Doughnut Quest, Part 3

On the way to SouthEast Linux Fest, we stopped at Tasty Bakery in Graham, NC. As a bonus, since today is National Doughnut Day (hurrah!), doughnuts were only 90¢. We had a cream-filled chocolate-frosted doughnut. I could taste the oil in which the doughnut was cooked, which isn't my favorite flavor because too much fat doesn't sit well with me. It was a reasonably tasty doughnut, essentially the same as Tasty Bakery at home, but not up to the level of Stimmel's so the quest continues.

Vacation

Day 1 (December 3)

Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was early enough that I initially set my alarm for 4:30 am. However, I didn't fall asleep as early as I wanted, so I changed it to 4:45 am. Despite those sleepy intentions, I was wide awake at 2:30 am, so I got out of bed at 4 am, knowing it would be a long day.

Day 3 (December 5)

We went to Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park at lunchtime. I went to the concession stand and asked for the cuban mix without cheese or mayo. I was told that special requests would not be honored, and if I had food allergies, I should just get the turkey sandwich. I don't want a turkey sandwich! I want ham and pulled pork and pickles, the yummy parts of a cuban mix! I really didn't like the dismissive tone of "just get a turkey sandwich," so I biked to the closest deli instead. For 75¢ more, I got a cuban mix with chips and a drink! I apologized for my food allergies, and was told, "Hon, if you're going to eat it, you should have it exactly the way you want it!" Wow, what a change from my previous ordering attempt! I am so glad I went to the Courthouse Deli instead! That one nice comment made me Very Glad I went there; I had pedaled over there because I was annoyed, but those kind words made me happy I had picked that deli.

Day 6 (December 8)

The best part of today is that I had a really good nap! This is somewhat amazing since fire alarm testing was in progress. The alarms weren't long, so I just went back to sleep every time.

Travel Warrior Chunk Chicken Noodles

Here's another dinner that's simple to fix on the road (with a kitchen). After I stop at a store to pick up chicken breasts (one of the few foods Karston will eat) and a small bag of mixed frozen vegetables (or fresh, depending on the season), I can make this comfort food. Cale will often eat a lot of green beans, so between Cale and this soup, we can finish a bag of frozen green beans in a few days.

1 pkg creamy chicken ramen noodles

1 to 2 cup mixed vegetables (corn, bell peppers, green beans, or whatever you like; fresh or frozen), diced

1/2 to 1 cup chicken, diced

I started from this Ramen Fried "Rice" recipe, so once again, you can tell I can't follow a recipe.

On the same theme of ramen noodles as the basis of a quick and simple meal, how about beef-broccoli (maximum 1/2 lb steak maybe restaurant leftover and pick up a head of broccoli), hot and sour soup (add julienned squash, green onions, and bamboo shoots if available), tuna casserole (add parsley if available), spinach-chicken casserole (use 1 pkg ramen and twice as much spinach by weight as chicken), or yatsobi (with half or less of the meat, and probably double the veggies).

Travel Warrior Oriental Beef and Noodles Dinner

Here's another dinner, Oriental Beef and Noodles, that's simple to pack for my family, but with fewer leftovers (sometimes none) than the spaghetti.

1 package ramen noodles, oriental flavor

1/2 pound ground beef (maybe leftover from spaghetti)

1 15 oz can diced tomatoes

1 small package frozen corn (freezer pack for the cooler, then use immediately)

Surprisingly yummy!

Travel Warrior Spaghetti Dinner

When we travel as a family, it's often nice to have a destination-cooked meal (since it's not home-cooked at home) without having to stop at a grocery store for supplies. We almost always stay somewhere with a small kitchen (kids need juice that needs a refrigerator), including pots, a can opener, and a stove. One of the easiest is spaghetti, except that I dislike commercially jarred spaghetti sauce for having too much sugar.

For the sauce, combine and heat:

1 29 oz can of crushed tomatoes

1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions

1 4 oz can of diced mushrooms, drained and rinsed

When we have the space, I add dried oregano, garlic powder, and a few shakes of habañero sauce. If we stop at a store, we add 1/2 pound ground beef (or a leftover hamburger from a restaurant).

