Doing Disney with a Toddler and Baby: Animal Kingdom

If You Missed It - Doing Disney with a Toddler and Baby: The Magic Kingdom 

(Also, if you are visiting, at the time of our Disney visit my son, David, was 6 months and my daughter, Libbie, was 32 months.)

Day 2 of our trip was spent at the Animal Kingdom, which is notoriously hot for some reason. Perhaps lack of good shade and/or indoor rides? Who knows. Honestly, there is not a ton at Animal Kingdom and we didn't do THAT much. We all opted to go home in the afternoon and hang out at the pool at our rental house.

All of us except my husband and the kids had seen most of Animal Kingdom already; I had seen it in 2002, before Asia was done. The only thing I REALLY wanted to ride was Expedition Everest, and I did - twice!

Animal Kingdom with a Baby and a (Fearful) Toddler

Expedition Everest: The grown-ups took turn riding this back-to-back while my mom and dad took turns taking Libbie to look at animals and to Dinoland USA. It rocks. It's not for little kids, though!

TriceraTop Spin: Speaking of Dinoland USA ... Libbie thought this was the be-all, end-all of all awesomeness. It's pretty much Dumbo with dinosaurs. My mom took Libbie AND David on it twice (with David in her lap) and my sister took Libbie once. She would have rode it a zillion more times.

DINOSAUR: Back in the land of dinos is the ride called DINOSAUR. No, I don't know why it's in all caps. This is also bigger kids-only. We decided to test out the Baby Swap method. I highly recommend doing baby swap + fast passes for the ideal ride. We all had fast passes for a certain time. We went and told them we wanted to do the Baby Swap. They give you a ticket that is good for three adults to go through the fastpass lane. So the first time around, three of our adults went through on Fastpass. Then for the second ride, four adults went through using the baby swap ticket and one Fastpass. (We actually only used four Fastpasses even though we had five in this situation.)

I still hid my eyes for most of DINOSAUR. I am a wimp. Recommended for those older than 29 ... or who like to be scared more than I do.

Finding Nemo—The Musical: My sister is in love with this show, so she was insistent we go. It was nice and cool, and we all enjoyed the show. It really does fill up pretty fast; I think they start the lines 45 minutes prior to the show. We got there about 25 minutes before the show, I think, and found fine seats. Libbie fell asleep quickly and slept through the whole show except the last 3 minutes! David nursed and then watched intently. He loves the music and colors!

Kilimanjaro Safari: The "story" they try to play out on the safari is completely superfluous, but the actual trek through the savanna and seeing all the animals is pretty awesome. It is really bumpy; I might have been afraid if David were any smaller, just about him getting jostled around like that. Libbie hated all the bumps and screamed every time we were moving. (Granted, she was also very hot and tired at this point.)

Camp Minnie-Mickey: This is one of the best places at Disney to meet characters, and the only place we attempted it with our kids. Libbie had in the past been hysterical when faced with big characters in costume. While she was not hysterical, she didn't really want to take pictures with any of the characters. The lines there are shaded and not too lengthy, so if you want to meet characters I definitely recommend trying to do it at Animal Kingdom.

Libbie was beat, so we skipped out on some of the other attractions. We were pretty sure It's Tough to Be a Bug would freak her out. We had hoped to see The Lion King show, but again, we were too tired and HOT. Oh well!

We ate lunch at Yak and Yeti Restaurant. Ah, the privileges of going to Disney with Nana and Poppy! It was wonderful to get out of the heat for a while.

Some of the dishes were really good: I had awesome Tempura Shrimp, my mom had the Maple-Tamarind Chicken, and I think my dad liked his Lo-Mein. My sister had some sort of appetizer platter that doesn't appear to be on the menu any longer, and she wasn't a fan. Mr. V says his Sweet and Sour Chicken was just OK.

Libbie shared my dad's Lo-Mein and all the soup "crunchies" we would let her eat. They do have burgers and chicken bites on the kids' menu if your kids are anti-Asian food or something! We eat Chinese food often so Libbie is pretty acclimated to it.

