The Days Are Just Packed

As a kid, I used to love Calvin and Hobbes.  I had almost every book and anthology and looked forward to Sunday mornings when I could see them in a new adventure in full color. I related (relate) well to the precocious troublemaker with a healthy imagination. Even with my own kids, I've often hoped they turn out to be the half-genius half-rascal that is Calvin. One of my favorite covers was on a collection titled The Days Are Just Packed. On it Calvin multitasks by waiting for an unsuspecting neighbor girl on which to drop a water balloon while napping and chatting with his best bud, Hobbes. To us they are doing a whole lot of nothing, but to them, they are very busy indeed.

I start this post talking about Calvin and Hobbes for one reason; as an excuse for our drought in blog posts. You see, our days are just packed. We have done a lot of nothing and a lot of everything, which has left us very busy.  Kelly and I are still working, and have to inject a dose of fiscal and occupational reality in to our lives every now and then.  However, for the most part we remain without specific duties and schedules that might endanger our fun.

We've had a few visitors in the past weeks, which has been nice as we've begun to miss our friends.  Our honorary first visitors, Albert, Anisa, and their son, Van, were able to swing by for a few hours on their way to a family holiday in Orange Beach.  Although their visit was brief, we made the most of it by making sure the kids got nice and sandy at the beach before they had to meet grandparents for dinner.  Hopefully they can come back and stay longer next time (at least enough that Albert and I can get a few rounds of golf in).

Next to visit were our long time friends and vacation buddies, the Greens.  We've been to many a beach with Katie, Chris, Bella, and Farrah, so it was only appropriate that they were one of the first to visit.  Also headed to a family vacation with Katie's family, the Greens took a long detour to stay a few nights with us and give us some company.  We spent the days at the beach with the kids, building castles, jumping the surf, hunting for shells, and having hermit crab races (which we decided are really boring).  Chris broke out his camera and photo skills once sunlight hit the "magic hour" and took some great pics of the kids.  Nights were nice once the kids were in bed as we sat on the porch, listened to the waves, and reminisced with great friends until the wee hours of the morning.

A big disruption to our lives came in the form of Hurricane Isaac.  We knew that living on the Gulf Coast during hurricane season might get interesting.  Nonetheless, we would never have predicted a mandatory evacuation by the police a day before landfall.  A large part of me wanted to stick it out and encounter the weather.  How bad could a non-direct hit by a category one hurricane be?  However, my appetite for adventure was trumped by my innate desire for the survival of my children.  Luckily, Kelly has a cousin a few hours north in Montgomery, and they were more than gracious in providing a few days of asylum to us refugees. After the hurricane made a hard westward turn, we hurried back in order to still experience what was left of the storm.  Constant 30 mph winds howling through the night and bouts of power failure let me know we made the wise choice leaving for a few days.  The landscape of our beach was changed greatly by the hurricane, as we lost more than a 100 feet of beach front (luckily it was pretty big already) and the squeaky clean, sugar-like sand has been replaced with hard packed grey sand.  Also, our private dock to the lagoon was all but destroyed.  In spite of it all, the city is cleaning up and rebuilding quickly.  Plus, the ebb and flow (literally) of nature is amazing. Except for a bit of trash and dead flora and fauna here and there, the beach is already almost back to normal.

We've stayed busy in so many other ways, of which I won't go in to elaborate detail on this post because it is already lengthy.  I'll have to update more frequently in order to talk about some of our other fun.  I'll just skip the stories for now and include some pics with brief descriptions below.  The days are just packed!

She's a bit rough, but he never seems to mind.

The Pensacola Naval Museum was awesome! Probably only rivaled by the Smithsonian, it was great.  Daddy had the most fun, but the kids seemed pretty enthralled too.

 First day of preschool! More info for that in future post.

Exploring an old wooden ship that washed up after Isaac.  Love this pic.

 You can't beat these skies.  The sun is actually behind me and the clouds are reflecting that bright light.  Made my top five most beautiful nature scenes I've ever seen.

