our van wouldn’t start when we got to it. So, we asked the hotel front desk guy, who found a maintenance guy, who helped us. The man was worried it would die again if we turned it off, so he GAVE US his jumper cables to take with us! (We have some, they were just in Oklahoma!)

Once we got the car running, we went to meet my parents at my brother’s house. There is still work to be done there. We helped inventory a few things and take some pictures, then a friend of Brian’s come over to help me find my old hard drive with all the girls’ baby pictures on it. To make a long story short, while we found it, I still do not have the files. He took the box with him and is going to try some stuff on his own at his house, and hopefully soon I will have the files I have been looking for. We all left the house about 6, stopped at Taco Cabana for dinner, and were back in Stillwater about 10:30. WOW. What a trip. I am ready to start gathering up my babies! Jake is with my in-laws in Enid and we will go pick him up later today (Monday), but the girls are in Yukon with their other dad and won’t be back until Tuesday afternoon. I sure miss my kids! I need their hugs!

GLEE-ful day! - Trip Log Day 3

Mystery Trip

It is 9:00 pm, and we are back in the hotel for the night. (This place smells weird!) Did I mention we are in an historic hotel that has no elevator? Yeah, so, 44 steps (with landings and turns every 6-8 steps) up to the 3^rd floor every time we come back to the hotel. Add to that all the other walking we have been doing, and my knees and ankles are starting to rebel! I think this was the last time up the stairs… At least I hope so! I have to mention 2 things that have made this trip even more wonderful. 1 – Soon after we left LAX on Thursday, we found a Christian radio station at 95.9 called “The Fish.” It has truly been a blessing all through the trip – even when it got a bit static-y at times. And 2 – Britty is a GREAT driver in this crazy traffic. He hated being on the freeways, but we only had to do that a couple of times, but he was GREAT in town on this crazy streets with the insane drivers. Honk! Honk!

Today was a BLAST! I again, woke up too early and had to find a way to spend my morning. We watched TV and just slowly got ourselves around – we had no real plans for the day until the concert at the Staples Center at 3:00. So, after we got going, we decided to do some sight-seeing on our own. One of the good things about the tours we did yesterday is that we saw things in passing that we wanted to go back to as see on our own. One of those things was a scenic overlook on Mulholland road just pass outlook. This was just below the Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills. Once we found that lookout and explores it, we figured there were others, so off we went on Mulholland to see what we could see. We went one way for a while, and then went back the other way. We found several of these lookouts/ scenic overlooks, but we only stopped at about 4. The first two looked over Holly wood and LA, and the other 2 were Universal City and the San Fernando Valley. SO PRETTY! And not at all what we expected when we set out on this adventure.

Once we decided we were done with Mulholland Drive, we decided to see what would happen if we put “Griffith Observatory” into the GPS. Yup – went back up into the hills, and took us right to it! The park that is before you get to the observatory was PACKED with people!!! It was a beautiful day, and the first day of a holiday weekend, so it wasn’t too surprising. We drive right up to the entrance of the observatory, then turned around. Now, we decided to see what would happen if we put “Hollywood Sign” into the GPS. The results were SO FUN! While we didn’t get right up to the sign, we got to see some COOL houses and neighborhoods, and we got right up to the bottom of the sign. It was so fun! This whole impromptu morning was PERFECT and so informational and just plain FUN!

We decided we needed to head on back to the hotel to change for the concert and get some lunch. After we changed clothes, we headed to the Staples Center (with a quick stop at an ATM) – which really isn’t very far from us. EXCEPT. The highway was so crowded, our exit was closed, and the GPS wasn’t very clear. We ended up not too far off target, but not where we needed to be. We got it figured out, but we had used up some of our eating time. We found a little ice cream shop right next to the Staples Center and got some smoothies, then headed in to the Staples Center to find out seats.

Oh. My. GLEE! That concert was everything I expected, plus 100 times more. I cried when I got the tickets on Thursday, and I cried today through the first 2 songs. I told Britt the other day when we were souvenir shopping that I wanted to wait and get mine at the show. I got a T-shirt, a program, and a red loser foam finger. And I love them all! The concert was so great! LXD opened the show with an amazing dance performance before the cast of Glee took to the stage. The actors all stay in character the whole time, and you could totally tell they were having a GREAT time! There were REAL, live fireworks inside the Staples Center! That was just crazy. And when the cast “slushied” the crowd with confetti? PRICELESS! I loved the whole thing. The Warblers, New Directions, and everything in between – AMAZING! Best concert I have ever been to!