At Animal Kingdom, I nursed David in the middle of Dino-Land USA (HOT but he was starving), in Finding Nemo (nice, cool, and dark!), and at Yak and Yeti (cool at least). You gotta do what you gotta do!

I'll be continuing this series with EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, but next we'll talk about Universal Studios: Island of Adventure! Stay tuned ... you might want to subscribe to make sure you don't miss any of these posts if you're planning a future trip to Florida.

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"Home is a place in the mind"

Here is what I learned about trying to go home again.

Even if you spent thirteen years in a city, you won't remember how to get to the most familiar places. It is a devastating feeling.

Almost as depressing as the fact that they turned the landmark, beloved, local grocery-store chain into a Big Box Grocery. (Rest in peace, Ukrop's. I will forever mourn you.)

You will still spend your time dreading seeing someone you don't really want to talk to but have to.

Way too many high-school feelings and memories will come flooding back.

However.

The things that were good--church family, Joe's Inn, the Byrd Theatre--will still be good. There are certain friends you'll always have something to talk about with. You'll cry when your best friend from high school looks so unbelievably gorgeous and happy in her wedding dress.

You'll remember you aren't the same person you were 10 years ago, and that's a good thing. Very good.

And while you are gone, your daughter will try to learn to take over the world.

So, can you go home again? 


(Here I am talking about Richmond, which is where I grew up. Really, I don't know where home is. I explain that a little in this post.)


Title quote from Maeve Brennan, The Visitor

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Things I Love Thursday: Online Friends

You want to know something really fun?

Friday night I am leaving the hubby and the girl here, driving 2 hours, and staying the night with Amanda--yes, THAT Amanda. We've met several times in real life (two years of Blissdom) but have never been able to spend that much one-on-one time since there have been so many other people to meet.

Then--oh then--on Saturday afternoon we are going to get together with Bee from Will Blog for Shoes and Candance from Twiggie Makes, whom I have never met. I'm not sure I could be any more excited.

Gorgeous Amanda (front) with someone I don't know. Photo by Mishelle Lane.

Even a year ago, I might have laughed at the prospect of going on a road trip to meet blogging friends--and staying at one of their homes! Despite the fact that Amanda and I have been reading each others' blogs "forever," it's just been over the past few months that I feel like we have grown very close. A lot of it is my constant solicitation for parenting advice. She is a former children's minister and has a plethora of amazing advice and the reason why she believes a certain thing. I will be the first to admit that I'm just making it up as I go along most of the time. I need the help!!

I had this discussion at Blissdom or immediately after about those bloggers who live for blog conferences. That's when they see their friends. This is not the kind of blogger I want to be, ever. Trust me--you need friends you can see face-to-face. You need to remove yourself from the computer OFTEN and live real life!

But there is a special blessing in online friends. I've known this since I was a high-schooler and found myself in a community of Hanson lovers. We communicated through guest books. Awesome.

I've always been able to explain myself better through writing than speaking. (Hence, blogging.) There is something about speaking face-to-face and hearing someone's voice--but there is also something about being able to write out what you feel without struggling through tears to put the words together.

Especially in the past few months, I've clung to my online "sisterchicks." I can only call the same two people to hang out with in Chattanooga so many times before I start to be clingy! Everything's been a whirlwind of emotions and it's so helpful to have those women to talk through situations with before I bombard my husband with a flurry of nonsensical verbiage and gasping tears.

All friendships are precious. I've realized the true gem of some of my online friends in recent months, and for that I am thankful.

Added to Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.

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How to Travel with a Toddler

If they tell you your flight is going to be delayed two hours, then three hours, then three and a half hours ...

Just go back home.

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OK, so we DID get here eventually. At 11 p.m. Libbie ran all over the airport like a crazed Munchkin, but she slept most of the flight while I had a very nice conversation with the woman in our row.