 Same night.  So great.

 Amelie and I can do some serious crab catching at night.

Running through fountains. Very easy fun.

Almost into a daily rhythm

Well, we've been here for about two weeks, and we've almost settled in to our daily rhythm.  Right now our pattern consists of a combination of the following: wake up, eat, beach, pool, eat, sleep, beach, pool, read, park, beach, eat, beach, pier/dock, beach, beach, beach, beach...  Interject some time for Kelly and I to do work on our virtual school jobs (which includes contacting kids and parents, holding chats, grading, and so forth) and you have a pretty good idea of what we do everyday.  So far we aren't tired of the beach, so this pattern suits us well.

Liam's routine on the beach is to pick up something new, put it in his mouth, eat all the sand on it, and then move on.  It looks like this stick is the next victim.

In every single photo of Amelie, she is running, jumping, or moving.  She is non-stop action, mainly because she loves the beach and everything a three-year old can do on one.

We do miss certain parts of Athens already.  If I had to sum up Gulf Shores in one phrase, it would be "tourist (redneck) trap".  Therefore, it is almost devoid of any type of identity or culture of it's own, unless you call condo-on-condo, fried seafood, and souvenir shops as identity.  The food culture, the coffee culture, the beer culture, the music culture, the townie culture, none of these things exist here.   I just assumed that everywhere was like Athens in that these cultural elements would be recreated in their own local fashion.  This includes Athens Church, too.  The lone church we've visited just didn't have passion for excellence that Athens Church has, and it's own parishioners informed me it doesn't get much better in the area.  I guess because we've been in Athens so long that I just took it for granted.  And this is more than an observation.  I've talked up the locals, looking for decent breakfast places, bakeries, locally roasted coffee, anything, and they either look at me like I'm an idiot or agree that I'm going to have to get out of Gulf Shores for anything like that.  Luckily, the rest of the Gulf is ripe with history and culture, and we are just a short ride from towns like Fairhope, AL and longer rides to places like New Orleans.  Also, I think that some of these places might exist in Gulf Shores, but I might have to just look extra hard for them.

 Fried oyster sandwich from Sea 'n Suds. Just about everything was fried, but low prices (for the area) made up for fairly generic menu.

Beignets from Cafe Beignet.  This is definitely regional food and was made famous by Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans.  This place was the perfect example of a breakfast place that would be worth revisiting if they had any atmosphere at all (or even coffee that was good).

We've had a lot of transition.  Up ending our lives, selling everything, changing jobs, moving, making new friends...the list goes on.  But it's fun, it's exciting, it's energizing.  We are loving being on a schedule that looks different everyday, in a place that is new, with a new setting and environment just a few months over the horizon.  There is no monotony or boredom except for that which we choose to create or allow to exist.  We feel like we are starting a chapter in our story that is exciting, that people will want to read, that our kids will want to tell.  Not that we were unhappy or tired of the previous chapters.  We loved writing them as well.  They made us who we are and got us where we are.  However, now the story has taken a turn that is more in line with our personalities, and we are excited to be a part of whatever happens next.

Made it to the beach, almost settled in

Present update

After several more hours in the car than any of us could take (I blame the Uhaul trailer and traveling with kids), we finally made it to the beach on the evening of the 1st of August.  The furnished townhouse we rented seems to be in pretty good shape.  After pushing around and moving furniture to accommodate kids, cribs, and six months worth of our stuff, we seem to be settled in.  We're surrounded on both sides with water, with the Gulf on the front side of the house and large lagoon with private pier on the rear side.  Plus, we have a pool for getting whatever sand just won't come off in the outdoor shower.  Our place is definitely a rental, and has the wear and tear to prove it.  But our landlord has already sent repairmen over to fix any issues we've found.  The next six months here should be incredible!