We were totally exhausted after the concert, so we headed back to Hollywood and the hotel. We knew we needed some dinner, and remembered that there was a Chinese place inside the grocery store we stopped at on Thursday. YUM! Got the Chinese to go, went back to the hotel, chowed down and watched TV for about an hour. Then, we decided we wanted ONE LAST TOUR of the city. It was close to sundown by now, so we knew we would get a show with all the lights on now! It was a nice drive, and we ended it refilling the rental car to turn it in tomorrow morning.

Early day again tomorrow. We need to be out of the hotel by 7 – even though our flight isn’t until 9:40. We have to turn the car in, and the recommend to be at the rental place 2 hours before our flight. *sigh* Sad to see it coming to an end. I will NEVER forget this trip.

Worn OUT - Trip Log Day 2

Mystery Trip

It takes more than just a day to adjust to the time difference, so I was up SUPER early (CA time, it was a decent hour back home!), so we got to get ready at a very leisurely pace and hang around the hotel room for while in the morning. That gave us some time to research what we wanted to do on the internet, too. Plus, it was the girls’ last day of 3^rd grade, so I was glad I got to call them and wish then a fun day and check in on them.

So, we left the hotel about 8:30, and headed back to the Hollywood and Highlands center. We were going back to the Grauman’s Theater area to buy tickets for the TMZ open air bus tour of Hollywood. It’s called “Secrets and Celebrity Hot Spots” and it was so fun! From the website: “The World's leading entertainment news brand will show you the real Hollywood - TMZ style. See the hottest spots in Hollywood, West Hollywood, Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills. Camera-ready Guides on the lookout and ready to film Celebrities. The secret places where Hollywood comes to play. Juicy nuggets from TMZ staffers about Hollywood celebs. Inside info about the hot spots and stories that TMZ made famous.” It was pretty cool – the bus is open air and up high so you can really see well, plus the tour guide, Kevin, is a staffer from the news room at TMZ and a real paparazzo. He told us if we saw a celeb, he would jump off the bus with his camera and mic, and try to talk to them. We saw Ryan Phillippe in a gym on Sunset (Kevin got locked out as he tried to approach) and Steve Harvey on Rodeo (who talked to Kevin for a sec, but declined to really interact). It was 2 hours long, and it was fun. SO glad I talked Britt into that one!

Once we were back at the Grauman, we were HUNGRY. One of the things pointed out on the tour was an IN-N-Out burger that was less than a mile from where we were, so we decided to get our car out of the garage and go have our first In-N-Out burger! It was 12:30, and it was SCARY busy! LOL! But it was fun – we sat outside at a little table where the birds tried to get our crumbs, and we watched the traffic go by. It was nice – and the food was yummy! After we ate, there were a couple of other places pointed out on the tour we wanted to check out. One was Pink’s hot dogs (we really just wanted to see how long the line was – there was not one at 10:00am – imagine that!), and the other was The Grove shopping area. We went by Pink’s , but decided to go shopping later. So, we went back to the hotel to rest a bit, freshen up, and decide what to do for the afternoon. SO glad Britt didn’t go through with the “no technology” on this trip! We would not have any idea what we were doing without checking things out on the internet first! LOL! We decided to go on another tour. This one was a Star Line tour of celebrity homes . So – back to the parking garage at Hollywood and Highlands, and back to the Grauman…

At 3:00, we loaded up in a van with 10 of our closest tourist friends (a family of 6 from Iran and 4 younger folks from San Antonio, TX) and set off to see more of Hollywood. This one was in a 15 passenger van that had been converted into an open air van. We had headsets to wear so we could hear the driver as he took us through some really really really nice parts of town. He was older and had a very “gentle” voice, so 2 hours of him in a bouncy van was kind of like a lullaby! It was really neat to see all the homes – especially the ones up in Hollywood Hills! My favorite one he pointed out was Ryan Murphy’s. Not because it was especially cool or anything, but because he created Glee. So, we rode around in that van for 2 hours, and got some sun on our faces and arms. When we got back to the Grauman, we were tired, hot and HUNGRY. There are several “Food Court” type food places in the Hollywood and Highlands Center, so we checked a few of those out and settled on Johnny Rockets. WRONG. Ugh. Britt said his food was pretty good. Mine was OK, but I was so hungry I didn’t care. The fries were weird, the rings were cold and the service SUCKED. Up to that point, I had been so surprised at the good service we had been getting. The rental car place was AMAZINGLY accommodating; our hotel check in lady was (new at her job yet still) gracious and kind and very helpful; every place we had been up to this point was great; our tour experiences were top notch; then, we tried to eat a quick meal and it all fell apart. No tip for those lazy heads!