It wasn't my top choice for spending a Sunday afternoon, though.

I'm visiting my parents in PA so posting may continue to be sparse, but I'll be back to normal before too very long!

I'm Still Alive!

I promise!

We were in North Carolina at Mr. V's parents' home for the last few days. Libbie had an exhausting time of opening presents and being loved on by her grandparents, aunt, and parents all at once!

It was nice. Although I can assure you 100% that I will never, ever play Scrabble Slam with Mr. V again.

I think the best part was sitting down and having a great talk with my sister-in-law yesterday, whom I rarely see.

And I am OH SO GRATEFUL to my parents and my in-laws, who bought me an iMac and Adobe InCopy so I can work from home some.

What was the best part of your Christmas?

It's All Relative(s)

When my sister and I were small, we lived with my parents in Northern Indiana, transported from my parents' hometown of Dayton, Ohio, due to my dad's job. Ashley was not even born yet when we made the trek to the little ranch house on County Road 19. We lived in Indiana until I was 8 and my dad was transferred to Richmond, Virginia.

When my mom was feeling lonely for family, she would pack me, Ashley, and a tape recorder with "Wee Sing Bible Songs" in it to go to Toledo to see her sister and our cousins. From Bristol to Toledo was a mere two hours and apparently worth having to listen to "The Lord said to Noah, go and build an ark-y, ark-y" sixty-two times.



If I remember right, the only time we usually trekked to Dayton was for Christmas. For Thanksgiving, we went to cabins all together with the large family clan. During the summer, we headed to East Harbor, Ohio, to go camping for a week and visit Cedar Point.

You know how far it is from Bristol, Indiana, to Dayton, Ohio?

According to the ever-credible and insanely helpful Google Maps, it's 4 hours and 10 minutes.

It's all relative, isn't it? To my mother, 4 hours seemed like a very lengthy drive when she had been in her hometown all her life, growing up and being wed and bearing a child within miles of her sisters and parents.

Nowadays, Mom and Dad drive from Philadelphia to Dayton probably three to four times a year, and to Nashville several other times (about a 14-hour drive). My mom, who until I was in college would not step foot inside an airplane due to a bad experience and fear, has flown to Nashville to see Libbie at least five times since her birth.

For Mr. V and me, it was nothing to make the 6-hour drive to Dayton several times a year from Nashville. But this time, with a child who cried hysterically in her carseat for 45 minutes because she could see her pacifier but not reach it, I'm beginning to see why my mom would drive 2 hours but not 4.

We scoff at the decisions of others, thinking they are being silly or irrational. I've laughed many times over my mom's hesitance to drive a mere 4 hours in the car. But now that I have my own small child in the backseat, I can see quite clearly: it's all relative.

There must be some kind of math equation: how much you want to see your relations – how whiny your child currently is / how many hours you'll have to spend in the car. Plus the square root of i.

Suffice to say, I will miss my parents at Christmas but if I had to make a 14-hour car trip with Libbie, I might have thrown myself out the window.

I hope your Thanksgiving travel and festivities were pleasant and warm! And there were no howling children in your backseat.

A Grateful Heart and a Stack of Coats

Most of the time now, I feel poor.

If I sit back, it feels silly. We have enough money to pay a mortgage and a rent, drive back and forth to Chattanooga, pay a baby-sitter, all of our utilities, for groceries, and for a little fun. We eat out every Sunday after church--that's built into our budget.

I've seen true poverty. In 1999, I took my very first plane trip ever at the age of 17 to the Dominic Republic for a mission trip. There, as a part of World Changers, my group helped construct the second story of a small green church with cinderblocks and cement. We walked through the neighborhood, feeling the desperation. We saw the slums, houses made of tin caked together with mud. I saw a Haitian family of 10 living in a hut with pigs and chickens.