Boil spaghetti according to the package directions.

Voilà, one spaghetti dinner! Since I pack the entire 1-pound package of spaghetti, we usually get four meals out of this. For us, this is better when we're traveling with another family so the leftovers aren't so oppressive.

Craftitunity

On The Simpsons, Homer uses the neologism crisitunity. I spent so much prep time gathering kid-friendly crafts for our trip to Atlantic Beach that I see craftitunity at every turn. The kids got "leaf buddies" last week, just colorful maple leaves with happy faces drawn on. Cale carried his around (for a couple days), and needed me to repair the stem with a little tape. The rest of that day was all Mommy fix my leaf buddy. With tape! I think the tape was very exciting.

In Search Of ...

It's the solstice, we're in Key West, and it's raining. *sigh* I have been searching for the perfect Cuban sandwich now that Chicharrones has closed, without much luck.

UPDATE 6/26/2010: although I didn't try this one until we were packed up, leaving Key West, and grabbing food for the road, and despite me not asking to have our sandwich made without mayo (ick, and not Cuban either), I have found the (otherwise) perfect Cuban sandwich at the Cuban Coffee Queen! So it's fresh fish from Eaton Street Seafood Market, and Cuban sandwiches from the Cuban Coffee Queen as our two best new discoveries on this trip to Key West.

Travel Toys

I just printed one of the cars at PaperToys.com to try my hand at the assembly. If it's not too bad, I think this is probably a great way to bring toy cars on a trip! (Like we're about to take, so we're packing toys that are fun, but not so precious that there will be tears if any one is left behind.) Just think about, first a kid colors the car, then (older kids than mine, or parent) cuts it out and assembles, and then plays with the car! I'm glad you can find anything on the web nowadays.

The Zoo

We went to the North Carolina Zoo today. What I learned at the zoo today: I'm glad we got the double stroller instead of the double Radio Flyer wagon (facing seats, more kid juice and snack holders, nifty accessories) because our double stroller has BRAKES. All of a sudden, there's no question which one is better because we use the brakes ALL the time.

I packed just right. We went in the zoo with two kids in the double stroller, camera, small insulated bag with two juice sippies and snack crackers, small diaper change kit (but next time, have more than one wipe!), one bottle of sunscreen, and a water bottle filled with extra ice. We left more snacks, juice, diapers, and toys in the car. A pair of binoculars would have been nice, though!

Since I'm fair-skinned, you can tell where I used SPF 30 by the touch of color, where I used SPF 15 by the pink, and where I needed to re-apply (or apply any) sunscreen by the red color. Yeah, that's what happens when I'm outside, even in partial shade, from 10 AM to 5 PM.

We went to Animal Kingdom at Walt Disney World about two and a half years ago, and I have to say, the NC Zoo compares very favorably. It's not quite the same, but the production value of both is so high ... if you're there to see animals, not the rides, I'd say go to this zoo. It's that good. (Nothing beats a good day at the Magic Kingdom or at EPCOT, though,)

We walked everywhere (tired feet!), we all had a great time. The kids liked the play areas best, no surprise. Karston said he liked the zebra best of the animals, possibly because we saw it last. Soft serve ice cream after lunch was a terrific cool-down. I think we need to go back to the zoo! Fun day!

One Hit Wonder

This was actually faster to make than I thought! I made a minimalist diaper bag that we call the One Hit Wonder. It holds one diaper and one travel-size package of wipes; no more. It zips, and has an attachment loop. We grab it when we go to the store; we don't expect to need a diaper, but if we do, the One Hit Wonder has enough (one) to get home again without screams for a diaper changing.

The cotton quilting print I used had brightly-colored fish swimming on it. I didn't want the fish to be upside-down on one side of the bag, so I cut two pieces of fabric 5" x 9" for the side panels. (Karston still wears size 3 diapers and still weighs just above 18 pounds. You might need a larger size for a larger child.) I ironed interfacing on the back before cutting to give the bag some shape, to keep it from being floppy. It's often easier to work with interfaced fabric because it doesn't stretch while you're stitching.