With full bellies, tired bodies, but renewed spirits, we decided to head out on another adventure. Once again getting our car out of the parking structure that was bigger than our entire town (this was our 3^rd time on the trip – we were now experts), we headed to the shopping area known as The Grove. It’s basically an outdoor mall. No cars, just foot paths. It was a BEAUTIFUL evening weather wise, and there were TONS of people out. There was a jazz band playing on the plaza, and it was fun to see the little kids dancing around – made me miss mine *just a little* - and we had a good time marveling at all the stores and poking our head into a few. It was a HUGE area, and we were already worn out from the day, so we stayed about an hour, then headed back to our hotel for the night.

Once we were back at the Historic Hollywood Hotel, we tried again to watch TV finales on Hulu, but the wireless is just too slow. Britt found Dateline on TV and we were going to watch it, but I think we were both asleep within 10 minutes! It was a GREAT day, and tomorrow will be even better!

Its GO time! - Trip Log Day 1

Mystery Trip

5:45am DFW Terminal E Gate 20

We are sitting at the gate in DFW. When we checked in at the ticket counter, the man said, “Flying to Los Angeles?” So, I knew the direction we were going pretty quickly after stepping foot in the airport! Now, we wait. The plane is here, and my boarding card says we will start boarding at 6:30. Let the ADVENTURE begin!!!

2:15 pm – CALIFORNIA TIME!

Holy Cow! I am in LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA! Hollywood, Baby! Everybody has a dream… Our flight landed at 8am, and by 10am, we were on the 405, headed to the Pacific Coast Highway. And thank goodness for GPS – I don’t know how they did it before that nifty little invention! :) So, we headed down the PCH to Malibu! MALIBU! We drove around – marveling at the homes and the sites, and then found a fun beach-side seafood café to have lunch at. After we ate (we had been up since 3am Texas time, and it was not 1pm Texas time, and we had not eaten a THING! STARVING!!!), we went down on the beach and took our shoes off and put our toes in the ocean. It was COLD! It was only 68 air temp, and the water felt shocking when it first hit your skin, but we got used to it.

After some frolicking in the sand, we loaded up and left the beach. I knew we were headed to our hotel, but I wasn’t sure where that was – until Britt had me look it up in the GPS. HOLLYWOOD! We are staying at an historical Hollywood hotel – and we can see the big wooden Hollywood letters out the window! Very cool! Once we got checked in to the hotel, we were unpacking a bit and resting when I was presented with a gift – a full color hardbound book of pictures of the last 5+ years of our lives together. It was AWESOME! Such a perfect gift for this occasion – for so many reasons. I was ready to take a short nap at this point, but Britt had one more surprise for me…

He handed me 2 tickets. I was so nervous about them; I didn’t even want to look at them. I thought they might be to see WICKED again, but I really had no idea AT ALL what they were for. They are for a performance at 3:00 on Saturday at the Staples Center. We have GREAT seats. The performance? GLEE LIVE! Oh. My. GLEE!!!!! I could not have been more shocked, more surprised or more excited! I think I said SHUT UP and YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME like 100 times each! So excited for that!

This trip has been one dream come true after another. I love being 1/5 of the Five Dream Weavers, and the #1 Dream Weaver is REALLY making it happen this week! He deserves HUGE props! Best Husband EVER!

Taking it all in

It is now 8:00pm California time, 10:00pm by my body’s clock. After a nap this afternoon, we ventured down to Hollywood Blvd to the shopping area at Hollywood and Highlands. Talk about sensory overload! It was so crowded – and SO COOL! We had to drive by Paramount studios (which is like 2 blocks from our hotel) to get there. We walked up and down Hollywood Blvd looking at the Stars on the walk of fame, laughing at the street performers and checking out the stars’ hand and foot prints outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater. We had wanted to go see a movie at the theater tonight, but they weren’t showing it for some reason… We saw the Kodak Theatre, Hard Rock Café, the El Capitan Theater, and ate dinner at Baja Fresh (I know, right?) I still think my favorite part is the giant letters up on Hollywood Hill! This is so surreal, and SO FUN!