Since then, I've been to Thailand, where I saw the aftermath of a terrible tsunami. I saw where five people slept on one bed and had to pee in a hole in the ground. I've been to rural China, where there are no lights after dark and I slept on the guest bed--made of logs and bags of rice. I've seen hungry children in Nashville who just want to find the safe place their home isn't.



Considering all these things, feeling poor is almost indulgent.

One of my friends gave me a coat for Libbie yesterday. I sat there, staring at it, thinking about how she would have five coats by Christmas (I know my parents have purchased one for her)--including a boutique one, one from Mini Boden, and two from Gymboree. There are little girls out there Libbie's age who don't have one coat.

I am so thankful for the abundance we have been given. I am learning more and more to embrace simplicity and let God plan our lives. And I want to share what we have been given. That's why we sponsor a child with Compassion. And that's why I hope you'll give me some ideas as to where I could donate a few precious little girl's coats.

Mary is hosting a carnival each Thursday through Thanksgiving on giving thanks. I hope you'll consider going and reading her post on Compassion today.

The 12 Days of Libbie: Day 5

My sweet girl was not even five months old when she went on her first plane trip.

I was 16 when I was on a plane for the first time!

I guess in "this day and age" it's not that rare. Flights are less expensive, especially with airlines like Southwest.

By the time she was 5 months old she'd been to Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia, mostly as part of our Great American Christmas Roadtrip.

I hope, like her mom, Libbie will love to travel. There's so much out there to see. So much to experience in other cultures. I hope she will appreciate the accessibility we have to the rest of the world that many generations have not had. I also hope she recognizes the work of God's hands in the mountains of Montana, the waterfalls of Brazil, and the oceans of Thailand.

Like any parent, I want her to have everything I've had and more.

How far has your child traveled?


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If you'd like to help celebrate Libbie's birthday, please write a post loving on your kid(s) and link to it here. You're welcome to use something you've already written, I just ask that you link back to my site. We all get so wrapped up in the everyday of parenting that I think it's important to remember the special moments. I'm excited to share these moments with you and to read yours! Code for the button is in the sidebar.

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Vacation Food

We're headed out to Gatlinburg tomorrow with my parents and sister. We are actually staying in "Scenic Wear's Valley," more toward Pigeon Forge. I am SO looking forward to it. Especially to this:



In case I haven't mentioned it one or, oh, 100 times, I am a major bath girl. I love my long, hot baths with a good book. And a hot tub is like a good bath PLUS extra goodness. I plan on spending a lot of time in that baby.

The great thing about renting a house, cabin, condo, whatever, is that there is a kitchen so you don't have to eat out every meal. Mr. V and I are bringing Pop-Tarts (only brown sugar cinnamon, of course--his breakfast of choice for the last 5 years), cereal, and strawberry muffins (assuming I do actually make them tonight). I'm also bringing all of the maple pork chops we made for my share of the Once a Month Cooking. That should be enough for all five of us and great to throw on the grill.

My mom and I have been going back and forth on other easy vacation meals we could make. I love these Aussie Meat Pies from Rachael Ray 365, but wonder if they are too heavy for summer fare. I keep thinking fresh, in season, grilling ... hmm. We don't have a grill at home so that's not my forte, but it sounds SO good for a vacation in a cabin in the woods.

So. What are your suggestions?

[P.S. For more food linkage, come back tonight/tomorrow for Family Recipe Fridays! I'm sharing an awesome summer cake recipe this week & Mr. Linky is back in business.]

Transported to the Scenic City

Some of y'all may have guessed that our rapid trip to Chattanooga on Monday was for a job interview for Mr. V. While I was having a fantastic omelet and great coffee at Aretha Frankenstein's with Robin from Pensieve, Mr. V was undergoing a whole day of interviews at a local high school. We are VERY happy to announce that he did get the job and we're going to be Chattanoogans! (Chattanoogites?)

