NOTE: We of course felt a lot of ambivalence about supporting J. K. Rowling properties, and we ultimately decided that we would go because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but we’d also donate an equal amount of money to a group or groups that support trans youth.
I realized about an hour into the Harry Potter Studios Tour that I was the most excited member of our family to be there. Being inside the actual Great Hall, seeing Dumbledor’s actual office… it was really amazing. I loved the books and the movies and to see so much or what was used to make the movies was really fun.
I want to write more but I never seem to find the time so here are a bunch of pictures.
The Great HallDumbledor’s officeWall of proclamationsBuckbeak in the Enchanted ForestThe Dursley’s living room
We made it to our gate. We’re attempting to carry on our bags but we bought four AirTags in case they get checked (we are the very last row so it seems unlikely all four of our carryons will make it into the overheard bins). I really hope we get our bags back on the other side, but with the apocalyptic heat taking out London and the rest of Britain, I have very little confidence.
I still can’t believe this trip is happening. All six of us (my family plus my parents) tested negative today (there was a real chance that wouldn’t be the case for my parents). Their flight is in the sky and ours is only supposed to be a bit late. It’s a straight shot though so we don’t need to worry about missing a connection.
Getting in late yesterday and then being ready to go today was hard, but having the kids and I packed before my weekend away made it possible. I still feel like I forgot something, but I’ve double checked all the most important stuff and it’s with me. Hopefully whatever I forgot won’t be too hard to buy there.
The heat wave is definitely concerning – we’ll probably not be able to take the tube to our AirBnB like we had planned – but it’s supposed to break some on Wednesday and hopefully that is the case. I’m just so pleased it looks like this trip is going to happen, I’m not letting anything else get me down right now.
Which is good because when I think too long about spending 10 hours on a plane, overnight, with my kids, I get a little anxious.
I’ll just keep looking at photos of the rafting trip, which we bought from a guy who takes pictures on the river. It was such a great weekend and I’m so glad I went. I really hope my friend, who ended up missing his own Birthday Extravaganza, will plan it again next year.
Sorry to post that last one many days late. I was sure that had been published but I guess the wifi at SFO wasn’t that great. Or my WordPress app crapped out of me (the more likely possibility). I also planned to post what we did for the past three days here but I can’t even get this draft to save so I think I’ll just aim for one day.
We’ve been in London for three days. It’s been a great trip. Busy and chaotic at times, but good. We’re sleeping at night (mostly) but still very tired and out of it during the day. It turns our getting 8 hours of sleep is not enough to just reset your entire body clock. And that three nights of sleeping at the right time is not enough to reset you either.
We met my sister on Wednesday morning at the dog park and she had her Corgi there. We have been following her corgi (which she got last year) on Instagram for a year and were very excited to meet her. She is a bit skiddish around new people so we didn’t get to pet her much, but ir was very fun to “meet her” in person.
Then my sister’s boyfriend took the dog home and we all went to the National History Museum. Except we were ushered out of the museum upon entering because there was an emergency evacuation. Instead we hit up the National Science Museum (just next door), which was really cool.
We got lunch and then headed back the AirBnB. Everyone had slept the night before but we were all super out of it on our first day.
After grabbing some groceries and chilling out at the AirBnB, we walked to my sister’s house for dinner in her back yard. Again the corgi wasn’t sure about us, but we did enjoy some lovely take out Chinese food.
Corgi cousin unsure of us and hiding in the bushes
I’ll try to post more soon. We are keeping our days full because we aren’t here long and jet lag is an ever present threat we’re trying to outrun.
Our flight was fine. The kids did great and I managed myself. Everyone’s TVs worked and we hunkered down for the long haul. My husband slept a fair amount. My daughter got about two hours. My son and I didn’t sleep much and when they turned on the lights about 30 minutes after our son fell asleep he was very upset. Thank goodness the flight attendant was willing to bring him a Coke during the breakfast service.
We hit some intense turbulence in the middle of the flight. And then again on our decent. Our daughter threw up into many sick bags on the way down but she felt better once we landed.
The heat was… oppressive. Those of sleeping on the third floor of the AirBnB were struggling last night. But we did sleep through the night (some of us needed to take more melatonin around 2am to get back to sleep).
We’re heading out now and I’m not paying for cell service so I’m going to post this. I hope everyone’s doing well.
Rafting yesterday was super fun. I was so preoccupied with this trip being between two other trips, I ultimately decided to go because I haven’t seen these college friends in a long time and I probably won’t see them again for a while. I hadn’t even considered how fun rafting would be, how much I would love being in the water and how much I would enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Yesterday was the easier day technically. Today we have a lot more chance of being thrown out or flipping the raft. I’m definitely tired from two nights of camping and one day on the river in the 100* sun. But this is an amazing way to spend a weekend, and a fabulous way to spend my birthday.
Today I turn 42, which of course is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. How knows , maybe it will be a good year.
I feel very confident that today will be a good day.
We will be doing a lot of traveling this summer, so I want to revisit what we did well, and not so well, on the last trip.