We haven't explored much in the area because going to the beach everyday just hasn't yet gotten boring.  Sand here is really white and clean, a very fine grain, and squeaks when we walk on it.  The weather is very fluid and changes rapidly, as we learned on day two when a lightning storm rolled in way too fast for my liking.  The water itself has a decent amount of seaweed, and I've already stepped on a stingray (who decided he'd save stinging me for a later date).  However, once I navigated through the wall of seaweed, the water cleared up decently.

Amelie and Liam have loved the beach, and Amelie has already declared that this is the best place she has ever lived.  Shell finding and sandcastle building seem to interest her the most right now, but the pool is a close second.  Liam ate so much sand the first day I began to wonder on the physical limits his belly could take.  At what point does it just turn to concrete?  He has no fear, healthy or otherwise, of anything, so the natural hazards of the beach have placed him and us on the opposite sides of the excitement spectrum.

Work is picking up with the beginning of the semester approaching.  That, coupled with the busyness of moving and trying find time to intersperse some beach fun, has left us too swamped to care about taking pictures.  Thus, pictures are limited for this post, and all were taken via iPhone (so quality is limited).  Future postings will hopefully be more picture fruitful.

 First night we got here

 We've eaten a ridiculous amount of popsicles so far.

The dock/pier off the back of our place.

The past, the present, the future...(a warning)

The biggest problem with waiting months (years, decades, millennium, etc.) to update your blog is that you have a whole lot to tell the world.  And we have done and planned a lot in our lives in the past two years.  Enough plans, ideas, and dreams even to warrant the occasional retrospective blog post that will allow readers, friends, and family to understand how we got where we are.  The difficulty with trying to reminisce and write events and ideas that got us here is that there might be a great deal of embellishment, exaggeration, and hyperbole, as we remember the past how we want.  I'll try to keep it straight, but no promises.  The beauty of a blog is that those who have traveled and plotted with us can comment and let everyone know how far the truth has strayed.  That was the first warning.

Now for some housekeeping regarding reading future posts.  Of course all posts will be tagged letting the reader know whether they are reading about a present update, a past anecdote of planning for the present and future, or future plans or arrangements.  But just to make sure there is no confusion, I will make sure that there is some type of header that denotes the post type.  I am sure this is confusing (hence being warning number two), but all will be made clear to those who stick around to hear the tale that sent the Walkers wandering...

Update promise

So, it's been over two years since we have last updated our blog. But starting from here on out we are going to do a better job. Our family has every intention to move overseas next year, and I plan to chronicle as much of the process as possible. So be on the look out over the next few weeks as this blog starts to heat up!

2749.6 Miles Later...

The Walker clan just returned from their second vacation this year, a trip along the east coast making stops in Maryland, New York City, and Boston. We traveled a total of 2749.6 miles, were in the car for a little under 53 hours, and visited 15 individual family and friends in four states. While it was fun to see family and friends and explore some of the nation's coolest cities, it was also extremely exhausting to carry out our (once again) way too optimistic and opportunistic itenerary.

We started the trip on Monday, June 6th, at 9:00 in the evening. We discovered during our Destin trip that we travel best when Amelie is sleeping, and she sleeps best at night. So, through the night we drove. We arrived at Kelly's sister's (Kim) house at the southern tip of Pennsylvania areound 6:30 in the morning. After a quick nap, we spent the rest of the morning and day hanging out, watching the MJ memorial, and eating. Kim is in the early throes of pregnancy, so Kelly spent most of the day preparing meals that could be frozen and then easily thrown in the oven for the days that Kim was too sick to care about making dinner. Later, our brother-in-law Josh came home from work, and we spent the rest of the night talking and eating ice cream.

The next day we drove an hour and a half to meet Bobby's grandfather Pop-Pop for lunch and then later meet up with more family for dinner. Although dementia and alzheimer's are hardly laughing matters, Pop-Pop seems to pull it off with a comical grace that keeps you smiling every minute you are with him. His attempt to take us to Ruby Tuesday and instead ending up at what he called I.G. Tuesdays (T.G.I.Fridays) was a great start to our day with him. Between lunch and dinner we filled our time with visiting Mom-Mom (Bobby's grandmother) in the hospital and intense games of Rummicube. We later met up with Bobby's Aunt Diane, and cousins Samantha, Emily, and Emily's son, Cameron. Dinner became different experiences for Bobby and Kelly as he had a blast with all you can eat soft shell crab, while Kelly's turkey club from the day's lunch caught up with her half way through dinner and she ralphed in both the nearest trash can and the sink of the women's restroom. Kelly remained sick the rest of the night, but all-in-all it was a good family visitation day.