The last few months--since November, really, when his application process began--have been such a downer for us, and we are so relieved to know where we'll be. At the same time, it's incredibly bittersweet. We still won't be near any family; we will miss our life and friends here in Nashville so much; and honestly, I'm not sure how I'll function as a stay-at-home mom, even though that is what I have dreamed and desired to be! I love my job and I will be sad to leave when the time comes. Also we will have to undergo the stress of trying to sell our house in a less than desirable market.

I've decided I won't share where Mr. V will be teaching since I just don't think that's necessary information and don't want a bunch of high-schoolers finding my blog. :) I also don't think I'll be the changing the name of it--we'll always be proud of our Vanderbilt connection, and I don't want to undergo the hassle.

Thank you for your prayers during this time.

Will you please also lift up a prayer this morning for my friend Monica? This dear, sweet woman just lost her little son—she was 6 months pregnant. I am so grieving for her this morning and I know she covets prayers.

She Eats

For all of those who wanted more baby pictures (cough, cough, Mom, cough) ...

Libbie is really getting into her solids!

Prunes:

Cantaloupe:

She's eaten bananas, apples and applesauce, cantaloupe, watermelon, sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots, prunes, and oatmeal. I think her least favorite thing is the applesauce, although she really likes Granny Smith apples! Go figure!

We're doing more and more "real solids" when we're at home. I know she doesn't eat much this way, but it keeps her occupied and helps her figure out how to pick up foods herself. Technically, skipping purees is called baby-led weaning. But we are still doing some purees, especially for daycare, where I keep freaking them out with my Crunchy Granola Mom ways! ;)

Hope you had a good weekend. We just made a VERY quick trip to Chattanooga and back, so I had today off work. Looking forward to three days in the office before we head out for a wedding! Ack. I will post Family Recipe Fridays, though, so if you want to participate please get your post ready!

And if you haven't voted in my survey yet, please click through and check it out. It's the first item in the left sidebar. Thanks!

Blissdom Babies

I love this picture from Blissdom taken by Secret Agent Mama (and used with her permission). It's me, Jordana, and Amanda and our little ones. I feel like I spent half of Blissdom sitting on this couch.

I want to thank y'all who have come to visit my little Internet space here since Blissdom! I love to write and it makes me feel blessed that people are interested in reading my musings here. Know I try to visit everyone's blog who comments on mine! And I appreciate your comment so, so much.

I have an auto-post set for tomorrow, but other than that I'm not sure if I'll post until Tuesday. I am leaving today to go visit my family with Libbie. Have a wonderful weekend! Don't forget to enter the contest! Get one entry by commenting on my post and another entry by commenting on Deborah's!

Flying with Baby--Rants and a Few Tips

Playing on the floor at BWI

I found the hardest part of flying alone with the baby was trying to go to the bathroom. The handicapped bathrooms in the airport are barely big enough to squeeze my (very small) stroller into and still be able to go. And on the plane? Are you kidding? I had to hand her off to a friendly flight attendant so I could attend to Nature's call.

The worst moment for me was in Norfolk (ORF--I hope you find this and reprimand your security people). They make you put the stroller and carseat through the conveyor belt along with everything else except the baby. I tried and tried to disconnect my carseat from the stroller, then get the stroller collapsed, while approximately 10 security people stood and looked at me. I was the ONLY person going through the line. I had to PUT THE BABY ON THE FLOOR, y'all, to get it closed. And they let me. (In Nashville, several kind men did it all for me. I love the South.) When my mom called minutes later, I just burst into tears.

To board the plane, I'd put Libbie in the sling, close the stroller, and then lug the stroller, carseat, diaper bag, and my bag to the entrance--while trying not to drop the baby out of the sling. People were kind enough to help me most of the time, but it was still a struggle. My first flight, where I was allowed to bring on the carseat since it wasn't full, I ended up playing musical chairs because I didn't know the carseat had to go by the window, then they had to check it to make sure it was airplane-safe.

I'd read often that nursing at take-off and descent would help the baby from having her ears hurt. Well, those parts didn't bother her in the least. It was the part in the middle she didn't like. And when I tried to nurse her, I was so uncomfortable and she was so mad she absolutely refused.