WHAT WE DID WELL
We definitely packed everything we needed. I didn’t have to go to Target (or anywhere else) to buy anything once we were there! This may be a first! (It probably helps that my kids are older and simply need fewer things now.)
We didn’t buy too many groceries! This is a big one because we have been known to leave quite a few items at my uncle’s house (much to his chagrin). This year we only left two things! We ate everything else we bought, and that is because we bought WAY less. I decided that if my kids only got to eat 2-3 things at home for 10 days that was fine. We ate out enough that they didn’t go crazy. And also they need to “broaden their horizons” if they are going to complain about limited menus on trips.
We (REALLY) relaxed screen time limits, so we could all get some down time. This was especially important at the front and back ends when my husband wasn’t there, and I was tired.
I worked out five times! This was over 12 days (I count the two travel days). I ran twice and worked out with a video three times. I am quite pleased about this. I hope to do the same in London (a mixture of running and 30 minutes videos. I will be packing my old running shoes just to walk around London, and that is really the hardest part. I can also just pack one or two workout outfits and wash them and leave them to hang dry. The only thing I’d change is I brought a resistance band that wasn’t necessary – I will not be packing that for London.
WHAT WE COULD DO BETTER
We packed everything we needed but we also packed more than we needed (mostly clothes). This was because laundry and dryers were available to us in two of three places we stayed. I hope to pack less for London (checked bags will not be free on our next flights, and I’ve read it’s not a great tine to let your bags leave your sight), though knowing the laundry/dryer set up at the AirBnB will not be what I’m used to (less capacity and cleaning/drying will take a lot longer) makes this lesson less helpful.
While I’m glad I relaxes screen time limits, I do think my kids would have been amenable to reading more if I had forced the issue, especially at night. I will definitely make them read some more in the evenings in London.
We probably ate out too much. I haven’t got back over my credit card bill yet but it’s going to be high. In London I hope we can be a little more strategic about eating out (our AirBnB has a kitchen, so we can cook there).
And now it’s already Friday! Whoops!
I’m going on a rafting trip this weekend, then we leave for London on Monday. The person who planned the rafting trip can’t actually come now, and a bunch of other people bailed too. We couldn’t get our money back, and a few good friends are still going, so I’m still going. It’s been really stressful getting ready for it, and I’ve wondered more than once if it’s a mistake to go, but I’m locked in at this point. Once I finally packed myself for it (Thursday afternoon), I felt better. I’m really sad my friend won’t be there. I haven’t seen him in years and I was very much looking forward to celebrating his birthday, but sadly we’ll have to do that without him there.
I actually packed the kids and myself for London last night. I can’t believe I managed that, but now that I did, I feel much better about everything (especially the rafting trip). Everything is packed in packing cubes, which means we can easily move it all to carry-on bags last minute if we decide that is best (I’m increasingly leaning towards this option, as the articles I’m reading about lost luggage in Europe are freaking me out).
The London trip has been causing a fair amount of stress too. I don’t want to enumerate all the stressors here, because at this point they are either resolved or completely out of our hands, but I have been doubting the trip would even happen. And it still might not, but there is less chance of it being cancelled every day, so I’ll just keep crossing my fingers and hope for the best. I’m looking forward to this trip, but I won’t be devastated if it doesn’t happen. I’m as stressed about it (the length of the flight, the amount of community spread happening in England right now, being the center of the parents-husband-kids-sister wheel of expectations while we’re there) as I am excited about it, so if it’s cancelled it will be as much of a relief as a disappointment. At least that is how it feels right now, and that has helped me manage all the uncertainty this past week.
And now it’s late and I’m tired and I have a lot to do tomorrow before I BART to the East Bay to get picked up for the rafting trip.
Today was a bad day. Not necessarily for me, but for people I care about. So naturally, I felt really bad for them. And again I was reminded that when I’m not super busy with work and life, I very much struggle to manage the sadness, rage and anxiety I feel.
Right now I’m working out, which was not on my agenda today, because at least that is still available to me (I’m on the elliptical which is how I can be working out and also typing). But for the rest of the day I have really struggled. I just don’t have many productive outlets for my unpleasant feelings. I need some new coping mechanisms.
Because things are really shitty right now, in this country, and there is only so far I can bite my nails before they start to bleed. (I was about to describe the state of my nails right now but I thought better of it.)
And that is really all I can think to write. Ugh, even writing is eluding me as a coping mechanism. I always used to write when I was upset. Maybe it’s different because these aren’t my stories to tell.
{I do want to assure readers that everyone is safe and will ultimately be okay, but today they are not doing very well at all.}
I did spend a bunch of money on Amazon, which just makes me feel more shitty as a human being. Blerg. I have spent quite a bit of money since summer started, which I’m not happy about. There are definitely times when I’m not super interested in spending money, but then the bug bites me and I’m off! I really need to put a cap on that.
I’ll try to write some other post now. And I’ll publish this one in the meantime.
