IT’S LATE (Yep. You’ve heard this excuse from me many times). I just uploaded 1,100 photos I took on our trip from my new camera and I have a few waiting on my old one that I took to Six Flags with us.

It’s been an adventure.

We left last Wednesday after work. Just our luck, I had a cold and Kevin had started puking that morning, so six hours in the car sounded pretty much like the equivalent of stabbing myself in the eye with needles just for fun. There’s not much I can say about the drive out there other than Kevin brought a clear bowl to use for emergencies but thankfully didn’t have to use it, I was able to drive and stay awake the whole time and we made it there alive.

So, thanks to Nevada and all it’s emptiness I have nothing to say about the actual drive out so I’ll show you my chat I had about an hour before we left.

Thrilling, I know.

Ashley says:
Hi.
Are you able to play “name this rodent” with me??
It’ll take a minute for the pic to upload, then for me to send it to you.
The mother in me couldn’t kill it.
I know, I’m terrible.

Aubrey says:
Did you really find a rodent and keep it!?

Ashley says:
I was mowing, and it scurried out from under the mower—in the long tramp grass…
I thought I’d injured it,
so I just picked it up.
It squawked at me,
and has long teeth.

Aubrey says:
That’s an Aubrey thing to do.

Ashley says:
Now before you open the picture and go telling me its a mouse…..
I don’t want to pick it back up again to get close ups….
it has two huge teeth on bottom, its tiny enough that I can tell its a baby–like its ears don’t look open,
and it has THE longest claws I’ve ever seen on a rodent.
Granted, it poops like a mouse.
Is it a mouse?
We have these things in our lawn sometimes, that dig it up–that look like moles, and I wonder if its a baby one of those or what.
Or a mouse and I’m just losing it and caring for a mouse that will only end up eaten by my cat.

Aubrey says:
that my dear is a baby vole.

Ashley says:
what the hells a vole??

Aubrey says:
like a mole.
just a vole.

Ashley says:
My heart is glad that I didn’t pick up a mouse.

Aubrey says:
I can just hear Aspen, “nooo mouse!” (Last few seconds of the bottom video).

Ashley says:
it squawked at me when i picked it up
then I thought, “what the hell am I doing?? I have a crying baby inside the house and I’m picking up a baby rodent!”

So there you have it folks.

You now know what a vole is.

(Don’t worry – I’ll give you a real post after all the pictures are uploaded. I have a lot of stories to share with you!)

“I HATE HER”.

“She’s annoying.”

“Rude.”

“Intrusive.”

“Controlling.”

“She tries to manipulate our marriage.”

“She scares the crap out of me.”

These are all things that I’ve heard people say about their mother-in-laws.

These aren’t rude people. In fact, many of them are my close friends. And while I can listen and say I’m sorry, I can’t exactly say that I can empathize with them.

I really like my (almost) mother-in-law (and father-in-law, and sibling’s-in-law – or is it in-laws? I dunno). I’m just gonna throw that out there. Kevin has some great family members, and somehow they seem to like me. I’m not totally sure how this happened since most of my exes’ families thought that I was the devil personified who had come to ruin and corrupt their precious boys. I’ve had mothers of guy friends tell me I was leading their children down the wrong path and that I was the cause of all their bad behavior (I was twelve and completely harmless, but we can delve into the psychological trauma from that experience another day).

Needless to say, I grew up believing that all mothers of boys were Monster-In-Laws waiting to happen, and I hadn’t had any experience to prove me wrong (With the exception of one mother of a certain loser  boyfriend, but that is neither here nor there). So you could say I was a little scared last Halloween when Kevin wanted to introduce me to his parents.

“What if they don’t like me?” I stressed over and over again as we walked up the front steps of his house – steps that we haven’t even used since then.

“They’ll like you,” he’d laugh back as he walked in.

The first thing I saw when I walked in was this:

Followed by this:

Then I was introduced to his dad, who kid you not told me, “well you look like a Phelps!” the very first moment he met me. It completely made my day.

Guess that’s one down, one to go.

We walked back to his mom’s office and said hi. And then. . .

Nothing happened.

She kept talking to the both of us as if she’d known me for years. It wasn’t awkward, there wasn’t any interrogation or sizing up of the new girlfriend. She didn’t give me the stink eye or wary glances. It was just friendly and comfortable conversation with both of his parents.

So if you have a Monster-in-law? I am sorry.

But this lady is going to be my mother-in-law, and I’m not complaining one bit.

Happy Birthday Sue.

Thank you for always taking us to neat places. Thank you for your jokes, your humor, and your smarts.

And thank you for not scaring the crap out of me.

I DON’T KNOW/REMEMBER ANYTHING about this ship other than it is called the USS Midway and it is a ship that holds planes.

And seamen.

And wow. That totally wasn’t meant to sound that bad.

Let’s use a different word.

It’s meant to hold planes and people.

I’m now going to shut up and make this a Almost Wordless Wednesday post while I go bury my head in embarrassment.

This is not a ship. It is a sign.

This is not a ship. It is a seagull.

This is not a ship. It is the iconic statue called, “Unconditional Surrender”.

This is not a ship. It is a couple of buildings.

This is a ship. It’s the Star of India.

This is also a ship. It is one similar to the one Kevin and I will cruise on for our honeymoon in August.

But today? We are talking about this ship.

The one that is so massive, I couldn’t get the whole thing in my frame.

Crap. I said it would be kind of wordless, didn’t I? Okay.

Breaking the silence to say I totally tripped over those.

And to say LOOK! Naked men!

Just teasing. He’s fake.

To keep myself from looking like a complete idiot, I will link to some resources that will tell you more about these things than I can.

To read about signs, click here.

To read about seagulls, click here.

To read about cruise ships, click here.

To read about the Star of India, click here.

To read about the USS Midway, click here.

ON ONE OF OUR LAST DAYS in California we stopped at Coronado Island.

We had to drive over this  bridge to get there and I swear there was a suicide hot-line phone every ten feet.

Here is the view of San Diego from atop the bridge.

We parked by the Hotel del Coronado.

And Kevin and I grabbed our suits and ran into the freezing cold water. (I am cruel, but swimming in the ocean was one of my wants, so it’s what we did).

Can you see all the sails on the horizon?

Now for the funny parts.

I convinced Kim to take some photos of us while we were out there.

Little did I know I would end up with so many photos of:

1) Me flying like a duck.

2) A falling Kevin.

3) A wave before it knocked us over.

4) Me practicing my awesome pro swimming moves.

And the very best. . .

5) What looks like an awesome fist fight.