It was one heck of a trip.

Here's what I've learned for the next time I fly with her (which, ack, is in less than two weeks!):



1. I will keep her in the sling to go through security instead of wrestling her in and out of the stroller. I'm tempted to not take the stroller at all, but I know my parents want to do some outdoors things with her when we're in PA.

2. I will bring bottles of pumped milk to give her on the plane if she gets upset. I am too uncomfortable nursing in public. I am so afraid I am going to flash someone completely (I'm really not worried about being embarrassed, but I don't want to make other people way uncomfortable), and Libbie tends to throw off any cover I put on her. Plus she latches on and off constantly, making it even more difficult. (Note: you can bring a "reasonable amount" of breast milk or formula through security onto the plane, as long as you tell them and put it in a separate bucket to go through the scanner.)

3. I will wish I had a portable DVD player to occupy her, but I won't buy one, because I am cheap.

4. I will stick with the same amount of bags--anything more than her diaper bag and my purse would have put me over the edge.

Southwest, by the way, was great. They checked on me a ton, helped me if I needed it, and said flight attendant even lovingly attended to the baby while I peed (and it was a man). I will never fly anyone else if I can help it. I love them.

Souvenirs

I ran across this post this morning asking the question: What is the quirkiest thing in your house you will never give away?

(I am seriously hoping Mr. V doesn't tell me he's already thrown this away since I am going to get sentimental about it. But I don't think he has!! LOL.)

Mr. V and I started dating in November 2001, our sophomore year of college. That summer, he went to Geneva, Switzerland to work in a physics lab for 10 weeks. I went to Beijing, China to study abroad for 6 weeks. It was a grand adventure in long-distance romance. Mr. V really hates talking on the phone, so we mostly subsisted by e-mail and IM (just e-mail and one phone conversation when I was in China--Internet usage was slim and had to be paid for there!).

I got to hear about all his trips to Italy, Austria, and France; about how he hitchhiked back to Brussels, Belgium with four girls (grrrr). Meanwhile, I was trying to cram all the Chinese I could into my brain while suffering 110 degree, 30000% humidity weather, trying to figure out how to order food that was edible in restaurants, bargaining for random stuff, and learning to yell at taxi drivers in Chinese when they went the wrong way and wanted to be paid for it anyway.

One of the first days we were in China, we went to the grocery store, one of the few places where things were priced and you had to pay that price. It was a strange store, a small Wal-Mart sort of place, where you could buy groceries, shoes, bootleg DVDs, and decorated cakes. And on one of these first days, I bought Mr. V a souvenir. I guess China had just found out they were hosting the 2008 Olympics, because it was a big thing already.

I bought him a soccer ball with the Olympic rings, the Chinese characters for double happiness, and that said (I thought), "It's Double Happiness!" in English. He played soccer in high school, and for some reason this was the only thing I could think of that he might like.

When I gave it to him, he immediately started laughing. The soccer ball did NOT say, "It's Double Happiness." It said, "It's Double Happineass!" (This is a common problem among things translated from Chinese to English. In China I saw a travel brochure advertising a trip to "Jesus Christ City." My best guess is Jerusalem, but who knows?)

Yay! We still have it. I stand corrected, though, it doesn't have the characters on it, just the words.

To this day, we laugh over the "Double Happ-i-nee-ass" soccer ball.

[From Switzerland, he brought me a beautiful music box that plays the theme from "Love Story." I would also never get rid of that!]

Since I Can't Think of Anything to Post...

...our trip so far in pictures.

This is actually the night before we left--Libbie and her boyfriend Donavan in their Santa suits.

Getting to meet Michelle and Dan, our good friends from college.

Snuggling with Grandma W.

First time in my snow suit...

Just a cute one! (That blanket I'm in is Auntie Roo's singing High School Musical blankie...)

