Last night we arrived home from a movie with Jake and the Braves game was in the 9th inning. It was 3-2 Braves! I shouldn't have watched. It always happens when I watch. I went to bed in the 11th inning. Seeing them load the bases inning after inning was too much. This morning I looked at the scores and saw that Philly had come back and won. Shocker!
Just now I was watching ESPN. They've been discussing the collapse of the Red Sox and the Braves all day now.
Mark Bradley, a writer for the Atl Journal-Constitution was being interviewed and they asked about the feelings in Atlanta. He said that Red Sox fans were different from Braves fans. Most Braves fans are used to the collapse, it just happens in October, not September. So true Mark, so true.
I grew up with the Braves winning. I was 10 in 1991 when the Braves came from worst to first. I was up late on a school night when Sid Bream came barreling down the third base line. I can hear the call still in my head. The next however many years, it was a lot and now I can't remember, I was used to them making it to the post season. Sure, they'd eventually lose, but it was normal. Recently, over the past 5 or so years i've come to expect the worst.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Circle of Fire
I did not take this photo. It is circulating around because it pretty much sums up the weekend. There are fires sprouting up all over Austin. This one in the picture is Bastrop. It is about 15 miles east of Austin. This fire, I think is 16 miles long and 6 miles wide. It's crazy. I have lived here in central Texas since 1999 and have never dealt with this. My family has in Southern California though. Fortunately, the winds from Hurricane Lee have subsided and hopefully they can gain some ground on this fire that was moving at 3mph, I think.
We need rain. I don't remember the last time we had rain, a good rain. It's dry. It's a strange feeling to need something so badly and no one can do anything about it.
There are fires surrounding us. They aren't close, but we already have a plan. We know what we're doing, just in case. Of course, if that time were to ever come, who knows how we'd react. Hoping we don't have to make those decisions and no one is stupid enough to flick a cigarette butt out of their car window driving down our street. There are some stupid people in this world.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Name Change
For the last year, since we started the baby process, I have thought about my last name change. I always knew that I wanted the same last name as my children. I grew up like that and it's what I knew. Christian and I talked about it and she was ok with whatever I chose to do. She would be ok if I kept Robinson, changed to Gribble, or gave our baby Robinson. She wanted me to do what I wanted. So, after our cruise I started the process. I didn't want to start it before the cruise because changing passports, flight info, etc. would've been a huge hassle and possibly impossible before our sail date. So after the trip I began the process. I say that I began the process because it took me a month. Things don't move very quickly in my world. I forget, don't get around to it or just generally become too lazy to deal with it. Being that our little girl could show up any day I had a fire lit under me. So after printing forms, getting them notarized, getting fingerprints done at the Sheriff's Office and going to the courthouse, my name change was approved by the judge on Friday.
Christian and I went to the family law district court and sat there and watching divorce after divorce come and go. Most people were solemn about it. Some seemed relieved and one broke down sobbing after she walked out of the courtroom. Being a hormonal landmine it took a lot to not cry myself. Eventually, after 45 minutes the judge called my name. She asked me a few questions, that I can't recall right now because at the time I was terrified, and then asked if the new name was my partner's name and I said it was. She congratulated me, signed the petition and with a smile I was gone. I was a Gribble. Christian wanted to take a picture but got nervous. I wanted to leave before they convicted me of some murder. Hey, it happens on Dateline.
Our celebration consisted of breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. I had a mound of food. Potatoes, sausage, cheese and two over medium eggs. Nothing says congratulations like a mountain of food.
Breakfast of Gribbles
Now comes the dealing with credit cards, driver's license, SS cards, passport, etc. At least now when Baby Girl Gribble arrives her birth certificate will be correct. And now things feel connected.
We may not be able to get married thanks to the great people and voters of Texas (and the general US), but we know that we will never be the ones in the family law courthouse having a divorce granted to us. We don't need the government to define our family.
I will always be a Robinson, but the next chapter in the life of me has Gribble after it. Let the King of the Hill jokes and mockery begin.
Oh, and I don't claim all of the Gribbles. There are only a select few worthy of me.
