Living in America....... summer 2010!

[redflipflops]

So.... new thread.... please join me

introductions:

redflipflops - California (central Coast)

Good news climber and midtown. We are supposed to go camping for the weekend with some friends but I think we're wussing out of Friday night as it will be below freezing at the lake! I think we'll meet up early for a cookout breakfast on Saturday and just stay one night instead!

Monkeytoo I know what you mean! MIL is coming for a visit next week so I am scrambling to tidy up so we have a place to put her and so it is clean enough that we can lounge around and chat without anxiety. Last time she came around was right after DD was born and I remember sitting in the lounge with her, chatting, and during the course of conversation my eyes drifted around the room to see a piece of toast, on the floor, god knows how long. V embarassing. And of course I wasn't going to point any fingers at her darling son

We're thinking we might try to see one of the fireworks shows in either Bellvue or Kirkland. Haven't been to either before, so I guess we will choose one, and see how it goes. DD has never been to a fireworks show before.

I've never been big on the 4th until I lived in London. Living overseas made me more American, iykwim. I never celebrated the Fourth much, but once I was in London all I wanted to do was eat hot dogs and burn shit

I have also heard from another mom that meetup.com is good. I found a toddler group on there, but they require you attend at least one event within two months of joining, and I can't make that promise right now

I'm hoping to make cinnamon buns this weekend and try out a version with nutella instead of cinnmon filling. Love em, but buns are labor intensive, so only get made on long weekends.

mmm cinnamon buns - I've just got the Trader Joes frozen pains au chocolat out for tomorrow. They're fab - the double in size overnight and you just sling them in the over for 20 minutes in the morning.

DS has had a great day at the beach with his babysitter and DH arrives back later - I have only seen him for about 12 hours in the last 3 weeks so I can't wait.

Camping sounds good, if a little chilly

where are you that's too cold? tis far too hot here! i plan to spend as much time by the pool as poss this weekend, with factor 60, sun hats etc all over us.

sadly, dd think that cos we go to the pool, i want to go in the pool with her... no dear, that's what the other children are there for.

Pool sounds good too. I will have to look into the open air pools in the city - DS has been with his babysitter but we've never managed to get round to going. It's supposed to be up to 100 on Sunday.

yes, over 90 here. i belong to a really nice gym. it costs a lot ($160 pcm - eek), but dd has swim class there & when she's in school i go at least 3 times a week, during the hols there's a creche that she can go to for up to 2 hours each day and indoor & outdoor water'parks' i.e. 2 or 3 interlinked pools, with a couple of slides. we easliy spend 4 hours there in a day.

believe me, we get our money's worth out of it.

i am one of those 'horrible' parents that gets a sun lounger, takes out my book & tells her to 'go play'. ok, so after a half hour i might condescend to spend some time with her.

kickass you sound like a parent after my own heart. We regularly lose DS when he's rock climbing in Central Park.

And your gym/swim fee sounds good value.

How old is DD?

she's 6, and an only child. just about good enough at swimming that i can let her 'go play' in the 'splash pools' by herself whilst i wear shades & swimsuit at the side (not such a pretty sight)

some parents don't even get out of clothes, but their kids are older. during the summer, there's weekly games etc by the poolside. i tried to get her involved, but after 15 mins she was back by my side! once she's 7 she can do rock climbing there, too. another opportunity for me to 'observe'

seriously, when you move away from family, they are with you 24/7 with NO break. i used to work, which was stressful, but i could go & visit family, let her run wild with the cousins whilst i chatted to my sister. one of the big issues of emigrating is being v insular as a family. i think it's done us good, but 12 weeks without a waking moment to myself does send me a little crazy.

I started to reply but the server shut down, and now I've had a second glass of wine so can't remember what I said. But I do know what you mean about lack of family. We've been itinerant for 20 years and both my sons were born overseas (in different countries). I sometimes envy my friends at home who still have their NCT group all these years later, as I don't have those networks to call on.

My parents are getting old and ill, and the travel insurance they have been quoted for them to visit costs more than the airfares. I've just had other family members visit, and it's been lovely to see ds enjoy spending time with them.

We didn't go camping tonight, thank goodness, as it was forecast 35F down here, never mind up at the lake at 5000ft! We're going first thing tomorrow though as it is meant to be warmer on Saturday night. I couldn't bear being in a tent, cold and not sleeping all night.

I envy my ante-natal group too midtowner as their first babies are all starting school in September and mine has to wait another year here for half-day kindergarten.

The being far away from friends and family is by far the worst thing. It is so lovely when they come and visit, but I always feel a tinge of guilt as it can't be more frequent.

One if the reasons we took this posting was to be (relatively) close to the UK. We tend to go to more "difficult" places but this time we wanted to be able to get back and forth easily, and have visitors. In some ways it's been harder to settle somewhere that's a bit like home, but not. And as I said earlier, ds has not enjoyed it, even though we thought it would be a good option for him.