The next day was Tangy day. We haven't seen her since she moved back in with her mother, so we were excited to see how life was going for her. We picked her up from her house in South Baltimore, and took her to Baltimore's touristy Inner Harbor for lunch and sight seeing. We ate a lengthy and fun lunch on the outdoor pier of the ESPN Zone. Realizing that she had not been able to do much reading since she has been back, we took her to the huge Barnes & Noble and bought her several books that should satiate her for a while. Dinner that night was back at Kelly's sister's house, so our time with Tangy was abbreviated. However, it was good to see her, and know that things are going pretty good for her.

The next morning was an early departure in order to get to NYC at a reasonable time. My three year college roommate Matthew moved to the city to attend grad school. He lives in Queens with his wife Julie and daighter Jasper. They were excellent hosts and spent the entire weekend showing us about the city like a New Yorker and not a tourist. After arriving in the city (sidenote: don't drive through Manhattan without GPS unless you love getting lost), we quickly unloaded our stuff, refreshed ourselves, and then boarded the subway headed for the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked from Brooklyn into Manhattan which was an incredible walk and view. Maybe the the most unexpected highlight was seeing midget actor Warwick Davis and his entire family pass us on mini Segways! Luckily Bobby had the camera ready, and a pic can be seen below. After the bridge we dined at a cool little mexican/spanish place called La Esquina. Bobby had to stick with the adventurous theme and had the veal tongue tacos. While not for the feint of heart, they satisfied his curious cuisine nature. Later, while the girls watched the babies and chatted back at the apartment, Bobby and Matthew went to a show/concert in Brooklyn to see an indie band called the Japandroids. Their experience was unique as the show was being held in the backroom of a bar in a room called Cameo Gallery. The small room was definitely an intimate setting as it was probably built to hold 75 people, but had easily over a 100 New Yorkian hipsters crowded around a 8x10 ft stage with enough speakers to deafen Helen Keller. However, even though Bobby is old and cantankerous, he definitely enjoyed the whole experience and wouldn't have traded it for anything.

The following day was jam packed from the moment we awoke. After french toast from our lovely hosts we headed out to Bryant Park, where Amelie had her first carousel ride and the summer day was most evidently beautiful. After a quick bite to eat we explored St. Patrick's Cathedral, before heading over to Central Park. Our walk through Central Park took most of our time, and was one of our favorite parts of the city. Because the quality day there were throngs of people everywhere. Finding a secluded place for Amelie to eat was an adventure, and eventually we nestled near some boulders, a half naked homeless guy sleeping on a cardboard box, and a couple making out hardcore, and this was our best option! Ahh...the Big Apple. After hours in the park we headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. our time inside was brief, but we saw some great pieces. The attraction that intially lured us was the monstrous art display on the roof, which accompanied expansive vistas of the Park and downtown. After an hour or two at the Met we began the trek back to Queens for some Thai takeout with the Newtons and a restful evening (sidebar: navigating the rat tunnels dubbed New York transit was interesting with the baby and stroller, but mad props to Bobby and Kelly for handling their biz with expertise). Highlight of the night had to be while waiting for the Thai food, Matthew led Bobby to a Russian grocery a few blocks from their apartment that had hundreds of craft brew choices from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, that could be purchased individually if so desired. Bobby was instantly enamored, and consequently the half hour food run turned into something longer than an hour and more expensive than intended. But what the heck, we're on vacation!