Christian and I went to the family law district court and sat there and watching divorce after divorce come and go. Most people were solemn about it. Some seemed relieved and one broke down sobbing after she walked out of the courtroom. Being a hormonal landmine it took a lot to not cry myself. Eventually, after 45 minutes the judge called my name. She asked me a few questions, that I can't recall right now because at the time I was terrified, and then asked if the new name was my partner's name and I said it was. She congratulated me, signed the petition and with a smile I was gone. I was a Gribble. Christian wanted to take a picture but got nervous. I wanted to leave before they convicted me of some murder. Hey, it happens on Dateline.
Our celebration consisted of breakfast at Magnolia Cafe. I had a mound of food. Potatoes, sausage, cheese and two over medium eggs. Nothing says congratulations like a mountain of food.
Now comes the dealing with credit cards, driver's license, SS cards, passport, etc. At least now when Baby Girl Gribble arrives her birth certificate will be correct. And now things feel connected.
We may not be able to get married thanks to the great people and voters of Texas (and the general US), but we know that we will never be the ones in the family law courthouse having a divorce granted to us. We don't need the government to define our family.
I will always be a Robinson, but the next chapter in the life of me has Gribble after it. Let the King of the Hill jokes and mockery begin.
Oh, and I don't claim all of the Gribbles. There are only a select few worthy of me.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Roid Rage
So today I went to the store to help out for a bit and as I was leaving Christian was talking to the baby. She had her face down near my belly button and started to say goodbye. Well, she started with her name and in response, I smacked her upside the head. I don't hit people in the head. I hate being hit in the head, so even as a joke I try to stray from that. I don't know why I did it, but fortunately we laughed about it.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Princess Qualities
Since last Tuesday and the label of "high risk pregnancy" I have been very limited in what I do. This happened in week 11 also but didn't see to be as daunting for some reason. It lasted for about 4 weeks back then. I can say "back then" because it feels like forever ago. This is going to last another 11 weeks, hopefully.
I can't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. I can't strain or risk the placenta rupturing in any way. Yet, I can't be on bed rest either. There is a gray area I need to find, and find happily.
Today Christian and I went to Costco and the market. Grocery shopping is something I actually enjoy doing. I go when it's not busy and I don't want to kill everyone I come across. Going to the market on a Sunday at 5p is definitely not stress-free. Why do people just mosey about?! Come on...
Christian loaded, unloaded, carted, lifted and then came home and did more. She scooped the cat box (I can't afford to risk getting toxoplasmosis) and then scooped the back yard (I can't scoop unless I want to vomit every 3 seconds due to my sensitive gag reflex that has sprouted with the baby bump). She did all of this without complaining or moaning. She worked 6 days this week. Just like every week. And then she did my "job" too. I can't find the words to express to thank her. We've been through shoulder surgery, the subchoronic hemorrhage and now the placenta previa and then we'll have to wait until the c-section heals. I couldn't have done this with anyone else. She has made it acceptable to not water plants, scoop dog poop, unload groceries and generally take care of things I typically take care of.
Fortunately I can load the dishwasher and do the laundry. At least for now.
I can't lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. I can't strain or risk the placenta rupturing in any way. Yet, I can't be on bed rest either. There is a gray area I need to find, and find happily.
Today Christian and I went to Costco and the market. Grocery shopping is something I actually enjoy doing. I go when it's not busy and I don't want to kill everyone I come across. Going to the market on a Sunday at 5p is definitely not stress-free. Why do people just mosey about?! Come on...
Christian loaded, unloaded, carted, lifted and then came home and did more. She scooped the cat box (I can't afford to risk getting toxoplasmosis) and then scooped the back yard (I can't scoop unless I want to vomit every 3 seconds due to my sensitive gag reflex that has sprouted with the baby bump). She did all of this without complaining or moaning. She worked 6 days this week. Just like every week. And then she did my "job" too. I can't find the words to express to thank her. We've been through shoulder surgery, the subchoronic hemorrhage and now the placenta previa and then we'll have to wait until the c-section heals. I couldn't have done this with anyone else. She has made it acceptable to not water plants, scoop dog poop, unload groceries and generally take care of things I typically take care of.
Fortunately I can load the dishwasher and do the laundry. At least for now.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Oasis Pictures
Here is the link for the pictures from our trip. I narrowed it down to 100. You're welcome.
http://krob126.shutterfly.com/
http://krob126.shutterfly.com/
Monday, August 8, 2011
Oasis
First and foremost, it's a floating island. Cruise ships are big. They have always appeared HUGE to me. It's easy to get lost on board and it's not often you run into the same people. This ship lives in a completely different category than "cruise ship."
