My Summer Vacation, Part 1
Day 1:
We get off to a late start. Having two children just doesn't make getting ready for a trip any easier. Weird, huh?
We finally get on the road, and hit major bumper-to-bumper Saturday afternoon traffic on 95 North. It will take us at least an extra hour to get to Kennebunkport.
"If we get there and get unpacked and I sit on the couch and it just feels like we're at home, I'm really going to lose it," says the husband.
We finally get to the vacation house and unload the car. Then, we head off to the nearest "real" grocery store in Kennebunk to stock up for the week. Too tired to cook afterwards, we stop at The Clam Shack to pick up dinner. They sell "The Bush Family Cookbook," so it must be good.
We get fried claims, fries and clam cakes. Now, I grew up in Rhode Island, where they know how to make clam cakes right. In RI, clam cakes are fried dough balls from heaven, sold for about $6 a dozen.
The fried clams were excellent. But Maine has no clue about clam cakes. There, clam cakes are sold one for $1.95 and resemble – and taste like – flat fast food chicken patties gone wrong. And the really dumb thing is that as we're eating them we remember that we tried them two years ago and vowed then to never order them again.
We feel tired and stupid, but better after half a bottle of wine. Everything is better after half a bottle of wine.
Day 2:
After a lazy morning we head over to the beach. Jak-El has been talking about nothing for a week but going to the beach and a movie on vacation. Today, we plan to accomplish both.
I stupidly buy a week pass for the beach. Little did I know that after one visit to the beach, Jak-El would consider it crossed off his list and not care about going again.
Jak-El had a lot of fun digging holes in the sand. Dan-El, on the other hand, wasn't so wild about the experience. He started crawling about a week before the trip, and now wants to be on the move constantly. He just couldn't understand why we wouldn't let him crawl around the beach, eating fistfuls of sand. We would have, but I read in a book somewhere that's not recommended until babies are at least 11 months old. Something about not being able to digest sand yet—I know, dumb, huh?
We go home and eat dinner and then drive a half hour north to Saco for a night at the drive-in. Husband and I are mighty excited, as we rarely get to go to the movies anymore.
Luckily, Jak-El falls asleep on the way, so we don't have to listen to him whine about when the movie is going to start. Dan-El wakes up about 15 minutes after we arrive in a chipper mood and enjoys playing with the sunroof. I'm considering sending this picture to Brittney Spears—perhaps her stunt baby would enjoy a little station wagon surfing too.
We wake up Jak-El just as "Cars" begins and he sits quietly and happily on his dad's lap through the whole movie, munching on popcorn. When it ends, he climbs back into his car seat and promptly falls asleep.
I'm very proud to say that I was the only one in the whole car who stayed awake to the end of the second feature, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2." Hooray me!
Tomorrow: The grandparents arrive, miniature golf is attempted and we have the most expensive meal ever.
Random quotes of the day:
"I don't want to get wet!"
"Then why are you in the shower?"
"I. DON'T. KNOW."
"Oh great. Now you've ruined Danny Kaye for me *forever*."
posted by Lois Lane @ 7:11 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Ha, this was great!
I especially love the sunroof surfing baby! Now, I have a question for you, which will demonstrate your level of blog-geekery.
When you were taking that picture, were you thinking, "This'll make a great addition to the blog!"? Be honest, now.
(Oh, and did you bring back a copy of the "Bush Family Cookbook" for NoOprah?)
Guilty. Yeah, I'm pimping the infant out for blog material.
And I did think about buying a few of the cookbooks, both for folks who might like them (like NoOprah) and for people who might want to use them for kindling (like Lamont).
Ultimately, I decided rather to spend my money on booze and chocolate instead.
Lois:
I would never burn a cookbook. But I would quite happily toss several members of the Bush clan on whatever open fire happens to be handy.
From what I understand, martiarch Barbara would go up in a woosh of blue, alcohol-fueled flames.
Can't wait to hear about the most expensive meal ever: Hope the story rivals the one about food critic Craig Claiborne. Here's a clip I STOLE from Wikipedia which seems to have most of the facts correct...
The $4000 Meal
One of the most famous episodes in Claiborne's career occurred in 1975 when he placed a $300 winning bid at a charity auction for a no price-limit dinner for two at any restaurant of the winner's choice, sponsored by the American Express company. Selecting his friend Pierre Franey as his dining companion, the two settled on the prestigious Parisian restaurant Chez Denis where they racked up a $4,000 tab on a five-hour, 31-course meal of foie gras, truffles, lobster, cavair and rare wines.
When Claiborne later wrote about the experience in his Times column, the paper received a deluge of reader mail expressing outrage at such an extravagance at a time when so many in the world went without. Despite its scale and expense, Claiborne gave the meal a mixed review, noting that several dishes fell short in terms of conception, presentation or quality.
Oh, and welcome back, by the way.
-- Lamont Cranston
I gots to ask:
What soured someone on Danny Kaye....forever?
Before we left the house Saturday morning, the husband was watching some old movie on cable and commented that the way Danny Kaye contorted his face while singing made him look like a sphincter.
Oh my GOD. I lost 10 IQ points over on Momenger's blog and nearly lost my dinner on yours.
You people really are driving me to drink, I swear.
(And I SO KNEW IT about the baby and the sunroof! Ha!)
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