Why don't folks say "it's only a game" when they're winning?

The silly Twitter experiment worked. Instead of a million phone calls while I was gone, my family was able to pop in here instead. Therefore, I only had to make half a million phone calls while I was gone. Crisis averted.

So, the kids were awesome on the plane. Awesome! However, I am sad to tell you that children screaming with utter joy are still CHILDREN SCREAMING.

Overall, I am a little verklempt as to what to say about the trip. My mind was in a million different directions on the flight home. In short, my heart is all crumbly right now. However, this is not my story to tell and to dwell on it here would feel mawkish.

I am hoping to get back out to Vegas later this year. And it better be for good reasons, dammit.

Cares for Kids Seatbelt System ROCKS

Folks, the Kids Fly Safe seatbelt system ROCKS. If you plan on traveling via airplane with your children, I cannot recommend this system enough. Traveling without carseats and renting them upon arrival saved me loads of worry and headache.

Less is Actually LESS

Save for the backpack on my back, this is all we took with us. Yes, oh yes. I took advantage of washer/dryer access and only took a carry-on suitcase with us. I will say this, a 21 month old carrying her own backpack? Cute in theory, does not, I repeat DOES NOT, work in practice. However, we HAD to take it because Arun was carrying one. And these days, Anjali must be doing whatever the hell it is that Arun is doing. Lord help me when she figures out the differences in their personal plumbing when we attempt Toilet Usage in the next few weeks.

Lake Mead
Lake Mead is very sentimental to me because my grandpa took us there to feed the fish. Sadly, the hatchery was closed for renovation, so we will have to wait for another time to feed the fish.

Red Rock Canyon
The kids were asleep, so I just did the scenic route and jumped out to snap photos while they caught up on much-needed nappage. I had so much fun playing with light, aperture and composition. Not too shabby for someone wielding a lowly point n' shoot Canon, no? And I would like to vehemently note, I do not own Photoshop nor do I ever plan to. It smacks of cheating, somehow. Red-eye and zit removal is not bad, but some folks go overboard. Ansel Adams is rolling over in his grave, folks.

Are we on our trip yet?

Oh, Innernets. Remind me again to never again tell a 3 year old a week in advance that we will be hopping on a plane. A 3 year old who is still working on that whole "space, time continuum" concept thingie.

In the blogosphere lately, there has been a lot of self-existential questioning. And that goes for me, as well. Fortunately, I will be leaving the laptop home - all those years of traveling for business completely burnt me out on dragging laptops across the country - I do not even take a computer to BlogHer. Yes, I will be on Twitter while I am gone. However, it takes 2 seconds to send a text message from my phone. Eh. Big deal. I am looking forward to my Internet-free days of virtual self-reflection.

On that note, I leave you with an excellent article on why moms, in particular, are susceptible to Internet addiction:

If it were just an escape that moms were looking for, however, they could flip on the TV or pick up a book. But according to a recent Babytalk.com poll, more than double the number of moms choose the computer over books or the boob tube during their babies' naps, showing that they're looking for something more than an escape: connection, yes, but also a way to express themselves.

That is me. That is me.

I know that I spend too much time online. We are out and about every day, we rarely spend an entire day at home. When I do get home, I feel that need to find out what has been happening in the world, not just with blogging, but also with a variety of new sites that I follow. Not including some things that I work on for FoodieBytes.com. While I do not feel that Team Chaos are getting the short end of my Attention Stick, other aspects of my life are often ignored - things I truly enjoy- reading and knitting while I watch television. Furthermore, I have an incredible amount of household projects which are growing mold.

I will be using this trip to evaluate this and will coming back with specific steps for decreasing my online time.

Talk amongst yourselves.

Can race car drivers deduct speeding tickets on their tax returns ?

My friend J left me a voice mail yesterday regarding our trip out to Vegas this Saturday. She left detailed instructions on giving her a list of what foods/drinks we need, reminded me to bring bathing suits and asked which size diapers we use and what brand of wipes so that I do not have lug all of that with us. Oh, and her husband is going to meet us at the airport to help me juggle luggage and kids since I am traveling without X. Even though I am renting a car, which she had already tried to talk me out of.

Oh, yes she did.

My friend has a million other things to be concerned with right now (cancer! Hello!), but she will not be thwarted in her efforts to be a gracious hostess. Good luck trying, folks. I have been unsuccessful for nearly 20 years now.

So, the trip. Lingers on my brain at all times. Planning, expectations, worries mixed with an odd excitement about taking my kids on airplane together to one of my favorite cities. While we will not have time for jaunts to the Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, Hoover Dam or Area 51, I am planning on a cruise down LV Boulevard and a quickie out to the Red Rock (the canyon, not the casino.) I am also hoping to at least see the Bellagio Conservatory and I would really like them to see Treasure Island, but that is low on the totem pole for the other things we will be doing.