Can you guess which one is the Oasis?
We flew to Fort Lauderdale on Friday morning and checked into our hotel and ran down to the beach for a bit. After not being on the beach in awhile it was nice to feel the salty air coat your skin as soon as you walked outside. Jake did some shell searching and then we went upstairs to get ready to drop him with his grown up friends. Christian and I went to the 15th Street Fisheries (I think) and had a decent fried dinner on the intercoastal waterway. We had a few hours to kill after dinner before Jake was due back to the hotel so we grabbed a cab to the Hard Rock Casino. We really can't pass up an opportunity to hit the casino. Turns out they don't have craps in Florida. It's illegal to have dice games in the state. So we won some money on the slots and cabbed it back to the hotel. It was difficult to sleep with all of the excitement of the next day.
Saturday we ate some breakfast, played on the beach and headed to the cruise terminal. One of the greatest parts of cruising is pulling into that terminal and seeing your home for the following days. Security, check-in and pictures followed and then we boarded. The ship was amazing from the first step. We boarded into the promenade. It had stores and cafes. Our cabin was relatively close to the center of the ship and it was relatively easy to find it. We checked out the cabin and then went exploring. The ship was 17 stories! On level 8 there was Central Park. It was an open air deck with living plants and balconies for the cabins on the floors above. There was a diving pool for shows and activities on the aft of the ship. There was a "boardwalk" near the diving pool that was also an open air deck. It is where the carousel lived along with the donut shop, ice cream parlor, Johnny Rockets and Seafood Shack.
On the Boardwalk looking off the back of the ship.
There is almost too much to mention really. I'll try.
Sunday we woke up in Nassau, Bahamas. Today was a planned beach excursion to Blackbeard's Cay. It was also the beginning of waiting around and standing in lines. After a 30 minute boat ride in the scorching sun we arrived. The beach was nice and the water was refreshing. We spent a few hours there and headed back to our ship.
Upon arriving at the ship we had received a notice that there was a tropical depression forming south of us and headed directly towards our future ports so we would be rerouted to Costa Maya & Cozumel Mexico. I was BUMMED! I've been to Mexico. I've been to Cozumel 5 times. I specifically picked this cruise to get to St. Thomas and St. Maarten! After a shower and realizing the cruise would still be ok I moved on. We would spent the next two days at sea and then arrived in Costa Maya, Mexico. I had never been to Costa Maya and will never go back. There was one beach excursion. The beach was 40 minutes by bus and was covered in seaweed and the water wasn't very pretty. It wasn't Texas Coast ugly, but it wasn't St. Thomas! Jake found a friend and they ended up looking for fish together. His name was Carlos and he was from Columbia. He was on the cruise with his mother and sister. We spoke with his mom for awhile and she was very nice. She said that Carlos was bored too without anyone to play with on the ship. We talked about getting the boys together but it never worked out. We saw them one more time and that was it.
Port in Costa Maya, Mexico
Cozumel was the following day. We had picked a dolphin excursion. We figured Jake would really enjoy it because he loves animals so much. I couldn't participate due to my pregnancy but I had met a dolphin before so I was ok with it. We left the ship at 11a and Christian and Jake finally got into the water with the dolphin at 1:15p! Lots of standing around in the beating sun and listening to the same things over and over again. People were getting worked up. We were matched with a group of 10 people and they ended up being the most selfish people ever. Jake was the ONLY child and all of the grown ups had to do the dolphin experience first. Even when Christian spoke up and said that Jake hadn't done anything they were jumping in line and essentially didn't care. Eventually he was pushed, pulled and kissed by the dolphin. Christian ended up feeling badly for the dolphin so she just hung with Jake and didn't have the dolphin push or pull her. I'm torn on how I felt. I do think that the dolphin experience I did in the Bahamas a few years ago seemed like they cared more for the dolphins than this place. This place felt like a factory. But Jake really enjoyed it and it's not often you get to play with a dolphin.