The next day began with brunch at a Mexican joint down the street from the Newton's house called de Mole. Not only was the food scrumptious, but the juices were squeezed fresh and the arrangement of food was aesthetically mesmerizing. After food, the Walker's hit the road headed for Boston. After checking in to our awesome hotel, we walked along the waterfront to get to Quincy Market and the Fanueil hall area. We decided to eat at one of Boston's oldest restaurants, the Union Oyster House. Bobby had to start with some fresh clam chowda', and although whole lobsters were ridiculously expensive both our delicious meals had lobster in them in some form or fashion.

Day two in Boston began with a trip out to Fenway Park for the tour of the stadium. We got a thorough history from a guy that looked like Mickey from Rocky. Being the All Star break, the tour was the only way we were going to get in the stadium. Sitting atop the Green Monster in left field next to Fisk's Foul Pole was one of our favorite parts. Broken subway cars, late busses, and international cabbies tried to slow us to our next destination, the Harvard Yard tour in Cambridge. However, we made it in time to catch the college student led tour and had a good time learning the history of the college in humorous fashion. We concluded our day drifting through Boston Common and the Public Gardens, and then strolling through the magnificent homes and streets that can be found in the Beacon Hill area of Boston. A quick dinner in Quincy Market followed by gelato were the finishing touches on an exhaisting days.

The next morning found us checking out of our room, and packing the car to prepare for our trip home. After that business was concluded we left our car in parking and began the main task of the day, the Freedom Trail. The Freedom Trail is a brick path that runs through Boston marking 16 historically significant places. Investigating our nation's rich history in one of the most important towns in the American saga was fun and inspiring. We started in Boston Common and wrapped up several hours later at the USS Constitution, America's oldest commissioned naval vessel. After a full day of walking we were exhausted, which we realized was a problem when we left Boston that night. Driving through the night is tiring, driving through the night and next morning is really tiring, but driving through the night and next morning after spending the previous 10 hours walking several miles through Boston was just not smart. But somehow we did not die, and we made it Bobby's aunt and uncle's lake house in North Carolina only seventeen hours after we left Boston.

We spent most of the day recouping and resting, intertwining sleep, eating, and trip to the dock through out the day. We met Bobby's cousin for dinner that night at a barbecue restaurant that had some of the best BBQ and hush puppies we ever had. Later that night Bobby and Uncle Dalane took off on the jet skis for a little pre-dusk spin around the lake. We rested that night with talking and games, because the next morning was four hours back to Athens to end our ten day jaunt up and down the east coast.

In Maryland we stayed with Kelly's sister, Kim, and brother-in-law, Josh

Two clueless peas in a pod

Pop-Pop loved playing with Amelie, and vice versa!

Hangin' with Aunt Diane and cousins Emily and Samantha

All you can eat crabs! (Bobby ate 30)

Spending time with Tangy in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

Stopping for pics on the Brooklyn Bridge

Midget movie star Warwick Davis on the Bridge!

Kelly and Amelie waiting for the carousel in Bryant Park
Group walking through iconic Central Park Mall

Kelly intertwined in the artwork on the roof of the Met

Sunday morning brunch at de Mole

One of the most tasty and aesthetically pleasing meals we've eaten

Amelie happy to finally be in Boston

Mommy and Daddy happy too!

Dinner the first night at one of Boston's oldest establishments.

Had to go for the the chowda' and lobsta' with a pint of Sam Adams

Started the next day with a Fenway Park tour

Sitting atop the Green Monster

Oldest seats left in any baseball stadium

Memorial Hall at Harvard Yard

Family pic in Boston's Public Garden

Mother/Daughter moment on a Boston Common bench

One of the first stops on Freedom Trail, the Granary Burying Ground

Vacation chaos catching up with Bobby and Amelie so a little nap in Quincy Market

Aunt Debbie loving Amelie's cuteness in NC

Amelie loves lakeside sunsets (so do her parents)

Beach Trip 2009

We love going to the beach! We had our first family vacation with Amelie on a trip to Destin this past week. We went with our good friends Katie, Chris and Bella Green, and Morgan Collins, and stayed in a condo right on the beach in West Destin. This years beach trip was very different with Amelie but still very fun. We had to keep her out of the sun because she is too young for the sun and sunscreen, which can be a challenge. Add in the fact that she needs a nap and feeding every three hours, plus can find any reason to be ornery, and you have a very different trip than we would have had just a year ago. Even with all those factors, we still had fun setting up camp every morning and just hanging out by the beach every day. Everyday was beautiful and basically consisted of beach, naps, food, naps, reading, beach, food, beach, and beach naps.