We are back in the hotel now. It’s an Historic Hotel so that means its old, creepy and weird, and quaint and unique all at the same time. We have a mini fridge, so we stopped at a grocery store for some snacks, water and soda. We are tired, and worn out, and ready to catch up on TV we missed from the Tornadoes back home and then from traveling last night. We have not seen the finale of Biggest Loser or American Idol! So, we are going to sit back and relax tonight. Get some sleep – and can’t WAIT to see what tomorrow brings!

Today is the day!

Just a few more hours! I am so excited to get going on this trip! So excited, I woke up 45 minutes before my alarm, and couldn’t go back to sleep! I don’t even have any trip details to take care of (besides packing the kids for their destinations, which is mostly done), and I can’t turn my mind off! I have some laundry to fold, and I need to get ready for work, but really, that’s about it! I am going to work a full day, and then we are off to Dallas for the night! Let the adventure begin!

In the meantime, we had a fun little adventure last night, too. Since Sunday evening, the Oklahoma news channels and weather men had been forecasting that Tuesday would be a severe tornado outbreak across the state. Monday, they reports got even more blown up, and a timeline we saw late Monday night indicated that the I-35 corridor (including our town) would be hit between 3 and 5 pm. So, we woke up Tuesday morning planning how to stay safe. My mom was picking the girls up from school, and my dad had been assigned to get Jake from daycare. At lunch, we put one of our cars in our garage, and carpooled back to campus for the afternoon. About 3, my boss told me to leave whenever I needed to do to gather kids and be safe – but at that point the storm wasn’t moving as fast as they first said, any everything was still west of us by a long way. I left my office about 4 and went to Britt’s. About 4:30, they closed campus and sent everyone home. So, we stopped by our house to put our dog in, gathered a few things, then went out to my parents’ house where our kids were. Felt there was safety in numbers, I guess.

The first hour was pretty uneventful. I had the most fun switching from news station to news station and comparing the panic level of the different weather men! They did not disappoint! But, as the rain started, and the skies got darker, and the sirens right outside my parents’ house went off, we decided it was time to duck and cover. In my parents’ neighborhood, there is a common area in the middle of the main circle. There is a building on the land that has a HUGE concrete storm cellar on one side. We, after putting my mom’s dogs in their cages, headed that way. We were some of the last neighbors to get there. There were at least 30 people and about 12 pets down there! And we still had room for more! Some folks came very prepared: flashlights, camp chairs, radios, blankets, snacks, video games… We just came with ourselves. We hoped not to stay long…

Luckily, the radios came in handy. We never heard an all clear from the sirens, but after about 30 minutes or so, the radio informed us that is was all east of where we were, so a few of the men ventured out the door at the top of the stairs. BLUE SKIES! So, we went back across the street to Nana’s house. Where the electricity (light-tricity according to my 4 year old @JakeWeaverSays) was out. We bared that for a bit, even lit all the candles we could find, decided we were hungry, and headed for town – with the rest of the population. We beat the crown to Mexico Joe’s by a few minutes, but it was still crazy busy! We did hear that there were some with significant damage in our town, but thankfully as a whole we fared very well here. Some areas of the state and region were not so fortunate.

When I last texted my mom about 9:30, they still did not have power. I am anxious to hear from them this morning to see when/if it ever came back on. That was a fun adventure, but I am hoping the next few days are full of much better surprises!

Over a week?

First of all, I’m a little shocked I haven’t blogged in over a week.  And really, have no excuse.  And second, LOOK AT MY TICKER ------->  Over there – on the right.  THREE DAYS!  3 days until my hubby whisks me away on our 5 year delayed mystery honeymoon!  I absolutely cannot wait!  I am ready for the change, the trip, the time with my hubby, and of course, the SURPRISE DESTINATION!  I was told this week there is snow in the forecast for our destination, but I’m not sure whether or not to believe it…

So, Saturday, the girls turned 9.  We had a baseball game, dinner with my parents, and presents at the house.  Sunday, we went to church, then got some special treatment at lunch because we knew the manager of the restaurant, then got a HUGE surprise when the girls got to meet a real, live MOVIE STAR:

LUCKY!  And she was so nice.  They are in the area filming a movie called “Cowgirls and Angels.”  After winding down from the exciting lunch, the girls’ birthday party at Swick’s took place.  The girls and their friends enjoyed making pizza, opening gifts, eating pizza, then playing glow in the dark mini-golf.  I think the Twisters had a GREAT birthday weekend!