Khao Lak

Two years ago this week, I left the good old US of A for Thailand. It was something that completely fell into my lap. I have always, always wanted to go to Thailand--since I was in fifth grade. That year, as part of GAs (Girls in Action...kids' mission-education group they have in SBC churches) I wrote to missionaries who lived in Bangkok. I just picked them out of the Foreign Mission Board directory and wrote. Unlike most of the missionaries my fellow GAs wrote, mine wrote me back!

We ended up writing back and forth for many years. When they went on furlough, my family and theirs actually met at the Missionary Training Center in Richmond. I still have a scrapbook of all of their letters. It was a huge influence on my life, really. I still have a pretty big drive to do foreign missions.

So, back to this trip. I think they ran in the bulletin at church for one week that this trip was going to happen, and the cost was unbelievably low. It was supposed to be in November 2005. I asked about it, I applied, and although the November trip was full, I was added to a trip the next March, 2006.

The purpose of the trip was tsunami relief. I'm sure you remember the devestating tsunami in December 2004. When I applied for this trip, it was April or so after that, soon after relief starting pouring into Southeast Asia. By the time I got there in March 2006, relief had seriously trickled off. We Westerners do have rather short memories for bad things and the emotions you undergo right after they happen. The Thai people we worked with could not believe Christians were still willing to come to help them.

My team was so awesome; I got to be very good friends with two ladies, Marian and Deb, who are sisters, and a man named David. We trekked down to the market together, ate squid, played games, and worked our tails off in 100+ degree weather every day. I have never been anywhere else so sufficatingly hot. Being that close to the equator is just insane. Being out in the sun for 15 minutes is enough to make you pass out.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to go on this trip and to get to meet the people I met, both the Thai people and the Americans I went with and the missionaries that lived in Khao Lak.

It almost seems like a dream now, as I find most of my travels do. When I am living my everyday life, nauseated, tired, watching March Madness, it is hard to believe I am the same person who took classes in Chinese, rode an elephant in Thailand, and had lunch with a sheik in Brazil. Most days I honestly can't believe I've had such amazing opportunities when I am such a boring person!

I long for that post-trip feeling, though, of appreciation for my "normal" life. Most days I find myself so wrapped up in housekeeping, making dinners, watching TV shows, and so on. Things that have no importance whatsoever. What matters is relationships, whenever and wherever they are formed, and how these relationships tie into Jesus.

Hometown Travel: Great Richmond Restaurants

Last night I was watching (on DVD) an episode from the first season of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show. I'm not sure I'll watch any more of it, he's a little crass, but I enjoy food shows. In this episode he was traveling back to his home state, New Jersey (insert snide comment here). I won't go into how half my college was from NJ, so I know they can't all be bad, and I've never really been there except to drive to New York and to drop off Ashley once. ANYWAY, what I thought was interesting was the going back to places in your hometown.

Way out in Chesterfield county, in the part where I lived growing up, we didn't have much in terms of local restraunteurs. Anything good was at least a 15-minute drive, and those were mostly chains. I'd say at least 50 % of the time when we ate out, it was at Applebee's, because that was the only thing close. When they started to build up a little, we also had a Ledo's Pizza and a Chinese restaurant not too far away. And hey, there was always Ukrop's, except you couldn't go there for lunch after church (they're closed on Sundays).

When I went to school, however, I was blessed with being much closer to downtown and to wonderful thing I like to call not-chain restaurants. Now I am no food snob, but Pizza Hut just doesn't have the same atmosphere as, say, Uncle Gio's down the street in Nashville.

Anyway, if I were to take people on a tour of my hometown favorites in Richmond, here's where we would go:

Full Kee (6400 Horsepen Rd.). After spending six weeks in China I was confronted with the fact that no Chinese restaurant in Richmond--or much elsewhere--has actual Chinese food. It's all Americanized. And though I have found no place that can satisfy my craving for tie ban niu rou, Full Kee is the only place I've been to that is pretty authentic. On our first trip back to Richmond from Nashville, we stopped by the house, threw Chester out of the car, and zoomed right back to Full Kee for my birthday dinner. Yummmm.