For the zipper, I cut two 1.5" strips about 30" long, no interfacing. Using a very long, very loose stitches for machine basting, I sewed down the middle of the two long strips with right sides together. Next I ironed the strip so that only the right side of the fabric was showing, folding at the stitching. From my zipper spool, I cut off about 18" (for 15" of zipper use). I stitched the sides of the zipper face down onto the long strip, and then removed the machine basting stitches. Voila, perfect zipper casing! Next I sewed back and forth to bar-tack both ends of the zipper. Finally I stitched the long loose ends together where I had removed the basting but had no zipper, and bar tacked farther down the zipper for the little discrepancy area where I couldn't replace the basting but didn't need an opening for the zipper.

I carefully pinned the zipper track to one bag panel (wrong sides out, right sides facing), and stitched it so that one long side zipped open with equal amounts of zipper on the two short sides. Then I stitched the other panel to the other side of the zipper track to make a short rectangle.

And that's my One Hit Wonder, a single-use diaper bag for those short trips from home!

Then a few days later, I took some skinny fabric left over from cutting the zipper track, made a loop, and stitched (bar tacked) both sides of the loop down near the zipper slide (when closed). The attachment point is a lot like a belt loop (also called a carrier). Now when we're clipping toys to the car seat or the shopping cart cover, we can also clip the One Hit Wonder on the menagerie.

Morning Orange

The Madison Concourse Hotel has orange-scented and -colored soap and shampoo. I've decided that waking up to orange scent works for me. It's like having orange juice, without the acid that doesn't sit well on my stomach first thing. Of course, since this is Wisconsin, Kurtis peeled the soap and exclaimed, This is cheese soap!

Mmm, Salty Water

Ever since the Worldwide Spectrum Users Group Conference in charming Portsmouth, NH (fall 2003), I've been a water drinker. So I'm drinking water now at the Joint Techs conference in Madison, WI. Right on the bottle, it says "Source: Salineville, OH" -- mmm, salty water! It's regular bottled water (probably including that it's municipal water like most bottled water), but Salineville just doesn't sound like the place for your bottled water unless you like it salty.

What A Trip 2

Kurtis called both American and United when we woke up this morning, but no answer.

After breakfast, he called American, but no one there could locate our bags. So he called United (since they have a computerized system with barcode scanners), even though our bags were supposed to be handled by American since we flew them for the last leg. United said our bags were at the Madison airport, but no one there could reach American to have them to deliver our bags.

Kurtis, being wonderful, packed Karston in the car, went to the airport, and picked up our luggage! I'm glad I walked back to the hotel at lunch time for good news! I've never been so glad to see clean underwear before. So it all ended well, and we never crossed from delayed bags to lost bags, but only because Kurtis worked so hard. Whew!

What A Trip!

Oh my, what a trip!

First we got off the park-and-ride bus at the terminal. A couple steps later, I noticed we didn't have the car seat, and the bus had already left. Since we didn't have "spare" time, I went to check-in while Kurtis followed the information desk directions (ask the next park-and-ride bus radio ahead) to get the car seat. While standing in the motionless United check-in line, one clerk pulled everyone on our flight out for expedited check-in. I had to shuttle all of our bags to the desk while holding Karston, who had gotten tired of his stroller. As a result, my check-in conversation was short. Last name? Number of seats? Number of checked bags? ID? OK, here are your boarding passes.

Since I hadn't seen Kurtis, I went back to the information desk where we had first stopped, to let that clerk know to send Kurtis to meet me outside Security.