Most days we swam a little bit but Jake didn't like how crowded the 3 pools were. He said he didn't have enough room to do anything. Plus, later in the day when the pool was relatively empty he said it tasted like sweaty people. Ewww. He never rock climbed or did the zip line. He had gotten the courage up to do the zip line but by the time we arrived it was closed. I think he was relieved. We spent lots of time in the arcade with him spending money on over priced video games. But he enjoyed it. When he wanted to rest and hang in the cabin Christian and I would sneak away to the casino. We spent A LOT of time in the casino. We had good days and bad days. Our best day we, cumulatively, walked away with $1200 from the craps table. Having gone down with only $200 we did pretty well! The next few days didn't go as well, but it was still fun. One time I rolled for almost 30 minutes. Everyone at the table was yelling and screaming. It was really really exciting. I had a few onlookers and players congratulate me later. The next day Christian had the same experience! Anyone that played craps on that ship knew us. The staff knew what we wanted to drink and how we liked to play the table. We have both admitted to having a problem. :) One day we got postcards for Jake's grandmother. She loves cruising and had requested he send her postcards. We gave him one to fill out while we went to the casino. It was day three so he had already done lots of fun stuff but he wrote to her that all we had been doing was leaving him in the cabin while we went to gamble. We got a pretty big laugh out of that. We then wrote another post card from our perspective to her.
Had to take a picture of our winnings! We were so excited. That's a $500 chip
The last day Jake was having some stomach issues. I had ran out of Pepto Bismol pills, as Christian had had some issues also earlier in the trip, so Jake went down to the medical cabin. He was quarantined because of his "stomach flu." We contribute it to his eating Frosted Flakes, pizza and drinking sprite all week. So we were able to rent movies from our cabin and the mini bar was free for the last 24 hours! Jake ordered four movies and we ate the mini Snickers from the mini bar. Had to make full use of his "sickness." He was feeling fine after the Imodium they gave him.
Magnificent cloud formation on our last night.
Our flight on Saturday out of Fort Lauderdale wasn't until 3:46p so we had about 5 hours to kill. We ended up renting a car and going to get some breakfast and then found the Museum of Science. We spent an hour there and it was a nice way to end our vacation before heading back to Austin. I do have to say that by the last day of our vacation we were about ready to kill each other. It was hot, we had lots of bags and Jake was complaining about his very light backpack. Pulling into the driveway was a nice sight. Although I miss the craps table and the environment of the cruise. I love cruising and am so excited that Jake and Christian had a great time on their first cruise adventure. I won't ever be able to go on a smaller ship though. I'm now spoiled. It's bad.
I am editing more pictures right now and will post the album when they are all ready for viewing. This is just a little something to keep you all occupied. :)
We flew to Fort Lauderdale on Friday morning and checked into our hotel and ran down to the beach for a bit. After not being on the beach in awhile it was nice to feel the salty air coat your skin as soon as you walked outside. Jake did some shell searching and then we went upstairs to get ready to drop him with his grown up friends. Christian and I went to the 15th Street Fisheries (I think) and had a decent fried dinner on the intercoastal waterway. We had a few hours to kill after dinner before Jake was due back to the hotel so we grabbed a cab to the Hard Rock Casino. We really can't pass up an opportunity to hit the casino. Turns out they don't have craps in Florida. It's illegal to have dice games in the state. So we won some money on the slots and cabbed it back to the hotel. It was difficult to sleep with all of the excitement of the next day.
Saturday we ate some breakfast, played on the beach and headed to the cruise terminal. One of the greatest parts of cruising is pulling into that terminal and seeing your home for the following days. Security, check-in and pictures followed and then we boarded. The ship was amazing from the first step. We boarded into the promenade. It had stores and cafes. Our cabin was relatively close to the center of the ship and it was relatively easy to find it. We checked out the cabin and then went exploring. The ship was 17 stories! On level 8 there was Central Park. It was an open air deck with living plants and balconies for the cabins on the floors above. There was a diving pool for shows and activities on the aft of the ship. There was a "boardwalk" near the diving pool that was also an open air deck. It is where the carousel lived along with the donut shop, ice cream parlor, Johnny Rockets and Seafood Shack.
There is almost too much to mention really. I'll try.
Sunday we woke up in Nassau, Bahamas. Today was a planned beach excursion to Blackbeard's Cay. It was also the beginning of waiting around and standing in lines. After a 30 minute boat ride in the scorching sun we arrived. The beach was nice and the water was refreshing. We spent a few hours there and headed back to our ship.
Upon arriving at the ship we had received a notice that there was a tropical depression forming south of us and headed directly towards our future ports so we would be rerouted to Costa Maya & Cozumel Mexico. I was BUMMED! I've been to Mexico. I've been to Cozumel 5 times. I specifically picked this cruise to get to St. Thomas and St. Maarten! After a shower and realizing the cruise would still be ok I moved on. We would spent the next two days at sea and then arrived in Costa Maya, Mexico. I had never been to Costa Maya and will never go back. There was one beach excursion. The beach was 40 minutes by bus and was covered in seaweed and the water wasn't very pretty. It wasn't Texas Coast ugly, but it wasn't St. Thomas! Jake found a friend and they ended up looking for fish together. His name was Carlos and he was from Columbia. He was on the cruise with his mother and sister. We spoke with his mom for awhile and she was very nice. She said that Carlos was bored too without anyone to play with on the ship. We talked about getting the boys together but it never worked out. We saw them one more time and that was it.
Cozumel was the following day. We had picked a dolphin excursion. We figured Jake would really enjoy it because he loves animals so much. I couldn't participate due to my pregnancy but I had met a dolphin before so I was ok with it. We left the ship at 11a and Christian and Jake finally got into the water with the dolphin at 1:15p! Lots of standing around in the beating sun and listening to the same things over and over again. People were getting worked up. We were matched with a group of 10 people and they ended up being the most selfish people ever. Jake was the ONLY child and all of the grown ups had to do the dolphin experience first. Even when Christian spoke up and said that Jake hadn't done anything they were jumping in line and essentially didn't care. Eventually he was pushed, pulled and kissed by the dolphin. Christian ended up feeling badly for the dolphin so she just hung with Jake and didn't have the dolphin push or pull her. I'm torn on how I felt. I do think that the dolphin experience I did in the Bahamas a few years ago seemed like they cared more for the dolphins than this place. This place felt like a factory. But Jake really enjoyed it and it's not often you get to play with a dolphin.
Most days we swam a little bit but Jake didn't like how crowded the 3 pools were. He said he didn't have enough room to do anything. Plus, later in the day when the pool was relatively empty he said it tasted like sweaty people. Ewww. He never rock climbed or did the zip line. He had gotten the courage up to do the zip line but by the time we arrived it was closed. I think he was relieved. We spent lots of time in the arcade with him spending money on over priced video games. But he enjoyed it. When he wanted to rest and hang in the cabin Christian and I would sneak away to the casino. We spent A LOT of time in the casino. We had good days and bad days. Our best day we, cumulatively, walked away with $1200 from the craps table. Having gone down with only $200 we did pretty well! The next few days didn't go as well, but it was still fun. One time I rolled for almost 30 minutes. Everyone at the table was yelling and screaming. It was really really exciting. I had a few onlookers and players congratulate me later. The next day Christian had the same experience! Anyone that played craps on that ship knew us. The staff knew what we wanted to drink and how we liked to play the table. We have both admitted to having a problem. :) One day we got postcards for Jake's grandmother. She loves cruising and had requested he send her postcards. We gave him one to fill out while we went to the casino. It was day three so he had already done lots of fun stuff but he wrote to her that all we had been doing was leaving him in the cabin while we went to gamble. We got a pretty big laugh out of that. We then wrote another post card from our perspective to her.
The last day Jake was having some stomach issues. I had ran out of Pepto Bismol pills, as Christian had had some issues also earlier in the trip, so Jake went down to the medical cabin. He was quarantined because of his "stomach flu." We contribute it to his eating Frosted Flakes, pizza and drinking sprite all week. So we were able to rent movies from our cabin and the mini bar was free for the last 24 hours! Jake ordered four movies and we ate the mini Snickers from the mini bar. Had to make full use of his "sickness." He was feeling fine after the Imodium they gave him.
Our flight on Saturday out of Fort Lauderdale wasn't until 3:46p so we had about 5 hours to kill. We ended up renting a car and going to get some breakfast and then found the Museum of Science. We spent an hour there and it was a nice way to end our vacation before heading back to Austin. I do have to say that by the last day of our vacation we were about ready to kill each other. It was hot, we had lots of bags and Jake was complaining about his very light backpack. Pulling into the driveway was a nice sight. Although I miss the craps table and the environment of the cruise. I love cruising and am so excited that Jake and Christian had a great time on their first cruise adventure. I won't ever be able to go on a smaller ship though. I'm now spoiled. It's bad.
I am editing more pictures right now and will post the album when they are all ready for viewing. This is just a little something to keep you all occupied. :)
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