One of the best things about vacation at the beach is of course seafood, which we had our fill of the first few days. Bobby defintely kept with his theme of adventurous eating the first night out by polishing off a dozen oysters on the half shell, followed by the grilled and broiled platter that contained deviled crap, shrimp, mahi-mahi, scallops, and even more oysters. Kelly kept it simple with mahi-mahi, but that was just fine with her!

Bobby and Chris got to not once, but twice play golf while on the trip. Their first outing they were paired with some retired ex-GE execs who were great to play with. Their second outing was a lot more fun because they played later when it was cooler, and had the course literally to themselves. Between the stoagies, cold brew, and both shooting well, it was a great day of golf.

Because of kids (and old age), late nights usually consisted of two things: quick runs to the closest ice cream store for milkshakes and ice cream, and/or game nights once the kids were asleep. Uno and hotrod Uno seemed to be the favs most nights. One of the night highlights was when Morgan's friend Josh met up with us and hung around for both ice cream and Uno (what a lucky guy to be get both in one night). He seems like a great guy and we enjoyed meeting and getting to know him.

All in all Destin '09 was a blast. We had lots of quality family and friend time. Somehow we came back with neither airbrush t-shirts or tatoos commemorating our trip. Nevertheless, Destin '09 will go down in the annals of great vacations. Enjoy our pics and videos (including Amelie's first time in the ocean) below.

Family picture at the beach (Straw hat c/o '96 Olympics)

Amelie sitting pretty in her chair

Now with sunglasses off

This is what Amelie did at the beach (sleep)

Kelly and Amelie on the docks at sunset

Family pic on the docks before dinner

Bobby's dozen oysters at dinner

Bella and Chris enjoying the parrots

Amelie and Dad playing in kiddie pool

Amelie and Mommy posing by kiddie pool

Amelie modeling her bathing suit from Uncle Daniel

Morgan and Kelly with pre-dinner pina coladas

Group Picture!

Amelie's first time in the ocean


Amelie in her kiddie pool

Update on Amelie

We haven't been great about putting up new video and pictures this past week so here are a couple fun ones! First, she is really loving baths now. She kicks and splashes and has a great time! Bobby does a great job making bath time fun. Another video is of me trying to get her to laugh by blowing on her tummy. She had a laugh and then when we got out the camera she stopped but she still made really cute noises. And lastly, we had to include a short video of her watching Baby Einstein videos, which should be known as "Baby Crack" because of how addicted and focused she gets while watching.

Summer Days

I (Kelly) sometimes have a problem with sitting still. Today was one of those days that I struggle with not be frustrated because I didn't get a lot accomplished...or at least all that I wanted to get accomplished. I really wanted to start painting trim today, but only got as far as sanding a little and putting a little tape up. I really want to get these little projects done around the house but since they seem somewhat insignificant, it's hard to find the motivation to do them. And it's even harder to find the time when so much of my day is consumed with taking care of Amelie. I love taking care of Amelie and wouldn't want to trade it for anything. I have to stop and put things in prespective on these kind of days that I didn't get a lot checked off my list. I need to be more thankful that I'm blessed to not only have summers off myself, but that my husband also gets to have summers off! I love us being able to be home together and not have a ton going on. I love these carefree days and I need to enjoy them while they last! We did try to go to the pool today, however we couldn't find one that wasn't packed with college kids. We are starting to realize how old we are getting when joining a private pools sounds more appealing than our normal pool hopping schemes. Things are just different now there is a little one tagging along! :)