And Security is where he was waiting for me. I gave him his id and rushed through, but he got hit with 3 strikes. First time through, whoops, wallet and change in pocket. Whoops, cell phone in pocket. Whoops, metal belt buckle. Three strikes, so he's pulled aside for wanding. I'm holding Karston while trying to catch all of our stuff, I have all boarding passes, and we get paged on the intercom. Argh! I leaned over with his boarding pass, and he said he'd get the car seat. I threw all of the loose stuff in the stroller pocket, threw my carry-on in the stroller, and headed to the gate. I couldn't run with Karston (too much jolting for him), so Kurtis passed me. We did make our flight, just barely.

I was told to find any open seat, and took the first one I found: next-to-the-last row, next to a heavily tattooed man (I liked the PacMan, power pellet, and ghosts tattoos on his fingers); Kurtis sat right behind us. Karston was pretty good for this flight, once I took away the safety brochure because he was waving it wildly and was trying to whap the napping guy next to me. Takeoff nursing. Play through naptime despite more nursing. Nurse for descent, and THEN he feel asleep! He actually slept through landing, and the next half an hour on the O'Hare tarmack waiting for an open gate to disembark. So although we landed early, we obviously didn't have much time to spare inside the O'Hare terminals.

On this flight, Kurtis asked me a critical question that made me sick to my stomach. Where's my wallet? Well, I threw all small pocket items in the stroller pocket. So keys, belt, wallet, sunglasses, all went in the pocket. But did I remember to empty that pocket before we gate-checked the stroller? No, I was too busy trying to catch up to Kurtis and not jostle our child too badly. So his wallet, importantly containing his ID, was floating loose in the cargo hold. Ugh. I felt really bad. Plus I didn't want to fly back alone. Luckily the stroller folds up so tightly that everything stayed in the pocket.

The flight attendant had announced connecting gate information, so we knew we should catch the shuttle bus over to Terminal C. In 10 minutes, I found and went to the bathroom while my boys stayed in the exact same place in line for the shuttle bus. I found an idle gate agent and got walking directions to Terminal C. Since Karston was spaced out in his stroller, I could run this time; Kurtis couldn't run with the car seat but he hussled well. In fact, we played tag: Kurtis went faster on escalators, I went faster on level ground.

We raced to the next gate, only to get the bad news. That flight was oversold, and the rushed check-in at home meant that we did not get boarding passes or seat assignments for the second and final leg of our trip to Madison. So showing up later because we were stuck on the tarmack meant we were the first ticketed passengers who were turned away.

I wanted to get to Madison in time to check in so that I could use conference wireless to ask my mother to freeze the breast milk in our frig that will spoil before we get home. I explained to the gate agent that I wanted to make it my conference in Madison by 4 PM before registration closed, and that I wasn't happy that I got turned away with such expensive non-standby tickets. Note to all: be nice to your gate agent, no matter how steamed you feel! She let me turn down a bus trip to Madison (3 hours on a bus with a one-year-old who hasn't napped?), and found 2 seats to Madison on American. She was an angel!

Of course, the American flight was back in the terminal we had just left, so we had to hoof it all the way back. In a hurry again. Running made me feel weak and light-headed because I hadn't eaten in over six stressful hours. We checked in for the last two non-exit-row seats (no children in exit row), bought sandwiches while that flight boarded, walked on, and switched seats to be together.

So finally at 2 PM (eastern time, the time our stomachs were on, not counting that breakfast was a bit early), we got to eat our sandwiches. Usually a delayed meal makes both of us quite grouchy. But we both knew we were doing our best today, so we weren't snapping at each other.

You can probably guess what happened next. We got to Madison uneventfully, but our luggage didn't. We took our United baggage claim stubs to the United baggage office, filled out the form, and at the very end, Oh, you came in on American on your last leg, they have to track down your bags. Great! Of course, at first American tried to send us back to United with our United baggage claim stubs. American said to call at 6 PM if we didn't have our bags, and to say Representative to the system.

No issues renting a car, driving to the hotel, or checking in. I requested a mini-frig to store baby food, and we were early enough to get one. We were starting to smile and relax.

We didn't have bags by 6 PM, but only one other flight came in from O'Hare, so it seemed too hopeful to us. Kurtis called, and no one knew. We bought toothbrush and toothpaste, but with hope, no more.