Recharging On the Mountain

This last week was not ideal. I can’t even really remember what started the domino effect of crappy happenings. The earliest I remember was Middle Boys crying fit over nothing except the fact that he just didn’t take a good nap. Then it rolled into the shit hittin the fan at work. Not necessarily that I was in trouble, but that I had a lot of trouble to deal with. With the help of Facebook changing their layout design, children on spring break and causing a ruckus on my forums and online communities, and then my work computer keyboard deciding to just die ... it was not a fun week.

But I did get to recharge a bit. Although not in an ideal, alone away from the boys, type of way that I would love (like the spa!). We decided that we all needed to get out of the house, especially I who had not really gotten out in far too long.

We decided to go hiking out at Point Reyes State park out here in Nor Cal on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and perfect hiking conditions – Sunny, beautiful with a slight breeze. We did a warm up lap around the Earthquake Trail. The trail is basically a big mile long loop, but it runs next to the San Andreas fault that is marked with big blue posts. There’s also a fence right up next to it that was jerked apart during the major 1906 earthquake up in these part. The kids thought it was pretty neat. The park also set up little kiosks with information about the earth’s plates and earthquakes in kid-friendly language so they liked to stop and read from there too.

Then we decided to hike up a mountain side. My fiancé and Older Boy were all about it. Younger Boy and I brought up the rear and Middle Boy hovered between both of us. Although he realized that you got to rest more if you hiked up front because from time to time you’d stop to wait for Younger Boy and me to catch up within a reasonable distance. It was beautiful. I actually didn’t mind being Younger Boy’s hiking buddy. It meant that I got to go slow and steady and drink in the nature around us. And since he held my hand the entire way he helped to balance me out as we climbed up the incline.

He also talked my ear off the entire way. I don’t know how he had the energy to talk the entire hike up and hike up, but he did it. It was entertaining. At one point he decided that we were trains. I guess this could be in reference to me telling him that we were like Thomas the Tank Engine going up a hill. Either way, it worked and provided entertainment.

YB: I’m pulling you Crys.
Me: Are you Thomas?
YB: Yes, and you’re a freight car!
Me: Oh OK, then I want to be Annie.
YB: Ha ha, You’re a freight car!

He also talked about macaroni and cheese and French fries at Red Robin, pooping and farting, and the horse that we saw. A lady was riding her horse down the side of the mountain, it was pretty neat.

It took up about an hour to go a mile and a half up the side of the mountain. We decided to cut the hike short and turn around at that point. It took us about half an hour to get back down. Younger Boy was so proud that he hiked that mountain all by himself. Usually when we go hiking he asks for one of us to hold him when we get near the end, but he did it all by himself and got a big high five for it.

I really loved being out in the forest though, even if was on the side of a mountain. It was beautiful. Here are some photos I took along the hike.


I really loved these little flowers. There weren't many of them as they grew one or two stalks here and there. But they were beautiful.


The scenery


I love trying to catch the tops of these trees. It's enchanting to gaze up at.

My Me-Time Weekend

I had a Me-Weekend this weekend. By Me-Weekend I found time to pamper me.

First though, I am breathing a bit easier. My fiancé brought my visiting suggestions to Jane and she said that they worked for her for this holiday season. I found out that Jane will be going to work again come January, and only has Thursdays off. Allegedly she’s looking for a new job, we’ll see what happens. But this means that she (apparently) can only see the boys on Thursdays. So I had my fiancé ask her if she’d be up for taking the boys out for dinner and spending time with them Thursday after they get out of school. She’s good with this. The gripe: I hope that it will work out because it has bothered me for a while now that there was no organization or regularity to their visits with her. So until she gets a new job, this will work for now. (Although it still bothers me that she can’t try to work it out so that she can spend more days with them, but I cannot make her choices for her so I will not dwell on my frustration with it.)

Back to my Me-Weekend. My fiancé dropped Younger Boy and Middle Boy off at Jane’s, and two of Older Boys friends came to stay the night on Saturday. I went to the salon and got a hair-cut. I’m so pleased! I move so often that just as I find a good salon or day spa, I’m packed and moving again. I discovered a salon and day spa that sells/uses Aveda products happens to be very close by our place! *Squeals and jumps with delight*

I was able to make an appointment online and went in. Not only did I find it, but I really love the hairstylist that did my hair! I told her that I’m looking to grow my hair out for my upcoming wedding in 2010. She was really excited after I told her my fairy tale romance and we found a photo of what I’d like to achieve. I also really appreciated how she worked with my hair and didn’t show one ounce of irritation that we spent two hours trying to get the starting point looking right. So now I will be going in every eight weeks to get my hair trimmed and to keep it in shape for the big day. I’m ever so excited about this! Plus she was very nice, had a fun and sassy attitude, and I must mention again that she took time to work with my hair! Not many stylists have done that. My hair is really fine, but I have a lot of it so it acts as though it’s thick sometimes. It’s also wavy and straight at the same time. In other words, it’s a pain in my rear. So it’s nice to have a hair style now that works with my hair instead of me working against my hair.

Another part of my Me-Weekend was having lunch with my best friend (let’s call her Liz). Liz is actually going to be one of my bridesmaids and is helping my sister (my maid of honor) with all the wedding planning. We don’t get to see each other as I’ve always lived rather far away. We’ll she had a day off on Sunday and we Google Mapped it and we live about an hour and a half apart now. So we hopped in our cars and met for lunch at the Olive Garden. Spending time with my best friend, Wild Berry Daiquiris and delicious pasta really did the trick.

Liz and I brainstormed some possible bachelorette weekend ideas, and debated over the wedding invites I found. It came down to “What am I willing to skimp on” and “What do I really want to spend mucho money on.” Invites just might not be worth it I’ve decided.

I felt kind of bad though because I was supposed to go pick out the Christmas Tree with my fiancé and the boys. But I really, really needed some “Me Time” with my best friend and my fiancé understood. So next time I’m going to bring him with me when I go to have lunch with her because they want to meet each other. And I really would like to introduce them before the wedding.

Anyway, I was able to refresh and recharge a bit. Although I came home to misbehaving boys (as what usually happens after a night over at Jane’s is that Younger and Middle Boy often need reminders of the rules in our house and throwing fits doesn’t get you what you want at our house.) But I’m feeling much better still. I just really need to make an effort to do something nice for myself more often rather than wait until I’m about to explode/or have already exploded. I also want to work on making sure my future hubby and I have some time to ourselves soon too. At least I know I’ll have some “Me-Time” at the salon every eight weeks, and we'll be able to have date night every Thursday starting in January.