More Catch-Up...

Because it's been, oh, more than 2 weeks since I posted anything, I thought I'd check in now. (Holiday seasons are the worst for blogging, as evidenced by the fact that most of my friends and family have added maybe one or two entries to their own blogs since sometime shortly before Thanksgiving.)

So, Jason is done with BH now, and thank heavens for that! This time around wasn't QUITE as bad, admittedly, thanks to my folks' willingness to stay over with the kids while I went up for a night the second week, and thanks to Jason's willingness to take on his whole crazy family in his hotel room during the 3rd week. My private trip up was nice and relaxing, and we went to The Stinking Rose on La Cienega (Ed Debevic's is closed, for those of you who were wondering why we didn't go there, and Spago is still way beyond our price range, for those wondering why such a foodie hasn't been THERE) and is was good times...more garlic in each entree (and appetizer and DRINK and DESSERT) in that restaurant than you can imagine! Seriously. We started with some garlic rolls topped by roasted garlic with garlic oil for dipping and fresh chopped garlic-and-parsley for spreading on top. Oh yeah, baby. He had lamb and I had rabbit (which is basically tough, greasy chicken...don't bother!) and both dishes were marinated in garlic with garlic-added sauces to accompany them, both coming with garlic mashed potatoes. Jason ordered a whole roasted garlic bulb, too, and we ate the cloves with a cute little fork by themselves. Oh, and we had gingerale, which actually burned my tongue...because, Jason realized, there was garlic in our drinks. I'm not kidding. At all. We opted to skip garlic ice cream for dessert and instead had a room service chocolate mousse thing back at the hotel...you can imagine our motivation for doing that. I kid you not, though, when I got home in the morning, the first thing my mom said (not knowing where we'd eaten) was "Boy, did you have garlic? You stink!" And I did. For a couple days. In fact, I was reliving that meal for a few days, smell-wise, in every sense.

Last week I took the kids up there for a night with Daddy, and they were SOOOOOO excited! In the lobby of the Hilton they have a display of a gingerbread city complete with HO train zooming through, and the kids went nuts, of course...and were made equally nutty by the giant Christmas trees and massive wrapped "presents" in the lobby. Oh, and the fish tank by the elevators. That was the proverbial icing. As I was attempting to check in and retrieve a key, Tyler spotted and zoomed to the fish tank, followed closely by Mikayla whose shriek of "FEESH! FEESH!!! FEEEEEESSSHHHH!!!!!!!!" echoed loudly off the marble floors and walls. I was relieved to note that the Hilton staff appeared delighted instead of irritated, and the bellman promised to keep an eye on the kids (who were directly behind me about 50 feet) while I got my room key. They loved the room, the balcony, jumping and rolling around and somersaulting on the bed, watching the TEN DOLLAR movie I ordered (Wall-E...SOOOOO CUTE!) and just generally exploring the room. We took them to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (and they did REMARKABLY well!), drove by the LA Temple to check out the lights, went back to the hotel and got them showered (YES, SHOWERED!) and ready for bed...when a party started in one of the ballrooms downstairs from us. UGH. I called down to the front desk and they told us the THUMP-THUMP-THUMPING of the music would continue until around 11, so Jason asked for a room change...and got one when the bellman showed up 10 minutes later with our new room key and to take our bags for us. (Nice to have Jason as a diamond member with Hilton!) They stuck us in a junior suite on the 6th floor which REALLY worked to our advantage...it had a couch with a pull-out queen-sized bed, just enough room for the kids, their stuffed animals, and the king-sized pillows we needed to line the bed edges so they wouldn't tumble off! They were out in MINUTES. The next morning we went down to the hotel restaurant for Jason's complimentary breakfast (he had an extra one for me and there was no charge for the munchkins), ate our fill, and he headed to work while we headed home to receive Bella. Non-stop action for the kids that day!

Last Friday was Jason's family work party at PwC, and so we took the kids to his office for a "Let's go see where Daddy works" afternoon and to see the special guest...SANTA! In fact, it was one of those things you have to RSVP for because Santa provides an age-and-sex-specific gift for EACH child. They had a big munchie spread, face painting and ornament-decorating, but the big draw was Santa. And can I just say, watching kids with Santa is THE BEST! Some are delighted, some are suspicious, and some - like Jason's coworker's daughter - suffer from abject TERROR at the idea of being seated on that fat, white-haired-and-bearded old man's lap. Poor girl was horrified having to be anywhere near him the whole time, and when they lifted her to sit her on Santa's lap (she's 3) she nearly had a stroke. People had to cover their ears for the screaming. Literally. Whoa. Now there's a kid who doesn't want to see Santa. (I have to admit, though, it was pretty dang cute, and I hope they got a really good photo!) I'm pleased to report that Tyler and Mikayla did GREAT, (Mikayla was mildly hesitant at first, but Tyler was a great comfort, relaxed as he was) and Tyler was DELIGHTED by his Transformer while Mikayla is STILL thrilled with her magnetic puzzle-like fishing game. Life is good.

Oh, and speaking of screaming kids, I can hear my kids attempting to out-scream each other in their room. Excuse me.

Another entry later!