And if you have any coping mechanisms that you find even vaguely useful, please send them my way. Right now all my friends are out of town or I’d definitely be tapping them. I’m kind of surprised that the pandemic hasn’t taught me other coping mechanisms besides “work myself to exhaustion,” but I suppose that one was very much available to me the last three years and maybe I came to over-depend on it. If anyone has any other suggestions I’m all ears! (Or eyes, I suppose.)
We got back from St. Louis late Saturday night. We leave for London next Monday evening. This week is our summer travel intermission. Then it’s go, go go until the school year starts.
Saturday morning I ran in the rain, which was only a bummer because I had to pack my running shoes wet. I never get to run in the rain here, so it was kind of fun to do it in St. Louis where it was warm enough that I didn’t mind being wet. Then I finished packing while we waited for the rain to abate so we could hit up the zoo one last time. It was actually pouring as we drove to the zoo, but once we got there it stopped, and it never started again. We really lucked out because not only did it not rain, but the temperature never topped 80! It was lovely.
I love the St. Louis Zoo and I’m happy we started and ended our trip there. This time we were just with my parents, as I didn’t feel like I could manage the variable of a cousin on the day we flew home.
We got back to my uncle’s in time to pack up the rental car and head out. Returning our car took way less time than I thought, and clearing TSA was super easy so we had a lot of time at our gate. Our flight was fine; it took off on time and the kids did great. We didn’t have a layover this time and I was very thankful for that. Even the drive home from San Jose wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting.
It did feel like a long flight, and it was only four hours. I’m a little nervous about our flight to London. I haven’t been on a flight that long in a while, and definitely not a flight that long over night. It’s going to be rough for sure. I honestly think I might handle it worse than my kids do! But my husband will be on the flight so that will help. He rarely flies with us (we usually leave earlier and come home later than he does because I don’t work in the summer), so I’m very much looking forward to having another adult on the plane with us.
Yesterday we slept in and then the kids played video games. I took the bearded dragon out for a backyard bath, and realized his UVB light wasn’t working. I just bought that light and when I realized it was the fixture, not the actual light bulb, I was really bummed out. Instead of going back to Petco to get the same light again, I decided to hit up the East Bay Vivarium in Berkeley. I also decided the kids should come so we could hit up Adventure Playground afterwards. It ended up being the perfect way to get the kids out of the house for a few hours. And picking up an order of churros only made it better.
The bearded dragon bath that started it all.
Sunday afternoon and evening we unpacked and got ready for camp on Monday morning. This week my son has half day basketball camp and my daughter as full day swimming camp. I have a ton of errands to run before I leave for a rafting trip with some college friends on Friday. I get back Sunday afternoon (my birthday!) and then we leave for London on Monday night.
It’s going to be a whirlwind rest of the summer, and if Covid doesn’t mess part of it up it will be a miracle, especially since they don’t ask people to isolate in London, even when they know they are positive. I know we are relatively well protected since we just got it in May, but my parents (who are traveling with us to London) have never had Covid before so who knows what will happen. And we could get it again too! It just feels impossible that we can travel this much this summer, when way more people have Covid than we’ll even know, and not end up having it mess something up. It already put a small dent in our St. Louis trip, but that was truly the smallest of dents. It just feels like we are tempting fate every time we get on an airplane, and we’re getting on a lot of airplanes this summer.
We’re coming up on the end of our first trip of the summer. We have three more nights and 2.5 more days in St. Louis. The farm was incredible and I want to write more about what a special experience it is. The location is magic. The people are amazing. Everyone gets along. Everyone has fun. Our kids are old enough and have been enough that we have to do minimal parenting and get to enjoy the other adults who are doing minimal parenting as well. (We of course also help out the adults who are in the thick of it parenting smaller kids during a very intense weekend).
I take a ton of pictures because one of my roles is the “maker of the book.” Every year I put together a photo book and print copies for all the families. I take literally thousands of photos during the weekend, and everyone sends me their best shots, and then I sort through them and put them into a digital photo book. It’s a lot of work but I love making it, and I love knowing it will help the kids remember how amazing the weekend is every year.
We’re only at the farm for four days and three nights, so the rest our trip we’re in St. Louis. We spend some of that time with the same cousins we see at the farm, and other parts of it with cousins on my mom’s side. This year it’s not really working out for us to see the cousins on my mom’s side, which is fine because the cousins we’re closest with – who live in South Carolina and come to town for the farm too – are around the whole time we are.
We’ve been here so many times that we don’t really have anything we’re clamoring to do over the next few days. Tomorrow we may just hang out at my aunt’s and play with the cousins. Friday we want to see the new Thor movie. Saturday we are seeing a cousin on my mom’s side and we may go swimming but then we’d have to pack wet suits on our way home. We swam so much at the farm that my kids might not want to swim again. (Usually we swim a lot in St. Louis because it’s just too cold to swim much in San Francisco.)
It’s been a really great trip, but it’s also a lot to feel pressure to socialize constantly. We’re here mostly to see family so we try to do everything with someone else. I’m hoping our trip to London, where we have way fewer people to see, will be a little less intense.