So, yesterday was my birthday. Rita wrote me the sweetest post ever, that made me cry. She can be such a whore like that. Seriously! How rude is that? Making someone cry on her birthday? 'Tis evil, y'all. Anyway. While I am eternally grateful and feel privileged to be carving yet another notch on the Bedpost of Life, it was sort of a crummy day. But these kids? Still managed to make me smile.


File this under Too Damned Lazy to Drag Out the Baby Books..........

Anjali, infuriated with Arun because he took a toy away from her, "AH-WOON! We both sharing it! WE BOTH SHARING IT." (score one for Ni hao, Kai-lan!)

In general, when she gets furious, she gets verklempt and begins stuttering, which usually ends with an adament "I MAD at you!", complete with fingerpointing.

Anjali, pointing to Arun: "Ah-woon, you a good brother." (She hears me say this one a lot.)

Anjali, on the swings, after insisting on being swung really HIGH: "My belly makes a sick!!!" (Then she giggled maniacally.)

Arun, after I pointed out that Anjali was sad we left the swings and that is why she was crying, "Yeah, she cries all the time. I don't like it when she cries because I like her." (An astute observation of the Terrible Twos as viewed backwards from someone firmly entrenched in the Throes of Three.)

Anjali to Arun while they are in their carseats, "Ah-woon, hold my hand. Tank you, Ah-woon. Tank you." (If X and I are not available for comfort, she is turning to Arun more and more, which I find interesting and adorable all at once.)

Do pediatricians play miniature golf ?

Bang! Bang!

• An awesome gift for Mother's Day..... I am currently reading Lenore Skenazy's Free Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry. Skenazy is the Official World's Worst Mom who let her 9 year old ride the NYC subway by himself and then began the Free Range Kids blog (required parent blogger reading, in my opinion.) Anyway. I normally would wait until a book is finished before writing this, but this is the sort of read that is compelling me to fist pump into the air during the introduction. I am nearly halfway finished and damn, y'all. This is one of my new "required" readings for new parents (along with Your Pregnancy: Week by Week, Baby 411, The Science of Parenting and Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent.) I will do a proper review (I am taking notes!) when I am finished, but I am afraid that may take another week or so. I want parents reading this book now. It is chockfull of data and humor. I want parents letting their children play in parks without hovering now. I want parents putting away their unfounded fears of stranger abduction now. I want parents letting their children play in the front yard now.
  

• Daddy's Girl Bethiclaus asked me about Anjali's hair and if it was going straight or not. Eh. I am not sure The new hair coming in is actually still curly. When I wet it down and scrunch it, we still get ringlets. The reason it was looking straight in some snaps I uploaded is that I was brushing it straight to experiment. Frankly, she looked like a bag lady and we are back to Finger Picking and Scrunching. I can report that X needs a hair cut and when he gets out of the shower, before he brushes it straight, Anjali's hair looks suspiciously like his.

• Backpack...Backpack....Anjali Sr. wanted a reporting back on the backpack. I love, love the backpack itself. I am still not 100% happy with carrying a backpack and not a handbag. But time and time again, the backpack is proving itself far more convenient. I am also not having a problem with the drawstring enclosure, but I am the type to keep all loose odds n' ends enclosed in pockets. If the backpack gets knocked over and a few dinosaurs or Little People happen to tumble to their deaths, we are none worse for the wear.

• Paging Dr. Clooney.....The other day, it became obvious that Anjali needed to go to the doctor. However, it was 4:30pm and the doctor recommended a visit to Urgent Care, rather than waiting. So, off Anjali and I went. For two hours. Two hours. Where Anjali got to eat two special popsicles while we waited for a urine sample. While we waited. And waited. And waited some more. While Anjali gleefully played in the exam room taking her dinosaurs on a tour, spinning them around on the fancy chair, showing them the bright lights of the x-ray display. When we were finally done? She screamed and pitched a fit "Wanna see doctor again. Doctor! DOCTOR!" And the next day when we went to drop off some more sample? Both kids were peeved and complained that they did not get to go in. Are my children the only ones who love the doctor?

Future Free Rangers of America

What's in the bag?

Handbag Thursday [hānd'bāg' thûrz'dā]
-noun
1. A Canal Street knockoff of Jodifur's Shoe Friday.
2. A lame attempt at regular blog fodder by invoking my own accessorized day o' the week.
3. A frivolous little feature that allows me to talk about handbags every week. What's not to love about that?
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So, yeah. I missed Handbag Thursday last week. I just was not feeling it. And, eh. That is the beauty of being an Itty Bitty Blogger, folks are less likely to notice if you fail to show up or not.

This week's handbag comes from a Woman on the Street move I made a few weeks back at a local children's farm. I saw this bag and thought it was so interesting and fun. I stopped the gal, told her what I was up to and asked if I could feature it. She was so flattered and pleased by my request, that I will definitely be doing that move again!

This is a Lucky bag from Macy's.