Galaxy Diner (3109 W. Cary St.). Maybe it's just me, but I loved being served by someone with pink hair and multiple face piercings in a place with sliding glass doors and a 50s space theme. The chili cheeseburgers and fried pickles help too. I miss Carytown so much I can't even think about it. I love how Nashville is open all night, and it's not so scary to be downtown as compared to Richmond, but Carytown has a certain flair that I haven't found in Nashville. As far as I can tell, there is no World of Mirth here.

Su Casa Mexican Cafe (4013 Broad St.). I don't know why it's so much better than other Mexican places in Richmond--maybe because it's miniscule, has awesome salsa, and is owned by Greeks, so you can have your enchiladas and baklava for dessert. But it was definitely me and my mom's favorite little Mexican haunt. Also Mexico Restaurant was also very, very good.

Strawberry Street Cafe (421 Strawberry St.). Oh, the wonder. Awesome quiche. Wonderful desserts. And a salad bar in a bathtub. Love at first sight. And it's only about three minutes from Gordon's, a great jazz club on Lombardy St.

And of course, what trip to Richmond would be complete without a dressed-up dinner at The Tobacco Company? (1201 E. Cary St.) This restaurant holds a lot of history for our family--my parents went there the day they bought our house in VA, Mr. V and I went there for our first dating anniversary, and it is the home of Mr. V's favorite hamburger ever. It's beautiful, it has insane amounts of character, and it's probably the only fancy restaurant I ever ate at in Richmond. :) If you get prime rib, they bring you seconds for free. The seafood is sooo good. I could go on and on....but you should just go.

Hope you enjoyed your virtual tour. Take notes for if you ever visit my hometown!

Chinese Fairytale

I'm kind of a random person, and I enjoy following my train of thought wherever it wishes to take me. I had a dream last night about Brazil and some of the people I met there. I guess this was causing my mind to wander and led me to think about China. Today I was remembering climbing the Great Wall.

A Mini Chinese Fairytale

This is nothing like Mulan.

Obviously, the ancient Chinese had no idea how to build even stairs. These jagged pieces of rock are the most difficult steps I've ever traversed. Some are so close together it's like climbing a consistent incline. Others are more like mountain climbing, having to hoist oneself up to the next level. After an hour of this, I am pouring sweat. And we didn't even go up the "more difficult" side of the Wall.

It is July in China, 2002, somewhere between Beijing and the Emperor's summer abode at Chengde. The palace was magnificent, we saw an incredible temple, but this is the piece de resistance, of course. One of the wonders of the world. And all I remember is those stairs. Being sweaty. And the Idiot we brought from Richmond who wanted to take a picture with his American flag on the stinking Great Wall of China. Hello, has he never heard of Communism? Seen the men with giant guns everywhere? Heard of Tiananmen Square and even more recent shootings at Mao's memorial? But he did it. I have pictures to prove it.

Back to the Future

The six weeks I spent in China were so enlightening and strange. It was my first experience being away from church for any length of time (and only experience ever, even since then). I roomed with a blonde Jewish girl, and we had the best conversations about Judaism and Christianity and everything else in life. She became a very sweet friend throughout college, and she actually lives in China now doing business. During the time we were there, Danny and I got much closer, between hitting the Chinese karaoke bars, trying to order food at the Red Lantern restaurant, and yelling at taxi drivers as we traveled all over Beijing (including the sixteen trips to the garment district as they made my qipao dress).

I could go on and on with China stories, but I am sure if anyone reads this, they probably would be less than interesting! Sweet memories, though. I sometimes have a hard time believing I am the same person who bartered at Beijing markets, or saw the tsunami memorial in Thailand, or even discoursed with Arabs in the streets of Brazil, even though that's been only a few months. I feel like a different person in my life here, a much more boring person! I guess the travel bug is deeply embedded in me and is not easily forgotten.