The past week was filled with the usual – gymnastics, baseball, t-ball, dance, and it was the 2^nd to last week of school for the girls.  Thursday, Britt and I got the opportunity to go to LifeChurch.tv Oklahoma City campus to attend the All-Staff meeting, and then to get a tour of the Central Offices in Edmond.  It was a real treat – and we got to know some of our local volunteers better in the meantime.  We were very impressed with the Digirati Den – which brings you youversion.com.  What an AMAZING team of people and what they do boggles my mind!  Friday morning, I attended a 2 hour long variety and talent show at the girls’ elementary school, then on Saturday I spent HOURS at my sorority house cleaning and organizing.  It all just goes by so FAST!

Today was a special treat for Emma and Britt.  They got the opportunity to go to Pawnee and be in the crowd scenes for the “Cowgirls and Angels” movie!  They said it was HOT, and fun, and entertaining, and sunny, and HOT!  And they are glad they did it, but I am just excited to see the final product!  We are big Bailee Madison fans here!  LOVE Wizards of Waverly Place and the movie Letters to God.

So, my bed time is approaching fast and furious.  I have to get some good rest while I can!  I know I am going to be TOO EXCITED to sleep in the next few nights as my trip approaches and the anticipation mounts!  Oh – and the stress of farming my kids out all over to relatives in our absence – that always stresses me out!  I am off to bed, but promise to check in before I leave on my trip!

Neun, Nueve, Neuf, Nove, Nio, Dokuz, NINE!

Nine years ago today (May 13), I was wandering waddling through my cluttered house in Lewisville, TX thinking about my last few days as a childless woman.  I knew I had 3 more days until my twin babies would be born at Baylor Hospital – Grapevine, TX, and I knew I had a Dr’s appointment and paperwork at the hospital the next morning.  I knew I had family coming to stay with us for a few days, and I needed to straighten up the house, finish packing my hospital bag(s), and make a Target run (which was between my house and the hospital, so there was a stop planned there after the aforementioned appointment).  I had plenty of time.  Or so I thought!  Little did I know that in just a few short hours, I would be holding 2 precious, orange-headed baby girls who would rock my world and change everything about my life as I knew it up to that point.

Their arrival was a little hectic, and life has been hectic ever since! And I love it that way!  When they were tiny babies I liked to pick out their physical differences like Emma had no hair, Lara had TONS; Emma’s 2^nd toe is longer than her big toe, Lara’s is shorter; Lara has detached earlobes, Emma’s are attached, etc etc etc.  But now that they are growing into young ladies, the differences are SO much greater!  The way the approach life, their interests, the books they read, the friends they make, the areas they succeed in, the areas they have to work hardest in – are all different.  And it’s still fun to look at them and identify those differences.  To embrace them.  I love them both so much – and so differently!  Even the way I discipline them has to be different.  They are truly 2 unique individuals, who just happened to come into the world on the same day.

We are gearing up for another busy weekend!  Last night we bought all the birthday party supplies!  The girls each got to invite 3 friends to go to Swick’s Pizza  for a birthday party where they will make their own pizzas and play a round of glow-in-the-dark mini golf.  The party theme is “Way to Glow” and Britt is making each child a personalized glow-in-the-dark T-shirt to wear, and I got a ton of those glow necklaces and a few glow-in-the-dark bracelets for each kid to wear over in the dark room.  Should be fun!  Tonight, Twin A is staying home with me to make cake balls for her party (after Jake’s T-ball game!) and Twin B is going to Yukon with her “Other Dad” to make homemade pizza.  Emma opted to stay home so she wouldn’t have to get up too super early for her 10:00 baseball game.  See – it’s a busy weekend!  After the baseball game, they are having lunch with their Other Dad, then that afternoon/ evening they will open presents with us (the Five Dream Weavers) and my parents.  Then, the party is on Sunday!

They are growing up.  And I can’t slow it down!  I recently read a book called “Moms' Ultimate Guide to the Tween Girl World” by Nancy Rue and while I think we have not gotten to some of the issues presented, it feels good to be a little more prepared.  I would recommend this book to all my friends who are moms of tween girls!

I am looking forward to this weekend and celebrating the birth of my first babies 9 years ago.  They are beautiful, energetic, smart, fun, and wonderful young woman.  This journey of motherhood they are leading me on is inspirational, educational, rewarding, and the hardest thing I have ever done.  And I wouldn’t change it for the world!  Yesterday’s Tweet: