It's been a long time...

since I posted. I'm back at work after a summer off- it was fantastic to have almost 3 whole months, almost work free.
We got back from Tunisia in mid July and then took a road trip to California. We stopped in Albuquerque both going and coming to see my friend Liz- first time in 7 years. Because we don't get up early in the morning, we end up driving late into the night. Dallas to Albu. is about 9 or 10 hours, made longer if your two year old is crying and fussing and you have to change his diaper more than once on the hood of the car. Then the next day we got another late start for the longest leg- about 12 hours. We added 5 hours by taking a look at the Grand Canyon ($25 for a 7 day pass, even if you are only going in for 2 hours). I'd never seen it- spectacular, but nerveracking with active 2 and 4 year olds who have been cooped up in the car. Luckily they slept most of the long drive to my parents- we arrived at 5:00 am Pacific time. We stopped for McDonalds which Leila thinks is such a treat. Our best investment for this trip was a portable DVD player which kept the kiddos well entertained. The first day they kept fighting because Ali would block Leila's view with his foot. The next day H. propped it up on some boxes, and for the way home he worked out a wire contraption to hang it between the two headrests. Ali very imperiously demanded "Put show on."
Leila got to go to the San Diego Zoo and Sea Word with Grandma and Grandpa and my Aunt Dot, visiting from Canada, and her cousins. Kath and I got to go to the movies- "Becoming Jane" and then the she, Scott, H, Ali and I spent a day at the Getty Center immersed in Art, great architecture, flowers, and views. High culture and very comfortable- free strollers, handy umbrellas, and lots of comfortable seating.
On the trip back we did a detour through Sedona, but got there just around sunset and in a hurry so didn't enjoy it much. We arrived at Liz and Juan's in the wee hours, spent the next day hanging out at the Children's museum (very nice) and then took off early evening to get back around 5 am again, the children sleeping most of the way.
Last week was taken up trying to get the kids room put together. Buying mattresses for the low bunk bed that a friend gave us has been a complicated procedure but I think we're finally going to go with the IKEA ones I got yesterday. I can't deal with it all anymore.
I'll post some stuff about Tunisia later.