But enough gloom, the sun is shining, the pains au chocolat are in the oven and dh got here safely last night

Enjoy your camping tadjenny - looking back through the thread we are from the same neck of the woods.

haha, jenny, you're a northerner, you shouldn't be frightened of a little cold. you should be striding around in a t-shirt & jeans, and saying 'tha's nesh' to anyone who complains.

however, having camped in those temps, i can confirm that it is VERY difficult to sleep when truly cold. i once, apparently, was mumbling 'it's fing cold, it's fing cold' over & over in my sort of semi-doze one time. woke up dh, who somehow managed to wrap his sleeping bag around us both. actually, joint sleeping bags are incredibly warm, and worth considering.

We did go camping on the Saturday - it was 29F at 4 in the morning and I spent most of the night nearly in tears as I couldn't sleep properly! At 6 I got up and went for a walk to warm up and got the car keys from my husband and went and sat with the engine running just to warm up! I've got to get a better sleeping bag!

Sat on the beach at the lake for an hour and promptly got sunburnt as it was around 80 by that stage - talk about difference between night and day! Regret the sunburn though, what a numpty! Missed the fireworks as dh was really ill and went to bed at 4 when we got home! Hope everyone else had a fantastic 4th July!

Hello everyone - hope you all had a good 4th July. We've just had a really fantastic week away in an RV (holidaying American style!) travelling up to San Francisco.

Welcome ClimberChick you might find some info at www.sbparent.com/ Lots of stuff for older babies/kids in Santa Barbara but I have found there aren't many baby groups (like in UK where you chat & drink coffee!).
Hope you're settling into life OK. We're about 40 minutes out from Santa Barbara and been here since Xmas.

redflipflops the RV sounds lots of fun. We want to do that at the end of our time here. We stayed in the city and spent most of yesterday and today at a sprinkler park so ds could cool off and have water fights. Almost 100 here and no sign of it cooling down anytime soon.

managed to lost this thread from my list, so am back and marking my place

hi red, yeah we've looked at that site, but it does seem they're not that big on procrastination out here. Also bad thread title, I can't come on here without having the song stuck in my head for hours . Yep, there it goes again.

I've found a couple of bf groups, but its difficult as they're on when I'm at work and I'm guessing DH wouldn't be welcome

The weather has finally got hot here - 95 today! However, being pregnant is very tiring in this heat. Has anyone been up to Snoqualmie Falls in Washington? We're thinking of going there next week for a few days.

Has anyone seen Dooney and kickass and all the oldies recently? Some people don't seem to have posted for ages.

Sorry kickass it was last Saturday that you posted! That's hardly an absence. I think I must have meant jabberwocky but your name sprung to mind.

Hi tadjennyp. I'm here, but have been super busy. I have relatives here right now, so I'll answer your question, and then leave until probably next week. I have been to Snoqualmie. It has been quite a few years back, though. I remember it as very pretty, but not much to do. I'm not that much of an outdoorsy type, though. Seattle really isn't that far away if you are like me and get bored. If you're into hiking and other stuff, it should be great. (although not sure how much you want to do if it is hot and you are pregnant) There's a picturesque town it is by, but I remember it being really small, and can't remember anything about it other than it was cute.

Sorry about being pregnant in the heat. We lived in southern Oregon both times I was pregnant, and it was over 100 about 1 out of every 3 days, and in the 90's the other 2 during summer, and I gave birth in late August both times. Being pregnant when it is this hot is miserable and exhausting.

Thanks dooneygirl. Thomas the Tank Engine is going to be at the Snoqualmie Railroad Museum next weekend so I think we're incorporating that as part of the trip. I do want at least a day in Seattle as it's somewhere I've always wanted to go (blame Frasier!)

Have fun with your relatives

that thomas gets everywhere - he regularly pops up at the henry ford park place near us.

is anyone else fed up with the summer break yet? it sounds awful, but dd wakes up v early, doesn't go to sleep til late, and i just want a break. i've invited people over on play dates, but they're either slow to reciprocate, or want me to socialise with dd. i just want a couple of hours alone, to tidy/garden/mn etc!!

next summer i will def go home and/or send dd to colorado (sil lives there) without me!!

I haven't booked Thomas yet - better get on with it! Watched the World Cup Final in a Portuguese cafe downtown and the atmosphere was great. Never thought I'd see that much interest in the US but Bend is a sporty kind of place. Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine!

I had my first child free day in almost three years today when I dropped both kids off at a daycare camp. It was bliss and going really well till the teacher rang to tell me ds had tripped over and gashed his head badly on a rock. Went to pick them up and dd was so cross that I had arrived she was being really quite mean. (She's only 4 1/2 and I'm hoping it's a phase). Had to take him to Immediate Care to have his gash glued together. Talk about stressful end to a lovely day! I had to retire to a bubble bath with Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo on a podcast to get rid of my headache. Hope everyone else is having a lovely summer

tad - lol at your first childfree day ending in drama typical hey! Hope your DS is doing OK. Congrats on your pg (I think I read that on the other thread?). Your kids age gaps sound similar to mine.... prepare yourself for lots of noise and chaos!

My two oldest DC are also at summer camp this week. The house is amazingly tidy and it's SO quiet! I just have my gorgeous 1 yo who has nice long naps.... bliss

kickass I nearly went potty last week! Thank god for summer camp