I'm Shipping Up to Boston

And just like that we're back from a 10-day trip home.

At first, only big AC was supposed to go, after the yearly Vegas trip (which he actually missed last year, but this year, I didn't mind him going because we are both so homesick and burnt out).  But he and a friend reminded me that with Kid B on the way, there may not be a chance to go home for a very long time (DEAR GOD NO).  So we got tickets, big AC headed to Vegas on a Thursday, and little AC and I headed to LAX that Saturday night (big AC met us at his sister's the next day).

The main goal of this trip was to empty our storage unit, which we'd had since 2003!  It was bittersweet but needed to be done; 95% of maternity/newborn/baby items were in there.  And through the whole process, we saw signs that this move is cursed and something (someone?) doesn't want us here: our flight to SFO was canceled due to weather, and thus we had to fly into OAK and be bussed to SFO; big AC barely made it by 8:30 the first morning to get the quantity of our stuff assessed for an estimate; and, despite the 1-3PM window we were given, for once the movers were on time and showed up at exactly 1PM, when we were still taping up boxes.  This meant that my mom shipped a large USPS flat-rate box, and we FedEx'd one 40-lb box and one flat 29-lb box with artwork--all of which could have gone with the movers if we'd had even 1 hour before they got there.  (Don't ask me what happened. I honestly couldn't explain our time lapse!)

Highlights:

• Taking two nephews (brothers) to dinner at Panda Express and having non-stop (though hardly serious) conversation.
• Seeing my very good friends for dinner our first night in SF, and meeting baby Cody.  
• Hanging out in Hayes Valley, and stumbling on Off the Grid before hitting La Boulange and Timbuk2.
• Eating at Darby Dan's (an AWESOME sandwich shop in SSF) and In-n-Out.  
• Watching little AC play SO MUCH with her cousins.
• Getting a chance to catch up with my sisters-in-law.
• This will sound mean, but watching big AC make 2 of 6 siblings from one family miserable: one by scaring his 2.5-year-old niece to tears by simply pointing at her, and the other by horsing around with his 9-year-old nephew and pretending to stuff him in the cat tower...on his birthday...only for everyone, including his parents, to learn that he's allergic to cats!
• Watching big AC hold and feed his second-newest niece without being asked.
• Hearing 2 of my nephews say "please take me with you! Don't go!" :(

Despite having shipped the last of our stuff , this does not mean we are moved to Boston permanently.  Not by any means.  Especially since the day after we came back, I got an email from Stanford, telling me that the last job for which I applied (and phone-interviewed) had its description changed, in case I wanted to apply again...

Oh, and the last sign that we don't belong here?  Our flight back was scheduled to leave LAX at 11:30PM. It left at 12:30AM, after the crew decided to save time and SHUTTLE everyone across the tarmac to meet the plane after it refueled since it had arrived late!

How I Spent My (Indian) Summer Vacation, part 1

It feels like we were gone forever, even though we were only gone for 17 days.

Our first stop was San Francisco, where CBC kindly let us crash for 2 nights.  Our first day there we saw an A's game--little AC's first.

During a trip to Golden Gate Park, little AC got her first skinned knee while walking on a curb looking at pretty flowers with big AC.

We then rented a car so we could head to Vallejo for our next stop.  We'd requested the cheapest car at $9/day, but not only was our reservation pushed back due to lack of cars (drivers were delayed from Monterey), by the time we showed up our only choices were a Mercedes SUV or a Mercedes sedan.  Big AC explained those were way out of our budget.  So the representative actually gave us the sedan for $14/day!  Sweet, right?

While in Vallejo, little AC made 2 new friends, though there were many tears and fights with the youngest one.  :(  We went to the Sanrio outlet (our hostess is a HUGE fan; you've no idea how bummed she is that Sanrio is not really a boy thing, since she has 2 sons).  Later that evening, my friend, Pablo, came over, since it turns out he only lives about 10 minutes from them.

Her first real tea party, with new Vallejo friends.  Needless to say, she now has her own set.

That Sunday we left and headed to the Raider game.  We parked at a BART station (no WAY did we dare drive that car to the Coliseum!!) and tried to find big AC's cousins before the game but were unable to do so.  After the game, we found them, said hi, were kicked out by CHP clearing the lots to avoid mayhem, and headed to BART.  We discovered we'd parked rather close to Jack London Square, so we decided to drive there and find a place to eat.  On our second go-around trying to decide where to park, we got into an accident.  A minivan flew into the intersection and CRUSHED the front end of the car.  Luckily, no one was hurt.  Being the good passenger that I am, what did I do?

I FROZE.

Big AC got on the phone and began calling the rental company's insurance line.  The other driver and one of his two passengers got out and made sure we were okay, and kept apologizing.  They were in their 20s and also dressed in Raider gear.  The only thing I did was get the plates off the minivan and location.  I had the camera in the trunk and did not take any pictures.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???  The driver and passenger were waiting to talk to big AC by leaning on the driver side of the car, when I heard the passenger say, "I'ma say my neck and my back hurt."  Their minivan, a '97 Dodge, had a white scrape across the passenger side, but that seemed to be it.  A few days later we learned, sure enough, that the passenger was filing an injury claim, and a few days after that, the driver claimed his car was no longer drivable.  (They drove away from the scene before we did.)

We turned the car in the next day; luckily, big AC had gotten insurance on it for fear of something like this happening, so we are not responsible for the car damage.

The rest of the trip we stayed in the only available room at a Good Nite Inn in Redwood City, which was a nasty smoking room, and not as close to Caltrain as we'd thought (we relied on public transit for the remainder of our trip).  Thanks to CBC, we went to the Conservatory of Flowers with my mom; saw our friend Mr. Duncan briefly; and had dinner with my dad--who arrived toting a paper Starbucks cup filled with white wine (!!!).  We even managed to have lunch (Japanese food, how I've missed you) with some of Art's former co-workers before heading to SFO.  And at SFO, while waiting for our flight, I received that email from Stanford expressing an interest in my resume....

(to be continued)