Our Trip Blog

The Events of Tuesday, March 1, 2011

                Waking up to the sunrise in our very own gigantic room, Abby and I delayed actually getting up for as long as possible. You see, not being within arm’s reach of our family members has certain benefits, like not knowing the plans for the morning or for the day. Slowly getting up, we joined our family for breakfast, where my siblings and I discovered the plan of attack for the day. Huge boxes full of stacks of our mail lurked in the study, waiting to be sorted through, opened, dealt with, and recycled. Yay for recycling! Go green! Save the trees, and save the planet!  Recycling is one luxury I have sorely missed on our journey around the country.

                Anyway, after breakfast, general getting ready and preliminary mail sorting, it was time for us ladies to depart for our hair cutting appointments with the lovely and talented Mrs. Kellie Cereceres. Daddy stayed at home to work on taxes, while Ben attacked his school work. Mom took the first turn, while the rest of us read books. After the completion of her “extreme makeover”, Mom left us to see the dermatologist about the mole on her back. As we cycled through our haircuts, continuing to read, we each discussed our favorite parts of the trip with Mrs. Cereceres.

                During Lindsey’s haircut, our Aunt Pat and adorable baby cousins Timothy, who is 29 months old, and Claire, who is 13 months old, arrived at the salon to entertain us and then chauffeur us home, as Mom was still at the dermatologist’s office. Claire was all smiles and toddles, not at all shy around perfect strangers, while Timothy hid behind his mother and peeked out at us with wide eyes.

                Upon arriving at home, Claire took a nap while Abby and I hung out with little Timothy in the backyard and Aunt Pat enjoyed some chill time with Ben and Lindsey. Timothy has grown into such a little boy now, loving to climb things and explore and go fast and get into mud. Luckily, he can do all of these things in our backyard. He climbed the basketball hoop pole, explored the vast expanses of our not-so-expansive backyard, zoomed around fast on his little car, and drove the kiddie vehicle into the one spot on our lawn that is always muddy. Then we explored the bin full of sports equipment and other toys, playing a little game of take-it-out-and-put-it-back-in. Then we bounced and tossed and kicked each of the slightly deflated balls. Finally, Timothy found his favorite toy: an air pump, used to inflate balls. This contraption’s pointy needle had been removed, and the “toy” was therefore harmless for him. Over and over, Timothy pulled out the handle and the pushed it back down, sometimes squirting us with the air. Other times, he enjoyed just shooting the air at anything or at nothing in particular.

                When Mom came home, we ate lunch at our wonderful squeaky dining room table. Before we left, the squeakiness of that ancient table bugged me to pieces, but now, after eight months without a squeaky table, I don’t seem to mind it so much! After lunch, Aunt Pat took Timothy and Claire home. The Taylor ladies continued doing laundry and putting stuff away, while Ben and Dad went shopping at Costco. When they returned, it was time to leave and meet our across-the-street neighbors, the Fong family, at Nathan’s Chinese Cuisine for dinner. The thirteen of us crowded around the table – Mom, Dad, us four kids, and Mr. and Mrs. Fong and their five kids: Maxwell, Nina, Mario, Leland, and Jenny. The Fongs ordered all the food, so we didn’t have to worry about it. I especially enjoyed the honey walnut shrimp, but everything was absolutely delicious. We have not had good Chinese food for a long time.